Page 40 of When the Stars Fall
She was wearing tiny running shorts and a sports tank, her hair in a high ponytail. Earlier, I’d seen her running and I had run right past her, leaving her in my dust, not even glancing in her direction as I passed. Lila was always running, she ran miles and miles every day, so of course my dad had talked her into joining the girls’ cross-country team in the fall.
God forbid you lived with the McCallisters and didn’t compete in a sport.
Meanwhile, she was still staring.
Let her take a good, long look. I had nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, I had everything to be proud of. I worked hard for this body. For the second summer in a row, I was working construction for my dad. I ran five miles a day. I lifted weights, swam, and punched the leather bag in the barn which no longer housed horses. Brody had moved his horses to the ranch where he worked. So my dad had set up a gym in there. And tomorrow pre-season football training was starting. I was fighting fit and no longer looked like the boy she’d grown up.
Yeah, baby girl, that’s right. I’ve grown up. Just shy of six three, my shoulders were broad enough to carry the weight of the entire world and my washboard abs were so toned and rigid you could bounce a quarter off them.
My dick stood to attention and was instantly at half-mast. I might hate her but obviously my dick felt differently.
She squeezed her eyes shut. Then she spun around and ran out of the bathroom. Or she would have if she hadn’t run into the door as it slammed shut in her face.
On the other side, I heard someone laughing their ass off.
Fucking Brody.
“Ow.” She groaned and covered her face with her hands and this time I suspected it was in pain, not embarrassment. With a loud exhale to let her know that coming to her rescue yet again was a huge imposition, I wrapped the towel around my hips and in a few long strides, I was standing behind her. I turned her around to face me then took the earbuds out of her ears and looped them around her neck to assess the damage but I couldn’t see a damn thing because her hands were covering her face.
“Rebel. The fuck are you doing?”
“I think it’s broken.”
“Let me see it,” I said quietly.
Without meeting my eyes, she lowered her hands and I cursed Brody when I saw the blood. That idiot. I unspooled some toilet paper and dabbed the blood under her nose. She winced but let me clean it up. “We need to get some ice on it.”
“I’m...” Her face drained of color and she swayed on her feet. I knew she was going down if I didn’t stop her. My instincts kicked in and I held her by the upper arms to steady her. When I released my grip, she slid down against the door and put her head between her legs. “God. This is so embarrassing.”
“Which part?”
“All of it.” She lifted her head and leaned it against the door. I didn’t think her nose was broken but it looked red and it was starting to swell and I knew it had to hurt.
“Are you trying to look up my towel?’ I asked, now conscious of the fact that I was standing across from her in nothing but a towel.
“Ugh. No. I’m trying not to throw up.”
“Are you two bumping uglies in there?” Brody yelled from the other side of the door. Might as well alert the entire fucking neighborhood.
I threw the first thing I could grab which happened to be a hairbrush. It hit the door above Rebel’s head and bounced off. She ducked out of the way and covered her head with her hands before it could hit her on the way down. Good reflexes.
Then, for no reason I could fathom, Lila started laughing. She was laughing so hard tears sprang to her eyes. “Ow,” she said, covering her nose with her hands and then laughing some more.
“Are you high?”
She shook her head. “No.” She snorted. “I don’t even know why I’m laughing. But it’s better than crying.”
I wondered if she cried a lot. The only time I had ever seen her cry,reallycry, was the night she moved in when I was skulking in the hallway outside her bedroom door. It had taken every ounce of self-restraint I possessed not to go to her and try to comfort her. That was what I would have done in the past but we weren’t the same Jude and Lila anymore.
So I had to remind myself that she didn’t want me. Which was something I had to do again now before I ended up making a fool of myself by telling her something stupid likeI miss you. Or worse,Why did you shut me out when all I wanted to do was be there for you?
I’d temporarily forgotten that I was mad at her. I’d forgotten that I hated her for pushing me away and treating me like shit. And for destroying a friendship that I always thought was so rock solid nothing could ruin it. But that’s life. You never know when it’s going to throw you a curveball.
I was fed up and now I wanted to get out of this damn bathroom and forget the sad girl with the bloody nose.
“Move aside, Rebel.” She scooted away from the door enough for me to open it and slip out into the hallway. “Hope you got a nice long look so you’ll know what you’re missing.”
Petty? Maybe.
