Page 95 of Bump and Run

Twenty-Two

Eliza

I feel strange.

Almost broken, in a way. Except there’s nothing shattered or missing. There’s something new inside, pushing the usual formation out of place like a pebble shaking around in my shoe.

A pebble. It’s probably smaller than that, actually — if it even exists at all. Just thinking about it gives me a stress headache. How can something so small mean so much so quickly?

“When is it due?”

I snap up from my book to find Junior staring across the table at me. “What?”

He smiles and taps his pencil against my book. “The scene. When do you need to have it memorized?”

“Oh, um…” I rub the bridge of my nose. “Next Thursday, I think.”

“Are you okay? You seem strange.”

“I’m fine,” I say. “No strangeness. Just tired, I guess.” I point to his notebook. “Have you finished that proof?”

“Yup.” Junior slides it over to me and I pick up my pencil to check his work. “What are you doing this weekend?”

“I have rehearsal on Saturday…” I mutter, glancing over the page. “This looks good, Junior. Try the next one.”

He takes the notebook back but sets it off to the side. “What are you doing afterward?”

I pause, noting the intensity of his stare. “I have no plans. Why?”

“I want you to come by my place,” he says. “There’s no game this weekend and Ty is making himself scarce for a while.”

“Okay…” I sit back, taking the bait. “Scarce for what?”

He gives a little smile. “I just want you to stop by for something.”

“Stop by for what?” I raise an eyebrow. “What’s going on?”

“I want to talk to you about something.”

“But we’re talking right now…”

“Ellie…” he chuckles. “This isn’t really library study room talk.”

“Oh.” My gut lurches. “Is everything okay?”

“It should be…”

“What does that mean?”

He sighs but that nervous flicker never quite leaves his eyes. “Come over after rehearsal and we’ll talk, okay? Please?”

I bite my lip. Junior’s invitations aren’t usually so wordy. Coming over tonight? That’s about all he ever needs to say to make his intentions known and I never expect talking to be on the agenda.

Is he breaking things off? Is he inviting me over to dump me? Wait, that doesn’t make any sense. If he didn’t want to hook up anymore, then he’d just stop talking to me altogether, right?

Maybe he feels like he has to put in the extra effort because of what happened last weekend. He woke up in my bed after holding me all night. I imagine that was quite the shock for him — it certainly was for me. Not quite as shocking as my bathroom realization directly afterward but still…

“Ellie?”

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