Page 6 of Fast Break
“No, I was just trying to work out if they are together,” I drop. I’ve already been caught so I may as well make the most of the opportunity to sus out the details.
“If who are together?” Trey asks.
“Quinn and that guy he was with. The one with the long hair.”
“Jace? I don’t know,” Trey shrugs. “Could be. Jace bats for Quinn’s team so it’s probable.”
“Huh.”
Okay, that did not help. Not one bit. I think it was better not knowing and being able to devise my own scenarios than to actually have a guy to imagine Quinn kissing. Nope, don’t want that image in my head and nor do I want to think about the reasons behind that too closely either.
***
Tuesday arrives. I have a swirly, anxious feeling sitting in my gut all day. I don’t have any classes with Quinn on Tuesdays. In fact, advanced science is the only class we share. I’m pretty sure Quinn is doing all the smart subjects which I try to avoid but I had to pick up a STEM subject and this one seemed my best bet.
I’m acutely aware of the hour as the day drags by, my anxiety manifesting in the way I can’t seem to sit still or stop touching my phone to check on the time every few minutes.
Trey is used to my slight neuroticism so he doesn’t comment. I wish he was just a tiny bit more nervous about the idea of having Millie Bourke over this afternoon, but he is as chill as a cucumber. I mean sure, Trey is no stranger to having girls in his bedroom. Pretty sure he lost his virginity in year ten, so this is nothing new to him.
Not me though. Not that I think of Quinn in those terms.At all.I just mean that I will be spending the afternoon with him—alone—and I am slightly anxious at the thought. After ten years spent living in Morlee my experience with stuff like this is somewhat, well, severely lacking. I know that much of this is down to me because it wasn’t like I didn’t have plenty of offers from girls in school but still, I am very inexperienced with sex.
It’s just that today of all days, I seem to be acutely aware of it.
I wish I could stop thinking about Quinn like that. I don’t know what is wrong with me but it’s just him and the way he wears those grey pants that has me all hot under the collar. I can’t explain it. I’ve grown up around locker rooms and am no stranger to standing in an open shower with equally naked guys at my side. Never once have I imagined taking a peek at any of them before. I’m not even sure that’s what I’m thinking about when I look at Quinn.
Only that he makes my heart race in ways nobody else has ever done.
I mean, just today I walked past Quinn during lunchbreak and felt my heart both flutter and plummet. I didn’t even know that was medically possible. But the day is warm, and he was lying back on his elbows, sleeves rolled up, enjoying the sunshine. Once again, Jace was way too close to Quinn—his long, coppery locks catching the light, that cheeky smile out in full force as he leaned in, touching Quinn like it was second nature. I felt my teeth start to grind.
Why does that Jace get me so agro? I never even laid eyes on him before yesterday but something about him just annoys me.
I think it's his hair. It’s just too …prettyand I don’t like it. I wish he would just take those pretty, flowing coppery locks and stop touching Quinn like that. Is that too much to ask?
I’ve checked the route on Google maps to Quinn’s house fifty times already. I could probably walk there blindfolded at this rate but it’s slightly too far from school and we live in a very hilly area. I eventually ask Trey and he agrees to drop me off on his way home. Not that it’s on his way but Trey is cool about the fact I don’t have a car (or a licence) and will usually take me places.
I hope one of my parents can pick me up later on but I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re too busy. They usually are too busy—at least for things that concern me.
My stomach is wedged up near my throat when I finally knock on the door of what I hope is Quinn’s house. Trey is idling on the side of the road in his red Nissan Silvia, and I feel his eyes on me as I wait on the wrong side of the door. Quinn lives in a nice part of town, and this is a really nice house—a narrow two storey building that looks reasonably new and is encased in white render and sandstone bricks.
I hear footsteps and my heartrate spikes just as Quinn opens the door, that amused smile on his face as he takes me in. I murmur a strangely stifledhellowhile waving goodbye to my cousin as Quinn holds the door for me.
I enter, unable to stop the slide of my eyes down Quinn’s body. He’s wearing a pair of light blue jeans that fit just right, while his black t-shirt perfectly complements his dark hair—slightly tousled, like he’s just run his fingers through it. Yep, definitely bedroom hair.
“You found the place alright?” he is asking me, but words are stuck in my throat and I have to clear it before I can speak.
“Yes. All fine,” I manage to get out, aware my voice has just risen a full octave.
But Quinn just smirks a lopsided smile and now I have a case of butterflies in my stomach to go with the sweaty palms and pounding heart.
“You want a drink or anything before we get started?” he asks, leading the way down a short hallway to the kitchen and open living room. The space is not huge, but I like it already. Quinn’s place is calm and neat and not full of children and stuff and the revolving door of strangers coming and going from my dad’s closed office.
“Um, only if you are,” I say, looking to him for guidance.
“I’ll make you a coffee if you like,” he suggests, turning those piercing blue eyes on me.
“Are you having one?”
“Sure, if it makes you feel more at home,” he smiles, stepping into the galley kitchen. It’s all white and bright in here and I follow behind him, eyes dipping to his ass that looks just as good encased in denim.Okay stop, JT.
