In Her Eyes (8 page)

Casey stopped in front of a huge stadium sign that read “James G. Pressly Stadium.” The name reminded her of that one actress, Jamie Pressly. She took a step forward to read the smaller print and a guy jogged past her, clipping her purse, the contents of which spilled all over the sidewalk.

“Sorry!” the guy yelled over his shoulder. She bent down to pick everything up. She grabbed the keys attached to her UF ID, wiping the latter against her pants, the same way Ben had the first time they met.

The wind gusted and a rectangular aluminum sign rattled against the fence, stealing her from her thoughts. “Entrance,” the sign read. She dropped her keys and few other items back in her purse and then pushed the gate open.

The sign should have read “Enter here and risk everything,” Casey thought, because as she walked into the stadium that’s exactly how she felt.

22

Shirtless

April 9, 2015

For some reason the blue-colored track surprised her even though she had seen it before. Casey didn’t know if the track was blue because it was the natural color of the material they used or just because this is the University of Florida and everything is either orange or blue. Either way, she kept walking towards the bleachers that were just past the athletic facility.

Casey’s shift had ended at six and it took just over thirty minutes to get from Shands Hospital all the way across campus. By the time she sat down on the bleachers, it was already 6:41.

Her plan was fool proof. Except for the fact that she had no clue if they had practice today, or if she was even allowed at practice. She probably should have looked this up online or something, but she didn’t. And that’s all besides the fact that she had no idea what she was going to say to Ben, if he was even here.

She ran the actual scenario through her head, and it suddenly sounded a lot worse than she realized.
I know I flirted with you, let you kiss me, kissed you back, gave you my number, and then ignored your calls, but I’m actually a really cool girl.

As Casey sat there the practice seemed unorganized for the most part. Maybe that’s because it was nearly finished, but it just looked like a bunch of shirtless guys walking around and stretching. She still hadn’t spotted Ben yet, but the track was huge. Actually the track wasn’t huge, but the soccer field inside the track was huge. On one end of the soccer field was a strip of track that led to the high jump, and on the other end, a giant circle was cut out of the grass, which Casey guessed was for discus and shot put.

Several guys walked out of the athletic facility and onto the soccer field. It was pretty easy to tell the field guys apart from the track guys. Mainly because they were huge compared to the runners. Several of the runners, however, were actually pretty big as well. Did football players also run track?

She looked down at her phone: 6:52 p.m. She was still the only person in the bleachers, but either the guys walking in and out of the locker rooms didn’t see her or they didn’t care she was there because no one said anything.

Casey recognized several of the trainers helping some of the guys stretch out. A couple of them were in med school with Nikki, likely building up their resume for residency applications. Most were doing some type of hamstring stretch, lying on their back while the trainer pushed their straightened leg towards them. She had to admit, they were unbelievably flexible.

Several more minutes went by and the field was quickly emptying. Two student managers were stacking orange cones and picking up small orange disks off the ground, but there was only one group of runners still at practice, and Ben wasn’t one of them.

One of the female trainers walked off the field with a runner towards the glass doors that led to the training facility. The girl waved at Casey as she passed and Casey waved back. The girl’s name was Megan and she was one of Nikki’s friends. She looked down at her phone again: 7:03 p.m.

The sun was starting to quickly fall below the bleachers on the east side of the field, directly across from where she sat. Casey stood up and stuffed her phone back into the small pouch on the outside of her purse.
This was a bad idea anyways,
she thought.

She was already halfway down the bleacher steps when a group of runners entered the stadium from the back side, caddy corner to where she was now. They were too far away to see their faces, but she was sure the runner in the front left was Ben. She couldn’t describe how she knew, she just knew.

They crossed over the track in a matter of seconds and stopped in the dead center of the infield. The glass doors behind Casey opened again and a young girl came walking out with a green six-bottle carrier in each hand. The orange and white Gatorade logo was etched across all of them.

