More to Us (11 page)

I pick up my phone and search for Austin's number and call him. I'm not even sure why. I just need to talk to someone and he's the first person who came to mind. Truthfully, I haven't stopped thinking about him since I met him.

When he dropped me off tonight, I really wanted him to kiss me. In fact, I was waiting for him to, but then he didn't, probably because I kept telling him it wasn't a date.

He answers after a few rings. "Hey, this is Austin."

He doesn't recognize my number because I never gave it to him.

"Hey. It's Kira." I lie back on my bed.

"Kira." He laughs a little. "You miss me already?"

"Would you think I'm weird if I said yes?"

"No," he says in a serious tone. "Actually, I felt the same way about you. You want me to come over?"

"No. I just wanted to talk."

"Is something wrong?"

"Why do you think something's wrong?"

"I can hear it in your voice." His tone lightens. "It's a talent of fitness trainers. We have to really know our clients. So was I right?"

"Yeah," I say quietly.

"What is it?" He sounds serious again. "What's wrong?"

"I was just talking to my mom and we kind of had a fight. Not really a fight but—I shouldn't be telling you this. I should just be thankful I
have
a mom. God, I'm so sorry. I'm being completely insensitive."

"Hey, it's okay. Just because I don't have a mom anymore doesn't mean you can't tell me about yours. And I know what you're saying. I have issues with my dad sometimes."

"You do?"

"Yeah, and it sucks because I don't like arguing with him so then I just keep quiet and don't say anything."

"I do the same thing, except sometimes I can't take it anymore so I tell my mom how I feel and we end up fighting. But tonight, I kind of hung up on her and she didn't call back and now I feel bad."

"Maybe you two just need some time to cool down before you talk again."

"Yeah. That's a good idea. I'll text her and tell her I'll call her tomorrow."

"Any other problems I can solve?" he asks in a joking tone. I love how he can switch back and forth from serious to not serious.
 

"No. That's it for tonight."

"So we're done here?"

"I guess."

"Well, I'm not. What else do you want to talk about?"

"Where are you right now?"

"At home. In my room."

"Are you in bed?"

"Going straight to the dirty talk, huh? I didn't expect that. You gonna ask what I'm wearing next?"

I laugh. "I was just asking to make sure you weren't trying to sleep. I didn't want to keep you up."

"It's not even ten. I don't go to bed this early. And as for your other question, I'm shirtless but wearing workout shorts."

"I never asked what you were wearing."

"Well, now you know."

Imagining him shirtless has heat surging inside me. All night long I tried to ignore my attraction to him, but my body wouldn't let me. When he touched my hand at dinner, my heart immediately sped up. He doesn't even have to touch me and my body reacts. Even just his smile, or when he looks at me with those intense blue eyes, gets me aroused. But I'm sure all girls react that way. He's insanely hot with a body that should be in magazines. Seriously, he should be a model. Or do commercials. Or he could be one of those hot guys in soap operas.

"Why are you so quiet?" he asks.

"Oh, um, sorry. I was just putting something away," I lie.

"Are you in your room?"

"Yeah. On my bed."

"Your bed, huh?" he asks in a low sexy tone. I didn't realize how sexy his voice was until I heard him on the phone like this.

"Get your mind out of the gutter," I tell him. "I'm fully clothed. I haven't changed since you dropped me off."

"I liked those shorts you were wearing. And the shirt. You looked really nice tonight."

I wonder if by 'nice' he means sexy. I didn't try to dress sexy, but I admit my shorts are really short, but that's only because it's the style right now. It's not like I purposely picked out my shortest pair. And my t-shirt is a fitted v-neck. It's nothing special but it does show off my breasts, but all shirts do that because I have a larger than average chest.

"Thanks. But it was just shorts and a t-shirt. I didn't exactly dress up."

"That's why I liked it. Dressing up is fine now and then, but I like more of a casual look."

"Good to know," I say kiddingly. "I'll be sure to tell your next girlfriend."

"You don't need to. I already told her."

