Faster (The University of Gatica #2) (8 page)

“You look like crap.” Jani stood on the grass with one leg stretched out on top of the steps to the house. They were going to jog over to the track again as warm up before practice. The sun peeked through the large maple tree in their small front yard and warmed their skin. The leaves had started to fall and were turning into a wonderful crimson shade of red.

“I barely slept last night.” Aileen sat on the grass criss-cross and stared at her lap. She was on the verge of tears.

“Because of Biology? It’s not worth stressing over a stupid test.”

“The quiz went great.” She sighed.

Jani dropped down beside her. She bent her head so she could see Aileen’s face. “Is everything alright?”

The concern and softness in Jani’s voice made Aileen miss her mom. A silent tear slid down her cheek. She tried unsuccessfully to swallow the painful lump in her throat. She couldn’t hold it back anymore. She had managed for most of the day but now dreaded the thought of going to practice. What if Tyler showed up? He probably had football but with her luck, he’d be there talking to Coach Anderson. The dam broke and she burst into tears.

Jani leaned over and put her arm around her. She let Aileen cry for a few minutes and then patted her shoulder. “Whatever it is, I highly doubt it’s worth all these tears.”

Swiping the salty wetness away from her cheeks, Aileen sat back and tried to smile. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

“Try me.” Jani leaned back and stretched her legs out, crossing them at the ankles.

Aileen needed to tell someone and Becky, her go-to girl, was half a world away in Ohio. Her mom wouldn’t understand a boy tapping on her window at night, but she’d bake chocolate chip cookies and talk about life and how things got better as you got older. Jani was her roommate. Aileen trusted her. She took a deep breath. “Do you remember the party you took me to on my recruiting trip?” Might as well start at the very beginning, or at least near it.

“Tyler’s? Aileen, I’m so sorry about Linda back in February. And Mindy. I heard what happened at our party. They aren’t ganging up on you now, trying to threaten you, arethey? Those girls are high maintenance and when coach heard what had happened with Linda back at the party…” Jani shook her head. “Let’s just say I’m glad I have you living with me now.”

“It’s not about Linda.” She sniffed wishing her nose would stop running.

Jani stared at her long and hard. “What happened? What did Tyler do?”

Aileen blinked in surprise. How did she know?
Because he’s a total player, idiot!
“Why do you think it’s about Tyler?” She whispered his name, afraid to say it aloud.

Jani crossed her arms over her chest. “Tyler couldn’t take his eyes off you at the party, or the entire weekend you were here. After you left, he asked me a few times if you and I stayed in touch.”

“He did?” Why hadn’t he tried to find her on Facebook or something instead of pretending she didn’t exist?

“You have a thing for him, don’t you?” Jani gave her a sympathetic smile. “Oh honey, he’s practically married to—”

“He has a girlfriend?” She was going to kill him. “How long has he been with her?” She pictured Tyler and that short, bad dye-job blonde sprinter kissing and cuddling.

“I’m talking about the sport! You cut me off before I could finish.” Jani laughed. “He’s practically married to football. He eats, sleeps and breathes it. Girls have been trying to get close to him since he was a freshman. Since I’ve been here, he’s never had a girlfriend. He dates, but I’ve never seen him during football season.” She checked her watch. “We’re still good for time. We’ve got about five minutes before we need to leg it over to the track. So what happened?”

“He’s not shy.” Where did that come from? “He kissed me,” she blurted out.

“At our party?” She grinned. “So that’s why he came.”

“No, before that.” Aileen felt silly saying exactly when it had happened. “At a different party.” She waited for Jani to figure it out and when she didn’t, Aileen added, “
His
party.”

“On the recruiting trip?” Jani shook her head. “That’s just wrong.”

“I didn’t mind.” She grinned slyly.

Jani laughed. “I’m sure you didn’t. Who would? That beautiful boy could kiss an alien and they wouldn’t complain.” She stared at Aileen with half-closed eyes. “Is he as good as he looks?”

She giggled, but it came out more like a hiccup. “And then some.”

“I believe it.” Jani cocked her head to the side and watched Aileen for a few moments. “So why the tears?”

If she didn’t tell Jani now, she’d lose her nerve and try burying it deep inside. “Promise you won’t say anything to anyone? I trust you, but I would die if anyone found out.”

