Page 21 of More Than Chemical
Omigod…Dallas.
My arms went numb. My hands limp. A sickening feeling overcame me. Nausea, but at the same time, an electrical current running from my heart down to my toes.
DALLAS
How about today @ 3PM?
My body started to tremble uncontrollably.Get it together, Ade. Don’t let Emma see you like this.Think. Think.I managed to text back. It was clumsy, and my autocorrect had to do the bulk of the work.
I have to work. 5:30PM is better, where?
“Ade?” Emma said. “Did you hear me?”
She’d been talking, and I hadn’t been paying attention.
“What?” I asked her.
“I said let’s go ask them.”
Dingwent my phone again. I glanced down at the screen.
DALLAS
Starbucks on Fifth
K
“Who are you texting?” Emma approached me.
My heart raced as I turned off the screen and slid it into the pocket of my pajama pants. “Jay.”
“Do you think he’d want to go?”
“Go where?”
She sighed and rolled her eyes. “To the diner for breakfast.”
“Oh.” I’d totally forgotten what we’d even been talking about. “I doubt it.”
“Is he busy?”
Shit. Shit.“He’s out for a run.”
“He’s texting you and running at the same time?”
“Yes. No.”Sheesh.Being a liar was hard when the person I was lying to wouldn’t stop with the third degree. “He’sgoingfor a run.”
“Oh,” she said.
Together, we went back to my room so I could change and we could get Priya and Luke.
Because of Dallas, my hands were a sweaty, shaking mess. My whole body was sticky. I could hardly get my pajamas off and my jeans on.Five thirty.That was in eight hours. Eightlonghours.
The four of us went downstairs to walk to the restaurant. As we were exiting the dorm, Jay and one of his teammates entered in their running pants, Saucony running shoes, and wicking layers, smelling of frozen sweat.Crap.I should have said he was done with his run, not starting it.
Emma stared hard at me, her brows dipping into a tight frown.
Clueless Priya yammered away. “We’re headed out for breakfast. You want to come with us?”
