7. Quinn
7
QUINN
I ’m disappointed that Alex doesn’t respond after my revelation. He simply stares at me like I’ve dropped a bomb on his head. For a few seconds, I wait for him to say something, but when he doesn’t, I assume he’s respecting my request to move on with the rest of the day, and I shrug. “Can we get to the community center now?”
He visibly swallows and nods, finally allowing me to lead the way back toward the building.
The park is flooded with people now, the noon hour marking the moment for the vendors and performers to set up their props and wares for the five o’clock opening. The scavenger hunt will be over by the time the festival officially kicks off.
Some of the eliminated teams group in the lobby of the community center to cheer on us remaining contestants, including the mayor. He chuckles when he sees Alex and me.
“I really should raise your property taxes,” Drew teases, wagging a finger mockingly at Alex. “You’re showing me up in front of the whole town.”
Alex offers him a taut smile, which doesn’t meet his eyes. “We’ll do a shout out to you when we put the star on top,” he jokes distractedly. “Talk about how we couldn’t have done it without your support.”
Drew turns to me and flashes me a grin. “I suspect you have something to do with him getting this far. Rumor has it that you’re the game master at Holly Ridge Elementary.”
I laugh. “I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not.”
Drew’s smile broadens, and he nudges Alex playfully. “Are you kidding? Alex and I were just talking earlier about how we wished we had teachers like you when we were in school. Thanks for all that you do. The kids are lucky to have you.”
My head swivels toward my partner, but he has already turned away, shuffling toward the main counter to read the itinerary. I press my lips together, wondering if I made a mistake in bringing up the past with him. It is the past, after all, and Alex hasn’t given me a single reason to doubt him today.
Maybe we should talk later…
“Okay, everyone!” Edna Monroe stands on a chair behind the reception counter, a teacup chihuahua in her arms. That woman is always adopting or fostering new dogs.
“Edna! Get down from there!” someone calls out frantically, rushing to help the older woman down.
Scowling, Edna sticks the dog out menacingly and gnashes her own teeth, but the puppy merely yawns sleepily and hangs limply in Edna’s hands, wagging her cream-colored tail.
“You get back!” Edna grumbles. “You’re more likely to break a hip than I am, sitting behind a desk all day!”
The community center worker grimaces and falls back, recognizing that fighting with the surly volunteer is useless.
Edna curls the dog back against her shoulder and resumes her speech. “As I was saying, if you’ve made it this far, congratulations, you’re too competitive for your own good.”
There’s a wave of laughter through the lobby, and I catch Alex looking at me. Heat creeps up my neck, and I fix my eyes only on Edna.
“For this last part of the hunt, you’ll only have an hour, and there are six clues.”
A murmur of worry rushes through the crowds. That’s less time and more clues than what we’ve done before. Alex falls in beside me again.
“The first team to get all the clues wins. The other teams will be recalled, and that will be it for the scavenger hunt. Tomorrow, that team will meet at the spruce to light up the tree. Do you have any questions?”
Edna slowly descends from the chair with two of the community center employees helping her, but she waves them off sharply, setting her dog down on the counter.
“Get ready!” she yells out in her shockingly powerful voice. “You’re off!”
“Good luck!” Drew calls as the teams disperse.
Alex takes my hand and pulls me in the opposite direction of the other groups, tugging me down one of the recreational hallways. I don’t fight his instincts, but when we’re alone, he stops abruptly and spins to face me.
“I never bullied you,” he tells me flatly. “That’s not true.” My jaw locks, and I start to shake my head, but he’s not finished. “Just listen. I keep thinking about what you said, what you remember, but it’s not true, Quinn.”
I shrug past him and head toward one of the closed doors, trying the handle. To my relief, it gives way, and the door opens, allowing us inside. A bright green piece of construction paper, shaped like a Christmas tree, dangles from the ceiling, and I hurry forward to collect the fairy-dusted pinecone clue and read the message toward our next token.
“‘Crawling butterflies, diving doggies, careful or you’ll get soggy,’” I mumble, ignoring Alex’s imploring look.
How can he say that? Does he really believe that?
“Quinn, did you hear what I said?”
“Did you hear the clue?” I reply, spinning back toward the door. “We have to keep moving. We don’t have as much time for this round.”
I tuck the pinecone in my pocket and head back out the door.
“The pool,” he mutters from behind me as I reenter the hallway. The teenagers from our group turn the corner as we head back the way we came, and I hang my head, determined not to show them which room we just came from.
“The pool?” I echo in a whisper.
