All of Val's warnings started going through my head. "My parents will probably be back soon." I ran after him, shrugging my coat on. "Let's go out."
He was in the family room checking out the DVDs. He held one up. "Let's watch this."
"But..."
"What do you want? Pizza okay?" He pulled out his cell phone. "How about a veggie?"
"I'd really like to go out."
Zach lowered the phone. "Are you afraid to be alone with me?"
Yikes! "Of course not." Could he tell I was sort of lying?
"If Val said I was going to attack you, ignore her. She's lying. I won't touch you."
Well, I wasn't sure if that was necessary. I mean, a little touching would be okay.
He shoved the phone back into his pocket. "Forget it. Let's go out."
"No." I grabbed his arm. "It's okay. You're right. I was thinking about Val. I trust you." No way was I going to let Val ruin my date.
"You sure?"
"Yes." I took the DVD. "I'll put this in while you order. Veggie is fine."
"Diet Coke?"
"Yeah." I set up the DVD while he ordered, my hands trembling. Not a lot, but a little bit. I sank down in the middle of the couch and wondered where he'd sit.
Zach hung up his phone and eyed the room. "Okay if I sit with you?"
How sweet was that? All the tension went out of me and I nodded. "Yes."
He shrugged off his coat and tossed it on a chair, then lowered himself next to me.
Not touching, but close. Perfect.
"Good job on Sunday," he said.
I nodded. "Thanks."
"Think our training helped?"
"Definitely."
"You could join me again, you know."
I hadn't gone back for the early morning training this week. My friends and I had decided to keep Zach guessing. He'd gotten a taste of Natalie-the-girly-girl on Saturday night, but now I had to play it cool.
Practice had been a little better this week after my big victory. Yeah, Val was hating me after I'd beaten her on Sunday, but the other girls on the team were starting to be nice to me anyway, so I didn't care as much about Val. The power of being fast! And the fact that Zach had made a point of chatting with me every day hadn't hurt my rep either.
"Yeah, maybe I'll join you next week. Might be good for my running." Was that noncommittal enough? I hit the play button. "Ready?"
"Sure."
About five minutes into the movie, Zach nudged me. "I give a great foot massage."
Foot massage? That sounded awesome. "Is that an offer?"
"Yep."
Nothing too scary could come of a foot massage, could it? "I accept." I kicked off my shoes.
"Scoot back." Zach pulled my feet onto his lap while I adjusted my position, propping a few pillows against the armrest and leaning back. Oh my gosh. My heart was racing! A foot massage!
Zach pulled a pillow onto his lap and set my feet on it. Then he picked up my left foot and started digging his thumbs into the bottom of it.
"Oh, wow."
He grinned. "Feels good, huh?"
I snuggled down into the pillows. "Like heaven. Where did you learn to do this?"
"Val got plantar fasciitis last season, so I learned how to do foot massage from the athletic trainer. I used to work her feet every night."
Major buzz kill there. "Oh."
"Yeah, she used to love it." He frowned. "I wonder how her feet are. She ran okay on Sunday, though." It was like he was drifting into his own world.
Okay, I wasn't feeling the love right now. "Kiss me."
Zach looked at me sharply. "Seriously?"
"Yes." I wanted him to stop thinking about Val right now. There was a limit to my capacity to be with guys who were in love with other girls, and it was time to take Zach for my own.
He lifted my feet and scooted closer to me, laying my legs across his lap.
My heart started to race and I sat up. He slid his arm behind my back to hold me up and then kissed me. His lips were cool, and a little clammy. A little too wet. And not really moving, like Matt's had been. He was just sort of pressing his mouth to mine. What kind of kiss was this? It was like kissing a dead fish.
I tried to move my lips the way Matt had, but Zach barely responded. And I sure wasn't feeling it. It was nothing like any of Matt's kisses. No tingling, no excitement. Just boredom. After a minute, I pushed him away.
He frowned. "What's wrong?"
"I'm not sure."
