The Hidden (The Hidden Trilogy) (14 page)

She finally relented and started skating. “I don’t know why you’re acting like this,” she muttered as she led me further out. “You’re obviously into him. You were practically undressing him with your eyes.”

I gaped at her, momentarily forgoing my concentration to remain upright and stumbled, nearly taking her down with me. “I was
not
undressing him with my eyes,” I mumbled once we leveled out.

She smirked. “You
were
. I know an eye-fuck when I see one.”

I glared at her, which only made her laugh.

“What? I’m not saying it’s a bad thing,” she said after her fit of laughter subsided. “It’s hard
not
to undress him with your eyes. Hell, I’m pretty sure my vagina
whimpered
the first time I saw him.”

I threw my head back and practically cackled, quickly covering my mouth with my hand to silence the laughter.

Beth grinned at my response, then waved to Josh, who broke away from the surrounding parade of skaters and coasted toward us. He smiled as he approached, skating effortlessly. He’d almost made it to the center of the rink when he stumbled. He lurched forward, landing on his stomach and eventually sliding as the momentum of his fall pushed him forth.

“
Oh my god!
” Beth let go of my hand and rushed over to him.

With Beth gone, I had nothing to hold onto to keep my balance. My legs wobbled and I swayed. Closing my eyes, I braced myself for the impact as my legs went out from under me, but I never made it to the ice.

Hands gripped my waist and my arms automatically shot out, grasping hard biceps. I looked up at Thomas as he set me upright, giving him a small smile. “Aren’t you tired of saving me yet?”

He smiled. “Never.”

Oh my god, I am so fucking sick of blushing in front of him...

I glanced down to my waist, where he still held me.

“Oh.” He quickly let go. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay.” I took a step, wobbling again.

Thomas held out his hand, but I hesitated. I
wanted
to take it. I wanted to touch his skin, and feel it against mine. I just wanted to be closer to him. But it would be a mistake to get too close. He waited for me to take his hand, smiling down at me with the same smile that was so beautiful, I knew this could not possibly end well for me.

However, I also knew there was no chance in hell of me making it off the ice by myself–at least not without falling once or twice.

Resigned, I took his hand and my legs steadied. I tried not to frown at the rush just holding his hand gave me. Instead, I nodded towards the bleachers beside the rink. “I’m gonna go sit down. I think I’m done.”

“I’ll walk you off the ice.” He started to lead me towards the edge. Words seemed to fail us, and we fell into an uncomfortable silence. He finally said, “I wanted to apologize again for last week if I was…rude. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

I smirked. “Which time?”

His face flushed, but he managed a rueful smile. “I don’t know how to act around you. You make me feel…awkward.” He laughed lightly. “It’s like I trip all over myself whenever you’re around.”

We got to the ledge of the rink and I reluctantly let go of his hand. “Don’t worry. You’re not doing too bad.” That was the problem.

Thomas grabbed his shoes from the lockers next to the rink, and we walked towards the section of bleachers where I left my stuff. I sat down and unlaced my skates as Thomas sat next to me.

“Are you sure you’re done?” he asked. “You were such a natural out there.”

I tried not to laugh. “Very funny.” I took off my skates and socks, stuffed the socks in my purse, and put my ballet flats back on. “I’m just gonna sit here until Beth’s ready to go, so…you can go if you want.”

Thomas looked over to the rink, then back at me. He shrugged and said, “I’m good,” as he started to put his shoes back on.

He had to have other friends out there, right? “What about that Brian guy?”

His brow lifted. “What about him?”

“Well, you came with him. Don’t you wanna hang out with him instead of me?”

He shook his head, appearing amused. “Not really.”

“Oh.” I frowned, not sure what else to say.

“Besides, I’m not gonna let you sit here by yourself while your friends are out there,” he said, nodding towards the rink.

My ego instantly deflated, like he’d taken a pin to a balloon. “Don’t do me any favors. If you want to go, go.” My voice came out hard, with a tinge of bitterness I wished I could’ve concealed better.

“I didn’t mean–” He rubbed his jaw. “That came out wrong. I’m not sitting here because I feel sorry for you, I’m sitting here because I…want to.” He
sounded
sincere.

