Unspoken Memories (Unspoken Series) (15 page)

The next morning I wake up with a pounding in my head and
the worst feeling of retching coming from my stomach. I barely manage to stand
up and make it to the bathroom before I’m dry heaving in the toilet. Once that
is done, I somehow, manage to shower and get dressed. Even that feels like an
obstacle.

From the way I’m feeling this morning, I know to never allow
myself to get that drunk ever again. Unless it was for a good reason.

THE NEXT EVENING I’m sitting
outside, taking in the view of the clear bright sky full of stars, watching the
full moon as it illuminates the sky. It’s so relaxing just sitting here, but
before I let my mind wander off into a world of endless daydreams, I see Matt
come out of the house.

He takes a seat in the lounge chair next to me. Instead of
lying down like I’m doing he sits there, placing his elbows on his knees, just
staring at me, making me feel a bit uneasy.

“I’ve been thinking a lot lately since the 10k.” Yeah, the
one where I clearly lost to you, I think to myself. “Since you were able to
keep up with me I think you should run the half with me next weekend.”

I turn my head to stare at him, like he’s said the craziest
thing in the world.

“What?” He’s still looking at me. “I’m just saying. You can
already run ten miles with me, what are three more? And I planned on running
fifteen this weekend, if you can do that, which I’m pretty sure you can, then
you can easily run thirteen,” he casually says, like no big deal, as he always
does.

What is up with him throwing these races at me?

I think about what he’s said. “Can I even still run it?
Isn’t it full or something by now?” I ask, hoping he’ll say it is.

“Actually I checked. It wasn’t, so I signed you up,” he
responds, shrugging one of his shoulders.

“What!” I exclaim at him, while sitting straight up in my
chair.

He gets a worried look and pleads. “Look, I have to run
fifteen anyways this weekend. At least run them with me so I don’t have to do
it by myself. If you can’t handle it, then I won’t force you to run the half
with me.”

As much as I would love to refuse, with the pleading look
that he is giving me, I can’t. I take a moment to ponder it and think to
myself, why not? “Okay, but if I can’t hang I’m stopping to walk the rest while
you keep running.”

Matt nods his head. “Deal.”

I’m hoping that I don’t end up regretting this. The things I
do for you Matthew Garcia.

I SURVIVED MATT’S preparation run of
fifteen miles, proving that I
can
easily handle thirteen miles. I was
now preparing myself to run the actual half-marathon that Matt had
involuntarily signed me up for.

Therefore, Matt had cooked us a delicious pasta dinner the
night before. There were definitely no complaints on my part. Anything he
cooked was always welcome in my stomach. Trey was the surprised one when we had
informed him that we were now eating dinner at the table like
normal
families.

According to him he didn’t come from a normal family so he
had no clue what that meant. He had even gone into detail regaling us with
wacky stories from his family dinners, some which even had me practically
rolling with laughter. They really helped distract me of my nerves for the
race.

When I had explained how nervous I was to Matt, he said it
was normal for me to feel this way. Especially since this was my first big
race. I don’t care how normal it was supposed to feel, it didn’t help at all.

After dinner though, the nerves started to get to me again.
Matt had forced me to go to bed early, claiming we had to be up
really
early the next morning, so he wanted me to be well rested to run. My
nervousness kept me from falling asleep right away. I kept tossing and turning.
After half an hour of fighting with the covers, I finally decided to get up.

I knew Trey had decided to go out earlier, so I thought that
maybe if I paced the living room, it would help calm me down a little. A theory
that was obviously proven incorrect; it only made it worse.

Matt must have heard me walking back and forth, even though
I was barefoot, because after ten minutes I saw him standing against the wall
leading to the hallway. He had his arms crossed over his shirtless chest, with
his legs crossed at the ankles, looking sleepy eyed.

“Why you up?” he asked, squinting and blinking his eyes
trying to get them to adjust to the kitchen light that I had turned on to keep
me company.

“I’m sorry if I woke you up. I couldn’t sleep,” I say
starting to bite my thumbnail as I stop and stand there in the middle of the
room.

Matt’s shoulders drop and he heads over to me. When he
reaches me he grabs my hand, and pulls me to the direction of my room. He walks
us both in, shutting the door behind us. I’m confused why he’s still in my
room, but he answers the question when he pulls us both to the bed.

My heart starts to speed up with excitement, even though I
have no clue what he has planned. I’m hoping it’s something good. I start to
bite my lip to keep my smile from showing, even if the room is pitch black, and
he can’t see it. I’m giddy and the nerves I have now are for a whole other
reason than the ones from moments ago.

I feel him climb into the bed pulling me down with him. He’s
wearing his usual black boxer briefs, and nothing else. So naturally I can feel
his body since I only have on boy shorts with a tank top. His body is bare
compared to mine and I’m tempted to make it equal. I’m quickly disappointed
when he says, “Let’s go to bed, beautiful. You have a big day tomorrow,” with
his sleepy voice.

Crap, all he wants to do it sleep. I roll my eyes in the
silent dark, mentally kicking my perverted mind and myself.

I start to adjust my body against his, craving his warmth.
He entwines our legs together, pulling my body tight against his, almost as if
he’s ensuring that I don’t get up again. I bury my face into the crook of his
neck, memorizing the smell of his body wash from his earlier shower, loving the
way it combines with the natural smell of his skin. I wrap my arm under his,
securing it up around his shoulder, wanting to hold him just as tight. I could
feel the muscles in his back and shoulders. My mind goes crazy with the images
that are swirling in my head.

