Page 12 of The Pass
“All right, let’s see what you got.”
“You know what I got,” I taunt. “Do you not remember the last beating I gave you?”
He grunts a response.
For the next two hours, I use more concentration and focus than I have since the time Emily and I challenged some of our teammates to a Just Dance tournament in our dorm room.
I came out on top that night and somehow I do again.
Tanner groans. “Man! I really thought I could beat you this time.”
“Because I’m a girl?”
“No, because you said you’ve never played before.” He glances down at my legs. It’s the first time since we got out of the pool that he’s given any indication that I’m someone he’s into. Maybe he’s not anymore. “I blame your legs.”
“My legs?” I chuckle.
He leans back, resting the controller on his thigh. “They were distracting.”
“Maybeyourlegs were distracting me.”
We both look to his hairy legs and laugh. Although they are nice—strong and muscular.
“Again?” he asks, nodding to the TV.
“I think I’ll stop while I’m ahead.”
“I don’t blame you.” He’s quick to his feet and shuts everything off.
“It’s late,” I say, resigning myself to walking back to my dorm alone in the dark. This night didn’t go exactly as I wanted, but I did have fun hanging with Tanner. Hopefully I haven’t totally ruined any chance of us doing this again by slowing things down.
He starts toward the stairs and then glances back at me. “Are you coming? You can have my bed, and I’ll take the floor.”
Fresh hope blooms, but more than anything, I’m happy to spend more time with him.
Inside his room, he takes a pillow and blanket and tosses them to the floor.
“You don’t need to do that.”
He shrugs and straightens the blanket. “It’s fine. I don’t mind.”
I sit on the edge of the bed. “Seriously, we can sleep in the same bed. Besides, I have all kinds of questions for you.”
“Like?” He scoops the pillow up off the floor and falls onto the bed. His big frame bouncing on the mattress makes me fall into the center beside him. We get comfortable laying together with our heads at the bottom of the bed.
“Did you have girlfriends in high school?” I ask.
“One.”
“Was it serious?”
“Eh, I guess. We were together for almost a year.”
“I’d say a year counts as serious. Why’d it end?”
“Over something stupid.” He adjusts the pillow under his head. “She and my sister were both running for student council president and Misty, my girlfriend at the time, lost. She was pissed, lashed out, demanded to know who I voted for and when I wouldn’t tell her, she ended it.”
“Did you vote for her?”
