Page 26 of Catch My Fall (Catch)

“How come Darby doesn’t work out here?” I asked.

He full-body laughed at that. “Because Darbs doesn’t work out indoors, ever. She would rather put hot pokers in her eyes. When she works out, she runs outside. Her only other form of exercise is kicking our asses. I’ve missed having her around and it’s driving Trace fucking crazy.”

“Hopefully it will all work itself out.”

“Fuck, I hope so. My brother’s a mess. Anyway, enough about that ‘cause it’s depressing me.”

We continued walking around the track and talking about other stuff for two more laps before we both broke into a run. I’m a fast runner but he’s obviously faster, and I knew that he was slowing himself down so as not to leave me in the dust.

Put another check in the ‘Tristan’s a really good guy’ column, because most guys I know would’ve run ahead. Maybe the fact that he’s so different is why I feel so comfortable with him and why I like him as much as I do.

After working out we both showered and changed before leaving the gym. We stopped at the front desk to say goodbye to Colin and then we went and flushed all of our hard work at the gym down the drain by going to IHOP and eating two of the biggest pancake stacks that I’d ever seen in my life. I got plain-Jane regular pancakes and Tristan got blueberry, banana and chocolate chip. Sounds disgusting, I know, but they were actually really good.

We spent the rest of the day at his house working on the puzzle and listening to songs from his iPod. I like his taste in music because it’s a little bit country, a little bit rock n’ roll. Trace came home around mid-afternoon in the clothes he’d been wearing the night before and I blushed to the roots of my hair when I noticed there was lipstick on the hem of his shirt. I could just imagine how that got there, and immediately I felt really bad for poor Darby. To fall for someone who can’t keep it in his pants would be humiliatingly painful. It was hard not to think about it happening to me because Tristan and Trace are identical. It could just as easily be lipstick on the hem of Tristan’s shirt—and it probably has been many, many times.

Worrying my lip with my teeth as I watched Tristan and Trace talk, I thought about how I might feel if it turned out that Tristan was as incapable of commitment as Trace. Certainly losing her virginity to Trace wasn’t the fairytale that Darby deserves and I can’t help but wonder if I’m signing myself up for the same fate.

The walls in the house were closing in on me, and suddenly I really needed to be away from Tristan. I’m barely strong enough to function from day to day; can I really deal with someone like Tristan Chamberlain? Pulling my iPhone out of the pocket in my shorts, I texted Darby.

Me: Where are you and what are you doing?

Darby: I’m in our room reading some crappy book for English Lit. What’s up?

Me: Can you come get me from Tristan’s house right now? The key to my car is on top of my dresser.

Darby: Sure. Is everything okay?

Me: Yeah, it’s fine. I just need a breather ASAP. Will explain when I see you.

Darby: Be there in fifteen.

Looking up from my phone I found Tristan watching me. Forcing a smile, I gestured to the phone before starting to explain the fact that I was leaving. “That was Darby. I forgot we made dinner plans for tonight. She’s coming to pick me up now.”

Trace cursed under his breath and hauled ass from the room—probably to get rid of the lipstick-stained shirt. Knowing that he was hiding the evidence of the night he’d obviously had only served to make me more anxious. Was this how things had been with my mother and father? She was young and in love with him once, and God knows that turned out to be a huge mistake. She’s since had to put up with eighteen and a half years of his toxic bullshit, and I know damn well that was no picnic. I’ve sworn to myself for as long as I can remember that I won’t make that same mistake.

Cocking his head to the side, Tristan stared at me for a few seconds before crossing the room to stand in front of me. “What’s happening here, Mia? You’re upset about something. What did I do?”

I laughed uneasily in an attempt to dissuade him from thinking that. “No, no, nothing like that. I just feel bad that I forgot I have something to do with Darby. I hate forgetting things, but other than that, everything is fine.”

God, why did I agree to try with him? I basically gave him a blank check to do as much damage to me as he wanted to. Stupid, stupid, stupid! Had history taught me nothing?

He took my hands in his as he shook his head. “No, that’s not it. You’re running. Why?”

I pulled away from his hands and shook my head at him as I turned to find my purse. “I’m not running, exactly, I just need time to think. This…us…whatever it is…might not be such a great idea.”

He looked crestfallen, but I couldn’t help but wonder if that was because he’s so used to girls falling at his feet. Am I just the first girl that hasn’t fallen in line?

“Imust have done something to upset you. Just tell me what it is and I’ll fix it…I’ll change it.”

Looking at him, I shook my head. “The problem might be that I would even need you to change at all. We have two different ways of living life, Tristan. You live free and wild, leaving a trail of dropped panties behind you and I’m a virgin with emotional problems. My self-confidence can’t take another hit and now I think that telling you I would try was the wrong thing to do. I’m cutting this off before I wind up seeing you wearing yesterday’s clothes with some girl’s lipstick at the bottom of the shirt. I thought I could do this, but I don’t think I can.”

“You’re a virgin?”

“Is that all that you got from what I just said? Unbelievable. That right there is an example of why this isn’t going to work out.”

“Wait,” he pleaded. “Just wait.”

Turning on his heel, he ran into his bedroom. He returned a minute later with a journal in his hands that he frantically paged through until he found what he wanted. I saw that his hands were shaking as he handed it to me. Pointing down to the page, he told me to read it. I recognized his handwriting straight away, and my knees almost buckled when I read the words on the page.

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