"Yeah." He leaned back against the couch.
"So, you felt it too?" The utter lack of chemistry?
He sat up. "Let's try again."
"I don't think so." I swung my feet to the ground and stood up. There was no way a guy as cool as Zach was just a bad kisser, so there had to be something else. "You still love her, don't you?"
"Who?" Zach tossed aside the pillow that had been on his lap.
"Val. That's why the kiss sucked. Because you didn't want to kiss me."
Zach frowned. "Of course I want to kiss you." He held out his hand. "Come here and I'll show you."
I folded my arms across my chest. "Forget it. You still love her, and that's fine, but don't pull me into the middle of it."
Zach let his arm fall. "I don't love her."
"You sure?" I couldn't get the image of that awful kiss out of my head. I needed a dose of Matt to freshen up.
"She doesn't love me."
"Then why is she making my life miserable? She hates me because you've shown an interest in me!"
Zach frowned, but there was a glimmer of hope in his eyes. "You think?"
"Yes." I couldn't believe Theo had been right. Zach still loved her. No wonder he'd been the perfect gentleman with me. He couldn't bear to touch me.
Ow. Major ego hit. "I think you should leave," I said.
He stood up and grabbed his jacket. "Yeah, probably." He tossed me twenty dollars. "For the pizza."
"You don't have to..."
"I do. I'm sorry." He shrugged on his jacket. "I'll still train with you, if you want. If it helps your running, you should do it."
Honestly, I was getting a little tired of private lessons with guys who were in love with other girls. "Yeah, we'll see."
I walked him to the door. "See ya."
He nodded and walked out.
So much for the makeover. A raging success it wasn't.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
"Are you bummed about Zach?" Allie asked as we all munched popcorn in her family room two weeks later on Wednesday afternoon. Weekend nights were for their boyfriends, but they'd all made time for me in mid-week. I had only an hour between practice and tutoring with Matt, but we'd all managed to sync our schedules.
I'd given them the lowdown on the Zach situation, including the fact that Zach and Val had shown up at practice the next Monday holding hands and looking all gooey. And you know what? I hadn't cared. Not a bit. I shrugged. "No. It was weird, but it didn't bother me at all to see them together." Granted, I wasn't all that high on the smug look Val shot me, like she'd won or something, but whatever. I hated her, so what else was new?
"Then you didn't like him," Blue offered. "If you'd liked him, you would have cared."
"Obviously," Allie said.
"What about Matt?" Frances asked.
I frowned. "What about him?"
"How's it going with him?" Allie asked.
"Fine." If you considered him being Mr. All Business, talking only about math and then bolting as soon as we finished our homework, fine. We hadn't talked about anything but geometry for the last two weeks. "My dad offered him a job next semester because he's such a good influence on me." Matt had gotten exactly what he wanted. There was no reason for him to stick around, and there was no reason to keep the charade up. Oh, God. Was he going to ask Ms. Olsen to assign another tutor to me?
"What's wrong with you? You look like you're going to be sick."
"Nothing." I shoved a handful of popcorn in my mouth and trie
d to ignore them.
"Is he still dating that girl?" Frances asked.
"I assume so. I haven't asked." Dating conversations had felt taboo after the weirdness of our last one, where he'd asked whether I'd go on a date with him. I still kept replaying that conversation in my head, wondering if I'd given the wrong answer. If I'd handled it some other way, would he have broken up with his girlfriend for me? Was that what he'd been asking? Not that it mattered. The moment was past and he was still with her.
"What about London?" Allie asked. "Is he still going to visit her over Thanksgiving?"
Thanksgiving was this week. "I don't know."
"Does he know you aren't dating Zach?"
I set down my bowl and glared at my friends. "What's with all the questions?"
Allie eyed me. "Tad thinks he likes you. It was pretty obvious at dinner that night."
"Why? Because he kissed me to annoy Zach?" I shook my head. "It's an anti-jock thing he has."
