Page 19 of Heat It Up (Off the Ice)
“One person makes a statement about the other person, and if it’s false, the other person has to tell the truth or do a dare.” I used to play this game with Cody. I spent more time doing the dares than telling the truth.
Sofia peers at the ride again. “Okay, you ask first.”
“All right. You ready?”
She takes a deep breath then nods. “Ready?”
“You once played spin the bottle and had to kiss the class geek.”
She laughs and some of her tension drains away. “Is this your way of getting me to kiss you at the end of our non-date date?”
“Hey, just answer the question.”
“False. The bottle landed on a girl. Who later came out of the closet in our senior year and everyone thought she was a lesbian because of my kiss.”
The corner of my mouth slides up. “Can’t say I’m surprised. You’re an amazing kisser.”
Sofia’s face flushes but she doesn’t have a chance to say anything because the line moves forward. We take our seats and I reach for her hand. She willingly accepts it. Within seconds, I swear there’s no circulation left in the hand she’s gripping.
The ride jerks up and my stomach stays behind on a slight time delay. She screams. Her hand releases mine and she grabs the safety harness pressing against her shoulders. She screams like everyone else as we rapidly ascend, then we drop, and for a moment my stomach feels like it was left behind, again.
After a few more rapid ascents and descents, the ride returns to the ground. Sofia’s smiling, and I have a feeling it has nothing to do with the ride being over.
We climb down from the seats and she kisses my cheek. A quick kiss. One filled with gratitude, nothing more.
“Thanks,” she says.
“For what?”
“For taking me on that ride. For challenging me to do something I didn’t think I could do. For being there for me.” She scans the nearby rides. “Okay, where to now?”
We walk around the park, riding whatever ride Sofia’s comfortable with…which surprisingly includes the roller coaster. We also play arcade games while throwing out the occasional question in our True and False game. I fight to keep the limp from being noticeable as the ache in my leg builds. It’s not bad yet, but since I didn’t have a chance to sit in the sauna after work, it’s worse than it might have otherwise been.
“You dated the high school mascot in your senior year.” She sips her smoothie through her straw in a way that’s incredibly hot. As in, I’m-getting-hard-against-my-jeans-zipper hot.
“True or false,” she prompts.
“False. Our mascot was a bulldog. An actual bulldog. Youwerethe high school mascot in your senior year.”
“True. But it wasn’t anything sexy. We were the woodchucks and no one else wanted to do it, mainly because the mascot had to do this stupid dance.” She demonstrates, shaking her ass, which does nothing for my situation.
Rain splatters against my arms and my head. Scattered shrieks pierce the air as the rain picks up in intensity and people run for cover.
“We might as well catch our bus now,” Sofia calls out. Her damp t-shirt clings to her body. The image in my mind of peeling off her clothes and finding the body I know is buried underneath also doesn’t help my situation.
“Good idea.”
We walk to the bus stop, the rain no longer bothering us. We’re already wet. The entire time I wonder if I should risk kissing her again, but in the end it doesn’t matter if I want to kiss her or if she wants me to kiss her, her bus is waiting at the stop.
“Thanks for the fun. See ya later,” is all she has time to say.
And I’m left alone, watching her climb on the bus. It drives away as I wonder what the heck I’m going to do. Sofia is getting to me in a way no girl has in a while, and I’m not sure what I should do about it.
Or if I should do anything about it.
Chapter Ten
Sofia
