Page 54 of Made of Steel (Made of Steel 1)

Some weeknights it had been harder to slip away. But we were always together watching the stars every Saturday night. He was still looking. Maybe he was still waiting. He couldn't wait for me, though. I wasn't Summer Brooks anymore. She had died five years ago. There was nothing left of her. Except him. Stop.

I was torturing myself for no reason. Kins said he was a player. He had moved on. I needed to too. I put my hand on the center of my chest. This wasn't living. I grabbed one of the cookies off the cooling rack and poured a glass of milk. I walked back to his table and put the plate and glass down in front of him. "Here you go. Just let me know if you need anything else." I was staring at my Converses instead of him.

"Hey." His fingers grazed my forearm, sending a chill down my spine. "You came to my game last night."

"I'm pretty sure the whole school was at your game."

"Yeah, maybe. But I wasn't paying attention to them."

My eyes met his. He knew I was staring at him the whole time yesterday. He always could tell what I was thinking. I tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear. "I'm pretty sure you noticed the two girls behind me in bikinis too."

He laughed. "I was a little too preoccupied to notice."

"Right. With the game."

"No, not with the game." His gaze was suddenly so intense.

The heat behind it made my whole body feel warm. There was no doubt that he was flirting with me. What I didn't understand was why. "I should probably go check on my other tables."

He pushed his hair off his forehead. "Okay, Sadie."

I walked around the diner for several minutes, mainly to ignore him. I stole a glance as I refilled someone's water glass. He was staring directly at me. I immediately looked back down at the pitcher in my hand.

This was ridiculous. Getting involved with him would put us both in danger. Plus, I was pretty sure that dating your RA was against the rules. And the whole thing was ridiculous anyway. He was the star soccer player here. Girls practically threw themselves at him. He was just being nice. I was imagining the heat. I was pretending I was that little girl that used to spy on him from my bedroom window. I was being completely insane.

My shift was almost over. Eli wasn't outside yet. I bit the inside of my lip. I needed to squash this thing. I needed to get the ache out of my chest. I needed to forget. The sooner I got out of here, the better. I grabbed his check and placed it down on his table. "Here's your check. Thanks for stopping by the Corner Diner." It was what I had been trained to say, but I left off the "We hope to see you again soon."

There seemed to be a twinkle in his eye.

I hadn't said anything funny.

"I'm walking you home."

"It's okay, my...friend is coming to walk me home." It would have been better if I had been able to call Eli my boyfriend. Then Miles would get the hint. But Eli hadn't asked me out.

Miles glanced out the window. Eli still wasn't outside. "I want to."

He wants to. I needed to push him away. "There are a million girls at this school that would love your help. And I'm sorry, but I'm not one of them." There was still some anger underneath the ache in my chest. It was easier than I thought to snap at him.

The twinkle remained in his eye.

"Someone is coming to walk me home." Saying it a second time made it sound like a lie. "Really," I added.

"Okay." He pulled out his wallet and placed some money down on the table. It was only a few cents over the bill.

Did he seriously not leave me a tip? "I'll be right back with that." I angrily grabbed his three pennies of change and brought it back to his table. "Here you go."

He picked up the pennies and slid them into his pocket.

Asshole.

"If you want your tip, you'll have to let me walk you home." Again, it was like he could still read my thoughts.

I laughed. "I don't know why you don't believe me. I'm not walking home alone tonight." The clock on the wall said 10:02. He'll be here.

"If you say so."

"I do."

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