The Reunion (Love Stories From a Small Town #5)

2. The Deal

Getting ripped away from the only home I’d ever known and all my friends still had me a little pissed about life, I guess.

Until I figured out the humongous kid with red hair at football practice lived next door to me, I thought I’d never find somewhere to fit in.

Hanging out with Jason all summer made it a little easier to adjust to this tiny town with nothing to do. If not for him taking me under his wing as he did, I may never have gotten close to the girl with long, dark hair who stole my heart that morning.

Hearing him talk about his friend Faith so much with the other guys, I felt like I was already friends with her. When he yelled at her, and I turned around to find her coming toward us, though, I knew I could never only be one of her buddies.

Even from that distance, her soft green eyes sparkled in the sunbeams fighting through the misty overhead skylights. Her perfume’s sweet, woody scent when she straightened out her hair with her fingers trickled over me, haunting me in every Fall breeze for the rest of my life.

Nothing got through the rush of my heartbeat in my ears until she said, “I’m not sure what geometry is, but I think it might be Latin for Faith has zero chance of passing this class.” And for some reason, I couldn’t remember anyone ever saying anything so funny.

From her head to the bottom of her old sneakers with dirty laces, she was a perfect ten. So, every time she looked away from me, I used the opportunity to check the total package again and make sure I wasn’t imagining her.

Since the first second she dropped into my life, she had me hypnotized. Every move of her body was like a pendulum swinging back and forth, taking me deeper into some trance where nothing else going on in the world mattered.

The bell ringing sent Jason to his feet, and Faith backed away, releasing me so I could put a thought together again. “Hey, man.” Turning out of the bench seat to stand, I smacked Jason’s arm with the back of my fingers. “I need to go to the locker room real quick. Do we have time?”

Jason rose on his toes to squint at the clock on the other end of the room. “Yeah, plenty.” I waited until Faith went around the corner and turned to catch up with Jason. “The teachers don’t much care what the football team does anyhow. We’re the only entertainment around here for these old bastards.”

He held the gym door open for the cheerleaders from the Varsity squad, who didn’t bother to give him a second look. “How late are you allowed to stay out on school nights?”

The woman who gave birth to me was the overbearing mother grand champion of all time, and I laughed at him. “I’m not, ever. That’s why I told her staying after school to support the other teams was mandatory, and the games didn’t end until almost midnight sometimes.”

He pulled the locker room door open for me, and I put my hands together as I walked underneath his arm. “And my father swore I was preaching the gospel since he thinks she’s a pain in the ass, too.”

Rushing down the stairs together, I snapped out my imaginary fishing pole. “So she bought that shit, hook, line, and sinker.”

Given that I hadn’t even spoken to Faith yet, I realized anything I said would come off way too strong. The thing about me, though, is that when I want something, I go in a hundred percent or not at all.

Once I opened my locker door, I pushed all the stuff aside and went for it. “So, about that Faith girl?” I pulled a navy blue bundle from the pile of clothes at the bottom and shut the door. “Are you sure you’re not interested in her? Because I am.”

Wrinkling his nose at me like I told him to kiss the lunch lady or something, he rubbed his hand over his head. “No way. She’s like my sister.” His hand hovered by his knee as we climbed the steps to the gym. “We’ve played baseball and basketball together since we were little kids until the end of eighth grade.”

He shrugged as we returned through the gym doors into the lunchroom. “Yeah. She’s cooler than most girls, though. Plus, she likes to go fishing and camping.”

Walking a little slower, he sighed like he had second thoughts about talking her up to me. “Look. I get that she’s kind of hot and all. But she’s never had a boyfriend or anything, and she’s shy as hell.” Swinging his freckled finger at me, he turned toward me a little as we inched along the hallway. “So if you want to ask her out or whatever, don’t be a dick. You understand?”

I shook my head at the shirt I folded as we waited behind the crowd of kids smashing into the hallway. “We’ve been hanging out every day for like two months now. Do you really think that’s the kind of shit I’d do to your friend?”

Unlike everyone else here geared up to carry around a dozen books all day, his big ass had a single pencil stuck behind his ear. He pulled it out and pointed it at a half-open door ahead of us. “Just be nice to her. I’d hate to have to kick your ass, but that doesn’t mean I won’t.”

Through the rectangular window, I found Faith and her little blonde friend chatting it up. I nodded back to him as I pulled the door open. “That’s fair. Wait here a minute.”

Every eye was on me as I leaned into the doorway and whistled, but all I noticed was her sliding gloss across her lips and how it made my entire body ache. “Hey, Bennett.”

Making that golden pink glow rise on her cheeks every opportunity I got tickled me. So, as soon as her sun-kissed face lit up for me, I smiled at her and tossed my shirt across the room. “Think fast.”

On instinct, she snapped up to catch it one-handed. Unfolding it like I hid a bomb inside, she fluttered her eyes back to me. “What’s this?”

The row of guys behind her who talked smack in the locker room about what they’d do to her if she let them gave me dirty looks. But I was there to let them know those days of hounding her were over permanently.

My hand came to my chest as I winked at her and backed outside. “Can’t let my girl die on the first day of school. Can I?”

The door shut as ‘awes’ and whispers erupted all around her, and I turned to Jason, tossing up his hands. “Okay. You have my permission. That was cool as hell.”

I spun back to face him once we got around the corner to the next hallway. “So, do you think she’ll be at the game tonight?”

Motioning at the door ahead of us, he tipped his chin. “Most likely. She goes to just about every event if it’s held here at school.”

So he couldn’t get past me, I put my arms across the doorway and jerked my eyebrows at him. “So, you won’t mind playing matchmaker for your new best friend in the world, right?”

A smile started at the edge of his mouth. “Shit.” His finger went into the center of my chest. “You let me have that mint-condition Galactic Guardians comic on your bookshelf, and I’ll make sure you marry her someday.”

Making my mother buy me stuff I couldn’t care less about to punish her for being such an overprotective psycho was one of my favorite sports. If I somehow lost that comic, she’d make it her mission to find me a dozen more to take its place and keep me in line.

I bet Jason thought he was making out like a bandit. But when I put out my hand to him, I knew I was shaking on the best deal of my life. “It’s all yours so long as Faith ends up being all mine by this Saturday night.”

Only standing with his mouth hanging open as I shook his hand, he never even blinked until I punched his shoulder when the bell rang. “Come on. I still have about a hundred questions I need to ask you about her.”

Honestly, I didn’t care about much, but occasionally something fired me up inside. And that morning, Faith had a pocket full of matches with my name on them.