Our Kind of Love (16 page)

She smiles and starts for the door. I walk over,
opening it for her.

“Well, see you at work,” she says softly before
stepping into the doorway.

“See you,” I tell her, waving as she heads for
the stairs.

“Oh hey,” I stop her.

Reign swivels.
“Yeah?”

I step out and walk up to her. “I was thinking,
maybe we could run together in the mornings?”

“Oh…”

“I mean, it’s something we both like doing and I
find it even more motivating when I’m running with someone else…you know, like
friends.”

She nods. “Sure.”

“Also, can I get your number? Friends do that
too, you know.” I laugh.

“Silly, of course I’ll give you my number. No
need to justify every little thing, Micah.”

Taking her phone out of her pocket, Reign hands
it to me and I punch in my number. She calls my phone so I can save hers then
she proceeds on her way, waving at me with a sweet smile as she saunters down
the stairs and out of sight.

God! Why can’t this girl be mine?

TWENTY

Reign

JUNE FLEW BY so fast. Now we’re in July, and I’m
starting to reconsider going on that trip to Florida with Claudia at the end of
the month. I wonder if that has anything to do with Micah.

We’ve been running together for two weeks now
before starting work in the mornings. We’d meet up near the beach, jog for half
a mile, and then make our way back to the starting point as day breaks.

I’ve been noticing his muscles more than ever,
especially since he runs without a shirt some days. Summer’s getting hotter and
so is he. I can’t stop myself from watching every stream of sweat course down
his chiseled chest, as we collapse on the sand to catch our breaths and quench
our thirsts.

His Adam’s apple bobs as he chugs down the rest
of his water, falling backwards right after with his hands behind his head. His
chest rises and falls heavily as he closes his eyes and tries to recuperate
himself. I sit there beside him, regarding his masculine features. Even when
sweaty and out of breath Micah still looks hot.

He opens his eyes and squints up at me with a
smirk playing at his thin lips. I look away fast and continue to drink my
water. I suspect he’s been trying to seduce me but maybe I’m thinking too much.

Shortly after, he sits up, observing the surfers
that are now arriving to catch the morning waves. He bumps my shoulder and
springs to his feet.

“Let’s go for a swim. We’ll cool down faster.”

I wave him off. “You go, I’ll wait here.”

Dropping his head to one side, Micah regards me
with narrowed eyes. “Are you afraid of swimming or something?” he asks, looking
back at the ocean. “You never want to go.”

I glance down at the sand and dig my sneakers
into it. And before I can change my mind I hear myself tell him finally, “My
sister drowned when she was thirteen.”

“Oh, wow. I’m so sorry Reign.” He sinks down in
front of me, lightly touching my arm. It stirs up a sensation I never knew I
could experience. “What was her name?” he asks.

I stare at his hand, shaken so much by his touch
I’m finding it hard to speak. Seeing my nervous reaction, Micah moves it away.

“Mary,” I breathe out. “I was eleven when it
happened. I didn’t even scream for help. I saw her drowning and I didn’t do
anything until it was too late.” It’s like I have diarrhea of the mouth. I
opened the floodgates and now I can’t stop spilling everything.

Micah squeezes my shoulder, comforting me, “It’s
not your fault. You were a kid. You were in shock.”

“They don’t talk about her,” I go on. “After
Mary died they took down her pictures, put her stuff in boxes, and then piled
them inside the garage. It’s like she never existed.”

“Cause that was their way of coping,” he tells
me.

I turn my head and meet his gaze. Micah gently
wipes a single tear from my cheek with his thumb.

“Oh, jeez,” I glide my face away from him,
suppressing the rest of my tears. “I’m sorry I’m being dramatic now.”

“You’re not, don’t apologize. And it shouldn’t
be like that for your family,” he says. “You shouldn’t try to forget Mary. You
should hold on to the memories of her and work on moving from the pain while
keeping her in your hearts. She’d want you to.”

He lowers his eyes to the sand. I wonder how
much of what he said refers to his own life. “Tell me about your family,” I
say. “Surely they must miss you. Do you have any brothers or sisters back in
Colorado?” It hits me that he’s barely said anything about himself since he’s
been here.

Micah stares out at the ocean, watching the
surfers attempt to ride waves. They aren’t doing so good out there.

“I only had my grams,” he whispers.  “My
dad came around now and then but finally he stopped after I turned seventeen.
So, no parents.
I don’t have any siblings, either.”

He seems so far in his thoughts. I wish I could
reach him there.

My mind repeats what Micah said, that he
had
a grandmother, but no one else.

“I’m sorry about your loss,” I mutter, hoping
he’ll tell me more since I just shared losing my sister and the guilt I feel
over her drowning.

