Rumors (3 page)

Tara and
Austin were hitting it off just fine, flirting back and forth and
talking comfortably with one another. I really didn’t know why they
needed Shane and me as an excuse to go out. They were doing just
fine on their own.

When we
arrived at the corn maze, the night air threatened to seep through
our coats within minutes. Though I was somewhat used to the damp
cold after living in Portland for three years already, I wasn’t too
keen on the idea of being stuck in this chilly air if we couldn’t
find our way out of the maze quickly.

Tara
clung to Austin’s elbow as he escorted her through the entrance.
Shane and I followed behind, our efforts to find something to talk
about dwindling. Other than basketball and the weather, our
conversation struggled.

“
It’s so spooky in here,” Tara commented after we had been
walking for a minute. The dim lighting did portray odd shadows amid
the tall cornstalks. “I love it!”

“
Ever been through the corn maze when it’s haunted?” Austin
asked, pausing as we came to a crossroads. He shrugged at our
options and guided us to the right.

“
We went last year,” I said, remembering the laughter and
screams Tara and I had shared as we tore away from the scarecrow,
who was hunting us down with his blaring chainsaw. I ended up
tripping over a fallen cornstalk and cowering in a heap on the
ground, while the scarecrow’s chainsaw came terrifyingly close to
my torso. Tara laughed as she retold the story to Austin and Shane,
and I couldn’t help but chuckle, too. Last year was full of
memorable times, back when I had nothing to worry about and no
heavy emotions weighing me down.

After
ten minutes, we made some headway through the maze, though we’d
also gone in circles a couple of times.

“
How about we switch things up?” Austin asked, stopping at
another intersection.

“
What are you suggesting?” Shane asked.

Austin
smiled at Tara. “I say we split up and make it a race to the end.
Losers buy hot chocolate.”

I
cringed inside, but not wanting to be a poor sport, nodded in
agreement. Shane seemed equally reluctant, but he agreed. “Game on,
man. Get ready to be schooled!”

Tara grinned eagerly, still latched to Austin’s arm. “Catch
you later, Allie.” She leaned into my side and whispered, “Don’t
get
too
lost, if
you know what I mean.” I rolled my eyes, pretty sure that Tara and
Austin planned on taking their time through the maze tonight. They
took off to the left. Alone for the first time, Shane left the
decision up to me. “Where do you want to go?” he asked. “Straight
ahead or turn right?”

Home
, I thought, but kept my true
opinion to myself. “I don’t know. You choose.”

Shane
frowned, perhaps disappointed with my lack of enthusiasm. “Well, I
don’t care either.”

We both
stood there without speaking for a few moments. Awkward and no fun,
there was little point to this date anymore. I’d had enough of this
charade. “Ok, can we both just be honest about this for a
minute?”

Shane
raised his eyebrows at my sudden change in tone. He waited for me
to continue.

“
Neither of us wants to be here—I think that’s fairly
obvious.”

Shane
motioned like he was about to object, but I cut him off.

“
Seriously, it’s ok. You don’t have to pretend that you want
to be here.”
It’s not like you were doing
a good job pretending anyway,
I added in
my head.

Shane
folded his arms. “All right, so neither of us wanted to come. Now
what?”

I was a bit taken back by his statement, even though I had
assumed it to be true. “First of all, why
did
you come then?” I asked, folding
my own arms against the chill. I wobbled my legs back and forth to
keep warm. Storm clouds were rolling in with the increasing wind,
further darkening the maze and adding to the cold.

He hesitated with his response, scratching the back of his
head as he glanced down the row of corn where Austin and Tara had
disappeared. “Because,” he started, “I
was
a little bit interested in you,”
he paused before adding, “
last
year.”

“
Oh,” I murmured, understanding what he meant.
Last year,
when I had it
all together as a rising basketball star with cool friends who
hadn’t tapered off yet. I shook my head in dismay. So many people
didn’t know how to respond to this aching part of me, so they just
avoided me altogether—even guys that apparently had crushes on me.
My eyes met Shane’s, and I tried not to feel hurt that I’d turned
into someone less appealing, at least according to his
words.

“
So why did
you
come then?” Shane asked, his features showing his discomfort
in our conversation.

“
For Tara,” I said. “She thought it’d be easier to hang out
with Austin if we tagged along, but—”

Shane
finished my sentence. “—but they’re doing just fine without us.” He
nodded. “Ok, so there’s honesty for you. We, uh, are still stuck in
this maze, so we better get moving if we want to get out of here.”
He glanced at our options.

“
Let’s just go this way.” Annoyed with the whole evening, I
strut off with long strides, walking straight ahead.

“
Hey, Allie—” Shane’s voice sounded contrite. He caught up to
me, his footsteps moving quickly to keep up.

I could just kill Tara
,
I thought, blaming her for leaving Shane and me
in an embarrassing situation.

“
Just forget it,” I said, not wanting to hear any fake
apologies—not that he had anything to apologize for. He was forced
into this awkward situation, too. Shane sighed, following just a
step behind me, allowing me to take the lead as we meandered
throughout the corn maze. It became obvious that we were hitting
more dead ends than making progress, and running into less people.
At this point, we had probably hit the outskirts of the maze on the
wrong side of the finish line.

Light
rain began its descent, dampening our clothes with its gentle, but
steady fall.

As if this night could get any worse
.