When she looked back towards the field, most of the guys were walking around with their hands tucked behind their heads. They were likely told their entire running lives that doing this expands their lungs so they can breathe easier. The problem with that line of reasoning is that it really isn’t getting the oxygen in that is the problem. Heavy breathing during running is more of a function of getting the carbon dioxide out.

One point for doctors, zero points for runners, Casey thought with a smile.

Her smile quickly faded when she looked to the left of that group to two guys standing upright, one of which was pointing directly at her. It was Ben and Parker.

Why am I nervous? I came to see him, not the other way around.

Ben started jogging towards her and she realized again that she had no clue what she was going to say.

He pulled up about ten feet from her and started walking. He was wearing blue nylon shorts with a short runners slit on the side, matching Nike shoes that looked about two sizes too small, and no shirt.

He wasn’t drenched, but a sheen of sweat covered his body. The muscles in his legs flexed as he took each step. She knew his body was likely experiencing active hyperemia, an increase in organ blood flow during increased metabolic activity. Casey tried to shut off the doctor part of her brain, but she couldn’t.

She could easily make out his vastus medialis, vastus lateralis, and rectus femoris as he moved. Her eyes moved up towards his stomach, and his shorts were pulled just slightly below his waist and she could see the tightness in his illiopsoas. Finally the girl in her took over and what it all boiled down to is he had an unbelievably gorgeous body.

Casey hadn’t moved from a row about halfway down the bleacher steps, so when Ben stopped, he was a couple feet below her. He rested his arms on the mid-rail and looked up at her.

Instead of her eyes meeting his, they moved down towards his lips, and a tingling sensation shot up her body. She could still feel the duality of the warmth and coolness from his lips that night he kissed her.

“I’m sorry, but there’s no visitors allowed at practice,” Ben said completely expressionless.

Casey suddenly felt incredibly stupid.
I can’t believe I let Candy talk me into this.
Without saying anything, she turned and started walking down the stairs. She should have known by the fact that no one else was standing around watching that visitors weren’t allowed. But it wasn’t even that, it was the way he said it.

Before Casey reached the bottom of the stairs, Ben jogged over and blocked her way. He held his hands up in front of him to stop her. “Hey, that was just a joke.”

“It was a bad joke,” she said as she stepped around him and towards the gate she had come in.

“Okay, it was a bad joke, but remember I’m not good at jokes. I was just shocked to see you.”

Casey turned around and took a couple steps toward him. “I’m sorry. I just…”

“Lost your phone? Got a new number? Probably something along those lines, right?”

Casey smiled. “Let’s go with lost my phone.”

She thought she could see a bit of hurt and disappointment in his eyes behind the light-hearted façade.

“You know this all could have been avoided if a certain girl would stop playing games and just let me take her out.”

I am so not playing games,
she thought. But even as Casey thought it, she realized it wasn’t entirely true.

“Benson, this isn’t the damn Bachelor,” Coach Melvick yelled from mid-field. “Stretch out and then you can go flirt as much as you want.”

Ben waved playfully. “Thanks, Coach, that was extremely helpful.”

Ben turned back to Casey.

“Okay, so take me out,” she said.

Ben looked down at his watch. “It’s about seven-fifteen. Give me, like, fifteen minutes and we can go.”

Casey bit her lip. “I can’t tonight…” Nikki was only supposed to watch Emma until eight.

Ben didn’t hesitate, though. “Okay, how about tomorrow morning?”

“You want to take me out tomorrow morning?”

“Does seven a.m. work?”

“Like seven in the morning?”

“Yes, you see, a.m. stands for ante meridiem, which is Latin for before midday. You did go to medical school right?”

Casey rolled her eyes. “I’ve just never been asked out at seven in the morning before. Where are we going to even go?”

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

Casey thought about it for a second. She hadn’t planned on taking Emma to daycare tomorrow, but a half day would be fine, she thought. “Okay, do you want me to write down my address?”

“Benson Hayes Wilder!” Coach Melvick yelled again.

“Will you text it to me?”