“Butterfly stroke? Front crawl?” Alex hisses back, his strides lengthening. “‘You’ll get soggy’?”
I can’t help but quirk a grin at him. His mind works so fast.
He works so fast that he’s forgotten what he’s done to me, I guess.
“This way.” My shoulders relax as I glance at my watch. Two clues in less than ten minutes. At this rate, we should be fine, as long as no one is quicker than us.
“Quinn, I mean it,” Alex presses as we walk. “I know you believe what you said to me, but I never mistreated you in high school or any other time. That’s not who I am.”
We sweep past a colorful holiday mural, painted by the preschool kids in the main lobby, the painting bordered by a set of identical Christmas trees on either side.
I look behind us to make sure we’re not being watched before ushering us both into the pool deck and immediately find the second clue.
“You said we didn’t need to talk about this,” I remind him firmly, snatching up the gingerbread house ornament from the lifeguard station as he scans the next note. “You told me that if I explained the problem, you would drop it.”
“You’re right,” he agrees. “I’m just really shocked that you said something like that, and I want to set the record straight. You’re kind of attacking my reputation here.”
A pang of guilt hits me, but I again shove it aside, a spark of annoyance flashing through me.
He can’t gaslight me. I was there.
“Let’s keep going,” I say sharply. “Do you know what the next one is?”
He shrugs, his jaw taut. “I think it might be in the gym.”
“It makes sense that one of them will be in the gym,” I reason. “These clues are easier, probably because of the lack of time involved.”
Alex doesn’t respond, and we duck out through the family change room together, avoiding the other teams, but just as we’re leaving, the young couple is on our heels again.
“They’re going to catch up with us if we don’t move faster,” I tell him urgently. He picks up the pace, but he doesn’t try to speak to me anymore, and I make no effort to speak with him.
His hunch about the gym is correct. Unfortunately, we’re not the only ones with the idea, and we encounter two other teams there. My blood pressure spikes at the sight of them, and I hurry to grab my token and finger the three pieces in my pocket.
“We’re halfway there,” I tell Alex, my excitement mounting. Our heads bow together, and we pore over the gym clue, ignoring the others.
My body warms at his closeness, and I’m taken aback by my body’s reaction to him. His eyes catch mine, and I read the deep regret there, the expression twinging something in my heart.
Nervously, I dart my gaze back to the star-shaped page in front of me. This one is trickier, neither one of us getting it easily. My eyes dart toward the other teams who appear stuck, too. But when I see the teen couple enter, I grab Alex’s hand.
“Come on,” I growl. “Let’s go.”
Through the back hall, I lead him up to the second floor and through the track that encircles the top of the community center. To my utter awe, my impulsive exit leads us to the fourth clue by accident.
“Did you know this was here?” he asks, hurrying toward the signage.
I almost lie and take the credit, but I stop myself. “No,” I chuckle. “Total fluke.”
“You’re instinctively good.”
He reaches for the cookie-shaped keychain. I swallow and study him as he peers over the clue on the track. Cautiously, I lean over the side to look for incoming teams.
“This might be the racquetball courts or basketball courts,” Alex muses. “It’s something to do with a court.”
He points, and I lean back to scan it, again inhaling his earthy scent. Directly overhead, I peer through the skylight. Light flakes of snow begin to fall from the sky, distracting me for a second, and Alex follows my gaze overhead.
“I thought I smelled snow coming.”
A small smile touches my lips. “You’re one of those, huh?”
He frowns slightly. “One of what?”
I realize I’ve inadvertently offended him, and I shake my head. “I didn’t mean—I meant, there are a select few people who have that ability. It’s like a superpower. It wasn’t an insult.”
He eyes me warily and shrugs. “I don’t know if it’s a superpower,” he replies gruffly. “But I can sense the change in weather pretty easily.”
“I don’t have any special senses like that,” I admit, jamming the latest scavenger token into my coat pocket as we descend the stairs.
He scoffs. “I saw you with that kid earlier. I’d say that your superpower is teaching and connecting with kids.”
Another wave of confusion washes through me.
Am I wrong about him? Is he really decent? Was I wrong about him back then?
“Although you do seem pretty intent on kicking these teenagers’ butts,” Alex adds with a small laugh.
I shoot him a quick glance as we land on the main floor again. “I might be a little competitive,” I concede sheepishly. “I’m told that’s odd for an only child. You should be more competitive as the youngest.”
Alex’s face shadows. “Maybe I’m just tired of competing. I’m happy just doing my best.”
