Page 41 of Rock Bottom Girl
I gave them a thumbs-up.
“No, no, no. This is cooler than a thumbs-up,” Sophie S. insisted. She made a heart shape with her fingers, holding them over her chest. One by one, the other girls followed suit. A silent, heart-shaped salute. Damn if I didn’t feel a little teary.
“Shit! What’s that?” Vicky hissed. She pointed in the direction of a single light bobbing in the dark. Bobbingour wayin the dark.
“Crap. Okay, everyone go over the fence at the end of the field. Quietly! Go!”
They took off, a roiling mass of adrenaline and good old-fashioned teenage fear.
“Vicky! Go,” I said, shooing her with my hands.
“No way. What if it’s a murderer? I’m not leaving you here to be murdered! What kind of a friend and assistant coach would I be?”
The answer to that would have to be debated later because the bouncing light was getting closer, and it was attached to a fast-moving, muscled form.
“You havegotto be kidding me,” I breathed.
“What?” Vicky asked, batting at me as I tried to push her into the shadows of the bleachers.
“Out for a stroll around the maintenance room, ladies?”
Jake fucking Weston slowed to a stop in front of me. He was sweating, shirtless, and smiling. A combination I found perilously attractive.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest. “I’m starting to think you’re following me.”
“Clearing my head with a night run,” he said as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
“Huh. Us, too,” I said.
“Yeah. Us, too,” Vicky said, mimicking my stance. He eyed us with amusement and suspicion.
I heard the jingle of chain metal and a distant giggle.
“Uh-huh,” Jake said. “Sure.”
Shit.
“Okay, Weston. What’s it going to take to get you to forget you saw us here?” Vicky asked.
Hands on his hips, he studied his feet for a beat. He was still wearing those dorky shoes. “You still make those salted caramel cookies?” he asked Vicky.
“Hell yeah, I do. I make ’em good.” Apparently, Vicky took her baking very seriously.
“Two dozen of those babies and, providing you didn’t commit a felony, your secret is probably safe with me.”
“Deal,” Vicky said.
We heard another giggle in the dark. I coughed loudly to cover it and looked everywhere but Jake’s sweaty torso.
“I guess we’ll be on our way,” Vicky said slowly.
“Yeah. I guess we’ll be going.”
“I’ll just finish my lap around the field,” Jake said.
“No! I mean, you should walk us to our car?” It came out as a question. “I mean, since it’s dark and nighttime.” Those things meant the same thing.
“Itisboth of those things,” he agreed, clearly enjoying himself.
