Page 55 of A Follow-Through in Faking
My sister’s determination is followed by some angry tapping on her screen before she throws the phone at the head of the bed and falls backward until she’s lying down. Grabbing a pillow, she places it over her head and screams into it, all of her frustration coming out with the sound.
“Do you want me to stay with you?” I ask, nudging her knee with mine where it’s hanging over the edge of her bed.
“No, go train with Catalina.” Manuela sits up and wipes her face. “And do me a favor, Santiago. Don’t fuck it up again. She may forgive you once, somewhen down the line, but Lina is notthe type of person to forgive an idiot twice,” she says, making a wave of panic and dread shoot through me at the thought of Catalina never forgiving me, never letting me in again.
“If she even forgives me once.”
It’s the last thing I say before kissing the top of her head and walking out her room, the urge to see Cata and make her smile today taking over.
With every day we spend together, I know we’re getting closer. I know her anger fades more. It irritates her that it’s fading, I know that, but I have no intention of making another stupid mistake like last time.
Today, my breathtaking girl is wearing a shirt that says, “Member of Santiago Castillo’s Ass’ Fan Club.”
“Catalina Sanchez, are you flirting with me?” I ask when I read it, the brightest of smiles taking over my face. This is the first shirt she’s ever worn around me that has anything remotely flirty on it, and I’m having a hard time keeping back a very excited laugh.
“Charlie had this made for me, and I thought it was too funny not to wear,” she explains, but a smile tugs up the right corner of her mouth.
“You wore it because it’s true. You don’t wear shirts with messages on them if you don’t agree with them or if they don’t apply to you,” I point out, and Cata rolls her lips, obviously trying to hold back a full-faced smile.
“What can I say, Santi? You have a phenomenal ass.” She picks up her racket, spinning it once in her hand. The smirk on my facemakes her blush. “Stop looking at me like that,” she says and swats my forearm, but it’s a gentle touch despite her irritation with me.
“You are free to touch it any time you’d like. How’s right now?” I ask and take a step toward her, so giddy from this playful conversation.
It feels like she's taken a hundred steps toward me emotionally, and I’m so pleasantly surprised, I can’t stop grinning. I truly thought being apart for weeks would make her drift away from me.
The opposite has happened.
“You’re impossible, Santi,” she says and shakes her head, still blushing.
Cata stares at the toe of her shoe, suddenly a bit shy, and I can’t help but tilt her head up to make her look at me again.
“Did you miss me,cariño?” Her gaze drops to my lips, and she swallows hard as she forcefully drags it back to my eyes.
“Like a sunburnt person misses the sun,” she replies, making me chuckle.
“Come on, tell me the truth. Did you? Just a little?” I caress her jaw, loving the way her eyes fall shut a little instead of the way she used to avoid my touch at all costs.
“A little,” she admits.
Hope blooms in my chest.
“Yeah?” I ask, my voice dropping an octave because of how much she affects me.
“Yeah.”
“I’ve missed you too, Catalina.”
My thumb runs over her bottom lip, tracing its shape because I can’t kiss her again. Not until she tells me she wants it too. Not until she makes the first move.
“Let’s train,” she says and pokes at my stomach, trying to get me to move away. My hand drops from her face. Her bodylanguage and words are enough to tell me she wants distance now. I take a step back, grabbing my racket.
“Alright, but take it easy on me. I still haven’t recovered from the knowledge of you loving my ass.” She uses her racket head to poke me in the side, making me burst into laughter.
Catalina doesn’t respond, but I don’t speak again either. I simply watch her walk away, my eyes trailing down her muscular back, the curve of her ass, and finally her thick, trained thighs.
It’s a vicious cycle that I’m putting myself through whenever I’m around her.
Admire her.
