Chapter 4
We’ve been on the road for half a day, and Reid is already driving me crazy. He’s in his own van, an entire bus length away, but he still maintains that uncanny knack for pissing me off.
Wyoming is full of a lot of nothing. The first stretch from Colorado was beautiful, but we haven’t seen anything except lonely ranches and sketchy gas stations since then. This road is completely empty. I’ve seen nothing but cows for the last several miles.
The lack of traffic is getting to Reid’s head. He won’t stop fucking brake checking me. Last time he did it—about twenty miles back—my iced coffee straw almost went up my nose, and half of it spilled all over my white tank.
I’m tugging at the thin material as it slowly becomes more see-through. I could only fit a small amount of clothes in the van, and now I’m going to have my whole laundry schedule thrown off before we’ve even been on the road for twenty-four hours.
Reid pulls off on the side of the road and leans against the edge of his van, smirking at me.
That fucking smirk. He thinks he’s so damn funny, but at least he noticed I was annoyed and pulled off.
I’m still pissed though, so I take one more gulp and shake up the rest of my coffee.
I hop out of the drivers side door onto the dusty ground.
Reid is looking at me, but not quite, like he’s daydreaming or something.
This is the perfect opportunity. Quickly, I rip the lid off of my coffee and chuck the ice cubes and sugar water at his fluffy brown hair.
“Laideeee,” he squeals, raking his fingers through his wet hair.
I rest my elbows on the hood of Willa, kick my right foot forward and let a smirk overtake my face in a dramatic imitation of his posture from before. He races towards me and shakes out his coffee soaked locks like a damn retriever. “Bad girl.”
Reid wiggles his finger at me as if he’s scolding me, and I’m embarrassed by the way I involuntarily bite my lip. I turn to face the van and shield my face from the sugary spray, hoping he doesn’t notice.
“Don’t call me Laide. You know I hate that.”
“Oh come on, you can’t actually be mad.”
“I am! Only my mom calls me that. Plus, I’m more pissed that I’m soaking wet on day two of this fucking road trip.”
“Oh Addie, you’re gonna get a lot dirtier than this.”
That knee-weakening grin is back, and I’m a goner. I can never be pissed at Reid for long. One touch, one smile, and he’s forgiven. Even Sebastian, Damien and Delaney’s father, likes him. Usually that man doesn’t like anyone, including his own children.
Reid’s got some kind of pull about him. Constantly luring people into his orbit like a mountain siren. I catch myself leaning in—just a little—but enough to be embarrassed.
My cheeks are hot, so I dab at them with the edge of my flannel, as if I’d be able to wipe the embarrassment away.
Reid has that distant look in his eyes again, and I can’t help but wonder what he is thinking about. My impulses take over and I reach out to nudge my pointer finger under his chin. “Hey, eyes up here.”
Now Reid’s the one looking bashful. “Come on. Let’s shower.”
“Together?!?”
“No Blondie. Gotta buy me dinner before you get me naked.”
The way he drags out ‘Blondie’ always makes my heart flutter—like he’s tasting every part of the word. That nickname has always bothered me. Mentally, I take it as an insult, but my body doesn’t seem to agree.
Sometimes it feels like he’s flirting with me, but he covers it with brotherly affection shortly after—erasing any hope I have for romance. Anytime he compliments me, he follows it with a noogie…a literal noogie. It doesn’t get more platonic than that.
He pushes me out of the way and opens the trunk of the van. Slowly, he unhooks both bikes and sets them to lean against the bumper. Reid hops up into the back of the van in one smooth move. “Shut me in, Laide?”
My cheeks puff up, trying to cool down the air before it enters my lungs. I pace, kicking a rock back and forth in the dirt—waiting to hear the shower shut off. Every few seconds, I have to wipe the shine off of my hands and on my pants—it keeps coming back.
“Ad, can you grab me a change of clothes?” I jump at his voice.
Reid peaks his head out of the side window. His hair is soaking wet and hanging over his hazel eyes. There’s a little more brown in them than green right now, matching the dirt around us. His shaggy hair looks darker than usual as it drips down into his thick brows.
