Page 23 of Catch Me

“Out?” Her eyes narrow with suspicion.

“Yeah, out.”

“Like on a date?”

I breathe a laugh. “Yeah, on a date, I plan great dates.”

Lois purses her lips, swallowing her smile. “You say that like you’ve dated before.”

“I have. I dated a girl for a few months, before she ran off with a football player.”Yeah, she did, after I told her I wasn’t interested anymore.

“Oh, sorry,” Lois’ expression softens with guilt. “I didn’t think you were into dating and stuff.”

“Well, I am, so…date?” I flash her a toothy grin and her dimples sink into her cheeks when she returns the smile.

“Ok, Saturday?”

I nod. “Yeah, I’ll text you once I’ve decided what we’re doing.”

“Plan something away from campus, so we won’t have to look over our shoulder the whole night.”

“Ok…are you still set on hiding this from Sean?”

Her eyes widen and she nods slowly. “Absolutely, hecannotknow about this. Seriously Nick, he could get you kicked off the team.”

“Ok, ok,” I slide the imaginary zip across my lips. “I won’t say a word.” I press a kiss to her lips, lingering as long as possible before leaving and closing her door behind me.

LOIS

Nick leaves me horny and anxious all at the same time. His taste still floats on my lips, his words looping and curling through my mind. All I’ve wanted since I met Nick when I first came to Redwood was to have him notice me, to have him want me like I wanted him. Now I have everything I’ve ever wanted, but I'm scared and in some sort of limbo. Even though Nick has asked me out on a date, I still don’t know where the fuck this path that I'm on is going to lead. Will he want a real relationship? Will he eventually get bored and miss his fuck boy lifestyle? The unknown is making me sick to my stomach. Luckily when I turn around, my calm during any storm is standing in her running gear, leaning against the kitchen counter smiling at me. She’s grinning triumphantly, like she’s Cupid and I’ve just found my future husband.

“What?” I say dryly and she grins harder.

“Nothing.”

I head towards my bedroom, bracing myself for a cold shower to help with my muscle recovery — Ellen makes us do it at least once per week. I have training this afternoon and I don’t know how I'm expected to focus on anything for the rest of the week with this date hanging over me. Don’t get me wrong I'm excited to spend some time alone with him away from campus, but I'm nervous.

“Hey,” Molly drags me out of my train of anxiety. “What happened with your date last night? You were really messed up.”

I drop my eyes to the ground. “I don’t want to talk about it Mol.”

Molly’s fingers wrap around my arm and pull me around to face her. “Ok, but you know if you do want to talk about it, you can right?”

I pause, staring at the sincerity in her expression for a moment. Then I haul her into a tight hug, sinking my face into her shoulder and inhaling her comforting smell.

“I love you,” I murmur into her shoulder.

She squeezes me hard. “I love you more.”

My fingers are floating across the piano keys like they were made for it. The melody that my hands produce is wafting through my parents’ house, creating a peace like no other. This is one of the reasons I love playing the piano so much. Not only does it fill me with comfort and warmth, like a hot chocolate on a winter’s day. But with my butt on the worn, leather seat and my fingers playing effortlessly, I feel like I belong right here, always have. My mind is on the sound, the tingling in my stomach as I loose myself in the music, when something hard slams onto the top of my piano.

I jump, tapping the wrong key and ruining the melody completely. When I look up, my brother’s dimpled smirk stares back at me and I want to punch him in the mouth.

“Jesus Christ! You ruined my piece you fucktard!” I swat a hand towards him, which he dodges.

He smiles, which pisses me off even more. “Sorry,” he says and that’s when I notice the 12 box of doughnuts under one arm and his baby daughter in the other.

I stand up, making grabby hands at him. “Gimme,”

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