Page 53 of Fostering Chemistry
But it wasn’t her hand that touched my shoulder. Nor Jayden’s. Aaron stood there, extending his hand out to me. I took it, and he pulled me to my feet.
Diego hopped up nimbly, and Jayden shook his hand, looking a bit disgruntled. “Who knew a whistle would make the difference.”
Something very close to a smirk crossed Diego’s face. “A bit more useful than a bow, yes.”
Tori beamed at us, and I knew it wasn’t just because we’d won. She’d seen me lying on top of Diego.
As had Aaron.
He had sunglasses on, so I couldn’t see his expression as I introduced him to Tori and Jayden.
“Way to go,” he said to me, then glanced at Diego to include him, too.
“And to the second-place team, too.” He nodded at Tori and Jayden, and Diego’s smirk returned.
“Let’s go get your prize, and then I’ll buy you a pretzel. All of you,” he said. “You must be tired.”
“Yes, but it was fun,” I said, and the others nodded. Plus, a cinnamon sugar pretzel sounded amazing right now. The race had been tiring.
Aaron’s expression softened as he looked at me. “That’s why I wanted you to do it. You definitely needed some fun.”
I gave him a smile as we headed for the union, but his words stuck with me. Yes, I had needed a break to have some fun, but in hindsight, something told me that Diego had, too. I’d spent the last few weeks on pins and needles around him, afraid that he was going to remember the night of the party, in which case I’d need to move to the other side of the world. But perhaps my subconscious had been paying more attention to him than I thought, because it seemed to me that he’d been down lately, too.
For the first time, I wondered what had made him get so drunk at the party that night. And whether he’d been trying desperately to distract himself, like I had.
It didn’t seem likely I’d ever know.
16
MIA
Walking backto the house between Diego and Aaron, I was so keyed up that I was practically skipping.
“So, I take it you had a good time?” Aaron said rather dryly as I actually did skip for a few steps. Too bad the tutu was gone, I could’ve tried a pirouette or something.
“Yes! We kicked ass.” I raised my palm up, and Diego high-fived it. “Next time I have a really boring paper to write, remind me to go on a scavenger hunt to get my energy up.”
Diego laughed. “You may be energized, but I’m tired. Guess that makes me an old man.”
“An old man of twenty-three,” I scoffed.
“Yeah,” Aaron chimed in. “You’re not eighty. You just act like it sometimes.” They’d been friends for over a year, so I hoped Diego took the teasing in the spirit intended.
Even better, he defended himself. “Did I act like an eighty-year-old when I fielded that soccer ball?” he asked me.
“No,” I said cheerfully.
“Or when I lifted you up on my shoulders?”
I shook my head.
“Or when I caught you when you fell out of the tree?”
I laughed. “I’m very glad I didn’t land on a senior citizen.”
Aaron peered down at me. “You fell out of a tree?”
“Yes. But it was nothing a first-place team couldn’t handle.”