I shake my head slightly as I get myself grounded in reality before replying, “Uh, sure. What do you want?”
His shoulders raise as I walk over to his dilapidated van.
Sometimes I feel guilty that he sleeps in this thing.
In my defense, we did try our hardest to buy him something better.
Reid has a bit of a pride issue when it comes to money.
I guess I can’t blame him. He comes from nothing, and we all have more money than we know what to do with without even working for it.
It could be a weird dynamic if we let it.
Reid’s clothes are all piled in a dingy old duffle bag.
There’s no rhyme or reason to how they’re thrown in here either.
His underwear is nowhere to be found. I really need to get out of here before I start sniffing his t-shirts and debate stealing one to sleep in.
Finally, I find a pair of boxer briefs—they’re sage green and immeasurably soft.
I should scold myself for getting into this situation—holding my crush’s underwear like an idiot. Now I’m considering what they might look like on him. I’m tumbling into a fantasy again. I have to pull myself out of it.
This mountain biking season is bound to be awkward.
I don’t have many friends in the competition circuit, none besides Chloe really, and things are still tense between us.
Reid, on the other hand, is friends with basically everyone.
The crowds love him, the judges love him, and most of all, the women love him.
Girls that race, girls that watch, and girls that are just in the area and barely know what freeride even is are obsessed with him.
Last year, he competed in all of the same races on his own.
I’m not sure how he got by without a shower, bathroom, or any of the amenities that he’s borrowing from me this year.
I don’t want to let myself think about it too much.
I’m sure he found his way into some woman’s soft sheets at every stop.
I rode a lot last year, but I mostly stuck around Colorado.
Delaney and I flew out to Whistler to cheer Reid on.
Whistler, nestled in the Coast Mountains, is one of the best downhill mountain bike parks in existence.
I had never been, and I was so excited to get some good riding in while spending time with one of my best friends.
Reid was pretty occupied with a chick named Luella he had been seeing.
He was supposed to come with us down to Seattle for the weekend after the competition, but he decided to stay back with her.
That stung.
It’s none of my business, but I’m curious if he’s going to be seeing her when we get up there later this summer.
She isn’t the right type of girl for him.
You can tell by looking at her that the dirty mountain biker thing would be hot for a while, but she would hate mud being tracked in through her perfectly prim living room.
I swear I’m not just saying that because I’m jealous.
There’s a knock at the trunk of Reid’s van, and I jump back, throwing the underwear in the process.
“Addie! What is taking you so long? I’m in my birthday suit out here. The coyotes are gonna get me!”
I don’t meet his eyes. “I couldn’t find anything in your dumpster fire of a suitcase.”
He takes the clothes out of my hands and heads back to my van to get changed. The amount of time he’s spending in my space is starting to make me feel woozy. I underestimated just how much we’d be seeing of each other.
Wiggling my way out of his van, I march over to my own to yell at him to hurry up. Desperately, I need a shower and some space to myself. The tension in my jaw is spreading up my neck and into my head.
“Reid come on. I’m sticky and you’re taking forever.”
He steps out, somehow looking perfectly messy, as he always does. Reid nails that rustic mountain vibe without looking like he’s a cowboy. I have to try to look effortless—always scrolling through Pinterest looking for the perfect ‘granola girl’ outfits to emulate.
“Relax, I’m done. Do you want me to make lunch, or do you want to go somewhere?”
“We should just make something. We’ve hardly made any progress.”
He clutches at his chest and looks at me dramatically. I roll my eyes before he even gets the words out. I know exactly what’s coming, and I’m trying as hard as I can to shove my smile down as he says, “It’s about the journey, not the destination.”
I resist the urge to kick a rock at his shins. “Make something tasty as an apology,” I call back to him.
“Yes, Addie. Your wish is my command.”
Oh how I wish that were true. I clutch at the wet fabric of my shirt and grimace. Reid notices and starts to reach out towards me. I panic, step back, and rush into the van.
He’s yelling through the metal doors as I close them, “I’ll buy you a new shirt, I swear.”
My breath is a bubble in my throat. For a second there, I thought he was actually gonna touch me. Hopefully the water will snap me back to reality and cool me down.