Forever Mine (2 page)

“You sure you’re ok?” she asked again.

He looked up at her for the first time, still breathing hard. The sun was directly behind her. Angel squinted at a petite silhouette. She shifted slightly, blocking the sun for a moment. The first thing he noticed were her eyes. They were an amazing light green. A startling contrast to her dark features. She stared at him as she too stood there breathing hard.

Her hair was up in a ponytail, except for a few strands dampened by her perspiration that stuck to the sides of her face and forehead. It surprised Angel that he didn’t recognize her from anywhere. He thought he knew everyone in the school. But there was something familiar about her, he just couldn’t place it.

“I’m fine,” he said.

“Good.” She started untangling the earphone wire. She’d apparently taken it out of her ear when she stopped to check on him. She didn’t smile back or ask anything else. She seemed eager to be on her way. He watched as she adjusted it in her ear and got ready to go back to her running.

With his heart pounding and palms sweating, to his own surprise he stammered, “So, you like to run?”

Stupid, stupid, stupid
.

She turned and looked at him without responding. Maybe she hadn’t heard him, he hoped.

“I’m Angel, what’s your name?”

“Sarah.”

All he could manage was a smile as the name sunk in.

“Well, have a good one,” she said, and ran off.

He watched as she ran up and across the bleachers. From a distance she looked very small with little to no curves. Then it hit him, lost girl, from the first day of school. That’s where he’d seen those eyes. He’d noticed them even then. He remembered feeling struck but he hadn’t seen her since and had almost forgotten about it. Almost.

He started his bleachers again, and his thoughts went back to his grades. Was he really gonna need to be tutored? He shook his head in disgust and picked up his pace.

********************

Sarah ran, concentrating hard. She had a feeling he was still watching her, and would die if she fell or tripped. The butterflies in her stomach were out of control. How could she almost knock him over? Of all people it had to be him. She should’ve said more to him but she'd been at a loss for words, thoughts, just like the first day of school when he’d caught her gawking at him like an idiot. Ever since then she’d avoided coming face to face with him again. Any time she even thought she saw him, she’d run in the opposite direction.

Her legs almost gave out when she realized who she bumped.
Damn him and his smile
. As sure as she was that he probably didn’t even remember her, she hadn’t wanted to chance making a fool of herself again.

Sarah knew all about the great Moreno brothers. Valerie had lived here her whole life, and had gone through grade school and middle school with them. Since Valerie had a huge crush on Angel’s older brother, Alex, she told Sarah about them all the time.

Sarah thought back to the first time she’d seen Angel, two summers ago. She and her mother had come out to visit her mother’s sister, Valerie’s step mom, Aunt Norma. Valerie had taken her along to a beach party with her.

It was an all-day party, but Valerie being self conscious about her body, decided they’d show up late, after all the swimming was done. They arrived when everyone was just hanging around the bonfires, and listening to music. Sarah had never really grasped everything Valerie had told her about Angel and his brothers. She made them out to be movie-star, drop-dead gorgeous. Valerie had poked her when he and his friends arrived. “There he is. That’s Alex’s little brother.”

Sarah had looked up and saw him in all his glory. He was anything but little, even back then. He and his friends seemed to move in slow motion toward a group of girls. The girls waited their anxious smiles enormous. He wore a tank top that showed off his muscles and denim shorts. Sarah had never seen a more finer-looking smile. His dimples were incredible. She watched as one of the girls practically jumped into his arms, hugging him, and then looked around casually to make sure everyone was watching.

“Is that his girlfriend?” She’d asked Valerie.

Valerie had immediately huffed, “She wishes. That’s Dana, the one I told you about, she’s forever throwing herself at him and tries to convince anyone that will listen that the two of them are an item. Everyone knows he’s never had a girlfriend. Why should he? When he can have all the girls he wants, whenever he wants?”

Sarah remembered watching him and fantasizing that day. It was all she could do. The girls he hung with seemed so experienced, and cool around him and his friends. They laughed sometimes a little too exaggerated, but still at least they could hold a conversation around him she had barely been able to breathe the first day of school when he looked at her. And now she had almost knocked him down. If he did remember her as the gaping fool from the first day, he’d now have yet another asinine memory of her. She was hopeless.

None of that mattered anyway. Making friends was not on her agenda. She didn’t plan on sticking around long enough for that.

She picked up the speed and tried to remove him from her mind. She remembered Sydney’s birthday. It was this weekend, and she had to make sure she finally emailed the gift. She’d made a slideshow with pictures of the good times they had had, along with all of the songs that held special meaning to just the two of them. She knew Sydney would appreciate it much more than any store-bought gift.

If it hadn’t been for Sydney, she didn’t know how she would’ve gotten through the past year, and she wanted to show her appreciation. Sydney meant the world to her. They’d been through so much over the years, last year especially when the nightmare with her mom started.

When Sarah was forced to move to California with her Aunt, she and Sydney made a pact to always keep in touch. So far, they had swapped emails, and since Sydney’s parents had offered to get her a cell phone that had unlimited minutes, they could talk every day. No matter how far away, Sarah was determined to keep Sydney and his family in her life forever.