I shrugged. “It’s okay… But really, I’m fine. You don’t have to stay.”

He laughed softly, as if to himself. “Do you
want
me to leave?”

“Not really,” I finally admitted.

He leaned towards me and picked up the drawstring of his hoodie, twirling it around his finger. “You’re still wearing my jacket.” The corners of his lips turned up minutely, into that almost-smile of his.

I looked down at his hand as he let go of the string, trying to fight the warmth in my cheeks from becoming obvious.

He cleared his throat. “I like it on you. It looks good.”

My cheeks burned. So much for trying to fight it. “Can I ask you something?”

He leaned back onto the bleacher behind him. “Shoot.”

I nodded towards the sea of people on the ice. “If you’re not here to hang out with your friends, then why are you here?”

“Maybe I’m trying to make friends.”

“And how are you going to do that when you’re sitting here with me?”

He glanced at me for a brief second before looking away. “Maybe you’re the one I want to be friends with.”

I rolled my eyes, but my voice came out soft. “You
really
want to be my friend, huh?”

He laughed, not like he’d heard something funny, but like he was laughing at something idiotic or just plain silly. “Is that really so hard to believe?”

“Yeah, actually, it is.” He was the most gorgeous man I’d ever seen and he wanted to be
my
friend.
Anyone
in my position would find that hard to believe. “Why do you want to be my friend?”

His dark blond eyebrows pulled together, making a little indention in his otherwise perfect face. “We can’t be friends?”

“It’s just…” I looked away. Maybe it would be easier to say if I wasn’t looking at him. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”

“Why not?”

Because I don’t trust myself around you.

I didn’t answer his question directly. “Will you tell me why you were being such an asshole on Monday?”

“There’s nothing to tell. It was a simple case of miscommunication.”

“I don’t believe you.” I looked into his eyes, the lightest shade of blue with a thin, dark outer ring that–while beautiful–didn’t look natural or right. “There’s something you’re not telling me.”

His eyes flickered and he looked away. “So…you
don’t
want to be my friend.”

I blinked, trying to clear my head. “That’s not what I said. You just haven’t given me a compelling reason yet.”

His jaw clenched. “Why do I need a reason to be your friend? Did Beth need a reason? What about Josh? Did you get
his
reason?”

“
They
didn’t treat me like shit and then try to be my friend.”

He sighed. “I’m sorry I treated you so poorly–I really, really am. But even if I hadn’t behaved that way, you
still
wouldn’t want to be my friend, would you?”

He was probably right, it just might’ve taken me a while to figure it out. There was nothing I could say, so I looked away.

“That’s what I thought.” He stood up to leave, but paused. “Just so you know, I want to be your friend because I think you’re interesting. You’re funny, you don’t hold anything back, and you’re not afraid to speak your mind. You’re not intimidated by me, and you’re not afraid to put me in my place… You’ve surprised me. Not many people do that.”

I watched him walk into the lobby and push open the double glass doors, exiting into the nighttime.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Tuesday, September 1
st

EMILY

The bed groaned as I flopped onto my other side. I lifted my head, trying to see how much time I had before my alarm went off. My vision, still blurry from sleep, read the time as–

No, that couldn’t be right. I rubbed my eyes and squinted harder until the two sets of neon blue numbers from my alarm clock merged back into one, that read 9:03 AM.

Shit!

Why didn’t my alarm go off at 8:15 like it was supposed to? I fumbled for the clock and saw that, yeah, I’d set the alarm, I just forgot to turn the damn thing on. And now I was late for my nine o’clock English class.

Awesome.

I threw off my covers and ran full speed to the bathroom, where I took the shortest shower of my life. I didn’t even bother to wash my hair, I just stuck it up in a ponytail.

Beth’s door was closed, so I figured it was safe to run back to my room wrapped in a towel. After I shut my door, I threw on some underwear and grabbed a pair of jeans from my dresser, hitching my legs through them quickly. When I pulled my jeans up, I noticed something unusual–the bottoms of my jeans barely reached my ankles. Thinking back to when I bought them at the beginning of summer, I could’ve sworn they’d been a little long on me.