After a brief pause, he mutters in a low tone,
“She wasn’t doing too well for a while and then something happened…” his voice
trails. I can tell by the look on his face that he’s hesitant to say more.
“Anyway, Grams died. And she was the only one I had so since then I’ve pretty
much been alone.”

“You’re not alone,” I utter, placing a hand at
his back. “You have a friend.”

Micah looks at me for a passing moment,
disappointment in his eyes as he hops to his feet and pulls me up on mine. In
no time there’s a wide grin on his face again as if he didn’t say anything at
all.

“Promise me something.”

“What?”

“That you’ll go swimming with me before summer
ends.”

I consider this long and hard. It’ll take a lot
of courage to walk into the water and not freak out, but Micah’s right. It’s
time to let it go.

“Okay,” I say. “I promise.”

Nate’s leaning against his Porsche when I head
outside. He has his arms folded tightly at the chest and he’s glaring at me.

“What’s going on?” he asks as I draw close.

“What do you mean?”

Unfolding his arms, he straightens and steps up
to me, stroking my cheek. “Babe, you’ve been so cold for the past few days. You
don’t want to hang out and you’ve been missing my calls. What’s up with you?”

I shrug. “It’s not that I don’t want to hang
out, I’ve just been busy with work.” Truth is
,
I have
been contemplating hard about the future of our relationship, if it even has
one.

“That’s always your excuse,” he hisses. Eyeing
the restaurant over my shoulder, he asks, “Aren’t you gonna stop working now,
like you promised? What about the trip to Miami?”

I don’t know why he’s bringing that up when it’s
just me and Claudia who decided to go. Nate already said he wasn’t going
because of other plans, which kind of has me baffled since he didn’t go on our
graduation trip to the Bahamas, claiming that he stayed behind for me.

I don’t believe that anymore.

“I’m still thinking about it, my mom could use
my help around here,” I tell him. “Business is unpredictable, especially since
that other seafood restaurant opened.”

Annoyed, he cuts his eyes away from me. “Gosh,
your mom needs a thicker skin if she wants to stay in this business.”

I look at him open-mouthed, stunned by his
remark. But Nate doesn’t stop sharing his opinion. With no regards for my
feelings, he continues, “She should come up with ways to attract more customers
and improve that boring menu of hers, not complain about competitors. There are
plenty more restaurants around here, so she should suck it up and raise the bar
if she wants to be in with the big boys.”

Backing up a few steps, I drop my hands to my
side and snap at him, “Excuse me!”

Nate narrows his eyes, staring at me with a
blank expression, as if he didn’t say anything wrong.

“What?”

“
What
? Nate, you just bashed my mother’s
business skills and you don’t seem to care about the fact that you’re being
rude and out of line.”

He throws his hands over his head. “That’s not
out of line. I meant it in the nicest way possible. She seriously needs to
consider upgrading the restaurant.”

Noticing that I’m still upset with him, Nate
reaches out to touch my arm. I move away.

“Babe,” he snorts. “You’re not mad, are you?”

I spin on my heels and start for my car. Just
then Micah comes out of the restaurant. He avoids looking at us as he slows
down at his bike, getting it ready to ride home.

Nate hurries up to me, grasps my arms, and turns
me to face him. “What’s really going on here?”

“What are you talking about?” I hiss.

“I’m talking about you being all distant ever
since that night. Even though I said its fine and that we can wait, you’re
still acting as if I’m pressuring you about sex.”

I flick over to Micah, thinking he might have
heard that. He shakes his head in amazement and starts to leave, walking off
with his bike instead of riding away.

Wringing out of Nate’s grip, I unlock the car
and open the door. He pushes it shut and leans against it.

“Tell me what’s bothering you so we can fix it,
because obviously you’re upset with me for whatever reason.”

I say in a calm tone, “Nate, can you move
please? I’m tired and I don’t feel like talking. I just want to go home.”

His eyes widen in irritation. They appear icy as
he looks at me. “No. We need to talk right now, Reign. If you don’t tell me
what’s on your mind then you might lose me completely. And not too many guys
can tolerate your hot and cold personality, so you might end up alone for the
rest of your life if you let me go.”

“Hey man!”

We both glance behind and see Micah, he’s
standing there appalled. He lowers his bike to the ground and walks over
slowly, glaring at Nate. “Why don’t you save her the trouble and take yourself
out of her life, because she can obviously do better.”

I quickly reach for Nate’s arm as he turns to
face Micah. By the look of the bulging veins on his neck, I know this situation
is getting intense and they might end up fighting…over me.

A part of me can’t help getting a rush from
that, but the sensible part knows not to let this continue.

“Who the hell do you think you are?” Nate fires
at him. “Why don’t you mind your damn business, get on your little bicycle, and
ride along.”

Micah chuckles in return. “Oh, actually, I don’t
have to do that, since your girlfriend loves driving me.” Nate glances back at
me fast, a combination of anger and jealousy etched on his face.