Unraveling (Second Chances) - By Micalea Smeltzer Page 0,116

he pulled me to him. He gripped my upper arm. “Your muscles are starting to get impressive.”

“I don’t want to start looking like a man!” I cried, pulling out of his grasp.

He chuckled. “Katy, you don’t look like a man. Your muscles are just more defined. Come here,” he said, leading me to the wall of mirrors. He lifted my arm and fixed it in a flexing motion. “See, you’ve just got really nice definition.”

“I still don’t want man arms,” I muttered.

“I promise, you won’t have man arms,” he chuckled.

“They’re looking pretty manly to me,” I said, poking the raised muscle on my arm.

Jared bent and kissed it. “No, they’re not. They’re perfect. Everything about you is perfect.”

I dropped my arm down to my side.

“If you’re trying to score points, it’s working,” I smiled at him.

“Just speaking the truth, kitten,” he kissed the side of my mouth. “Jump rope time,” he said, leading me over to a different section of the room.

We had never used jump ropes before and I had always sucked at them, even as a child. I was probably going to face plant on the ground and completely embarrass myself.

“Ready?” Jared asked.

“Uh-huh,” I said, mimicking the hold of his rope.

“We’ll do this for three minutes,” he said.

Oh, God. I wouldn’t last thirty seconds.

“Go,” he said, and I watched in amazement as he made it look effortless.

I followed his actions and the stupid rope got stuck in my hair.

“Try again,” he said, still jumping, not even winded.

The same thing happened.

“You need to bring it up higher,” he coached.

I did.

It went over my head this time but stopped at my feet.

“You need to put more momentum behind it,” this time he sounded a little bit out of breath and I smiled to myself.

I tried again and managed one jump.

“Forget this,” I said, throwing the rope down on the ground.

Jared chuckled but continued to jump, adding in some fancy tricks, while watching the clock on the wall.

When he finished, he looked over at me, a small smile lifting the corners of his lips.

“Of all the things, I thought you might not be able to do, jump rope wasn’t one of them. I thought all girls knew how to jump rope,” he grabbed a towel and wiped the sweat from his face.

“You thought wrong, bud,” I picked up my water bottle.

“Well,” he put his hands on his hips, “I think I’ve tortured you enough for the day.”

“Amen,” I cried, completely exhausted. I was going home, taking a shower, and sleeping until my birthday.

37

“WE’RE HERE,” Jared said, pulling in front of the beat up building that housed the bowling alley. It looked like it had seen better days, but I thought it was perfect. It was exactly like I had imagined one would be.

A child-like giggle of excitement escaped me, and I jumped a little in the seat.

Jared laughed at my reaction. “It doesn’t take much to make you happy.”

“No, it doesn’t,” I said, clamoring my way out of the vehicle.

We rented our shoes and Jared led me to the private lanes they had reserved for the party.

Magenta balloons were tied to the seats and I could see a small bar area where there was a cake and presents.

The others were already here, putting on their rental shoes and entering their names into the computer.

“Piper!” I cried, spotting her pink and black hair.

I ran to her and hugged her. She was shocked, slowly wrapping her arms around me. I’d never touched her before.

“I can’t believe you’re here,” I cried.

“I couldn’t miss your birthday. When Rollo called, I came straight home.”

“Thank you,” I pulled away. “How’d it go with your parents? I was worried, since they didn’t take the news about fashion school, well.”

She sighed. “It was extremely awkward and pretty quiet. At least, there wasn’t any yelling,” she shrugged.

“I’m sorry,” I said.

“I knew they wouldn’t approve. I just wish they’d understand that I have to do this. I have to follow my heart,” she adjusted the hat on her head.

“They’ll get there, one day,” I patted her shoulder sympathetically.

“I just wonder how long it’ll take,” she looked at the ground. Brightening, she said, “Enough about my crappy life. Happy birthday! Say goodbye to your teens, they weren’t all that great anyway.”

I laughed. “No, they weren’t. At least, not until I met Jared.”

“Awww,” Piper said. “That’s so sweet.”

“It’s true,” I looked around at everyone gathered.

I’d never had a party like this before. Something simple with people that actually cared for me, it was