Page 57 of The Do-Over

“You okay?” Nick asked when we stopped for our first break.

“Areyou?” I tried to keep myself from panting but sounded pretty out of breath when I said, “This is cake.” I noticed that he showed no sign of exertion, other than a slight flush to his cheeks.

“Is it?” He gave me a suspicious look and said, “I’m sorry—have I been holding you up? Do you want to run the next flight?”

OF COURSE NOT. No, thank you. What are you, insane?Those would all be appropriate responses, but my mouth couldn’t seem to form the words. Which was weird, because I didn’t consider myself to be particularly competitive, especially when it came to athletic endeavors.

But the fact that I could tell he knew I wouldn’t do it? It made me say the unspeakable.

“How about the next two?”

His mouth curled into a full-on grin and he took off. I started slow-jogging the stairs behind him, wanting to die in my leather pants, and he immediately slowed and kept pace with me. I looked to my left and there he was, grinning like he could run stairs all day.

I smiled back while my heart pounded and screamed obscenities and tried to remember what its job was.

We ran one flight, then another, but we both kept running after that. My legs started burning, and I was running the steps at a slower pace than if I were walking them, to be honest. My face must’ve looked pained, because when we reached the next landing, Nick took pity on me.

“Wait.” He stopped, and it made me happy to see that he was panting, too. He held up a finger while he caught his breath, which was fine by me because my ears felt too furry to hear out of.

“So,” he breathed, “every floor in this building has an elevator.”

“Yeah…?” I stacked my hands on top of my head as my lungs screamed.

“So let’s get out of the stairwell. Think about it. Odds are good that we can get to an elevator on a random floor of offices before anyone who cares notices us.”

“Are you sure?” I didn’t want to climb another step, but I didn’t want to get busted now that we were getting close, either.

“Positive. Do you trust me?”

I nodded, still trying to un-labor my breath, which made him smile. He said, “Let’s stay here for a couple minutes so we don’t burst out of the stairwell panting and sweating. People might talk.”

An image of Nick and me against the wall of the stairwell flashed in my head.

Whoa.

I was happy when he distracted me and said, “I think it’s my turn to ask you a question, anyway.”

“No—it’s mine.” I leaned my backside against the wall and asked, “Let’s go big. Have you ever been in love?”

He gave me a look, like he thought it was an absurd question. “That’s a hard no.”

“Not even close?” I don’t know why, but I was shocked by that.

“I’ve loved, of course, but I haven’t beeninlove. Not even close.” He looked down and started fidgeting with the zipper on his jacket. “You?”

“Hmmm.” I tucked my hair behind my ears and said, “When I woke up on Valentine’s Day, I thought I was in love. But here I am, a few hours later, wondering if I ever loved Josh at all.”

He raised his eyes. “Maybe that’s just because you’re mad at him.”

“That’s what’s so weird.” I paused to think for a moment, then I said, “Yes, I’m pissed that he kissed his ex-girlfriend, but only a little. Definitely not as much as I should be.”

It made me feel . . I don’t know… regretful. Had my feelings been something less than genuine?

He continued messing with his zipper. “So… why…?”

“This is a new realization, so I’m still working it all out.”

“Got it.” He abandoned his zipper, straightened, then walked over to the door and opened it a crack. His eye was pressed against the opening for a solid twenty seconds before he closed it again.

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