Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 84195 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 421(@200wpm)___ 337(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84195 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 421(@200wpm)___ 337(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
“And your parents?” Skylar asked, but I could tell the words were hard for him because he was so protective of his mom.
I rolled my eyes. “As successful as ever.”
He smiled. “I see the apple didn’t fall far from the tree.”
Thankfully our food was served right then and we could dig in, because I was starving. I also didn’t want to talk about how successful I was or wasn’t, because it really wasn’t important. I’d give it all up to have other things in life.
“So good,” he said, his eyes practically rolling in the back of his head, and I agreed.
We kept the conversation light after that, and when our plates were cleared, I tossed him a fortune cookie.
“What does yours say?” he asked me once I tore open the wrapper, then the cookie.
I looked down and frowned. “You have a wild heart that cannot be tamed.”
A laugh jumped from his mouth, and then he read his. “Being dependable is a desirable trait.”
“There’s obviously been a mix-up.” I held out my hand and we traded fortunes, crunching on the cookies and grinning like we were still those twelve-year-old kids.
When the bill came, he grabbed it first and I went to protest, but he held up his hand. “You can get it next time.”
I liked that there might be a next time. Maybe now as adults, we could be friends for real. Without parental interference. My stomach tightened painfully. All these years later, I was still pissed about how it all went down.
As we walked out to the parking lot, I noticed we were about the same height, both of us with smaller frames than the guys I normally dated. Not that we’d ever date—he wouldn’t go for it anyway—just that I’d crushed so hard on him back then, and could appreciate his beauty now even if he wasn’t really my type.
He lifted his phone to order a car service.
“Hey, I could’ve—”
“Nah, we live on opposite sides of town, and it’s only a five-minute wait.”
True, but I still wouldn’t have minded the extra time with him. I’d enjoyed myself and was glad to have reconnected.
After waiting with him a couple of minutes, I motioned to my car, not wanting to hover. “Okay, well, I’m just over there. Let’s do this again. It was fun.”
“Sounds like a plan,” he said with a wave, then seemed to hesitate. “Hey, Fancy?”
“Yeah?”
“What happened back then?” he asked in a tentative voice. “Why’d you drop out of gymnastics?”
Ah, the proverbial elephant in the room. I wondered if either of us would bring it up, but I’d been too chicken—and maybe a little embarrassed.
“I don’t know the true reason my parents pulled me out.” My jaw tightened. “Dad gave the excuse that I needed to be involved in lots of different things, such as baseball. That it would look good on my college application. But I could tell he was smoothing it over for my mom, who was always the decision-maker with those sorts of things.”
I noticed Skylar tensing, but didn’t know the reason why. Still, I needed to tell him the rest.
“I was so angry, I threw a huge fit, broke stuff in my room…” I admitted, and his eyes widened in surprise. That was one of the only times in my life when I’d really lost it. “I was grounded for a long time after that.” I’d cried into my pillow that night and refused to speak to my mom for days. But I’d learned from the best, so eventually I wiped my tears and got on with it.
5
Skylar
“Holy shit, man. I’m sorry.” The thing was, as bad as it sounded, I wasn’t surprised. Mrs. Havemeyer had always been the kind to have a very specific idea of what she wanted Clark to be. Even as a twelve-year-old kid, I’d been able to see that.
“It is what it is. Nothing I can do about it now. What about you? Do you still perform?”
A sharp pang hit me in the chest. “No, not really. I still love it. I stopped taking official lessons after I graduated high school. I was good, but never good enough for the Olympics or anything. Wasn’t like I could have a future in it, and by then I was working and that had to come first. A few of the gyms around here have open practice sometimes, and I go do that just to fuck around and keep my skills up, but not as often as I could.” I couldn’t believe we hadn’t talked about any of this earlier. And it was sort of embarrassing, but I wasn’t ready to end this…well, not-date. Definitely not-date, but hang-out session. I wished I hadn’t called for a car so soon.
Clark said, “I’m probably super out of shape. I don’t know if I could do any of it now.”