Aunt Norma didn’t know about Sarah’s plans. She would be eighteen in January, and once she was, no one, not even her mom, would be able to stop her from going back to Arizona. She would save enough money to be able to pay Sydney’s parents to let her stay with them. She already had several baby sitting gigs lined up. Between that, and school, there was no room for a social life.

Sarah could hardly wait. Just the thought made her smile. Next semester she’d be running for her home track team at Flagstaff High, where she belonged, and her life would go back to the way it should be.

She glanced up from her feet as she made her way down the bleachers and saw Jesse Strickland waiting for her at the bottom, arms crossed, smiling from ear to ear.
Oh, God, what now
? She fought the urge to roll her eyes, as she reached the bottom, Jesse standing in front of her, deliberately blocking her way. He reached over to pull an earphone out of her ear but she stopped his hand from getting any closer and did it herself.

“You know what today is?” he smirked.

“Nope.”

He stared at her in disbelief. “Valerie didn’t tell you
?”

Sarah shook her head, not the least bit interested. She was getting hotter, and already sweating. She knew she’d soon be drenched if she didn't start running again.

“Is this gonna take all day?” she said. “I’m in the middle of my run here.”

“It’s my birthday,” he opened up his arms. “I’m here to collect.”

Sarah’s eye’s narrowed, and she stepped back. “Collect what?”

He stepped forward grinning big. “Well, being that we’re here in school. I’ll take a hug for now.” He leaned in, and began putting his arms around her small waist.

Sarah scowled, pushing him away. “I don’t owe you anything!”

Obviously amused, he lifted an eyebrow and proceeded to move forward and force a hug. “Oh, come on, Sarah, we’ve done so much more before, what’s a hug now?”

“That was a long time ago, and a mistake, so get over it!” She struggled to undo his hands that had clasped behind her waist. She felt his weight on her, heavy at first, pushing her against the fence. And then just like that, the weight was gone. It took her a moment to understand what just happened, then she realized someone had pulled him off of her, and saw Jesse slammed against the side of the bleachers.

Her legs went limp. She held on to the fence for support with one hand, the other lay flat on her chest feeling the hard thud of her heart against her chest. It was
Angel.

CHAPTER 2

“You have a problem, asshole?” Angel demanded, his face inches from Jesse’s, his forearm at Jesse’s neck.

Jesse’s face reddened as he struggled to get the words out. “I-I’m was jus’ messin’ with her.”

Angel turned to face Sarah, without loosening his grip on Jesse. She stood there wide eyed a hand over her chest. “Are you okay?”

Sarah nodded. “Yeah.”

Angel turned back to Jesse’s face which was by now was nice shade of deep crimson. He pushed him one more time against the bleachers, slamming his head against the wood siding.

“Get some fucking manners,” he snarled.

Released, Jesse fell to one knee, coughing and gasping for air. Again, Angel turned to face Sarah. He took a few steps her way. She still held her hand to her chest, and her eyes remained on Jesse who, now on his feet, continued to cough. She finally looked at Angel, with those eyes that were beginning to haunt him.

He was determined not to clam up again. “Are you sure you’re okay?” He fought back the urge to pull a strand of hair away from her face. She smiled at him for the first time.

“Yeah, thanks.” she replied. “You didn’t have to do that. He was just being a little pushy. I could’ve handled it.” She stood up straight putting her hand to her waist.

“Yeah, maybe you could’ve. I just don’t have patience for idiots.”

A few people noticed the scuffle and slowed as they walked by, but not enough to call the attention of any teachers.

Again she turned to watch Jesse huff away embarrassed, still coughing and rubbing his throat.

“He’ll be fine.”

Sarah shrugged and they started back slowly toward the gym.

Walking so close, side by side, Angel was distracted when their hands touched for just a second. He refocused on his reaction to seeing Jesse push himself on her. It was typical of him to want to help but he had gone a little overboard. He could’ve just pushed him off. Instead, he really wanted to see Jesse hurt.

He stared at her now, eyes narrowing. “Is he a friend of yours?”

Sarah glanced his way but turned away quickly. “That’s not what I would call it.”

Angel tightened his jaw and stared straight ahead. “What does that mean?”

She focused on the cheerleaders, who were now staring at them, especially Dana. Angel was oblivious to them, his eyes fixed on Sarah now.

She finally looked back at him. “We hung out once, a long time ago.”

Hung out
? “You dated him?”

“Not exactly.”

She never completely looked him in the eye, and the frustration was getting heavier. Jesse was one of the biggest assholes he knew. He couldn’t imagine her being involved with him in any way.

They reached the gym before he could push further, and she gazed at him. She put her hand on his arm and every hair on his body stood at attention.

“Thanks again for what you did back there.”

Angel couldn’t help stare at her eyes.

“I’ll see you around.” She took her hand off his arm and began to walk away.

What? That’s it
? No way was he letting her get away so fast. He grabbed her hand as she turned from him. It was soft and small in his big brawny hand. His heart raced.

She turned to look at him he tried focusing on something other than her eyes, but it was impossible.

“Are you going to the game on Friday?”

She studied him for a moment and then cleared her throat. “I can’t. I’m working.”

A few guys turned the corner and strolled toward them. She tugged her hand but he held it tight. He glanced at the guys and back at her.