"You did?" I feel a pang of jealousy. Why didn't he tell me he has a girlfriend? "Who is it?"

He laughs. "I'll just leave it at that."

Wait—does he mean ME? I'm not his next girlfriend. I already told him several times tonight that I only wanted to be friends. But then I waited in his truck for him to kiss me. Talk about mixed signals. What is wrong with me?

"So you don't have a girlfriend?" I ask.

"Not yet."

"You have girls falling all over you. How could you not have a girlfriend?"

"I haven't met the right person. Until the other night at the bar."

I smile. "So tell me about this girl."

"She's super hot. Has these beautiful brown eyes. Long silky hair. A nice voice. Great smile. She's funny. A bit mysterious, but I'm working on that. She's a talented athlete. And we have a lot in common. She's pretty much perfect."

"Nobody's perfect."

"Guess I'll have to wait and find out, because right now she seems pretty damn perfect."

I'm far from perfect. A disaster is more like it, or a hot mess, as Amber would say. I'm completely clueless about my future. I have no idea what I'm going to do if I can't do gymnastics. I feel like I should have my life figured out by now, but I don't. Instead, I'm just taking each day as it comes, with no plans other than to compete again. I haven't even declared a major for college. I'm just taking general classes.

"You want to watch TV?" I grab my remote from the table.

"Trying to change the subject?"

"Yeah."

"Next time just tell me. I like it when people are direct, because that's how I am. I tell people what I want and what I like. My brothers are the same way. It's kind of a Wheeler trait. So next time, don't worry about being subtle. Just tell me what you want."

I want you to come over here and kiss me and put your hands...

"Kira?"

"Yeah," I say, trying to regain my focus. "Got it. I'll try to be more direct."

I need to stop thinking of him in a sexual way. It makes it too hard to be around him.

"So back to the TV," he says. "What do you want to watch?"

We find a movie and watch it together. I've never done that. Watched a movie with someone over the phone. We didn't just watch. We also talked. Austin kept making these funny comments. He has a great sense of humor.

I really like Austin. I like talking to him and being around him. He already feels like a friend, even though my body wants more than that.

The next morning, I sneak out of the apartment to catch the bus. Luckily Amber didn't hear me. If she asks where I went, I'll just tell her I went for an early morning walk. I need to get her class schedule so I can fit my workouts in when she's gone. The good thing is that she's in like a million extracurricular activities that'll keep her so busy she won't notice what I'm up to.

"Ready to get your ass kicked?" Austin smiles as he walks up to me. He's already worked out and showered. His hair is damp and as he gets closer to me, I get a whiff of whatever soap he uses. It's a clean, fresh scent. He's wearing navy track pants and a white t-shirt that highlights his tan skin. He said he worked outside a lot this summer and it shows with that dark tan.

I think he got even better looking overnight. How is that possible?

"Ready," I say, trying to sound cool, even though my heart's beating like crazy. How am I going to work out with my heart going this fast? Maybe it'll calm down after a few minutes.

"Go warm up on the treadmill." He points to it.

"You're really bossy," I say, smiling. "And you didn't even say hello." I walk past him but he catches me around the waist.

He leans down to my ear and says, "Good morning, Kira."

He lets me go and walks off to the water cooler. Now my heart's beating even faster. Does he have any idea what he does to me? Is that why he does it? Why he constantly flirts?

After ten minutes on the treadmill, in which he made me do intervals at different speeds, we go over to the free weights.

"Let's start on the bench press." He moves the bench over, away from some guy who's lifting a barbell over his head. The gym isn't very busy because the before-work crowd has already come and gone. Austin said it was a lot busier when he got here at six to lift weights. If he wasn't training me, he wouldn't have had to work out so early. Now I feel bad for making him do this.

"Keep your back flat," he says as I do a rep.

I'm lying on the bench, pressing twenty-pound dumbbells over my head. I know the correct way to lift but I'm too distracted by Austin to do it right.

