This Is Falling (4 page)

“Sorry,” I say, letting my arm hang loose
from hers. “Not good with strangers.”

“You don’t really know him?” she laughs,
keeping her voice quiet and tilting her chin forward toward Ty, who
is a few feet ahead of us on the walkway.

“I just met him this morning,” I say, shaking
my head. Cass laughs and tugs on my sleeve so we can catch up to
him.

“So, ladies. Where are you from?” he asks,
his eyes really focusing on Cass when he asks that question, and
for some reason, I’m relieved that she has to go first.

“Me and my sister are from Burbank,” she
says, and I can tell he’s trying to figure out how I’m related to
Cass but look nothing like her, so I stop his question before it
comes.

“Oh, no. We’re not related. Cass and I are
roommates. I’m from Arizona,” I say, turning to Cass, now wondering
whom the hell she’s talking about.

“Oh, yeah. Sorry, my sister’s our other
roommate. You met her last night, too. Paige?”

I’m so stunned by this revelation I’m unable
to keep my thoughts inside my head. “What?” I literally stop
walking when I speak, and Cass can’t help but laugh at my
response.

“I know, we couldn’t be any more different,
huh?” she says, shrugging and smiling back at both of us. “We’re
twins. Nobody ever believes it.”

“And why would they! You’re polite and smart
and Paige…seems to have other qualities,” I try to change the
course of my words midstream, realizing a little too late that I’m
calling her sister rude and stupid. Probably a little soon for me
to assume that’s okay to do, and I inwardly curse my lack of social
skills. Thankfully, my rant has Cass laughing even harder now.

“I know, right? My sister’s a real
bitch!”

My eyes almost pop out of my head, and I look
at Ty for assurance that I heard her right, but he’s just staring
at her and smiling even harder than he was before. I wonder if she
knows he likes her? And I wonder how much they got to know each
other at the party last night?

“So where are you from, Ty?” Cass asks,
biting her bottom lip a little. She notices his stare, and I think
she likes it.

“I’m from Louisiana originally, though I just
transferred here from Florida. I’m in grad school, but my brother’s
a freshman. We thought it’d be cool to live together, so we both
settled on the same school. They have a great business program
here, and a hell of a baseball team, so it worked out.”

“Nate’s your brother,” I nod and mutter
quietly to myself. I feel like I’m trapped in an episode of
90210,
and I’m just grateful that I’m getting all of these
revelations out of the way early rather than having to wait for the
season to end to put the puzzle together.

“Oh yeah. I think I saw him last night, too.
My sister was
all over
him,” Cass says, and I’m suddenly
overcome with a rush of jealousy. I’m embarrassed by it, and I’m
sure they both can tell, so I turn my gaze to my feet and start to
look for cracks in the sidewalk.

“Oh I remember her. She’s cute,” he says, and
I tilt my head up just in time to see the same emotion I was just
feeling wash over Cass. “Not my brother’s type, though.”

Ty’s gaze switches to me when he speaks, and
he holds his stare long enough to make me feel uncomfortable and
look back down. Was he trying to tell me
I’m
not his
brother’s type? Was that a warning to get out before I’m
disappointed? Or just confirming my assumption last night, that
Nate’s just looking for friends. Nothing more. I hope that’s it,
because the more I get to know people, the less sure I am that I’m
even ready for friends.

We walk along the main path up the middle of
the campus, and I’m able to spot every single one of my buildings
along the way. I have mostly general-studies classes. I still
haven’t declared a major, and the advisor said I could wait a
semester or two before I figured it out. I’m not sure that’s enough
time, though—I have no idea what I want to do with my life. Before
everything changed, I used to think I wanted to be a designer. No
real reason why, and I’ve never been great at computer programs, so
that dream sort of dissipated the less attention I paid to it.
Unfortunately, nothing stepped up to take its place.

“Nate’s in there. I know the coaches, so I
can go in with you if you want. He’d like to know you’re here,” Ty
says, and I can’t help but notice the look Cass is making behind
him. She wants to know more, and I know I’m going to have to tell
her about my run-in with Nate.

