Page 22 of Collision
“Are you coming back in with us? Travis has been looking for you all day. He says you disappeared.”
Damn it, he’s right. After greeting him at the entrance, I hadn’t given my phone another glance.
“I got a little busy, but I was on my way. I stopped to get some water, but the bottle got stuck.” My eyes land on Thomas. It’s odd that he hasn’t yet directed any of his sarcastic jokes at me. He’s not even looking at me, focused as he is on his screen.
As if he’d read my mind, Thomas looks up at me. In the fluorescent light, his green eyes sparkle hypnotically. I feel an unusual tingle in my belly.
He takes a step toward me and I instinctively shrink back, but he was headed for the vending machine, not me. With a swing of his arm that doesn’t cost him the slightest effort, he gets the bottle to drop down. He sets it on the adjacent table and gets a soda for himself.
“Oh, thanks a lot, very nice of you,” I stammer, trying to smile. He has no reaction. He pulls a red pack of cigarettes out of his warm-up jacket and lifts one to his mouth. Before walking away, he shoots me a look that leaves me dumbstruck.
“What’s with him?” I ask, confused.
Asking Travis’s friends for information about Thomas isn’t exactly the best move, but one of my biggest flaws is my curiosity. I can never keep it at bay.
“Who, Thomas?” Finn replies, nodding in the direction where he had headed.
“Yeah. He seems mad or something,” I say hesitantly.
“He’s pissed at his sister. He’ll get over it. They’ve been on the phone arguing all morning,” Matt replies.
I wonder what happened…
“Listen, Matt,” I say after glancing at the clock. “Do me a favor. Tell Travis I really wanted to stay, but it’s getting late, and I have to get home.”
Bullshit, more and more bullshit.
“You won’t come and watch? We finish in an hour, then he’ll take you home.”
“No, I’d rather walk.” I take my jacket out of my bag and slip it on.
“Okay, your call. See you later.” They head off with unconvincing smiles.
I say goodbye and head for the exit. I take my phone and find the texts Travis had sent throughout the day.
To placate him, I write him that I’m heading home and that I’ll see him tomorrow. I put the phone away and scan the deserted area. Or almost deserted. Thomas is sitting on the lawn a little ways away from the main entrance to the gym, shrouded in a cloud of smoke. An instinct I can’t control pushes me to go over there, hoping to figure out what is going on with him.
As I approach, I realize that I have no idea what to ask him. I begin to think that it was a bad idea to come out here. But I push my concerns aside. I’m going to be a mature person and just go up and ask how he’s doing.
“You’ll catch a cold sitting out here, you know?” Oh God. Of all the things I could say, how did I come up with something so ridiculous? Jeez, Vanessa, it’s not like you’re his mother.
“You just can’t stay away from me, can you?” he asks me sarcastically, without even looking up.
“I had to pass by here on my way home, unfortunately,” I lie.
“Then go home.” He takes a drag from his cigarette and dismisses me, saying, “I don’t want you bugging me.”
I was ready to engage with Thomas’s usual arrogant self, but the gruffness of his response catches me by surprise. I turn to face him, drop my bag on the ground, and bark at him, “All right, why are you being such an asshole to me? I haven’t done anything to deserve it.”
“I thought you were used to dealing with assholes. Or is your boyfriend the only one you can handle?” he asks with a presumptuous look that gets on my nerves.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
His head bowed, he runs a hand through his hair in a slow, tortured gesture. “Nothing. Weren’t you leaving? What are you still doing here?”
He’s right, what was I doing there? Did I expect we would belaughing and joking around like old pals? He’s nice, then he’s a jerk. And I’m just an idiot.
I shrug and without saying anything else I walk off briskly, leaving him and his bluster behind.
