Page 4 of Just Another Meet Cute
“Really? Just you?”
“Well, I have a half sister and a half brother. Sort of. It’s complicated.” I shook my head. Why did I have to tell him that? “You don’t want to know. But I do have a cousin who’s like a sister to me.”
“Well, sisters aren’t too bad. But sometimes I wish Icouldbe bored. You don’t want to know about all the times they made me play dress-up with them growing up.” His face was scrunched up like he was in pain from trying not to smile. “It’s too traumatizing. I try to block it from my memory whenever I can.”
Momentarily forgetting about my own embarrassment, I laughed. Probably harder than I should have. “Your secret’s safe with me.”
“Thanks.” Ian unzipped his navy jacket and shrugged out of it. “Here, why don’t you use this to cover yourself up?”
“Oh, no, I couldn’t—”
His right dimple flashed at me and my stomach did a backflip. “Come on. I doubt you’ll ever make it home if you have to walk backward the entire time. Plus, I don’t have anything better than Band-Aids and gauze to patch you up if youdidfall again.”
“How do you know? I could be pretty awesome at backward walking,” I said, wagging my finger at him. “I certainly can’t be less graceful than walking normally.”
“You do look like a girl with many talents.” He leaned over and wrapped his jacket around my waist before tying the sleeves into a knot so it wouldn’t fall off. This pulled me a little bit closer to him and our faces were barely a foot apart when he looked up.
Without realizing what I was doing, I reached out to fix his crooked cap. My hands lingered on the sides of his head and froze when I noticed him staring back at me.
With a nervous laugh, Ian rubbed the side of his neck with one hand and stepped back. “Maybe you could tell me about your other talents some—” A loud buzzing rang through the air before he could finish his sentence. With a sigh, he dug his phone out of the side pocket of his book bag. “Sorry, it’s one of my sisters. You know, the bullies.”
“Oh, go ahead.”
He walked over to the trees and turned around. “Hello? What are you …”
This would be the perfect time to escape. I could just run like hell down the path and never look back. Pretend that this horrible hike was just another nightmare. I mean, this pretty much ranked right up there with the zombies and that freaky Chucky doll.
Before I could even take a step, this overwhelming reluctance to leave swept over me like a tidal wave. Despite the fact that I pretty much made the worst first impression ever and had a thousand and one reasons to get the heck out of here, I couldn’t. Because there was one major reason to stay that overshadowed everything else. And just then he looked right at me and smiled. A slow smile that started at the corners of his lips and sparkled in his eyes. I swear, even my goose bumps had goose bumps by now.
Maybe the blood loss was finally making me loopy.
I had just sat down when Ian hung up and came back. He chewed on his lower lip and gave me an apologetic look. “Sorry, I have to go. An emergency came up with my family.” Ian glanced back and forth between the phone in his hand and me. “Do—”
Before I could say anything, his phone rang again. Somehow it seemed louder and more urgent than before.
With an annoyed sigh, Ian gave me a small wave before racing down the path. His phone was already pressed against his ear as he disappeared around the corner. Gone almost as quickly as he had appeared.
“Bye, I guess.” With a sigh, I kicked a rock and it ricocheted off a nearbytree. Guess there was nothing left for me to do but start my own slow trek back to the parking lot. Alone.
Funny how I came all the way out here to be by myself and now it just felt … lonely.
My phone buzzed in my back pocket. Probably Mom texting me with Dad’s flight information. I fumbled with the oversized jacket around my waist before it suddenly hit me, and I stared at the jacket I was still wearing. Ian’s jacket.
“Oh crap.”
Racing down the path that he took as fast as I could, the cut on my leg stung with each step. I scanned the area around me, but it was too late. He was gone. Man, he was fast. He had left only a few minutes before me. How did he disappear so quickly? It’s like he had a magical pumpkin carriage that whisked him away.
My fingers played with the soft sleeves, swinging the ends back and forth against each other, as I tried to figure out what to do. Of course, the nice—honest—thing to do was to return his jacket. But how? I should have gotten his number or something. Maybe he would come back once he realized he had left his jacket. Should I wait? But for how long?
He did say that his family hiked a lot. Maybe he would be back tomorrow. Or the day after that. I mean, technically, I was free all vacation anyway. If we bumped into each other again, then it would be fate. And this time, I’d be sure to be a little more glamorous and a lot less sticky.
Although was I really going to hang around the trail all day hoping to catch a glimpse of Ian again? Would that be considered low-level stalking? Iwasn’t sure I wanted to bethatgirl. No matter how cute he was. Or funny. Or—
My phone vibrated again like a wake-up call. I carefully draped the jacket over one arm as I read my messages and groaned. Apparently, the nice Texas weather also helped the pilot fly their planes faster because Dad had landed early. And now I was late picking him up, which would only make the car ride even more awkward.
Great.
Back to reality and life, I guess. No time for daydreaming about cute dimply boys who I was probably never going to see again.