After a
few more minutes of uncertainty in our steps, Shane grabbed my arm,
halting my movement. “I have an idea. We need to see where we are.
Come on, climb up.” He lowered his body and offered me his
back.

I raised
an eyebrow. “What,” I began, “are you talking about? I’m not
climbing on you. I play basketball—I don’t do cheerleading.” I
observed the growing mud beneath my boots. “Besides, my boots are
filthy.”

Shane
rolled his eyes. “I don’t care about the mud. Just get over here.
I’m going to lift you up so you can see where we’re at. We need a
vantage point.”

I
groaned, knowing he was right. This maze was taking forever and
with the wrong company. I straddled his neck so that I sat on top
of his shoulders. He held onto my legs to provide more balance.
Standing up, his six-foot height propelled me into the
air.

“
Whoa!” I gripped the top of his head in my hands when I
swayed backwards.

Shane
grunted. “Can you try not to gouge my eyes out?”

“
Oops, sorry.” Balanced at last, I removed my fingers from his
face. Now that I could see above the cornstalks, I had an idea
where we were. We had indeed cornered ourselves in the far side of
the maze and needed to make our way up and to the left.

“
Ok, I think we can do this,” I said, tapping Shane’s shoulder
to signal for him to let me down. He bent his knees, and I slid
off. “Let’s go this way.” I pulled his forearm after me, letting go
once he followed.

“
See, not a bad idea, right?” Shane commented, stepping next
to me as we moved.

“
All right, I’ll give you that one,” I grudgingly said, though
I smiled.

Shane
returned a boastful grin and then glanced up at the sky, blinking
away droplets. “We better pick up the pace.”

We were
so far off track that we continued to cheat our way through the
maze, Shane lifting me to his shoulders a few more times to speed
up the process. The rain followed us, an unrelenting drizzle. As we
closed in on the finish, I couldn’t help but let out a cry of
satisfaction and joy.

“
Yes, we made it!” I broke into a run, and Shane followed
suit. Just as we rounded the corner, I lost my footing in a slick
patch of mud and fell back onto my rear. I landed hard, mud sinking
into my jeans.

I
groaned, accepting Shane’s hand as he pulled me to my feet.
Embarrassed, I examined my behind, swiping at the mud. A couple of
people in the distance pointed and laughed. I scowled at them, only
too familiar with those gestures.

“
Of course
this would happen. Just
stupid, muddy, icing on the cake,” I grumbled. When I peeked at
Shane to see if he was laughing too, my jaw dropped. He had removed
his jacket and was in the process of pulling off his long-sleeved
shirt.

“
What are you—it’s raining!” I pointed out, thrown off when I
caught sight of his toned torso dripping in front of me. He handed
me his shirt.

“
Here,” he offered, glancing at my mud-stained behind. “For
your—err—”

“
Oh… thanks.” I tied his sleeves around my waist so that his
shirt covered my butt. I let out a laugh at the situation while
Shane pulled his jacket back on, his body releasing a shiver. “Hot
chocolate sounds pretty good right now,” I said. “I don’t care
who’s buying!”

Shane
chuckled. “Come on.” He placed his hand on my back to guide me
forward. “Let’s get out of here.”

Walking
to my locker on Monday, I caught sight of Shane and his basketball
buddies walking down the hall. Remembering my fall at the corn
maze, I tried to avoid him by finding someone—anyone—to talk to,
but everyone around me was already preoccupied in conversation or
fiddling with their lockers. Despite the laugh we’d shared in the
moment, seeing Shane surrounded by all his arrogant guy friends
pushed any familiarity aside.

I pulled
out my phone and pretended to be thoroughly absorbed in texting, my
feet still carrying me forward. No text in the history of texting
ever required so much concentration.

“
I’ll catch up with you guys later,” I heard Shane’s voice say
as I passed him and his posse of testosterone. I picked up the pace
and rounded the corner of the hall. Shane’s hand on my shoulder
pulled me to a stop.

“
Allie, hey,” Shane said. I glanced at his hand on my
shoulder—which he quickly removed—before I looked up at him. As
usual, he wore jeans and a tight long-sleeved shirt, reminding me
of the muddied one I returned to him on Friday night. I dropped my
eyes, blushing at the memory of totally eating it at the corn
maze.

The
night had ended pretty quickly after that. Tara and Austin had been
waiting for us for over twenty minutes—though I noticed Tara’s lip
gloss needed a touch up, so I was sure they’d found ways to keep
busy. We grabbed some hot chocolate but drank it in the car on our
way home. Considering my wet and muddy jeans and Shane missing his
shirt, hanging out any longer wasn’t really an option. Besides, I
could tell Tara was dying to know if there was more to the story as
to why Shane had removed his shirt. She seemed thoroughly
disappointed with the humiliating truth of the matter.

“
Hi,” I said, almost in question.

“
Listen, I just wanted to apologize about Friday night,” Shane
said.

“
Why? It’s not like you pushed me down or anything.” I tried
to lighten the conversation with a laugh.

“
No, that’s not what I’m talking about.” Shane’s eyes became
more serious. “I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings when I
said—”

I cut him off before our conversation could take that awkward
turn. I did
not
want to relive that part of our discussion where he basically
told me I was not that interesting anymore. “It’s not a big deal,”
I said, taking a step back to distance myself from him. The bell
rang, warning me that I had five minutes to get to class. I looked
around the hallway, which was quickly becoming void of students. I
took another anxious step backwards. I hated walking into class
late, winning more unwanted attention.