Page 24 of Unstoppable You

The interactionwith Delaney bothered me for the rest of the weekend. After the brunch thing, I’d thought that she might have revised her feelings on me. Guess not.

Judging from her social media posts on Friday, she’d had a good night. I was almost jealous. I’d taken my ass to Sapph for drinks and dancing, but I couldn’t find anyone I wanted to kiss. Not that there weren’t offers, but none of them made me have that breathless, fluttery feeling in my stomach.

None of them wereDelaney. I’d been kissing planning to stranger and hope they would magically transform into her, but it wouldn’t happen. That kind of magic existed only in the kinds of books I liked to read.

Frustrated, I went home from Sapph and was irritated for the rest of the day on Saturday, and that feeling carried over into Sunday. My parents and my brother weren’t helping either. Connor was mad about something and he’d recruited my parents to his cause of harassing me. The messages and voicemails were constant.

When I’d moved away, I’d gotten so used to not hearing from any of them, and now it was like they couldn’t go a day without reminding me of the reasons I’d left in the first place. At least they didn’t know where I lived, or else they might show up.

I went to Pilates on Sunday and was surprised to see a new instructor who introduced herself as Lea. She was beautiful, with willowy limbs and dark hair, but she took us through an absolutely brutal class. She had us doing moves I had never seen before, and it was one of the most innovative and difficult classes I’d done in a while. I had to go up to her after to tell her how great it was. My abs were going to be wrecked for the next two days.

“Thank you so much,” she said. “I just started teaching so I’m still nervous every single time. It’s nice to hear when someone appreciates what you work so hard on.”

How sweet.

I asked her if she was new to the city and she shook her head. “No, I grew up nearby, but I recently moved back.” It sounded almost exactly like my story.

Taking a risk, I asked her if she wanted to go grab a coffee or something and crossed my fingers that she didn’t think I was hitting on her.

“That sounds great. I could use a boost. Just let me clean up and I’ll meet you out front.”

Delaney hadn’t been in the class, but I still kept a lookout for her while I waited for Lea.

She came around the corner wearing an outfit from an expensive and well-known activewear brand, her hair pulled back into an absolutely perfect ponytail. There was a way that Lea carried herself that broadcast that she’d come from money. An indefinable quality and posture that you couldn’t quite put your finger on, but you knew it when you saw it. Her bag was one that I’d coveted for myself but had never been able to justify the expense of.

I asked her about school, wondering why we didn’t know each other since we seemed to be about the same age.

“I went to private school,” she told me, meeting my eyes as if I was going to give her shit for it. When she said the name of the school, I knew that yes, she had come from money because no one who went there didn’t have prestigious parents. Very prestigious parents. Even more prestigious than mine. They’d wanted to get both me and Connor in, but hadn’t had enough clout.

Moving on from that fraught topic, I asked her about post high school.

“Mmmm, let’s just say college didn’t agree with me,” she said through a little laugh as we walked together down the street to the closest coffee shop. It was one of those cool independent places with themed drinks and lots of vegan and vegetarian options.

Okay, college was a no go. I told her about my own experience going away and moving back. We were in line to order when my job came up.

“That’s so interesting. How do you get into something like that?” I gave her my little abridged bio and she told me how she’d bounced around to a bunch of different jobs and now did a combination of things including digital art, Pilates, yoga, and making fitness content. It sounded like she did a lot of things, and I understood that kind of lifestyle.

We commiserated about being self-employed and how much work you had to do that wasn’t your actual job.

“Teaching classes at least is a little bit of stability. My parents are livid that I resisted their indoctrination to come and work for the family business.” Now that was something I knew a little bit about.

It was shocking how many things Lea and I had in common, and we talked until our pastries were just crumbs and our latte cups were empty.

It was so nice to meet someone that I immediately clicked with.

“This has been really great, thank you,” she said. “I feel like we’re almost living the same life.” I laughed because it was true.

“If you ever want to hang out or go for a walk or something, just let me know,” I said and gave her my number. She gave me hers and we waved to each other outside of the shop.

Things were starting to look up.

* * *

I’d finished reading wellbefore the book club meeting but went back through my copy and made a few notes in the margins. I always thought people who got enraged about writing in books were a little too uptight. I also didn’t really care about dogearing the pages of my own books. Library books were another story. I didn’t touch those, but my own? They had broken spines, notes in them, receipts used as bookmarks. I was a little bit of a chaotic reader when it came to my physical books.

I threw my book in my bag along with a few pens, a notebook to take notes in, and my phone. I didn’t really know what to expect, but I was nervously excited about tonight, and not just because of Delaney.

The energy was buzzing when I walked into the bookshop and I instantly spotted Delaney speaking with another woman I recognized from my first visit to the bookshop as the owner, Larison. I tried to figure out where I should sit, since the chairs were arranged all in a circle, which made sense. It was a little unnerving.

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