Page 15 of Give In To Love
“I’m happy.”
“Are you ever not happy?”
“Sure. I have tough moments, just like everyone else. But this is my happy place.” He stood, turning his body to face me. “But even more”—he tapped my cheek—“it’s good to see you smile.”
I felt my cheeks heat and automatically shifted my eyes away from him, looking down at my feet, uncomfortable under his scrutiny. I’d spent most of my life trying not to be noticed. I didn’t know what to do with the attention.
He tucked one finger under my chin, bringing my eyes back to his face. “Uh-uh. Don’t hide from me, okay?”
“I can’t help it. Being around you is like… It’s like looking directly at the sun.”
“And that’s a bad thing?”
“I don’t know.” I stepped back, needing to put some distance between us. “It’s…intense.”
His face fell, all the levity from the moment before evaporating, leaving me feeling like we were right back where we’d started. Why did I have to be so bad at this?
“I’m sorry,” he said, taking another step back, increasing the space between us. “I’ve always been a little…extra. It’s the theater kid in me.” He tried for a smile, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes.
I felt awful. Like he was a kid and I’d popped his balloon. I hated that I’d put that look on his face, but I didn’t know how to undo it.
TJ pulled his phone out of his pocket, checking the time. “We should probably get going. I have a class in twenty.”
He brushed past me without waiting for a response and headed toward a box on the side of the stage. He punched in a code, then hit a couple of buttons, plunging the stage into darkness, though the side of the stage remained lit, allowing us to see our way to the exit.
We wound back through the hallways, taking a different route that didn’t cut through the black box, and stepped out a door on the side of the building, back into the August heat.
“Thanks for humoring me and touring the theater.”
“It was interesting,” I said, and I meant it. For a few moments, I’d relaxed enough to let my guard down. I wanted that feeling back. And I wanted to put that smile back on his face where it belonged. “Will you be around tonight? We could, um…” I wiped my sweaty palms on my shorts. How was it possible to have your mouth go bone dry while simultaneously sweating through your shirt? I tried again. “We could eat…together…at the union together.”
Wow. For an English major, I really had a poor grasp of the language.
“I’m teaching tonight at the dance studio.” If it was possible, he looked even more bummed than he had before.
“Oh, that’s right. You said that earlier at lunch. So then, I’ll see you later tonight, I guess?”
“Yeah, though it’ll be later, like ten-thirty-ish.”
“Oh. Um. Okay.”
I hadn’t thought things could be more awkward than they’d been at lunch, but here we were, staring at each other on the sidewalk, neither of us speaking.
Finally, he offered me a small smile, though I could tell it was forced, and said, “I better go. Later, sunshine.”
I didn’t even respond, just watched him walk away, wondering what in the hell had just happened.
7
TJ
“Did I miss anything?”Tyler joined me on the bleachers at Trent’s football game Friday night just as the second quarter started.
“Nothing major, no. Just a few first-game-of-the-season jitters, but they seemed to settle on that last drive. Trent kicked a field goal.”
“Aw, man. I’m sorry I missed it. Where’s Ma?”
“Concession stand. I’m surprised you didn’t see her.”