"Or maybe that's what he wants you to think, because he's got a girlfriend and he feels obligated to her," Frances said. "Maybe he doesn't want to like you, so he's in denial,"
"Shut up." I didn't want to discuss this, because there was a little glimmer of hope inside my belly. "I don't want to talk about it."
"Why don't you invite him to the state meet this weekend? If he shows up even with all those jocks around, you'll know he likes you," Allie said.
"Yeah, tell him you're not dating Zach," Blue added. "It works."
Frances touched my arm. "Do you like him, Nat? If there was no girlfriend, I mean?"
I sighed. "It doesn't matter."
"Maybe it does," Frances said. "Maybe it does to him at least."
* * *
I studied Matt while he chewed his pencil, working on our last homework problem for the night. It was a toughie that even he had to think about for a while, which, of course, meant I had no idea. I hadn't bothered to waste brain cells on it, instead thinking about this weekend's state meet.
And okay, so maybe I was also thinking a little bit about what my friends had told me to do.
"You're not working." Matt glared at me.
"Nope. I'm not."
He put down the pencil. "If you don't want to do this tutor thing anymore, that's fine with me."
I blinked. "You want out? Is that what you want?" Oh my gosh. He was really going to walk away, now that he had the job from my dad?
He frowned. "Is that what you want?"
No! No! No! I wanted him to sit at my kitchen table every night for the rest of my life.
Oh, God. Had I really just thought that? I wanted Matt? I closed my eyes. I was stupid. So so stupid. How could I be that stupid?
No, it must be residual from the Zach/Val situation. That had to be it.
"Natalie? You want to end this thing?"
I opened my eyes. "You got the job with my dad. I guess there's no reason to stick around."
He was quiet before he spoke. "Your state meet is this weekend, right? So the season is over. You got what you want. They can't kick you off the team anymore."
Since when had he kept track of my season? "You know the state meet is this weekend?"
He shrugged. "You got what you wanted, I got what I wanted. I guess that's the end then, huh?"
But...
"Timing is good. I'm going to see Liz this weekend, so she'll be glad to know it's over."
I swallowed hard to get rid of the lump in my throat. "You're still going to London?"
He looked at me sharply. "Yes. Why wouldn't I?"
"Well, I don't know. If you weren't going out with her anymore or something, then you wouldn't go...." Sounded lame and pathetic, didn't it?
"But I am."
Yeah, well, he didn't have to sound so certain about it, did he?"
He shut his book. "Is that it, then? We call it a wrap? No more tutoring?"
I flattened my hands on the table. "I guess." I mean, there was no reason to continue.
"Okay then." He stood up and slung his backpack over his shoulder, the kitchen light reflecting off his lenses so I couldn't see his eyes. "I'll see you around."
"Yeah, see ya."
And then he walked out the door, and out of my life.
* * *
I stared at the starting line, where I'd be standing in less than a half hour. The state meet was here. Everything I'd been working for ended today.
"Nat?"
I didn't turn around. Val. Just what I needed. "What?" If she started giving me a hard time, I swear I was going to yell at her to shut up, I really was.
She stood next to me, shoulder to shoulder. "Are you nervous?"
"A little."
"We can win, you know."
"I know." There was no hostility in her voice, but I still didn't look at her. "What do you want?"
"Last night, Zach told me that you're the reason he came back to me. You told him I still liked him and that he still had feelings for me. You made him realize it."
I slanted a glance at her. "So?"
"Thanks."
"Seriously?"
"Yeah." No smugness there.
"No problem."
We were quiet, but for the first time, I didn't feel any tension between us.
"Natalie?"
"What?"
"Tonight I'm having the team over to my house, regardless of whether we win or not. I'd like you to come."
"You don't need to invite me."
"I want to. I'm ... I'm sorry."
Knock me down with a telephone pole. Val was sorry? I looked at her, and she shrugged. "I love him. I got a little crazy."
Love. All these girls who loved boys. As if I wanted to hear about that stuff. "It's okay."
