I started up the Jeep and slid the gear into drive. “You did great today. You must feel pretty good about that.”
“I don’t think I want to go to Taste of Rome. Mind just taking me home?”
Okay, I hadn’t been expecting that sudden shift. I steered out of the lot, then glanced at her. “You okay?”
“Yup. Just…I should get home. Sorry you had to drive me.”
“You don’t have to be sorry about anything, Gracie.”
She shifted her weight in her seat.
Why is she so uncomfortable all of the sudden?
She slouched as she looked out her window. Okay, something else was going on. Maybe her wrist was hurting.
But this felt deeper. I saw an opening on the shoulder, so I slowed down and pulled over onto the gravel part so there was plenty of room.
“What’s the matter?” she asked, glancing around.
I slid the gear into park, then turned in my seat to face her more. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. What are you doing?”
“It just feels like something’s wrong. And I know—you know, too—that when you stuff it down, bad things happen.”
“Like Reckless Preach?” She smirked.
“Exactly.” I grinned. “I know you’re not upset about how you did today, because you crushed it. You guys won. Set a record and we totally slammed Twin River into the dirt.”
She chuckled, then picked at her nails.
Now I was a little worried about what was up.
“Are you and…” She cleared her throat and shifted in her seat.
I wanted so much to speak up, but I bit my tongue. I needed to let her say it. Oh, but I hated waiting.
“Clarissa. You two, I mean, do you, um, do you like her?”
“Clarissa? No.” My voice came out a little louder than I’d intended. But I hadn’t seen that coming at all. “No. What?”
“She was all up in your business at the meet and bragging about you and her going to Taste of Rome—oh—and the rest of the team. I—are you?” She finally nailed me with a stare.
It almost plowed me over, too.
The intensity billowing off this girl was both impressive and a little intimidating. She was a powerhouse on and off the track, but right now, she seemed a little insecure.
“No, no way. She’s always had a little thing for me, but I’m not interested.”
“The way she looks at you—”
I leaned toward her, then rested my hand over her fisted fingers that rested on her thigh. “I likeyou, Gracie.”
The air whooshed out of my lungs. There, I’d said it. Totally just threw it out there. I probably should have thought that through more, because the way she sat here, face unreadable, not saying a word…Crap. I’d blown it.
She didn’t like me back.
Then what the heck was that kiss about that day on the track? And then the almost kiss at the movie theater? What was she hiding from? We got along, well, other than the fact that I hit her with my car. But it seemed like we were possibly getting past that. And we had a lot in common, liked the same movies, we were both athletes, we even had really similar playlists on Spotify.