Jani held up her hand, with only her little finger extended. “Pinkie swear. I got your back. I’m lousy with the whole gossip thing. I have to admit though, I’m dying to know more. Tyler is super private. No one on the team knows anything about him. I mean, they know he’s nice and drop dead gorgeous, but he’s very private.”

She knew none of this and wished she had told Jani what had happened back when she had moved in. Might have saved some misery. “I should probably mention he stopped by before I left for the airport…” She waited for a response from Jani but by the blank look on her face, she didn’t get it. “At my hotel.”

“Oh.” Jani said absently and then her eyes suddenly went big. “Ohhhhh….”

“Yeah.” Aileen shrugged. “Then he didn’t bother to see me again until last night.”

“He called you last night?”

“No. He stopped by. Tapped on my bedroom window.”

Jani stood up. “I’m so freakin’ jealous.”

“We didn’t mess around. Well, sort of not.” She couldn’t get the image of lying on top of him when they stumbled, or the exquisite feel of his lips against hers. She got up and stretched her arms. “Should we start jogging to practice?”

Jani groaned. “Yeah. Now I’m going to think about this the entire time at practice. Tell me what happened as we jog over to the track.”

As they started down the sidewalk of their street, Aileen waited till they passed two girls walking in the opposite direction they were going. “So he came by last night and I basically told him to get lost.”

Jani stumbled and nearly fell, she managed to catch herself just in time. “What?”

“He came by and I was, kinda, mad he didn’t bother to find me on Facebook or get my email address from you or coach or anyone. I thought we connected on the recruiting trip and then realized he was doing whatever it took to get me to come here.”

“I don’t think—”

“It doesn’t matter. I don’t regret signing with the school. That was my own decision and it wasn’t a mistake.” Aileen didn’t want Jani to think that was the reason she had come here. “I just said that to him because I was mad.”

They turned the corner at the end of their street and dashed across the road to cut through campus. “What did he say?” Jani asked when they settled back into a rhythm together.

“He said he came by to find out why I hadn’t tried to get a hold of him! He was at the First Down and walked over to ask me that.”

“Seriously? He left his football buddies to come and talk to you?”

Aileen waved her hand. “That’s not the point. He tried to come sneaking over and then accuses me of skipping USTAF Nationals so I wouldn’t have to see him!”

“Did you?”

“No!” Whose side was Jani on? “I was competing at World Juniors! In Poland! How could he not know that?”

“Maybe he forgot.” Jani held her hands out in front of her, expressing with them as she jogged. “Maybe, just to play the devil’s advocate here, maybe he didn’t know. This is his senior year of football. He’s got another indoor season after this year but he won’t be coming back. He’s going to be playing NFL football next year with some big league big contract team. Maybe he just went to Nationals to see you.”

“He went to try and win a medal.” Why else would anyone go? Nothing else made sense to Aileen.

“Maybe.” Jani didn’t sound convinced.

“He hates to lose.” So did Aileen, but she had no plans of mentioning that to Jani and risk having to discuss what happened in the hotel back in February.

They were getting closer to Wavertree Fieldhouse. Aileen had no intention of keeping this conversation going and have other people hear it.

Jani seemed to read her thoughts. “We are so continuing this after practice.”

Aileen’s depression lifted slightly. She didn’t feel sad anymore. It felt good to get it off her chest, but it also made her question some of the points Jani had made. She seemed to be on Aileen’s side, but also appeared to think Tyler was a sensitive, focused guy. He was Mr. Popular, in every facility around campus. He might not kiss and tell, but she was pretty sure he played the field and could accommodate any position he needed to get a goal. He was a player, through and through. Maybe not one to shout it off the mountain tops, but the quiet ones were probably the ones you needed to be more cautious with. It was smart she had gotten him off her chest and out of her head now instead of later. She didn’t say her thoughts out loud to Jani.

The decision had been made. She would be friends with Tyler. No strings, no kissing, no sex. None of that stuff. If he really was a nice guy, as Jani believed, they would make good friends and training partners. Come indoors, they would be competing at meets and probably going to nationals together. They needed to get along… and she would make the effort on her part.

They stopped jogging when they had reached the other side of Wavertree and walked to the gates to the outdoor track. The track was surrounded by an old coliseum that might have once housed a football field. Or maybe a soccer field or the original track. It was gorgeous… like a mini replica of some Roman gladiator coliseum.