I pushed the thought from my head and stuck my feet into my flip-flops. I had to be mistaken. There’s no way I grew two to three inches in the past three months.

I grabbed a shirt out of my closet and pulled it on, then dashed into the living room and picked my bag up from the couch.

Huh. Beth’s door was still closed. She was usually up by now. Maybe she overslept like I had.

I knocked twice in quick succession before opening her door. “Beth, are you–”

Whoa
. Beth was in bed with Josh and they were–

I squeezed my eyes shut and quickly stepped back into the living room, closing her door. But the image of a very naked Beth riding a very naked Josh reverse cowgirl-style was seared into my brain…as was the image of her touching herself while she did it. “Sorry, I didn’t know you were–” My face burned as the words stumbled out of my mouth. “Sorry. I’m leaving now.”

As I left the dorm, I tried to shake the image from my head, but it was burned into my retinas.

“You’ll be working closely with your lab partners this semester, so get to know them. Make sure you exchange phone numbers and email addresses, because I will not accept ‘I didn’t know how to get in touch with them’ as an excuse for…”

Mrs. Beauregard’s voice droned out as I stared at my biology lab manual. Of course my lab partner–someone I was apparently supposed to become
thisclose
with–had to be someone I’d walked in on having sex. And not just regular, missionary sex, but full-on porn sex.

Josh cleared his throat next to me. “Ready to get started?”

I nodded, still unable to meet his eyes, and grabbed my book, following him to one of the nearby experiment stations set up around the classroom. I mumbled something to him about getting the beakers when my pocket vibrated. As I walked over to grab them, I pulled my phone out and saw I had a text from Gabriel:

Coffee?

I quickly typed a response:

Yeah,
1:15 ok?

Shoving the phone back in my pocket, I grabbed three beakers and carried them back to our table, setting them in-between Josh and I.

I perked up a little at the prospect of seeing Gabriel today. Our interactions were always…interesting, to say the least. He was obviously a ladies’ man, but it didn’t really bother me like it did with Thomas. Maybe it was because Thomas had somehow managed to get under my skin, whereas Gabriel was just…Gabriel. I didn’t give a shit who
he 
slept with.

“Um, Em?”

Josh’s voice distracted me and I made the mistake of meeting his gaze. All I saw in my mind’s eye was him under Beth, his face contorted with what I assumed was pleasure as he pumped away beneath her, thrusting himself into her repeatedly–all of which made his balls swing to and fro, producing a light slapping sound every time they hit his thighs.

I barely stifled the shudder that threatened to overtake me. Those swinging balls would haunt me for the rest of my life, I was sure of it. I blinked in an effort to scour the image from my mind, and said, “Huh?”

Josh’s face grew pink as he looked down. “About this morning…”

I put my hand up to stop him from continuing. “Don’t worry about it. Never happened. Besides, I didn’t see anything.”

He exhaled slowly–relieved, I’m sure–and said, “Okay, good.”

My pocket vibrated again and I pulled my phone out under the table to check the text from Gabriel:

See you then.

I smiled and tucked my phone away, then opened my lab manual to the correct page. “Shall we?”

Gabriel’s car was already in the parking lot when I pulled in, but when I went inside, he wasn’t anywhere to be seen. I stood on my tip-toes and scanned the moderately packed coffee house again, but there was no sign of him.

Hmm, that’s weird…

I didn’t let his absence stop me from ordering, and when I got my iced mocha, I went to a small booth in the corner to wait. 

About five minutes later, I saw the handicapped bathroom’s door swing open out of the corner of my eye. I glanced over, thinking nothing of it until I saw Gabriel emerge. With his hair disheveled and his face flushed, he finished tucking his white oxford back into his slacks. He looked up and met my eyes, surprise flickering across his face for a split second before it was replaced with his usual easy-going demeanor.

He slid into the booth across from me, running his hands through his unruly chestnut locks. “Sorry I’m late. I was…otherwise engaged.” His lips lifted into a wry smile, just as I noticed the handicapped bathroom’s door open again behind him.