Page 33 of Level Up

Every step I took toward the boathouse felt heavier.

As I reached the boathouse, a wave of familiar smells washed over me. The polished wood, the fresh lake air, the earthy dirt scent.

Travis, our coxswain, waved me over with an impatient look. “Redpine, what’s the deal? You missed yesterday, and you’re out of it today.”

“Just had some shit to deal with,” I muttered, the lie feeling like sandpaper on my tongue. The use of my last name as a nickname suddenly annoyed me.

The crew was already prepping the racing shell, the sleek lines of the sharp boat catching the sun. I slipped into my spot, the feel of the oar in my hands grounding me.

This was my peace. And it was Jay’s nightmare.

As we pushed off the dock and out onto the lake, the familiar rhythm of rowing began to take over. With each pull of the oars, the tension in my shoulders eased a fraction. The burn in my lungs became fuel.

For these brief hours, I could pretend the world was simple: muscle, sweat, drills. The peaceful water, the link with my crew, the drive to get better. I wasn’t just Ryan Redpine out here, my dad’s son, the heir to an oil fortune. I was a rower.

I’d figure all the rest of my shit out later, once I got onto solid ground again.

Chapter Thirteen

Jay

Maddy tossed her hands in the air and gave an exasperated shout. A few people around us jerked up and looked in our direction. I put up an apologetic hand and offered a sorry smile as they got back to whatever they were doing.

“Ugh,” Maddy said. “I quit. Completely. How the hell am I supposed to study for this MCAT when all I want to do is roll around in the grass? Or take a nap? Or stare at paint drying? Whatever the heck I can do that isn’t reading through this.” She lifted the huge study guide that must have been the size of her head. She dropped it on the ground.

I half expected it would create an earthquake.

We sat outside on the bright green lawn outside the science building. I was done with classes for the day, so Maddy met up with me to study. Except we never really studied much whenever we got together. I was almost grateful I had only met Maddy this semester. If I met her freshman year, we would have likely failed out of multiple classes.

“Want some coffee?” I asked, stretching my arms and yawning. “’Cause I do.”

“Sure. Get me one with an extra shot of espresso. Two extra shots.”

I stood and walked around the carpet of green grass, following the path that led to Bean Necessities, one of the coffee carts around campus that had some of the best damn drinks I’d ever tasted. Especially their vanilla bean. That shit was out of this world.

“Hey, Austin,” I said, greeting the barista. We were already on a first-name basis. “How’s it going?”

“Alright,” he said, his cheeks getting slightly red to match his hair. He had a dusting of freckles and an incredibly shy demeanor. I liked him.

“What ya reading lately?” I pointed at his Kindle on the cart. Austin always had it with him. I wasn’t a huge reader, but I could appreciate someone who had the ability to get lost in a book. I could do the same with plays and scripts, but when it came to reading fiction, my brain tended to drift.

“Flowers of the Diamond Sun. A high fantasy romance novel. Just came out a few days ago. Good stuff.”

“Do they all get high in it?”

Austin laughed at that. “No, not yet, at least. High fantasy means it’s set in another world than ours. With castles and dragons and witches and stuff. The romance comes with the smut.”

That got a belly laugh out of me. “Sounds good. Maybe I’ll pick it up later.”

“You should. Let me know what you think about it.”

I promised I would before ordering the coffee. I walked back to our spot on the lawn, the sun beaming bright and warming my hands almost as much as the coffee. Maddy took hers in both hands with a grateful dip of her head and started to sip. I sat across from her, closing my notebook and leaning back.

My show was tonight. I had one last rehearsal in an hour, and then it’d be opening night. I should have been going over some last-minute things, but all I could do was keep thinking about Ryan and what happened between us the other day. The dam had broken, my basement completely flooded, my heart shot through with Cupid’s arrow.

It meant trouble.

“You missed some drama at the beach cleanup the other day.”

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