Jani slipped through the tight gate opening and Aileen followed. It saved having to walk around to the pillar entrance on the other side of the track.

Other students were already running laps or stretching or doing warm up drills on the red mondo track.

“Do you know what we’re doing today?” Aileen hadn’t bothered to check today's training on her weekly schedule coach gave her. She had been too absorbed in the self-pity caused by a particular defensive football player. She followed close to Jani as they jogged down through an opening in the limestone bleachers.

“Stairs. Hundreds of them. Tomorrow is an easy day, because of the fun-run fundraiser.”

Aileen made a mental note to go hard today. Saturday’s fundraiser would be an easy run.

“…But today is an awful combination of stairs and plyometric, with a dash of core strength thrown in.” Jani pretended to clutch her chest. “We’re all going to die out here.”

Aileen shook her head. “We are not going to die.”

“Speak for yourself. You didn’t have three bowls of lucky charms before practice.”

Aileen scrunched her nose. “That’s disgusting. How could you eat three bowls?”

“They tasted so good! I meant to stop, but then I had a little bit of milk left in the bowl so I added more, which was too much, so I added more milk and, well, three bowls later I finally stopped.” She rubbed her tummy. “Which reminds me, we have to buy more cereal.”

Two days had passed since Tyler had knocked on her window and Aileen had told Jani about what had happened. It seemed like more time had passed than the months she spent waiting to come to Gatica after she signed her Letter of Intent.

She told herself, and then reminded herself, several times that they could be friends and she had believed it – until she arrived with Jani at the cross country course where they would be doing the fundraiser run. One look at Tyler from across the field and she knew she still liked him. No amount of trying to convince herself was going to change that. She was physically attracted to him, but it was more than that. She just couldn’t pinpoint what exactly. She pretended not to watch him as she sat stretching and warming up.

Tyler seemed to be looking everywhere except at her.
Is he purposely avoiding me?
It drove Aileen crazy. She couldn’t tear her gaze away from him even if she tried. He stood with his hands stuffed casually in the back pockets of his jeans. The cobalt of his shirt reflected off his eyes, making them appear bluer than their usual green-gray color.  Even from their distance apart she could see the dark reflection of his tanned skin. If only she were closer… close enough to run her fingers over his chest, or down his stomach.

Stop it!

How come every time they were within a fifty-yard radius of each other she could sense him? It was like her hormones took over her brain.
It’s because you always want what you can’t have.

Tyler obviously didn’t have the same problem.

Aileen blew her hair away from her face. She knew it was mandatory for all the track athletes to participate in the two-point-five mile fun run as it raised money for the track team, but she had assumed Tyler wouldn’t be here. Hadn’t Coach Anderson said footballers weren’t around until indoor season
after
football season ended? Well, here Tyler stood, in the gorgeous flesh! He apparently wasn’t running, the jeans covering those sexy muscular legs of his were the proof. Either he had come to support the team or Coach Anderson asked him to come; to make the alumni and supporters happy. NCAA champion and football extraordinaire, he would be silly not to make Tyler the main attraction.

She straightened from stretching out her right hamstring and switched legs. Her left needed some attention now. As she moved, Tyler’s eyes shifted and focussed on her. She quickly looked down at the grass so he wouldn’t catch her staring.

Someone dropped down beside her, and she knew instantly it was Jani without having to look up.

“Tyler’s here,” she whispered.

“Is he?” Aileen pretended she hadn’t noticed. She stared at a faint scar on her quad that remained after hitting a hurdle the wrong way in the rain back in high school.

“He’s not running.” Jani leaned closer to her. “Are you going to try and avoid him? It won’t fix anything,” she whispered.

Aileen picked at the grass, pulling gently at a wishing dandelion. “I’m not going to hide from him. I just don’t want to rush up and try to be friends after the way things ended the other night.” She dropped her head to her knee to stretch her hamstring.

Jani tapped Aileen’s shoulder lightly and then franticly. “Head’s up, gorgeous. He’s coming this way.” She shifted away and began waving. “Hey stranger,” Jani called out. “I’ve barely seen you this year except on the field. Football keeping you busy?” She gave Tyler a hug. Jani had the unique ability to hide anyone’s anxiety and make everything appear entirely normal. It was a gift.

