Page 102 of Catch Me
I paddled over to the stone and he followed me. Like he’d done before, I leaned back against it and flattened my palms behind me. I hissed at how cold it was, but I didn’t move.
“This is still weird,” I said.
“Haven’t you figured out that I’m weird?”
“It’s the only thing that makes you tolerable.”
“Oh, you like weird. If you told me that two weeks ago, I’d call you a liar. What other surprises do you have, Roman?”
Turning, I leaned my shoulder against the stone. When he matched my position, I took in his appearance. His cheeks were red and there were drops of water rolling past his temples. My hand that was still on the stone moved across it, my fingers caressing the cold surface as I tried to ground myself.
“I don’t know,” I replied. “You tell me.”
“Hm. I was shocked when I found out you’re funny.”
I breathed a laugh, then my eyes caught on his lips. The soft smile there was mesmerizing, and I’d become used to seeing it over the past three weeks.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, shifting closer.
“Um . . .”
My heart was beating too fast, too hard. God, I couldn’t breathe. Maybe that was why my thoughts were so jumbled—not enough oxygen to my brain.
“Roman?”
He put his hand on my bicep and it felt like electricity. I didn’t know why or how, but it did.
I flattened my palm on his chest, stopping some of the water droplets. His fingers tightened on my arm as I slid my hand further up. When I reached his neck, my fingers sunk into the hair at his nape, and without even thinking about it, I leaned forward.
He released me and moved backward. Everything shattered at that moment and reality crashed in through the jagged gaps. I opened my mouth to say something, but I had no idea what the fuck Icouldsay. He didn’t give me a chance to figure it out. He turned around and swam to the edge of the water, pulling himself onto the grass.
I wanted to stay in this spot forever and never face it, but I realized how cold I was. My teeth were chattering and I was trembling, although that may have been from what just happened.
“Fuck,” I muttered before I followed him.
By the time I reached him, he’d put on a dry shirt and switched out his shorts. He was putting on his shoes as I approached, and he glanced up at me, but he didn’t say anything.
“Travis . . .”
“You should change. You’re shivering.”
I picked up my bag, but I just held onto it with a tight grip, unable to actually do anything. Suddenly, he grabbed it from me and crouched as he unzipped it. He thrust a shirt at me, so I pulled off my wet one and put the new one on. When he tried to hand me something else, I shook my head.
“Roman, it’s freezing.”
After taking the backpack from him, I started walking. I couldn’t just get dressed like everything was fine.
Why would I try to kiss him? It was stupid, and if I’d thought about it for a second, I would’ve reminded myself that there was nothing between us. He didn’t want that and I didn’t want that. Now, I’d ruined our friendship.
“Roman, stop.”
Even though I didn’t tell myself to, I listened to him. He came around to stand in front of me with an exasperated look on his face.
“You can’t walk two miles in wet shoes. You’re gonna make yourself sick.” When I shrugged, he scoffed. “Come on, man. Let’s get back and we can talk about it.”
“No, I don’t want to do that.”
“Fine, then don’t.”
