Page 25 of Unstoppable You

“You look like you’re a little scared,” Delaney said, sneaking up on me.

“I’m not,” I said, unclenching my fingers from the strap of my bag.

Delaney rolled her eyes. “There’s food and drinks, and you can sit where you want. Or you could leave, whatever. I don’t care.”

“You sure?” I fired back at her.

“No, I don’t care,” she said, her cheeks shading just a little pink. Interesting.

“You know, when someone repeatedly says that they don’t care, it kind of seems like they might care.”

Delaney fumed silently for a second before turning away from me and going back to the refreshment table to fiddle with something.

I followed her.

“Pass me a plate?”

She huffed out an annoyed breath but handed me a paper plate anyway.

There were all kinds of food options, so I was glad that I hadn’t had dinner already. A few other book clubbers came over to fill their plates and Delaney stepped away to take care of other things. Once I had my snacks, I filled a cup with some strawberry lemonade and decided it was time to find a seat. There were about twenty-five chairs and nearly half of them were full. This was a livelier club than I’d been expecting. I saw a few familiar faces that I might have remembered from high school, but I’d blocked so much of that experience out of my mind. Even looking through my yearbook just gave me page after page of people I had almost no memory of.

I noticed several existing groups of friends and I didn’t really want to sit in between people who already knew each other, so my options were limited. I selected a chair that faced the windows that looked out on the street.

“That’s my seat,” Delaney said. I glanced at her over my shoulder.

“Sorry,” I said, getting up and moving one seat over. She glared at me for a half second and then I watched her face morph into her bookseller smile.

“Okay everyone, we’re going to get started here shortly, if you want to grab any last snacks and find your seats and get your books out.”

It hadn’t been my intention to sit next to Delaney, but I wasn’t going to move now. Being next to her made my skin buzz in a pleasant way and if I inhaled deeply enough, I could smell her scent just a little. It was sweet and a little floral. Light, but I knew it was hers. I’d gotten a whiff of it a few times before. I wish I could ask her what it was.

Delaney began the evening and I got to focus on her. Beside me, she was confident and I could tell that she was enjoying herself. It wouldn’t surprise me if she had volunteered to host these events. The participants were bright and talkative and there was rarely a lull in the conversation.

Our book was a fun one, a sapphic romcom that was kind of out of the realm of the books I usually read, but I’d had so much fun with it and the feeling seemed mutual. Delaney had a typed list of questions, but she didn’t really need to use it as the talk flowed from one thing to the next, going over the stronger parts of the book and some of the weaker ones, or the parts we wished had been done a little differently.

Throughout it all, Delaney kept everything moving smoothly and fostered a light and jovial environment that made everyone relax.

She was really good at this.

I’d forgotten how good she was with people. Whereas I had been the one who had tried to control the group projects or always wanted to be the captain of any team, Delaney had sat back and watched the social dynamics before speaking up and then getting everyone on the same page.

There was more than one way to lead people and her way was definitely superior to mine.

I was left a little in awe of her by the end of the night.

What a huge mistake I’d made by coming here. Being in her presence was only making the crush I had on her stronger. Instead of being a mild presence in my brain, a tingling of my skin, a swoop in my stomach, now this crush was a hand around my throat. Fingers squeezing at my heart. It had transformed into a violent thing that wouldn’t let mebreathe.

Fuck. I only had myself to blame as I watched her start to clean up and laugh with a few people as they worked to fold up the chairs and stack them in the back of the room.

She was so gorgeous it made my eyes burn to look at her.

I’d barely touched my food once Delaney had started talking, so I shoved a few things in my mouth so they wouldn’t go to waste. She came over to get another chair and saw me standing there and shoving food into my face.

Busted with my squirrel cheeks.

She made a choking noise and started coughing, as if she was trying to eject a laugh from her body.

I did my best to chew and swallows quickly without compromising my breathing. It was close, but I managed.

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