Aileen decided to mimic her, trying hard to look uninterested… completely neutral was a better word. She stretched both her legs before giving them a shake and standing up. She begged her racing heart to slow its pace. “Hey, Tyler.” She smiled and did her best to avoid looking in his eyes. She lasted about five seconds before she gave in and checked to see why he hadn’t replied to her.

Big mistake.

The moment their eyes met everything at once seemed to melt away. There was only him. The brown flecks in his eyes moved as his pupils darted back and forth across hers. His eyebrows rose and pressed slightly together. Something flashed behind his eyes. She wanted so badly to ask what it was.

A gasp escaped her lips. She had been holding her breath. She covered her mouth and prayed the burn she felt hadn’t reached her cheeks. The last time she blushed in front of him, luckily it had been dark.

“I-I-I, uh, I’m, uh,” Jani stuttered. “I’ve got to ask Coach Anderson anything—something, I mean, something.” She jogged away, almost running.

Tyler didn’t acknowledge her leaving. His arms hung by his sides as he unconsciously cracked his knuckles, still watching Aileen.

Aileen inhaled and let it out slowly. She didn’t want him to leave and if she didn’t say anything, he would.
It’s awesome to see you. I wish I could see you every day. I wish I hadn’t kicked you out of my room the other night. We should’ve just stayed on the grass. If you had kept kissing me, I wouldn’t have opened my stupid mouth. Hmm… maybe not.
“How’s football going?”

A single eyebrow rose on his handsome face. He smiled, his entire body relaxing. “It’s good. Hard, but I like the challenge.”

“The home games are unbelievable to watch.”

“You’ve gone?” He grinned, a special smile just for her.

It made her giddy inside. “Jani said I wouldn’t understand football fever until I went. I’ve been addicted ever since. We’ve gone to all of them. You’re magnificent.”
Really?
She just called him magnificent? Why not just tell him he’s hot in his uniform?

He shrugged. “I’m trying. One of our wide receivers got injured during our last game and is out for the season. We’ve got nobody to take his place.” He half grinned. “Sort of. We do have somebody. You are looking at the corner back and the new wide receiver. Looks like I’ll be getting to play the entire game.”

“Seriously.” She didn’t know all the positions but it sounded like he would be playing defense and offense. “That’s pretty impressive.”

“Last year… looks like I’ll get to hang out in the end zone a bit more.”

“Congrats.” She tilted her head. “Is it congrats? Or are you not excited?”

“It’s a good thing. It’s a huge opportunity for me. There’s a lot of pressure. From every side.” He blinked as if surprised by his confession. “Sorry. I don’t know why I said that. It’s no big deal.”

“You’re doing great.” She wanted so badly to reach out and touch him. She resisted. “Don’t listen to what everyone else wants, just do yer thang.” She winked at him as she tried to imitate his southern accent.

He chuckled, his whole face lighting up. “That’s a really appalling accent.” He leaned close and brushed his hand against hers. “But incredibly adorable.”

She smiled. “Not sure I was going for adorable.”

“What’re you doing after the race?”

“Showering.” The word was out of her mouth before her brain processed it. She felt her lips form the shape of an “O” as he gave her a sly look.

“Do you need any help?” He chuckled. “With the race, I mean. I’ll gladly assist you with the other if you want me too.”

Why did that thought seem so appealing?

He held his hands up. “I apologize. I promised myself I would be on my best behavior with you from now on. That seems to be a bit of a challenge the minute I’m around you.” He shook his head and grinned ruefully at her. “I’ll be good.”

She understood his dilemma more than he knew. “What’s your job here today?” She motioned to his jeans. “You’re obviously not racing.”

“I told Coach I would cover the water station. Hand cups of water out to you poor, suffering athletes.”

She laughed. “It’s two and a half miles, I think we can handle it.”

“You’ve obviously never seen the hammer throwers or shot putter’s run.”

“That’s prejudice. I’m going to tell them you said that.”

He raised his hands in mock protection. “I play defense in football. Trust me, I know size matters and when someone’s going to need a drink of water!” He shoved his hands into his pockets and leaned his strong shoulders forward. “I’m free today. There’s no football practice, no weight training, no going over game plans or watching game footage. It’s the first Saturday I’m free since… Since forever. I want to do something. I want to do it with you.”