Just holding him starts to make my hormones go into
overdrive. My body starts prickling, coursing through my blood, down to my
toes. I want to run my fingers all over his body right now, touching every
single inch of it. It’s driving me insane with all the mixed signals that he’s
sending me. He can easily make me feel secure and safe, then just as fast push
me away to prove that there is absolutely nothing between us.

His embrace calms my nerves and my body starts to relax.
Within minutes I feel Matt’s breathing begin to slow down, and by the stillness
in his body, I know he’s already asleep. Although I’m still frustrated, my body
is getting so lax in his arms that I grow sleepy, and I finally allow my body to
join him into the world of dreamland.

I wake up the next morning to my alarm blaring from my phone
announcing it’s time to get up. My body is yelling it’s too damn early! I
automatically reach for it, already knowing how to shut it up with my eyes
closed. Remembering how I finally wound up falling asleep last night, I open my
eyes to see if Matt is still in bed.

I’m disappointed when I’m once again alone in an empty bed,
free of Matt. I want to scream from the dejected feeling that I’m getting right
now, but instead I take a deep breath. I let it out, trying to push out the
frustration that is building up in my entire body.

I eventually get up, heading straight for the shower hoping
that the cool morning water will wake me up, or at least cool down my burning
body.

We make it to the race with the usual time to spare, and I’m
once again standing at the start line of yet another race.

We’re surrounded by a crowd of people and I’m scared witless
with nerves. I’ve had them for the last couple of days, and I’m about to go
mad. This morning my nerves are a hundred times worse than the last couple of
days. The first race I ran with Matt I had no idea what to expect, but this one
is different. I knew
exactly
how many miles I was going to have to run,
and I knew to expect a huge crowd compared to the last one. There were easily
at least 20,000 runners today.

I try to distract myself by adjusting the armband that holds
my phone, making sure it’s not too tight, or too loose. I bought it before our “fifteen”
miler, since I discovered at the 10k that it was driving me nuts having to hold
my phone in my hand while trying to outsprint Matt.

As the announcers start to rev up the crowd, I actually
begin to get excited. I look over to Matt feeling good about this race. Or
maybe I am feeling cocky from everyone cheering. “Okay, what’re the stakes this
time?”

He looks over at me with a raised eyebrow, and then
considers the question.

“You have to cook for two nights this time, one of them
being for a group of friends that I’ll invite over,” he says with a cocky grin.

Uhh, what is up with him making me learn to cook? I’m not
the one trying to get some guy’s attention. Okay maybe just his, but we both
know it’s not going to be with my cooking.

“Why do you always throw the cooking thing at me? Isn’t
there anything else you’d rather get out of me?” I say without thinking.

His eyes turn sexy and hooded. His lips go into a half
smile, as if he’s getting the same picture I’m imagining if he were to take me
up on my offer. I begin to feel an ache in between my legs with that look. His
eyes are my weakness, but those lips are closely behind them in the ranks. I
want to run my tongue along those lips.

“I know you hate it, so it’s worth wagering,” he says in a
husky tone. “Anything else I wouldn’t want to risk wagering for.”

“What the hell are you putting on the table?” I quickly put
my finger up to stop him from speaking, and continue on. “It can’t involve
cooking or anything domestic. We already know you can play the housewife in
this friendship of ours.”

He turns his head, staring ahead into the crowd. At first, I
think he’s ignoring me then he says, “I’ll let you drive my car home,” without
glancing in my direction. I’m pretty sure it killed him inside to even suggest
it.

I mouth falls open in a huge O, and my eyes go wide. I want
to jump up and down, whooping at the same time, but I can’t get to ahead of
myself. I did that last time, and he ended up smoking my ass.

“Deal,” I say with enthusiasm, lightly jumping up in down,
unable to control myself. My nerves have now turned to total excitement and I’m
ready to run this thing. I put my earphones in my ear and start my playlist as
the crowd moves forward pushing us through the start line.

Matt and I keep up with each other, moving through the crowd,
keeping a steady pace. He told me during our last run that you always want to
pace yourself for the first eight to nine miles, increasing slowly from
beginning to end. According to him, one problem runners always have is that
they start off fast from the excitement of the race, then die down when they
reach halfway which causes them to want to slow down or give up.

He was really good about touching my arm to slow me down
when I would want to speed up. At first I had thought it was because he wanted
to pull the same stunt as the last race, but he was right.

Once we hit the mile marker for the sixth mile, I began to
notice what he meant by people dying down. The crowd slowly started to thin out
from them starting to walk, but it allowed us to slowly increase our speed.

By the time we hit the ninth mile, I felt him start to run
faster, so I followed his lead. Next thing I know I lose myself in the music
blasting in my ears, and start to take off leaving Matt behind. I don’t do it
on purpose, but the song that happens to come on at the moment on my playlist
gives me a jolt of adrenaline. I wanted to finish this race already.

We finally hit the tenth mile marker, which records our
time, and I just keep running faster. Still lost in my world of music, I notice
the crowd of people cheering us on, and it helps push me forward. All of a
sudden I see the sign that marks “Mile 12” and grow ecstatic. I’m almost done
and even if I feel a little fatigued; I know deep down inside it’s almost over.
My brain tells my legs to pick it up and they start wanting to move faster.