First and Goal (Moving the Chains #1) (19 page)

E
vie pulled a C on her calc quiz. According to Mr. Smith, I’m to tutor her for another week. I’m kind of ashamed to be so excited about that, especially since she actually
did
call me last night for help with the homework. Our three-hour long conversation might just be an indicator that I don’t have to rely on math to interact with her outside of school anymore.

She subtly turns around several times during calculus. Dear God, is this what it feels like for Evie to check me out? I mean, I’ve been checking her out for the past three years but never once felt like it was reciprocated. Yeah, I heard her say last week that she thinks I’m built like a freakin’ god, but she also said looks don’t mean much to her. Her blue eyes on me tell an entirely different story though.

Maybe I just have something stuck in my teeth.

In a strange burst of confidence, I want to catch her after class and find out what’s going on in her head, but she leaves with Alyssa faster than my tired ass can get my shit together. I figure I’ll catch her in the hall before Lit. Instead, I get cornered by some junior whose name I don’t even know. In my excitement to get to Evie, I’m genuinely not even paying attention to what this chick is rattling off at me. She might be offering to have my baby for all I know. At this point I’d agree to it just to get her to leave.

Please take a complimentary sperm donation as a token of my gratitude for shutting the hell up so I can try my hand at flirting with the girl I actually want. Thank you. Goodbye.

As it happens, I don’t have to look for Evie. She finds me in exactly the kind of scenario I don’t want her to see me in. She admitted that she notices all the girls that throw themselves at me. The way she was looking at me in calc makes this situation feel even more wrong. She fixes me with a look that’s a cross between sympathy and disgust, but continues toward our next shared class.

If I wasn’t so tired and confused about her behavior, I could have totally played on that sympathy, and asked her to help me out. I brush off the girl who’s now draped herself over my arm and head to Lit.

We sit across the room from each other in this class. Evie keeps throwing me looks that I can’t quite decipher. Her mood seems to have shifted from shy and open to…something else.

She seems right as rain in bio. A little softer than she normally is, but I still can’t put my finger on why. Her attitude towards me definitely seems to have shifted. It’s only Monday. I’m just going to lay low this week and see what happens.

She gets called into work early every day this week which means my ass is in a booth alone at the diner every evening. Our tutoring sessions are short and to the point to make sure she stays caught up, gets the finer points of the lessons, and I don’t have to miss out on sleep to help her finish the homework. In fact, she doesn’t call me once this week. I miss the sound of her voice and our easy conversations. Still, I don’t want to ruin whatever this momentum is that we seem to have going by pushing her too far too fast.

By the time Friday rolls around, I’m freaking pumped that I finally have something else to focus on other than fucking up my chances with Evie.

It’s game day.

Her school spirit blows everyone else out of the water in a warm-up that matches the dance team and guard. Tight navy pants with our school letters, IHS, in gold going down her left thigh, a fitted shirt that has the band logo on the front, and DRUM MAJOR printed on the back. She looks fucking amazing. It’s the first time since last year that I’ve seen her in anything like this. She wears her long hair in a high ponytail tied with ribbons in our school colors of blue and gold. It’s a tiny piece of the old Evie. Just another little hint that she’s not completely gone.

Rolling into bio whistling, I find another pleasant surprise. The third and final question packet is waiting on our lab bench. I’ve beaten Evie here for once, so I glance over the questions quickly, checking to see if any of them are going to be uncomfortable. Most of them are very intimate. I wonder how she’s going to play this. She’s been friendly all week, actually acknowledging me in the halls if I say hello or smile at her. I’ve caught her sneaking more glances my way in class this single week than in all the past three years, combined.

She walks into class with a pissed-off air about her. Jess looks like she’s trying to talk her down. This can’t be good. I start going over anything stupid I might have done today, but come up empty.

She sits down with a huff and turns to me. “I am never wearing this warm-up again.”

As much as I like it, I’m betting I’m not the only guy who noticed sexy Evie today, either.

“Do you even know what just happened to me?”

I wince, because…yeah, I can guess. Her smokin’ hot body on display for the first time in a long time? I can definitely guess.

“Some asshole sophomore just walked up to me and asked me to shake it for him! What’s a sophomore even doing in the senior hallway?”

“Who was it?”

“I don’t know!” She fumes, her face red, her arms crossed tightly over her chest.

“What’d he look like? Give me a detailed description.” Hell no can other guys ask my girl to shake it for them.

She turns to me, wearing the most bizarre expression. “If you’re asking if I thought he was worth performing for, the answer is definitely no.”

“No, I’m trying to figure out whose ass I need to go beat.”

“What? You think you’re the only one allowed to look?” she snaps at me.

Uh oh. She noticed I was looking too. My primal self-preservation instincts kick in and demand that I deny, deny, deny.

“Uh…I…um…I didn’t notice that you look hot today.”