"You lifted your back again," he says. "I'm gonna put my hand here to remind you." He places his palm over the lower part of my stomach and I immediately tense up. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." I try to relax but it's nearly impossible when his hand is mere inches from...places I'd like him to touch. I even had a dream about it last night. About Austin touching me. He was giving me a massage, which led to doing other things. Things I can't stop thinking about with his hand on my lower abs.

"Maybe we should try something else," I say, sitting up and putting the weights down. "My form seems to be off today."

"You were done with that one anyway. Let's do bicep curls next."

I stand up and position myself, then lift the weights, slow and steady. Austin is behind me, and as I do another rep, I feel his hands around my waist. I try not to tense up this time and instead take a breath, trying to slow my racing heart.

"Did you see what you were doing?" he asks, looking at me in the mirror that's in front of us.

"No. What was I doing?"

"Moving your hips forward with every rep. When you do that, you put pressure on your lower back. Try to remember to keep your core steady and let the movement be limited to your arms."

"Got it." I try again, his hands still firmly around my waist. I love his hands. Big, strong, forceful. My mind drifts back to the dream I had last night.

"Why'd you stop?" he asks.

"Oh." I shake the dirty thoughts from my head and see the weights held down at my sides. "Sorry, I didn't mean to."

"It's okay. Just keep going."

We finish the set and move on to the next. The remainder of my session is a mix of bad form and paused movements, all caused by me being distracted by Austin. He's probably starting to doubt the fact that I'm an athlete. No athlete would be this clueless when it comes to working out. But I'm not clueless. I'm just distracted. So how is this going to work? I'm not going to achieve my fitness goals if I can't even do a proper bicep curl.

"How do you feel?" he asks when we're done.

I shrug. "Pretty good."

"I went easy on you today. I started with lighter weights to see what you could do. We'll up the weights, but before we do, we need to get your form right."

"I know. I was really off today. I think I'm just tired."

"And why is that?" He smiles. "Were you up watching movies with some guy last night?"

I smile back. "Yeah. I'll never do THAT again."

"How about actually going
out
to a movie?"

"Like tonight?"

"Yeah. I'll pick you up at seven."

"I don't know. I should probably..." I don't have an excuse to give him.

"Probably what?" He leans against the machine next to him. "You trying to come up with a reason why you can't go?"

I don't answer, but I feel my face heating up.

"I told you to be direct so if you don't want to go just tell me."

"I DO want to go, but...just as friends. Does that work?"

"Yeah." He grins. "Although I was kind of questioning the friend thing last night when I dropped you off."

My face heats up even more. "I don't know what you mean. I have to go." I attempt to go past him but he stops me, his arm wrapping around my waist and pulling me toward him.

He looks me in the eye. "Are you saying you didn't want me to kiss you last night?"

I look away. "I don't know what you're talking about." I sound breathless and I'm sure he noticed. Dammit.

His mouth moves down to my ear and he whispers, "I think you wanted me to. But I guess we'll find out tonight." He stands up straight. "I'll see you at seven." And then he walks off.

Not only does he look hot. He acts hot. No wonder girls are dying to go out with him.

The rest of the day I spend getting ready for class. Amber and I go to the campus bookstore and buy all our books, which cost a small fortune. Since when does a textbook cost $200? I had no idea they cost that much. Even buying all used books, the bill was still almost $800. My parents gave me a credit card to use but I texted my mom to warn her about the bill they'd soon be getting.

"We should go to a movie tonight," Amber says as we're eating dinner. We didn't feel like making something so we stopped at a sandwich shop near our apartment.

"I'm already going," I say, shaking the last of my potato chips from the bag. They came with my sandwich but I really shouldn't eat them. I'm supposed to be in training, which means I need to clean up my diet, but the chips were right there and looked really good.

"Already going where?" Amber asks, wiping the mayo off her sandwich. She asked for no mayo but they gave it to her anyway.

"To the movies. I'm going with Austin."

"Kira!" She drops her plastic, mayo-covered knife on her plate. "I told you to stop seeing him."

I smile. "Which made me want to see him all the more."

She sighs. "You're impossible."

"You're telling me you wouldn't go out with Austin if he asked?"