Page 3 of Stealing for Keeps
My smile dims slightly. He’s only being polite by asking, whereas everyone else has been tiptoeing around it, but an ache still forms in my chest at the reminder I’m still not fully healed and never will be. I’ll be able to resume normal activities, but my competitive figure skating days are gone forever. “It’s better. Thanks.”
“Good. I’m glad to hear it.” His gaze shifts to Vaughn. “Get the balls and cones out, and see if you can find the water coolers. If they aren’t in the storage shed, check the locker room.”
“Yes, sir.”
After another tip of his head and a smile aimed at me, Coach C leaves us alone.
Vaughn shifts in front of me. “I guess I should get to it before he gives me another lecture about stepping up this year now that I’m captain.”
“Yeah, me too. Lacey has, like, a hundred more posters to decorate.”
His lips curve in what could almost be considered a smile, but Vaughn is far too serious for it to feel anything but polite. “Are you going to Doyle’s camp tonight?”
Doyle’s camping cabin is where all the soccer guys hang out. It’s far enough out of the city limits that cops don’t drive by without reason, and most of the cabins are rentals for tourists or used only on weekends.
“I’m not sure.” Lacey mentioned it earlier, but it felt weird purposely going somewhere I knew I’d run into Vaughn. I guess now that we’ve got that out of the way, it doesn’t matter.
The rest of the soccer team is starting to take the field as the girls’ team finishes. Vaughn reaches forward with one hand, and his fingers brush mine. “You should go. We can catch up, and I want to talk to you about something.”
For a moment, I forget about the last two months, how much he hurt me, how he abandoned me when I needed him the most, and just enjoy the feel of his calloused fingers against mine. It would be so easy to get back with him, and no one would even bat an eye. Everyone else was as caught off guard by the breakup as I was. We were a couple that made sense to people. Claire and Vaughn. Vaughn and Claire.
I pull my hand away and clasp it in my other hand behind my back. “Oh yeah? What do you want to talk to me about?”
Vaughn isn’t usually cryptic or hard to read—another thing I’ve always liked about him. But I can’t think of a single thing we need to discuss.
His dad yells his name across the field and points at his watch.
Vaughn curses under his breath and starts moving away. “I gotta go, but I hope I’ll see you tonight.”
I head into the empty school, still reeling from the short interaction. It’s good we got it out of the way. We have a lot of the same friends, and school next week would have been that much more awkward with everyone watching our first conversation.
The air inside the school is humid, and it’s so quiet thatthe only sound is the echo of my uneven footsteps. I take my time, passing by the trophy case and inhaling the smell of fresh paint and bleach. Everything is clean and ready for students to arrive next week.
Lacey’s locker is easy to find. Among all the other plain blue ones, hers is the lone locker decorated. Her name is written on a cut-out megaphone. It’s covered in sparkles of course.
Inside, I spot the glitter bottles on the top shelf. I grab them while admiring the photos pinned up on the inside of her locker.
There are lots of the two of us from as far back as sixth grade. I wrinkle my nose at one particularly awful picture of me when I dyed my hair a red color that turned out more orange. I keep looking, smiling at all the memories she’s captured. There’s even one of me and Vaughn from last year’s soccer championship game. He’s holding the trophy in one hand, his other arm around me, and he’s smiling bigger than I’ve ever seen him smile. That was a good day and a fun night. Vaughn was on top of the world, and I always had a hard time resisting the carefree and fun version of him. I’m surprised she put this one up or didn’t at least mark an x over his face.
I’m about to close the locker when another photo at the very bottom catches my eye. My heart stops as I lean down and stare at myself. I’m skating in the middle of the ice, hands lifted to my sides, staring off into the distance, completely lost in the moment. Emotion clogs my throat. What I would give to be able to skate and lose myself like that again.
A door slams somewhere nearby. I swipe at the tears in my eyes and kick the locker shut with my injured foot.As I do, one of the glitter tubes drops from my grasp onto the floor, rolling into the middle of the hallway. I move to retrieve it at the same time as a blur of a boy comes around the corner and flashes in my peripheral. My heart races with adrenaline, matching the pace of his steps.
Light green eyes snap to mine. I should move or say something, but I’m frozen.
At the last second, I squint, bracing for impact, but somehow, he manages to stop inches from me. His arm wraps around my waist to steady himself. We spin around, him keeping me upright and me clutching the glitter to my chest.
“Shit. I didn’t see you.” Breathless and deep, his voice makes the hair rise on the back of my neck.
I blink away the weird, dazed reaction his presence seems to have on me, and the twinge of pain in my foot brings me back.
“Yeah, no kidding. You almost ran me over.” I remove myself from his hold, but my skin buzzes from his touch.
He’s tall, and his skin is a light bronze that makes his dark, windblown hair seem even starker. I thought I knew every student at Frost Lake, but I’ve never seen him before.
“Is that the way to the soccer field?” He nods his head behind me toward the back doors of the school.
Handsome, but rude.