My brow furrows as I realize he’s giving me a glimpse into his psyche, but before I can comment, he raises his head and nods down the corridor. “Are we allowed to divide and conquer?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, the courts are on opposite sides of the community center. I can take the basketball court, and you can take the racquetball court. We’ll regroup after we check.”
“Oh…” My frown deepens. “I’m not sure if that’s allowed. I mean, we’re in teams for a reason. It seems like that might be cheating.”
Alex smiles. “You’re right. I don’t know why I suggested it.”
With a sinking heart, I suspect I do. He needs a break from me.
“We’ll just have to work twice as fast,” I offer brightly. “Come on. Racquetball is closer. Let’s check there first.”
I stick close to Alex, the time counting down as we find the next clue in the racquetball court and the fifth clue at the basketball court, leading us to the final twenty minutes of the scavenger hunt.
“We haven’t been recalled yet, so we must be in the lead,” I tell Alex excitedly as we try to decrypt the final words.
He slumps against the pole of the basketball net and purses his lips together pensively. “This one’s tough,” he tells me, but I can’t help but wonder if he’s really focusing on the clue at all.
I amble closer to him, trying not to look at the wall clock overhead. “Let’s just look at it word by word,” I propose, kneeling beside him. He nods, handing me the page, and I sit next to him, accidentally falling off balance. Alex catches me, and I flush as he rights me.
“Sorry,” I mutter, and he shakes his head.
Clearing my throat, I sit back up, moving over to give myself a bit of room between us, but I stay close enough that Alex can still read the message if he wants.
“This should bring us back up to the lobby if it’s anything like the other sections,” I reason. “But I don’t really understand it. ‘Under the mistletoe, here’s a place to love your foe.’ Did you see mistletoe anywhere?”
“I wasn’t really looking, but if we head back toward the front, we could check it out again,” Alex suggests.
“It wouldn’t be in an obvious place for anyone to just walk by and see, though,” I sigh. “Where would mistletoe be? And ‘kiss your foe’? Who is your foe?”
“In your case, I guess I am,” he replies offhandedly.
My chest tightens. “You’re not my enemy, Alex,” I correct him tensely. “You’re just…”
“Not your friend?” he concludes for me.
I turn to face him. “Look, I know high school was a long time ago, but I can’t really forget how much the treatment from you and your friends shaped my life. It wasn’t a good time for me.”
A pained expression crosses over his face. “I had no idea you were holding onto all of this for so long,” he confesses. “Or that you saw me as your bully.”
Grimacing, I turn my head away. “Maybe you weren’t the worst of your group,” I admit. “But you also didn’t do much to stop them.”
His eyes are so dark, they almost don’t seem green anymore. “I don’t remember it that way,” he mumbles, and I stiffen, but he continues. “But it doesn’t mean that’s not what happened. I had a lot of my own things going on back then, too—not that it’s an excuse for bad behavior. I just… I guess I wasn’t paying too much attention to what my friends were doing or not doing… I don’t know. This has kind of blindsided me, Quinn, and I don’t know what to say or do.”
His honesty strikes something in me, and again, I’m swept away with the idea that maybe I’ve misjudged him or harbored a grudge against the wrong person for far too long.
Alex stares at his hands, and I reach for one of them before I know what I’m doing. He eyes me in surprise, but I don’t drop it. A rush surges through me on contact, and I realize I’ve been fighting off this attraction, even though it’s probably well informed.
His head turns toward me. “Quinn, I?—”
Impulsively, I draw my lips toward him, pressing them to his, partially to stop him from talking, but mostly because I’ve wanted to do this all day.
Our eyes close, and Alex inhales slowly, caught off guard by the unexpected contact, his free hand reaching up to caress my cheek. Warmth floods through me, barely overcoming the sense of perplexity I’m feeling, but enough that I don’t pull away.
Abruptly, I pull back, my eyes popping open, startling him again. “Are you—?” he starts, but I jump to my feet before he can finish.
“I know the answer!” I exclaim gleefully, pulling him to his feet. “I know the last clue!”
Dumbfounded, he rises as the doors to the basketball courts open, and the teenagers enter, blinking to see us. Disappointment colors their faces as I usher Alex past them with a smile.
“See you at the finish line,” I tell them.
They smile weakly, but as we depart, I hear the girl tell her boyfriend, “It’s okay. We had fun, and we got pretty far. That’s all that matters, babe.”
Alex glances back, a soft, sad smile touching his lips as we leave, and my heart sinks slightly.
“Where to?” he asks when we’re out of earshot.
I bite on my lower lip.
That’s a great question. I have no idea where this is heading, and I’m not sure I want to find out.