Page 2 of The Fix
The sounds of music and raucous laughter filtered in from outside, and for a minute she considered staying right there, where it wasn’t hot and noisy and where she wasn’t expected to be chatty and giggly andfun. But she couldn’t hide inside indefinitely either. And it was almost time for her to go anyway. Her dad was leaving on a business trip in the morning, and she’d already told Hollis she had plans with her family.
Just one more hour. You can do it.
She left the bathroom just as a few of the other cheerleaders burst through the door of the pool house, singsonging hellos to her as they passed by. She brought forth her carefree grin and greeted them back.
When she stepped out into the bright late-summer day, the glare of sun blinded her momentarily, so that she squinted and turned her head as she waited for her eyes to adjust. When they did, her gaze was focused on the tops of the swaying trees in the Barclays’ side yard.
All too soon, the leaves would be changing and the pool parties would come to an end, to be replaced by tailgating and bonfires. Eyes raised, she walked in the direction of the trees, away from the party and into the shade of a patio overhang that was situated next to the pool house.
As she watched those swaying trees, Cami felt an odd dwindling inside that she could only attribute to the impending end of one season as it shifted into another. But she also had this sense that it wasn’texactlythat, and though she couldn’t pinpoint it now, she’d be able to later ... the way she sometimes looked back at a moment she’d experienced in her childhood that she hadn’t known then was the final sled ride down a particular hill, or the last sleepover with her sister on her grandpa’s porch before he passed away ...
Movement behind a large potted plant to her right broke her from her reverie. She turned and leaned around the foliage to see Rex Lowe sitting in a patio chair that was mostly hidden behind the vegetation-filled planter. “Oh, hi. What are you doing hiding over here?” she asked. She realized the question had come out mildly rude, but he’d surprised her during a vulnerable moment, and though it might be irrational, she felt spied upon.
“I might ask you the same thing,” he returned. She bristled slightly because his comment had hit the target, but the expression on his face disarmed her. It was sort of shy, and just a little teasing, and he appeared nervous, if the way he’d straightened his back and was blinking as he waited for her response was any indication.
She released a breath and stepped all the way around the planter so she was even more hidden, like him. “I’m not really in the mood for”—she waved her hand in the direction of the pool, where the splashing and squeals of delight were ongoing—“that.” She wasn’t sure why she’d offered that level of honesty except, well, if anyonegot it, it would be the boy safely concealed in the corner behind a plant.
He smiled on a breath. “Yeah, me neither. If you take one more small step to your right, no one can see you from any angle. I’ve done the equations.”
She chuckled softly as she considered him. Rex Lowe had been on her periphery since middle school, but she didn’t think she’d ever really taken a minute tolookat him. He was one of those people who’d just always been background noise. He was a good-looking guy, but not inthe way Hollis was—all toned muscle, cocky swagger, and megawatt smile. Rex’s bangs were too long and flopped over his forehead in a sheet of ebony that hid his eyes, and he clearly didn’t care much about his style. He typically looked like he’d dug in the bottom of his laundry hamper for something to wear, and sometimes his pants were a hair too short. He smelled vaguely like cigarette smoke, though she’d never seen him light up anywhere. Most likely he lived with a smoker. He had some acne on his cheeks and tended to walk slightly hunched over with his hands stuffed in his pockets like he was trying to make himself smaller.
Cami’s eyes moved to the notebook on his lap, the top page filled with numbers and symbols that she didn’t recognize. “So now you’re what ... devising an escape plan?” she asked, tipping her chin toward whatever he was working on.
He let out a laugh that sounded vaguely surprised, as though she was the last person he’d expected to amuse him in any way. He looked down at his paper filled with equations or whatever and then back at her. “What? You think it’s overkill?” he asked, his lip quirking.
She couldn’t help smiling back. “Probably, considering you could just”—she pointed past the opposite side of the patio—“walk out that gate.”
His smile grew, and their gazes caught before he cleared his throat and looked away. “I have a tendency to complicate things.”
And just like she’d caught him by surprise when she’d made him laugh, she hadn’t expected him to say something like that, something worth pondering, to be honest. It struck her, right then and there, how shallow the conversations she’d grown used to really were, how most of her interactions boiled down to throwaway comments tossed at others with a wink and a smile. Meaningless. Boring. “Hmm,” she murmured, “that’s interesting because I have a tendency to simplify things.”
Their eyes met again, his lips quirking in that same disarmed way, but this time he didn’t laugh. “What have you simplified lately?” They both stared. God, the way he was looking at her, like he cared deeply about her answer, caused a small fluttering at the base of her throat.She raised her hand and put her fingers there, her pulse beating steadily beneath her skin. And she suddenly felt ...seen, as though she’d been living as a blurry shadow of herself, and she’d just now come into focus and by the most unexpected of people at the most unlikely of times. It was like, for a moment, she’d stepped into an alternate world when she’d ducked behind this potted tree.
What do you see when you look at me?
How odd that she really, truly wanted to know.
Did he even know her name?
“I’m Cami, by the way. And you’re Rex, right?”
His eyes flared slightly like he was surprised that she knew who he was. And again, she saw herself from the outside. Someone who’d gone to school with others for many years and yet had never so much as said their names or met their eyes.
And as she watched him, it occurred to her that Rex was wearing jeans and a T-shirt, and she was standing next to him all but naked in her hot-pink bikini. She suddenly wished she had a towel or a cover-up or something to drape over her, which was weird, considering she felt confident in her skin and had never had much of a problem knowing eyes were on her. In fact, she’d relished it because she knew it was a big part of why she’d been accepted into this popular crowd. But Rex ... he confused her in some way she couldn’t quite define for herself. He very suddenly seemed ... more than what she’d thought he was. Morewhat, she didn’t know. And here she was complicating her own thoughts after she’d just told him she had a habit of oversimplification.
But before Cami could even think about how to answer him, Rex’s gaze moved over her shoulder. She turned to see Hollis approaching, his navy-and-white swim trunks sitting low on his narrow hips and clinging to his muscular thighs. Water glistened on his six-pack and dripped from his tanned pecs, and he ran his hand through his dark hair as a gleaming smile lit up his handsome face.
He didn’t so much as acknowledge Rex before he wrapped an arm around Cami’s waist, pulling her into his body and grasping one asscheek as he planted his lips on hers in a wet smack. “I almost didn’t see you back here. I’ve been looking for you,” he said when he pulled his head away from her.
“You found me.”
He grinned again. “Yes, I have.” He uncurled his arm, and she stepped back, feeling off kilter and embarrassed by what felt like an inappropriate public display of affection in front of Rex. But when she looked back at him, he was standing, his notebook held down at his side.
“Leaving so soon, Lowe?” Hollis asked.
“Yeah, uh, I’ve gotta get home. Thanks for having me. It’s a great ... pool.” He cleared his throat. “Cami. Take care.”
“You too, Rex.”
