I went to stuff my hands in my jean pockets, but then remembered I wasn’t wearing them.
I’d thrown on high-waisted athletic pants & a green yoga shirt over my leotard before boarding over here.
“No. I’m just going to go get my stuff,” I said, gesturing toward the front door. “And shower.”
Adair frowned at me, probably wondering why I added that.
I wondered too.
Maybe to assure him that I was aware I likely smelled bad?
“At the Locc?” he asked, stepping toward me.
“Yeah, I?—”
I shut my mouth, because… I what?
Why would I think of showering there?
I really wasn’t fully caught up to what was happening right now. None of this seemed real.
We stared at each other, Adair’s gaze probing mine for answers, but I had none.
“Here’s your key!” Adeline said, shoving it between us, effectively breaking our stare off. “And your copy of the lease.”
I took both, thankful for the spunky girl and her impeccable timing. Chancing a look back at Adair, I couldpractically see him running calculations behind his hazel eyes. But his expression smoothed before he said, “I can give you a ride over there. It can’t be fun to haul stuff with your board. Unless you have a car parked here somewhere?”
I shook my head.
He smiled. “It’s settled, then. Delly can come with us if you’d be more comfortable.” When I didn’t answer right away, he cocked his head to the side. “Or…” He offered me his keys in the palm of his hand, entirely genuine and too trusting. “You could just take it.”
It was too much.
This was too much.
With a jerky nod and no thought, I took the quickest out, grabbing the key and leaving the green-eyed siblings without another word.
I felt Adair’s eyes on me the entire way out.
14
ADAIR
Delly collapsed dramatically into the kitchen chair.
“Well, I am exhausted. I’m gonna need to up my cardio or maybe take up recreational drugs if I’m expected to live with you two this summer.”
I narrowed my eyes at her. “Since when do you do cardio? I thought you said cardio was for losers.”
“It is. I’m no runner. I stand my ground.” She pulled her hair into a ponytail and started fussing with it. “I don’t think I’ve ever had to work so hard to make you look cool. Except maybe when I had to email that girl for you back in the day.”
“Sending my high school crush an email that said ‘do u like me?’ did not make me look cool, I assure you.”
Delly tied off her ponytail and threw her hands in the air. “I was seven! And you were afraid of asking her out. I could tell.”
I closed my eyes and prayed for strength. “I wasn’t scared of asking her out. I was scaredofher. She was on the volleyball team and used to target me in P.E. duringdodgeball. And no, before you say something, I don’t think it was flirting.”
She’d also loudly told her friends that I’d be okay looking if I weren’t so fat, but Delly didn’t need to know that. That’d been before Cole had swanned into my life and gotten me into the gym.
