Distraction (7 page)

"
Good run?
" She turned around, smiling. Without asking, Elle
poured a second cup of coffee for me. I cleared the knot in my throat before
walking to the bar.

"Not bad." I took the cup she offered and sat on a
stool across from her. "So, what
'
s on the agenda today?" Her
face lit up, and this time her cheeks turned pink when she smiled. She'd pulled
her hair up, but a few strands framed her face. She pursed her lips to blow the
steam from her coffee before taking a sip. Lucky cup. God, beautiful, hell even
sexy didn't describe her adequately.

"I thought we could tour the campus. You haven
'
t been here
since senior year back in high school, and then we can grab a bite to eat or
something."

I shifted on the bar stool, nervously. "Sounds good."
I hoped we wouldn
'
t run into anyone from the team while on campus. I finished
my coffee and watched her pick at the bowl of cereal in front of her. "So
hey, you mind if I hit the shower? Unless you prefer the manly post-run scent I
'
ve got going on."

She rolled her eyes. "As appealing as that sounds, I
'
d go with the
shower."

“All right, if you insist." I grabbed a change of
clothes and headed down the hall.

In the shower, I dipped my head under the hot rushing water,
relaxing my head against the wall. Within minutes, steam rolled around the room
creating a fog. I opened a bottle of shampoo since I
'
d left mine back
home. The smell matched Elle
'
s and I hurried to wash the lather out before the instant
fantasy of her naked body tortured me further.

When I finished up and dressed, I stepped out of the bathroom
and headed to the living room, smelling like a fucking flower shop. Alyssa
looked up when I came in.

"Ooh, Shrimp, you smell so pretty."
Alyssa
smirked.
"I
think it's totally you. Very feminine." Her obnoxious grin irritated the
shit out of me.

"
Amazon, don
'
t beat yourself up. It's not your fault you can
'
t smell or look
as good as I do." She glared. I couldn't help myself.

"Whatever." Alyssa stormed out as Elle sauntered
in.

"Ready?" Elle smiled, and her deep green eyes
sparkled.

I nodded.

We left the house, but only after she consented to taking my
car, and no, I refused to allow her to drive.

Elle

Saturday reminded me of old times. Alyssa joined us for lunch
without taking any crap shots at Tristan, well, almost. Later, Tristan and I
toured the campus, but when we neared the football field, I noticed his body
tensed. I steered us back to his car. We left and drove to the coffee shop I
worked at. We ordered two iced lattés with extra cream before heading back to
my house.

Ginger, Tisha, and Alyssa had plans at the Kappa house,
giving us more time to spend alone. We watched TV on and off for the rest of
the day. I did my best not to sit too close, but when he patted the cushion
next to him, I relented and slid over, fitting comfortably against his side.
Tristan ran his fingers through my hair and I couldn't help but sigh.

"I
'
ve really missed you," I said with a lazy grin and heavy
eyelids.

"Me, too." Tristan squeezed me tighter.

I fell asleep sometime while Tristan combed through my hair
and the movie played. A few hours later he woke me, insisting I get ready so we
could go eat dinner. I laughed and headed to my room.

I decided to wear something nice but casual tonight. Tristan
said he was taking me to a well-known Mexican restaurant on Quaker, nothing
fancy. I kept my hair down, draped over my bare shoulder. The hunter green
shirt fell to one side exposing just a hint a skin. The color brought out the
deep jade color of my eyes. Alyssa called them my strongest attribute and I
agreed. The weather remained killer hot outside, so I opted to pair the cute
shirt with my beige shorts and gladiator sandals.

"You ready in there," Tristan yelled. "I
'
m
hungry.
"

"Yeah, I
'
ll be out in just a sec," I yelled back. With a deep
sigh, I picked up my handbag and left my room. I found Tristan in the kitchen
scarfing down my leftovers from lunch.

"You look great."

"You do realize we
'
re heading to dinner, right?"

"I got hungry. Besides, this is just a snack." He
finished the last of my grilled chicken before throwing the container in the
trash. "Let
'
s go, I
'
m starving."

I shook my head. Knowing he could shove a full meal down his
throat, and turn around and take out a meal afterward, still fascinated me. We took
his car and drove the short distance, finding a parking spot semi-close to the
front doors.

Inside the restaurant, we were seated in a back corner booth
surrounded by huge terracotta vases. A plump waitress with a bright blue paper
flower in her hair walked over and handed us menus. I ordered an iced tea for
myself and a Coke for Tristan. Our waitress scribbled our drink orders on her
small note pad then trailed off. Tristan always ordered the same food. If I
were betting, he
'
d order the beef fajita plate.

"So, what looks good to you?" His eyes stayed fixed
on the menu, concentrating.

"I think I
'
ll get the chicken tacos. They
'
re to die for,
and we have to order sopapillas for dessert." I could taste them now;
crisp, flakey, deep fried tortillas with a sprinkle of cinnamon and sugar
cooked into the dough. Mouthwatering. I glanced up, finding Tristan still
scanning the menu when our waitress carried our drinks out.

With a thick accent, she asked, "Are you ready to order?"
Tristan set his menu down, and nodded for me to order first.