She smiled. "You want to warm up with me?"
It was a genuine invite, and I grinned. "Thanks, but I'd rather warm up alone."
"You sure?"
"Yeah." Incredible that I was turning down a chance to warm up with Val, but I didn't care. After being on the receiving end of her taunts all season, I didn't need her anymore. I was fine by myself.
I was, wasn't I? I didn't need Zach or Val. I had my friends, even if they were whacked and a little too interested in their own boys.
"Well, I'll see you at the start, then," she said.
"Yep. Good luck."
She smiled. "Good luck to you. I'll be fighting you for the win."
"I'm sure you will." I watched her jog away, and decided I didn't hate her anymore.
I was still going to try to beat her, though.
* * *
I was holding up the team trophy with Val for the picture when Zach jumped in the frame and gave me a huge hug, after he'd given one to Val first, of course. "Way to go!"
Coach Thompson shouted at Zach to get out of the picture, but he was laughing.
We were all laughing. We'd won! Val had won the meet, and I'd come in third. I'd really wanted to beat her. I raced so hard that last hundred yards, but there was no way. She'd simply beat me.
Our team had won, though, which was awesome. First time Mapleville cross country had ever won a state title, girls or boys.
"Way to go, Nat!" My dad shouted, waving a Mapleville flag.
I grinned at my parents. My mom was still holding her "Go, Natalie" poster board. Totally embarrassing. My friends were clustered next to them, all waving their fists while the team stood for the photo.
Or rather, photos. There were about eight photographers, including several for some local newspapers. We were going to be in the paper! And our photo and trophy would go up in the hall outside the gym, where all the other state champs were displayed.
"Now, a photo with the individual state champ."
That would be Val.
It was a good thing I didn't hate her as much anymore, or it would be really hard to swallow her standing up there holding her trophy while all the flashbulbs went off. Zach was standing just off to her right, still cheering and looking so proud.
I folded my arms across my chest and watched. Next year, that would be me. If I hadn't had to spend all that time studying, maybe I could have run faster. Maybe...
"Congrats."
I spun around to find Matt standing behind me. He was wearing jeans and boots and a parka, and he looked so cute. "What are you doing here?"
"Watching cross country."
"But what about London?"
"I'm not there."
Well, duh. "Why not?"
He jerked his head toward Zach. "I saw him hug you."
I started to explain, but then I shut my mouth. If he wanted to think I was taken, good. Protected what little bit there was left of my pride. "Is that why you're here? To fight?"
He shook his head. "No. I told you, I'm here to watch you run."
I frowned. "Really? That's why you came?"
"Yeah." He smiled, a crooked half smile. "I mean, I've already seen you take a test and do homework, so I figured I needed to round it out."
I stared at him. "What are you talking about?"
He glanced around, and I suddenly realized we were still surrounded by a crowd of cheering people. I was surprised my parents hadn't accosted me yet, actually.
"Come here." He took my hand and started walking.
If I had any pride, I would have pulled my hand away and ditched him, but apparently I didn't. Besides, he wasn't in London, was he? I wanted to know why.
Not that I had any hope. Too late for that. But a girl could be curious without being pathetically in love, couldn't she?
Matt dragged me around the concession stand and behind a shed, until we were completely alone. Then he stopped, and dropped my hand. "No one can see us right now, right?"
I looked around. We were completely hidden by the shed. "I guess—"
"Good." He looked super serious. "Now you can't tell me it's because I want to impress anyone. It's for you only."
"What is..."
I didn't get a chance to finish because he grabbed my hands, yanked me toward him, and kissed me. Like really kissed me. Like he'd done in the restaurant, but a thousand times more.
I was totally going to die right there. Kissing Matt was just as awesome as before, or maybe even better, because it was slow and sweet and perfect, and his hands were so warm on my cheeks as he cradled my face.
The best kiss in the history of the world.
Smart Boys & Fast Girls (A Girlfriend's Guide to Boys) Page 13