Apparently that was the wrong answer. If I thought she looked pissed when she walked into the room, her eyes positively pop out of her skull now.

She finally breaks her defensive stance and leans into me, which would normally be a huge turn on. This version of Evie looks downright menacing.

“That’s it, Falls. You tell me right now.” She lowers her voice so our classmates won’t hear. “What fucking game do you think you’re playing with me?”

Oh, hell no. Not this again. “Evie, I’m not playing any games with you.”

“Just read the damn questions.” She gives me an icy glare and resumes her arms crossed, rigid posture. But she’s not messing with her notebook.

Maybe I can still come back from this.

I pick up the paper and hope my answers will clear things up for her a bit. “Okay, question twenty-five: Make three true ‘we’ statements each.”

“Whatever the fuck that’s supposed to mean,” she mumbles, looking out the window.

“I’ll go first. We’re both pissed.”

She jerks her head around so quickly that she probably gives herself whiplash. “What the fuck do you have to be pissed off about?”

I lean into her and look around quickly to make sure no one’s paying attention to our latest argument. “I’m pissed that you still don’t trust me. I’m pissed that other guys are giving you a hard time. I’m pissed that you don’t want me to handle it for you. I’m pissed that I can’t even tell you how fucking good you look because you’ll just shut down on me and treat me like shit if I pay you a compliment. I’m pissed that you never believe me even when I do tell you something nice. I’m pissed that every time we take a step forward, we always take ten steps back. And I’m super pissed that you can’t just act like the old Evie again!”

I straighten up and wait for her to pay me back in kind since that’s how we usually work. Instead, her look of shock is replaced by one of disappointment. Sonofabitch, is it even possible for me
not
to screw things up with this girl?

“We’re both different than we used to be,” she says softly.

Yep. I’m an asshole. The old me never would have raised his voice to this perfect creature.

“We’re both tired of pretending to be different.” I know I sure as hell am.

“We’re both trying,” she whispers.

Hope reignites in my chest. “We’re both excited for tonight.”

“But I bet we’re both dreading the pep rally…” She wags her eyebrows.

Yes! Crisis averted.

She snatches the paper out of my hands with a smirk. “Question twenty-six: Complete this sentence. ‘I wish I had someone with whom I could share…’”

“Everything.”

She laughs. The sound is music to my ears after the way this class got started. “Even the bad stuff? Like your disgusting eating habits?”

“Yeah.”

She studies me, and her smile mirrors my own.

“An actual conversation.” She gives me an indecipherable look, and I wonder if she’s talking about me.

She told me she likes talking to me and holy shit…does she want to talk to me more?

She keeps the paper and reads the next question quickly. “Question twenty-seven: If you were going to become a close friend with your partner, share what would be important for them to know.”

“Hmm, I don’t know about this one. I am trying to be your friend. I don’t feel like I’ve hidden anything from you, so I’m not sure what else you should know.” Oh, right.

I’ve wanted you since the day I met you. I dream about you nearly every night. And if you knew how many times I’ve jerked off fantasizing about you, you’d probably cut my balls off.

“Yeah, I’m not sure about this one, either. I mean, it assumes that I want to be close friends with you.” She laughs, but my heart stops. It’s hard to tell sometimes whether she’s joking or dead serious. “I guess I’d want you to know that you actually do scare me sometimes.”

She looks down at the table and her fingers twitch. She wants to play with the edge of her notebook, I can feel it. “You’re so much bigger than you used to be. You’re huge compared to me, and I know if you wanted to hurt me that you really, really could.”

“Evie…” Her eyes snap up to meet mine. I backtrack quickly. “Eva. Sorry. How many times do I have to tell you that I would never hurt you?”

She shrugs and looks away again, setting the questions down on the table and fiddling with her notebook, unable to resist the urge any longer. “Just because you say it doesn’t make it true.”

I want to touch her so badly right now that my whole body tenses with the effort of keeping my hands to myself. Goddamnit. Maybe if I weren’t such a lumbering jock, she wouldn’t have anything to be afraid of.

“Were you afraid of me freshman year?”

She laughs a little, but continues her downward gaze. “No.”

“Sophomore year?”

“No. You were getting there, but you definitely weren’t as huge as you are now.”

“Last year?”

“Yeah. You unlocked Hulk level last year. I learned a long time ago to be afraid of anyone who could easily overpower me.”

Fucking Eddie Hinton. I knew it.

I don’t want to push this topic here in front of everyone else. But I’m definitely not dropping it. I am going to fuck Hinton up a million ways before this year is over.

“I will never hurt you, Eva. Ever. All right, moving on. Question twenty-eight: Share something you like about your partner. Be very honest and open.” I rush to answer before she can. “I love how brave and strong you are.”

She peers up at me, tears welling in her eyes. God, I am so going to kill him. Just…where she can’t see it and have another reason to be terrified of me.