“Oh, okay. I guess so, if you think it’s okay
that I go in? I can wait out here, too. I don’t want to interrupt
something.” I start fidgeting and I can feel my skin tingling with
discomfort. Ty smiles and winks while he passes me, urging me to
follow.

“You’re fine. Come on,” he says, so I look to
Cass, who’s still waggling her eyebrows my way.

Deep breaths. Take deep breaths.

We head through a long hallway to a separate
area of the gym, and I can tell this is where the school’s athletes
train. It’s football season right now, so almost everyone in the
room is four times my size.

“Oh my god, Rowe. Paige is going to be so
pissed when she finds out we were in here without her. This is like
her own personal supermarket full of jocks.” We both stay back near
the door, but let our eyes wander the expanse of the room. There’s
a slight tinge of sweat-smell in the air, but it’s not gross at
all, and I can’t help the way my body is reacting to it. I blush
when one of the large, shirtless men walks by me and says, “Excuse
me,” brushing his arm against the front of my body slightly while
he passes. Suddenly, I’m standing straighter, and sucking in my
stomach, pushing out what exists of my chest.

“There he is. Hang on, I’ll let him know
you’re here,” Ty says, moving toward the back of the room. I see
Nate’s profile in the far distance, but my eyes zero in on his
features immediately. He was not a dream. Everything I thought I
saw and remembered is exactly as it should be, and when his gaze
flicks up to mine, I’m catapulted back to the hallway and the way
he looked in the dark, holding my underwear.

“You are like seven shades of red, girl,”
Cass says, leaning into me.

“That bad, huh?” I used to think I would be
the kind of person that would lie when people called me on my
emotions. But there’s something about Cass that makes me
comfortable. It’s either that, or I’m just too tired of hiding
everything else to give a damn about getting gushy over a boy right
now.

“Suck it up, chickadee. He’s on his way over
here.”

I draw the air in slowly through my nose the
entire time he’s walking my way, so by the time he’s standing in
front of me, I don’t have to panic for a breath.

“Hey, so I’m totally sorry I blew our plans.
I forgot about workouts this morning,” he says, and his words come
out like butterscotch candies. I’ve never heard someone talk like
him, and I’d give anything for him to read me a story at night. I
bet I wouldn’t even need to take Ambien to relax.

“That’s okay, I understand.” My heart is
thumping wildly and erratically, and I’m worried it’s making my
voice quiver.

“She’s lying, bro,” Ty says suddenly,
knocking the wind from me again. “I found her waiting by the
elevator. Some asshole stood her up.”

I. Want. To. Die. My eyes dart from Ty to
Nate to Cass, who only shrugs since I haven’t been able to bring
her fully up to speed on my late night run-in yet.

“No, really. It’s my fault. I didn’t check my
messages this morning,” I explain, giving Ty a look that I hope
sends a warning. I’ll have to practice those faces, because I’m not
really sure how to make them. This one seems not to be very
intimidating, because he just laughs softly and backs away.

“Damn, that guy
is
an asshole. And so
is his brother,” Nate says, scratching under his chin and flicking
his hand at Ty. He turns to me—dimples, smile. “I was going to stop
by your room this morning, but I didn’t want to wake you up. Hey,
I’ll make it up to you. You hungry? Want lunch?”

My stomach is growling, and I’m starving. But
the thought of sitting in a crowded cafeteria makes my body break
out in an instant sweat.

“Rowe, I’ve gotta go. I have an appointment
with a personal trainer in ten minutes,” Cass says, pulling her
watch from her wrist and tucking it in the small workout bag she’s
carrying. “I’ll see ya back at the dorm.”

I smile and wave, scrunching my hand closed,
and stuffing it back in my pocket.

“Yeah, so…it looks like I’m her trainer,
since I have a noon appointment. I fucking love today,” Ty says,
looking up and smiling, which makes both Nate and me laugh. “I’ll
see you later, dude. Oh…and
this one
? Yeah, she’s totally
your type.”

I. Want. To. Die.

Chapter
5

Nate

If he weren’t my brother, I would kill him. I
might kill him anyway. I can tell she’s embarrassed. Her body is
now bright pink, and I can practically feel the heat radiating off
of her.

