Three
I did not forget.
After forty minutes of tossing and turning, I gave up on falling back to sleep and searched the internet for ways to forget dreams. The advice was about nightmares, though. Not indecent fantasies that felt all too real.
The next morning, I sat in my car until the warning bell sounded so I didn’t have to see anyone before first period. That gave me another chance to calm down before I had to see them all in the weight room.
Relying on world history to distract me, I tried to focus and hoped we’d learn something interesting enough to occupy my thoughts until third period.
I doubted it.
“You okay?” Luca asked me the second I stepped into the weight room.
I nodded.
“Why were you late?” he asked, and the rest of the guys joined us. I kept my attention focused on him.
“I slept at my mom’s house. I forgot how long it takes to get here.” Lies. I was here in plenty of time, but they’d buy it. Except Skyler. I avoided looking at him.
“Oh, yeah.” Gavin’s voice sent a shiver down my spine. “You’ve got to factor in at least an extra twenty minutes in case the freeway is slow.”
“Yup,” I muttered and hurried over to a treadmill. They hated cardio, so I figured they wouldn’t follow me.
“Are you okay?” Sky stepped onto the machine next to me and set it to a slow walk.
I nodded while increasing my speed. If I was out of breath, I couldn’t talk.
“Then why are you avoiding us?”
I shot him a look from the corner of my eye. “I’m not.”
“That’s your second lie.”
I closed my eyes for only a moment before concentrating on a spot in front of me. His stupid ability was so inconvenient. At least he didn’t call me out in front of the others.
“I saw your car when I got here,” he continued. “I know you weren’t late.”
Dammit. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Because I didn’t know you were hiding inside until now. I figured you had to turn something in, but then you lied. Now I know something’s up.”
“I just needed to clear my head.”
“Did something happen?”
Why try to figure out a clever way of spinning the truth? He would know. “Yes,” I grumbled.
“But you don’t want to talk about it?”
“Not particularly.”
“Why not?” he asked. His breath was perfectly even while I was getting winded.
“It’s embarrassing,” I admitted.
“Ave, you should know by now that there’s nothing you could say or do to embarrass yourself in front of us. Especially me.”
I slowed to a stop and turned to him, making sure no one was close enough to overhear us amidst the sounds of weights dropping and music. He was right. If there was anyone I could talk to about my little . . . dream adventure, it was him. I just wished he wasn’t a participant. Ugh. If only I could lie to him.