“Okay,” Casey said.

“In case you get confused, it’s that one number that’s been calling the past four days.”

“Ha. Ha,” Casey said before Ben jogged off.

“Wait,” Casey said. “Where are we going?”

Ben didn’t turn around.

Does he not know girls need to know these things?

23

Ante Meridiem

April 10, 2015

Casey had a two-bedroom, one-bathroom house in northwest Gainesville. It was in a small community a little ways away from the hospital. Far enough away to avoid most of the endless foray of house parties, but close enough that she still felt a bit of the college life.

It was 6:53 a.m. when Casey heard a car pull into the driveway. She pulled back the curtains from her window and saw a clay red truck with a yellow trim stripe. Letting the curtain fall back in place, she headed toward the front door.

She walked through the open dining room and sat her cup of coffee down next to the sink. She shook her hands like she was trying to dry them off without a towel. Her body tingled with excitement and the 500 mg of caffeine. Casey was so wired that she thought she could actually feel the caffeine block the adenosine receptors in her brain.
Calm down, calm down, calm down. Holy cow, I should have stopped at my second cup of coffee.

The knock at the door echoed lightly throughout the house, bringing Casey out of her momentary panic.

As Casey opened the front door she got this sudden feeling like she was forgetting something. That feeling went away when she saw him, though. Ben was wearing jeans with a yellow and brown plaid shirt that was rolled up and tucked in, a brown belt, and brown boots. It was the first time she’d seen him wearing something other than orange and blue workout clothes.

He held out a white Calla Lily and Casey took it, twirling the green stem softly between her fingers.

“You look amazing,” Ben said before she could thank him for the flower. She caught his eyes scanning her body. She was wearing light-washed jeggings with a small rip a few inches above her right knee, and a short-sleeve tie-neck off-white blouse.

Casey felt like she couldn’t stop smiling, “Thank you.”

“But, you can’t go barefoot,” he said with a smile.

Casey looked down and wiggled her toes. “You didn’t know? This is the new look.”

“I totally knew. I like to keep up to speed on all the hot fashion trends.”

“I had a feeling,” Casey smirked. “Let me just put this in water and grab a pair of sandals and I’ll be right out.”

Ben rubbed the back of his neck. “You might want to make it a pair of shoes that can get a little dirty instead.”

Casey thought about it for a moment.
A little dirty? Nikki would die if a guy said that to her.
“Umm, okay. Just give me a minute.” She left the door open as she jogged back to the kitchen and grabbed a small vase from under the sink. She placed the flower in it, along with a little bit of water, and then walked back to her bedroom.

Casey looked through her closet quickly. Besides her running shoes, she didn’t really have any old shoes. She grabbed a pair of russet ankle boots with a zipper on the side. They weren’t old, plus they were Nikki’s, but that would have to do for now.

Ben was leaning against the wooden post of the front porch when Casey walked back out. She motioned towards her booties with both hands, “Better?”

“Perfect,” Ben said.

As they backed out of the driveway, Casey saw Emma’s pink and yellow Playmate trike on the side of the house, and she literally held her breath, hoping Ben didn’t notice it. She would tell him about Emma, if this turned into something. For today, though, she just wanted to go on a date with a guy.

24

Peanut and Butter

April 10, 2015

They talked a lot as they drove. Well, mainly Ben talked a lot because Casey never stopped asking questions.

During the first thirty minutes she had found out he was originally from Ocala, Florida. He was twenty-four years old and a freshman planning to major in mechanical engineering. He was the number-two ranked runner in the country for the 5000 meter, which turns out to be just over three miles. Some famous runner named Steve Prefontaine was one of the main reasons he started running. His closest friend was Parker Collins, with whom he shared a room at Springs Hall, which she already knew. He liked chocolate, but didn’t like ice cream, which she refused to believe. His favorite book was
The Philosopher and the Wolf
, and his favorite movie was
Without Limits,
which also happened to be about Steve Prefontaine.