We’ve been on the path for barely twenty minutes when Maggie jogs to a halt, begging me for a break.
“You’re seriouslythatoutta shape?”
“No…” She fidgets, trying and failing to find comfort as she adjusts the underwire of her pushup bra. “My boobs are killing me.”
“That’s why I told you to wear a sports bra.”
“And rock the uni-boob? No thank you.”
NowI’mthe one groaning, because there’s no way in hell I’m returning to the house without working off as much of my frustration as possible. “Can I get inonemore mile?”
“Fine, but if the girls’ bouncing winds up knocking me out or giving me a black eye, I’m blaming you,” she says, pointing at her chest.
“Deal.”
I pick up the pace again, but just as I round the next bend, a force barrels into me from the connecting trail!
Just like that, I’m off my feet and tumbling, tumbling, tumbling into what I thankfully find to be nothing more than grass. The last thing I need right now is a case of poison ivy.
And I’m not alone.
Maggie’s warning from earlier flashes through my head as someone crashes on top of my body, and for about three seconds, I’m entertaining the horrific possibility that my offender is some kind of serial killer or rapist…until I hear, “I am so sorry!”
That voice…
That accent!
I brush the disheveled strands of hair from my face, looking up to find familiar hazel eyes and wavy brown locks. “Wes?”
My attacker takes a better look at me, and his eyes light up as his endearing boyish grin stretches into an absolutely adorable smile. “Ali?”
I finally release the air from my lungs I’d been holding, just in case I needed to scream bloody murder. “What’re you doinghere? I thought you said you were staying up in New York for the summer.”
“I was going to,” he laughs, “but the property was just inspected, and they found black mold. My parents bought a cabin right off Mansfield Lake with the intention of turning it into a timeshare, though they haven’t gotten around to it. So, it seems my brother and I are crashing there for the foreseeable future.”
I want to laugh too, because that so-called “cabin” is very likely a mansion. Sure, it may have the traditional log paneling, but it’s also four thousand square feet, minimum. All the properties surrounding Mansfield Lake are prime real-estate with views to kill for and price tags to prove it.
“Ahem.”Someone clears their throat behind us, and we both look up to find Maggie standing at the edge of the trail, looking about as confused as expected. That tends to happen when you stumble upon your best friend in the middle of the woods, on the ground, with a guy lying on top of her. “Are you two kids having fun, or should I blow my rape whistle?”
She’s kidding, mostly.
All the girls on campus were given bracelets with a small whistle attached, and she’s currently wearing one on her wrist, jangling it for emphasis. Given that I’m smiling (probably like an idiot), I highly doubt she’ll blow it.
It’s only now that Wes realizes how this must look, because he scrambles to his feet, offering a hand with an apology.
Even after we’ve trudged our way back to the path, he keeps holding it, and Maggie’s eyes home in on the gesture, missing nothing. “Should I ask?”
I give a concise introduction, knowing this will quickly become an interrogation if I let it continue. Wes also seems to understand this, gratefully accepting the out I provide him when Maggie gets to her seventh question in less than two minutes.“You better get going if you want to make it to dinner. Tell your brother I say hi.”
In truth, I haven’t met his brother, and Wes knows this as well, making his smile only grow further. “Will do. Hopefully, we’ll be able to run into each other again.”
His hazel eyes sparkle in the forest greenery surrounding us, and I can feel my insides melting as he laughs at the faux pas.
“Notliterally‘run into’…” He scrubs a hand down his face, and watching him stumble over his words is absolutely adorable.
It takes him three attempts, all of which still sound just as bad, before I finally assure him I’d like to see him again and give Wes a quick hug.
We both wave and say our goodbyes before he heads off jogging down the way Maggie and I came. I don’t miss the glance he steals over his shoulder as his figure shrinks in the distance.
