Chapter 4 #2
“You almost hit me!” Rory’s eyes were wild. I threw my club into my bag with an embarrassed giggle. “How are you so good, but also so bad?” His smile had taken over his entire face as he grabbed his bag.
“You. That’s how, you dummy. You make me nervous, and you give me the frickin’ yips!” I realized my confession and carefully lifted my eyes to meet his.
“Why do I make you nervous?” His gently sloped, closed-mouth smile had him glowing from the inside out.
“You just do, Rory.” I shook my head dismissively while pulling the backpack-style straps of my bag over my shoulders, then yanking my ponytail free.
“We should go. I’m not hitting another ball.
I’ve accepted my fate.” We slowly walked toward his ball in the middle of the fairway in silence before I finally said, “I can’t believe you said I’m an ostrich. ”
“What?” Rory couldn’t help but laugh. “Is that bad?”
“Yes. That’s bad. Have you ever seen an ostrich?”
“They’re cool!” Rory defended. “Okay, fine. California condor, seeing as that’s where you’ll live one day. Is that better?”
My face scrunched. “I don’t like the idea of being a bird. They’re either all neck or no neck, you know?”
“What do you think I am?” Rory gripped the straps of his bag, his knuckles tensing. All I could hear was the sound of our clubs clanking into each other as we walked.
“Oh man.” I exhaled. I wanted to get this right. I scanned my brain, trying to think of an animal that could somehow secretly convey to Rory exactly who he was and that he was perfect, but without appearing obvious or pathetic. “Maybe a sheep?”
“A sheep?!” he bellowed.
Oh, fuck. I blew it.
“Like, I just follow the crowd?”
“No! Not at all. I didn’t even think about that.” I started to sweat. “You’re calm, and cool, and nothing ever bothers you. And there’s all this stuff under your layers that you hide away.”
Stop talking, Ellie.
“Everyone loves you and your brothers, so you’ve got your herd. And you’re warm and fuzzy and . . . good.”
Stop. Talking.
Rory kept his eyes on his feet as we walked. “So, you think I have no bite?”
“SO, YOU THINK I’M AN OSTRICH?!”
Rory laughed again, tipping his head back and pinching his nose between his fingers. “No. I take it back, okay? California condor.”
“Why are you so sure I’m a bird?” I twisted my waist and bumped his bag with my own from behind our backs.
“Because eventually you’re gonna fly away.”
“Damn right. Right down south to Los Angeles. The die has been cast.” I smiled. “I can’t help that she calls to me.”
“Los Angeles is a girl?”
“She is now.” I giggled.
“Did I tell you that I saw you in the background of a Colgate commercial the other day?” Rory looked down at his feet and kicked a chunk of loose grass.
“You did?”
“Yeah. You looked . . .” He trailed off, stopping himself from saying anything he shouldn’t be saying. “It was cool.” After about a minute of walking in silence, Rory asked, “Are you excited for tomorrow?”
“For school? No.”
For school? Never. No one at Juniper knew about my alter ego, where I was an obnoxious theater kid, and such a bloody try-hard that even the teachers rolled their eyes at me.
Rory and I didn’t go to the same school.
And even though I was an awkward, boy-crazy little turd, and had a different crush every other week, absolutely everyone in my class knew about Rory.
“Are you excited for tomorrow?”
“No,” Rory answered.
My throat went dry as I thought about how my time with Rory was going to change drastically as of the next day.
We’d see each other on weekends, but school friends and other sports would slowly start to get in the way.
Eventually, Rory and I wouldn’t have an easy banter because we wouldn’t be part of each other’s everyday lives.
I’d get a random crush on some boy, but would still end each day thinking, “But he’s not Rory.
” The winter would be a dead zone, and then, hopefully, when spring bloomed, we would bloom again.
“Are you gonna miss . . . summer?” He pressed his lips together. Each step we took along the fairway closed our distance until our arms were brushing against each other.
“Yeah.” I felt a drop on my nose. And then another. And another. “Are you gonna miss . . . summer?”
Rory stopped walking, then locked his big brown eyes on mine. I could see honey around his pupils. The light rain made his Summer Skin freckles look like they were moving.
“I’m gonna miss it a lot.” He narrowed his eyes at me playfully. “Summer.”
Our smiles faded, and we held our stare. It was the longest I had ever looked at anyone outside of a family member. A crack of lightning and a quick boom of thunder startled us into the present.
“Oh no!” My panic sprang up without warning, and I told myself it had nothing to do with Rory. “There’s lightning! We’re in these massive trees, we’ve got metal clubs, and we’re the only dummies left at the club with metal spikes on our shoes! Doesn’t lightning come from the ground?” I shrieked.
Rory grinned, amused by my mayhem. He kept his eyes on mine, then bent down and took off his shoes.
“What are you doing?!” I squealed. His socks were instantly soaked as he tossed his bag and shoes to the side.
“If one of us is going to be a lightning rod, Cains, it’s not gonna be me.” He shot off like a bullet, sprinting down the golf course.
“Rory!” I dropped my bag on the ground and ripped my shoes from my feet, throwing them violently at my bag.
“Blair!” Rory shouted at his brother. “No one will care if you die. Get our stuff!”
“What are you two doing, you assholes?!” Blair called back.
We sprinted past Blair and Jacob, with our socks sloshing through puddles, and ran the final three holes together, laughing in the rain.