“What? Is there any problem with that?”
“No, I’m just giving you a hard time.”
“You’re good at that.”
“Not as good as Macon.” He yawned, reminding me of how late it was.
“You have a point there.”
Chapter Five
“Morning, Maddy. I thought I’d bring you breakfast, but unfortunately we’re out of Cinnamon Toast Crunch.”
I forced my eyes open. “Macon?” I struggled to hold on to the end of a good dream while trying to make sense of Macon’s presence in my room.
“Want me to make you cinnamon French toast instead?”
“Cinnamon?” Then my foggy brain finally figured it out. “Brody!”
“He’s out for a run.” Macon sat down on the edge of the bed. “But yes, he filled me in.”
“Filled you in? Because my dating life is so exciting?”
He shrugged. “You haven’t dated anyone since you moved in, and you’ve gone out with this guy twice. That makes it a least somewhat newsworthy.”
“Get out of my room.”
“Why? Did I interrupt a dream about Cinnamon Boy?”
“No…” I wasn’t interested in telling him who my dream was about. I didn’t need any of that psychoanalysis from him. Macon’s parents were both psychiatrists, and he liked to pretend they’d imparted their wisdom on him. A favorite way of his to show it off was to annoy the hell out of me.
“You know what I’m going to assume if you don’t tell me.”
“I do?”
“It would be painfully obvious that you were dreaming about me.” He reached over to my bed stand and picked up my copy of People magazine. Don’t judge.
“But why wouldn’t I tell you that? Don’t you already know I dream about you all the time?”
“Be careful, girl. Don’t tempt me while we’re on your bed.”
I laughed. “I think we’ll be able to resist the urge. Anyway, why’d you come in here? Was it really just to annoy me?”
He set down the magazine without opening it. “I have a few more buddy passes to use before my gym membership switches over. Want to come with?”
“Definitely.” Although I generally preferred to run and lift light weights at home most of the time, I never gave up the opportunity to tag along with Macon to his gym. As much as I enjoyed exercising outside, sometimes I wanted a change of pace.
“How soon can you be ready?”
“Ten minutes.”
“I love how un-girl you are.”
“Un-girl?” I threw back the covers and got out of bed, already excited for a good workout. I’m weird like that. I’m a horrible morning person unless I know I’m getting up to exercise.
“Don’t pretend you don’t know what I mean.” He stood up and walked to the door. “I’ll see you in ten.”
***
“Oh god. When did he join here?” I didn’t realize the words had left my lips until the girl on the elliptical next to me took off her headphones.
She turned and looked at me quizzically. “Are you talking to me?”
“No. Sorry.” I moved my gaze straight ahead again, and he was gone. Lyle had definitely been there. Part of me felt guilty getting excited about a Lyle sighting the morning after a date with Colin, but I reminded myself that two dates with a guy didn’t mean I couldn’t think about another.
I focused on my work out again, turning up my music to the limit of comfort. There’s something so motivational about Linkin Park at the end of a work out. Their songs push me to get the job done.
The elliptical beeped to let me know I was at the two minute mark. That’s when I saw him again—this time in all his shirtless glory. He hadn’t been shirtless ten minutes before. He’d been wearing a blue t-shirt. You know you have a serious crush when you memorize little details like that in seconds.
It wasn’t my first time seeing his chest, I’d spotted him on the beach on more than one occasion, but it didn’t matter. The mental drool started before I realized it. I wanted to avert my eyes but couldn’t. He was talking to some guy I didn’t recognize while drinking copious amounts of water from a nondescript bottle.
I stepped off the machine when the workout finished. That should have been enough of a distraction, but of course not. Instead, Lyle looked over in time to catch me blatantly ogling him. Lovely. He waved in a quasi-greeting, and I waved back. That was it, the moment we were going to have a real connection, but then he turned and walked away.
“Idiot.” I mumbled before heading off to find Macon. He was already waiting for me.
“Hey, does that whole half-price friend membership still apply?”
“Why? You suddenly willing to shell out the money?”
“Yeah, it might be nice in the winter.”
He grinned. “And it would have nothing to do with your friend.”
“My friend? Wait you saw him too?”
“Yeah, and I resisted the urge to ask to smell his cinnamon breath.” Macon checked his phone.
“Wait, Colin?”
“Yeah, who did you think I meant?” He eyed me skeptically.
“No one.” Oh geez. I needed to get outside. “On second thought, I don’t want to waste the money.” I opened the door and booked it to Macon’s car.
He followed me out. “Okay…”
I decided that in the future I’d stick to running on the beach.
Dashing upstairs as soon as Macon parked, I closed myself in the bathroom. I stripped off my sweaty clothes, and stepped under the hot spray of the shower. I thought about my obsession with Lyle and my budding relationship with Colin—if I could even call it that. Surrounded by steam and water, the situation didn’t seem so bad. I relaxed. I always did my best thinking in the shower.
I could have stayed in forever, but using up all of the hot water when Macon had let me work out for free would be pretty obnoxious.
I dried off and wrapped up in a towel.
“You missed a call,” Brody called as I passed through to my room.
“Thanks.” I closed my door and picked it up. My stomach turned in excitement as I pictured the cute message from Colin. Perfect timing. My shower epiphany was that I had to stop worrying about my parents, my future, and what I couldn’t have. I needed to focus on what was right in front of me.
The message wasn’t from Colin. It was my parents checking in on me—again. Evidently, they’d taken the liberty of finding several master’s programs I could apply for that were all designed to give you a better shot at med school. The thought made me uneasy. More school just to take the chance of getting rejected again? And for what? The more distance I had from my former life, the less I wanted med school. The problem was, I didn’t know what I wanted.