"I
'
ll have the shredded chicken taco plate, please." I
smiled, and handed over my menu. She turned, waiting for Tristan
'
s order.

"I think I
'
ll go with the beef fajita plate," he said, handing his
menu to her as well. The waitress wrote our orders down and then walked away
again. I knew I
'
d win my bet, and laughed.

"What
'
s so funny?" He sucked down a big drink.

"I knew you were going to order the beef fajitas. I don
'
t know why you
even look at a menu when you know what you
'
re going to
order anyway."

"Why order something you
'
re not sure you
'
ll like when you
can always have a sure thing."

"Hmm." I wondered what he meant, but decided not to
ask. "So, how
'
s school going?"

He hesitated. "Uh, that
'
s kind of what I
wanted to talk to you about. Er, at least one of them." He hesitated,
again. "I
'
m actually enrolled at Tech. I
'
m on the
football team, too."

I could only stare.

Tristan continued. "Last night, Jarred, and I were going
over some plays. When you walked up, he changed the subject. He knew I wanted
to wait until tonight to tell you about going to school and stuff."

Really not what I
'
d expected him to say, but wow,
awesome, and my face easily showed my feelings.

"
I bet your dad'
s excited about you playing ball here." I grabbed a chip
and loaded on a heap of salsa.

"Yeah, I guess." He looked away, though not before
I caught the hint of uncertainty in his eyes. He definitely had something on
his mind, but whatever it may be, he
'
d come out with it soon enough. One
thing I
'
d learned over the years, if he wasn
'
t ready to talk,
I wouldn
'
t get anything out of him.

"I can
'
t believe you kept this a secret from me." I threw a
chip at him and he caught it. Tristan
'
s lip twitched at the corner. Shit,
why did he have to be so damn attractive? "What was up last night, about
you missing your opportunity to play football here?"

"Sorry about that. Everything happened so fast. I didn
'
t have time to
think about it. I guess I just wanted to know if you thought me being here was
a good idea." Tristan paused, loading the chip I threw at him with salsa,
and then shoved the entire bite in his mouth. "By the way, Uncle Kevin set
me up in one of his town homes. I still have unpacked boxes cluttered all over
the place. I could use your help." I laughed at the visual. Tristan was
famous for procrastinating.

"I
'
ll see what I can do."

Our waitress carried out our food then. Tristan
'
s fajitas
sizzled on the cast iron plate in front of him, and he didn
'
t waste any time.
He forked the beef and shoved it in his mouth. The look on his face–priceless.
You
'
d think he
'
d been starved or something.

"Can I get you anything else?" The waitress placed
a dish of homemade tortillas beside Tristan.

"No, thank you. I think we
'
re okay for now."
She smiled kindly before walking away. "I
'
m going to go
out on a limb here and say you like the food."

"Yep," he said, mumbling around the food in his
mouth.

We ate and talked about our classes. When I asked what he
'
d been up to
over the summer, he changed the subject. I thought the sudden switch seemed odd
and would
'
ve asked him about it, but he kept throwing questions at me
before I had the chance.

"I
'
m so full right now you could probably roll me out of here,"
I said with a much too full stomach. After dinner, we ordered half a dozen
sopapillas, which we devoured equally in no time.

"We should have ordered a side of ice cream, too."
I laughed, wondering how his belly wasn
'
t as round as a Buddha statue, and
then felt sick from the aftershock of laughing. Tristan and I shared a passion
for good food, but I really overdid eating tonight. When the waitress came by
with our check, Tristan shooed my hand away. Usually we
'
d split the
bill, but being too stuffed to argue, I let him pay.

When we walked outside, the air still held on to the sting of
heat from earlier in the day. The full moon shined down on us in the dark sky,
and my mind drifted to us holding hands under the stars. I really needed to
stop fantasizing about him. I glanced over at Tristan. Pieces of his dark hair
blew across his brows near his eyes. I clenched my fists to keep from moving
the pieces away.

"So, are you going to tell me the rest of your big news,
or was that an excuse to get me alone? You know, you don
'
t have to make
up excuses." I playfully bumped my shoulder against his arm, then blushed
and looked away. I couldn't believe I let that slip out of my mouth. Tristan
didn
'
t comment, and when I looked back up at his face, I found him
grinning. But something in his eyes didn
'
t fit.

"Enough with the suspense. What
'
s going on?"

We stopped walking. Both of us stood next to the passenger
side door of his car. The warm breeze shifted direction, blowing strands of
hair in my face. Tristan reached to move the loose strands behind my ear. The
innocent gesture created a warm tingle to spread throughout my chest. My pulse
raced as we stood next to each other. His warm brown eyes shined under the
street lamp.

"I
'
m in love," he began. My heart took off, now dancing
frantically in my chest. I
'
d dreamed he
'
d utter those words to me for so long, and if my heart didn
'
t slow, I
'
d go into
cardiac arrest before he revealed anything more.

I lifted my foot, ready to breech the small space separating
us, only to stop short when he finished his sentence.

"With this girl I met last year. I
'
ve mentioned her
to you. Her name is Kellie, and she
'
s the one." He hesitated.
"We
'
re engaged."