I don’t like the way he showed it. But I do
like that my brother approves. He never liked Sadie; said he didn’t
trust her. But I didn’t listen. Seems my brother’s instincts are a
shitload sharper than mine. And if he thinks Rowe has something,
then I’m definitely making this girl go to lunch with me. I have to
figure her out before the rest of the school shows up and I have to
compete for her attention.

“So, what do you say?” I ask. She seems
nervous, and I feel like she might back out. Maybe if I can find a
way to stick with the original plan. “If you’re not hungry, we
could just walk around town?”

She’s tugging on her bottom lip with her
teeth and hugging herself with her arms, like she’s not sure what
to do with herself, and I catch her eyes searching for her friend
who’s walking away. Damn. She’s trying to get out of this.

“Or whatever. If you’re tired, I get it. My
fault for missing our date.” For some reason, that last word
catches her attention, and her eyes meet mine quickly, flaring open
a little wider. Shit, she didn’t like the word
date.

“No, I…I could eat, actually. It’s just,” she
starts, and her eyes fall to her feet, looking over her arms that
are still folded tightly around her and down to her shuffling
shoes. “I’m kind of a picky eater. So, maybe we could go somewhere
in town? Is that…okay?”

I try to play it cool, but inside I’m glad
she’s up for my back-up plan. It’s going to take us a good twenty
minutes to walk into town, and I already know I’m going to make her
go to Sally’s. It’s good food, but the service is slow as heck.
That gives me at least a couple of hours with her.

“That’s perfect. There’s actually this place
I’ve been dying to try. Mind?”

She just nods and smiles, still fidgeting
with her feet locked to their place. I notice she’s not wearing
socks with her running shoes, and I don’t know why, but I can’t
seem to take my eyes off the line along her calf muscle and the way
it stretches deep into her ankle. It’s weird how a girl can look so
soft, but so strong at the same time.

“You play sports?” I ask, my eyes still
locked on her leg.

“A little. I used to, I mean. I was good at
tennis,” she says, finally relaxing her upper body. “Ty says you
play baseball?”

I love that she has no idea who I am. Not
that I’m
that
big a deal, but I did turn down a lot of
Division 1 schools to come here. The chick at the party last night
sure knew who I was. Or, at least, she knew that I was an athlete
at the school. She was sloppy drunk and kept telling me how she
just wants to hook up with a jock this week.

Some guys love that shit.
Easy.
Ty
kind of likes it, at least in the moment. But usually he’s pissed
at himself that next day when he has to face a girl he really has
no interest in. I’d rather wait around until I find someone worth
it, someone I’d like to see in the morning, not just the night.

“Yeah, I’m the catcher.” I sort of wait to
see how she reacts, and when she doesn’t, I keep going, suddenly
feeling like I have to work a little to impress her. “So, I pretty
much play every game. I’m stepping in for a senior this year, and
it’s kind of awkward, because I think they’ll probably play me more
than him.”

“Are you good?” Her bluntness is adorable, if
not intimidating.

“Huh. Well, I was good enough for them to ask
me to come here. I guess I hope I’m good enough for them to want me
to stay.” All I can do is smile at her, the way she’s crinkling her
nose while she thinks about what she needs to know about me next.
Anything…I want this girl to ask me
anything.

We’re walking to the front lobby now, so I
nod to my coach that I’m heading out, and he just waves me off. I’m
about to place my hand on her back to lead her outside—both because
I want her to know what direction to go and because I want to feel
her shoulder blades under my fingers. But I notice she pauses when
we get to the door; I can see her breathing pick up, so I pull my
hand away before it grazes her. She’s nervous.

“Did anyone else ask you?”

“Huh?” Her eyes are staring at the metal
grate that divides the outside from the inside, so I can’t even get
a clue from her expression as to what she means.

“Baseball. Did anyone else ask you to
play?”

“Oh.” For a second I thought she was asking
me about other girls, and other girls is the
last
thing I
want to talk about in front of Rowe. I spent my summer forgetting
all about Sadie with my brother’s help, and let’s just say that’s
how I know I’m not meant for one-night stands and good-enoughs. For
the last three months, I’ve felt like a major asshole, which is
exactly why I left the party last night. Fate rewarded me by
running me into Rowe.