His words surprised her. He had a whole day off and he wanted to do something with her? Only a crazy person would say no. “What do you want to do?”

His face lit up. “Anything.”

“Anything?”

“Absolutely anything.”

A horn sounded to let the athletes know it was time to line up for the race. Aileen checked her watch. The race started in five minutes. “I’ll try and think of something while I’m running.”

“I’ll catchya at the water station.” He turned as Coach Anderson called out his name. “I might have to do some schmoozing with the alumni after the race. If I don’t see you, do you want me to come by your place when I’m done?”

An image of her in the shower and Tyler joining flashed in her head. She blinked several times to clear the thought. “S-Sure.”

“Aileen!!” Jani called from the start line. “Get over here.”

“Shoot. I gotta go.” She did not want to leave.

“Me, too.” Tyler nodded back toward Coach Anderson. “Have fun. Oh an’ good luck.”

Slowly they jogged away in opposite directions. Suddenly Aileen couldn’t wait for the race to be over. She planned on being the first across the finish line, and for an entirely non-competitive reason.

She lined up beside Jani, who looked like she was dying to ask what they had talked about but said nothing. Aileen retied her shoe to make sure it wouldn’t come loose during the race. “How hard do we have to go?” she asked as she straightened.

“Like how we run to practice. It’s not about time. The goal is to raise some money for the team and get some alumni to come for a barbecue after and donate more.”

Aileen checked her watch and sighed. She wanted the race to go faster, not slower.

“You in a rush to go somewhere?” Jani tilted her head, the corners of her mouth twitching upward. “Maybe hit the water table for a quick visit.”

Aileen playfully swatted her friend. She leaned in so only Jani would hear her. “Tyler wants to hang out after the race.”

Jani clutched her heart. “With me? That’s so sweet he asked you to tell me.”

“Jani!” Aileen groaned.

“You know I’m just teasin’.” Jani shot an annoyed look at the sound of Coach Maves blowing her starter horn twice to warn them the race started in a minute. “Tyler’s still totally into you. Told you so.” She turned at the sound of Coach Maves’ voice calling them to their marks on a loudspeaker horn.

The gun sounded and nobody started to run. Aileen stood in the second row and took a step forward and then waited for the runner in front of her to go. “What’s…” She glanced at Jani.

Jani winked at her while counting silently, mouthing the countdown to Aileen, “
Ten, nine, eight, seven, six…
”

Coach Maves hollered at everyone to move. She continued shouting into the mouthpiece while everyone stood frozen.

After Jani had reached zero, she mouthed, “
Go!
”

All the runners burst into a sprint. Aileen stumbled to keep up with the sudden pace, but she easily managed to keep up. As they rounded the first pylon that would bring them through the small forest paths where the cross country team trained, the rapid pace slowed.

“What the heck was that?” Aileen kept pace with Jani. “Don’t you think you could have told me we were supposed to do that?”

Jani puffed out a laugh. “I was planning on it. ’Cept you were too busy talking to Mr. Football. The team decided to do it while we were waiting to go. Did you see Coach Maves’ face? She was so mad!”

“You had time to tell me just before we started.”

“Ha! You were too lost in Tyler la-la land to listen.”

“I was not!”

Jani gave her a look but didn’t say anything.

“Okay. Maybe.” She stopped talking when one of the male sprinters on the team, Craig, squeezed between them.

“Ladies! This pace not too hard for you?” He chuckled. “Just stopping by to let you know there’s a party tonight at Drew and my place. Starts around nine. We’re at the townhouses across from the track.”

“I know where you live,” Jani said. “A bunch of the swim team guys are in your complex.”

Craig nodded. “Yeah, four of the guys live beside us actually.”

Jani leaned over and looked at Aileen. “I’ll be there, sorry,
we’ll
be there.”

Aileen wasn’t sure if she would be. If she was hanging out with Tyler, she had no idea how long or what they might be doing. She hoped it might be something that having Jani out of the house for the party was a good thing.
Really
? She had a chance to get to know Tyler and all she really wanted to do was bang the guy? She would not sleep with him tonight. Scratch that. If by chance he wanted to stay over, she wouldn’t say no, but she would not have sex with him. That’s it. They would not have sex. She made that mistake on her recruiting trip.