Page 44 of Lessons in Falling
All of this meant that my friends were pro pool players, and I’d never touched a cue in my life.When they had suggested we play a round our first time here, I said I’d sit it out.Whowanted to play something they were really good at with someone who had no idea what they were doing?
They’d asked the guys sitting a table over—because without me, there weren’t an even number of players and they couldn’t team up—and Finnick Maxwell had happily obliged.That night had ended with us making out against his car, and we’d been inseparable holiday flings since.
By now, Ihaveheld a cue, but I’ve still never played a round.Which was the reason for number eight on my summer bucket list.
8.play pool
I gnawed on my bottom lip as I inspected the game, red lipstick probably all over my teeth.The fifteen balls formed a triangle in the center of the table, and it shouldn’t be so God damn hard to figure out how to make the white one hit the rest of them.But I could barely balance the cue.Didn’t know how to hold it or which fingers the tip should rest on.Or between?Under?
I was playing with Anni—ultimately, she was still worse than Alfie and Iris.From our booth beside the tables, the latter shouted:Someone give poor, helpless Valentina a hand, please!Amusement lingered in her tone, and I lovingly shoved my middle finger in her direction.Her cackle rang through the lively bar.
This was a bad idea.
I can’t help you.It’s against my best interest,Anni muttered, an amused smile on her lips at my sixth attempt of leaning forward, finally doing it—and aborting the mission.
My gaze helplessly flicked to Mike, leaning against the table.Emotional support for Anni, I assumed—only that I waspretty sure she’d be fine without any kind of support.I think she was starting to realize that, too.
Mike’s hands shot up in playful surrender.Sorry.Wrong team.
My eyes rolled, but my snicker got stuck in my throat when he added, shouting toward our booth,Caden!Would you get your ass over here?
Since he’d carried me up to our room and tugged me intohisbed, contact between us had been limited.There were still fleeting touches, stolen kisses, and, yes, heavy make-out sessions before bed that would leave the both of us so sexually frustrated we’d swear to never do it again.Only to do it again, exactly twenty-four hours later.But I didn’t trust myself around him with others there as well, and he must’ve felt the same way.We’d sit at opposite ends of dinner tables, I’d wait to get a drink until he was out of the kitchen, and when he was in the pool, I definitely stayed out of it.Today, I’d sat in the corner of the booth to make sure our knees wouldn’t touch beneath the table, and to make sure he couldn’t stretch his long legs to reach my side of it.
A safe distance between us was mandatory, and if he—
What’s up?His voice sent azingof awareness through me, and I stood up a little straighter, leaned onto the cue, and tried not to look completely helpless.
Valentina is struggling,Mike stated plainly.Honestly, there was no point in denying it, so I just trained all my attention on that triangle of balls on the green table.To focus on anything but Caden’s amused glance, that I could still see out of the corner of my eye.
Is she?
The color I’d worked so hard on banishing from my face returned.Embarrassing.This was simply, and easily, the most embarrassing thing I’d ever experienced.That’s what it felt like, at least.
Who thought puttingplay poolon that stupid list had been a good idea?
You know what,I pressed through pursed lips.I’m giving up.
We haven’t even started!Anni cried a laugh from the other end of the table.C’mon, just hit it.Caden’s gonna show you.Easy.
He really doesn’t have—
It’s fine, Caden will do it,he said in third-person, moving to stand by my side.The smirk on his lips had become audible in his tone, so I knew it was there even before I looked at him.Still, the low-light-backward-cap combination was deadly.Something plummeted to the pit of my stomach when our gazes met.
I glared at him regardless.Tried to let him know that us, this close, in front of my friends, was not a great idea—without using words.
Relax, he mouthed, then came up behind me.My eyes immediately flicked across the rest of our group; I couldn’t help it.Alfie and Iris were busy stacking cards in the booth, and she had that hateful look in her eyes that let me know they were talking shit about Jason.So at least she was busy.
Anni was standing against a wooden beam, Mike leaned over her, talking and giggling and probably heavily flirting.They’d most likely given up on anything spectacular happening with this game.
The only spectacular thing happening over here was Caden, bending me over the pool table, one hand on mine, the other supporting the weight of the cue.And that was probably much more spectacular for me than for any bystander watching.
What are you doing?I hissed lowly, turning my head just enough to see him.The smile on his lips was so wide, it was borderline goofy.
Showing you how to play pool.He placed the cue between my thumb and pointer finger, then let his touch linger against my hand.His mouth was right by my ear, and I wondered if he had to resist the urge to kiss my neck, as strongly as I was resisting my urge to lean further into him.
In hindsight, wearing a short denim skirt when you’d planned on playing pool—an activity in which you famously had to bend over tables—had been a bad idea.At least with him right behind me, no one could look up my skirt.
His arm aligned with mine, veins and muscles rippling through it.I’d never quite noticed how nice his hands were, but it was undeniable now, when I was looking right at them, on top of my own.I shifted underneath his weight, and I wasn’t quite sure what it was supposed to achieve, either.Bring some distance between us, maybe?Distract me from my ass aligning perfectly with his crotch, most definitely.
