Page 36 of It’s All in How You Fall
“But—but…” I’m stammering and my mouth is dry and I try to will my tongue to move in a useful way. “But we’re running because you’re coaching me.”
Alex punches out an exasperated sigh. “Yes, but I offered to coach you because Ilikehanging out with you and helping you find a new sport to love, not because I thought I’d get something out of it.”Oh.“It’s different.”
He seems so desperate for me to understand. I suppose those real human feelings I saw last week run deep and are more complicated than I thought. God, I’m dense—or maybe I’ve just had a lifetime of forcing difficult things into perfection. Hearts and people are quite a bit different from bending gravity and timing.
I stick my hands out front to assure him I mean no harm. “I’ll tell you next time. I’m so sorry.”
Alex adjusts his ball cap and tugs his sweat-drenched tank away from where it was outlining his abs. Not that I noticed. “Thank you.”
I nod and Alex starts walking again, long strides pointed past the park and toward my house. Even though I was supposed to drop him off—but I don’t point that out. Now’s not the time.
The sidewalk is just big enough for both of us, and there’s a cross-breeze going this direction that I didn’t notice earlier. It makes eighty-two degrees feel like maybe seventy-nine. Glorious in comparison.
“So did you like it?” He nods toward the path ahead. “Running?”
With you, yes.But I can’t say that because it’ll come out all wrong and I can’t deal with another misunderstanding. What I mean is, I think I like running with people more than alone—it makes the time fly. But I don’t know if that’s true, or if it really is that Alex makes this fun in a way I can’t replicate with anyone else.
So instead, I tighten my sagging ponytail and choose my words carefully. “I can see how it can be all the things you say it is with practice.”
“But?”
“Not going to lie, I’m super happy to be almost done.”
Alex palms my shoulder. “All right, let’s finish it off.”
He launches into a jog, and I chase after him.
15
Sunny’s lake house Fourth of July invite ends up being a logisticsproblem.
Peregrine and I are still months away from our drivers’ licenses, and Sunny, who would typically cart us the hour to Lake Dabinawa, will already be there. Turns out her parents had plans for a lake weekend well before Peregrine and I invented our farmers’ market shenanigans. Of course, Sunny offered to drive in to get us and drive back, but there’s no way we’re putting nearly four hours of windshield time on her across the whole day. So Sunny extends her non-exclusionary hangout policy beyond Alex to Nat and Artemis.
Immediately thereafter, Peregrine shot a smirking emoji to our group thread.We’ll make Artemis and Nat arm wrestle for the chance to take us.
I added a cry-laugh emoji.I mean, we know who’ll win that one.
Yeah, Nat. Because Artemis isn’t playing. She’ll demand gas money and Nat will actually want to go to work on his tan.
In truth, we were both wrong.
Our siblings each wanted to get in on the lake day action, and Nat offered to drive all of us in his Jeep. “All” as in all four of us.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” I ask him as my hand hovers over the door handle, waiting for him to unlock it.
“Why wouldn’t I?”
Nat has been to Sunny’s lake house birthday the last couple of summers, but I always assumed it was for the food, because Sunny’s dad can grill like no other. Today’s gathering will be much simpler—and likely vegetarian because that’s how the Chavez family rolls when not entertaining a horde. And so, well, yeah. “Uh, because you have places to be. Things to do. Layups to master.”
“First of all, my layup is technically perfect and therefore your uninformed eye can shove it,” Nat says as the doors unlock and we slide in on the steaming upholstery. “And second, do you see a lake around here where I can lie out and enjoy the watery breezes?”
I squint at him as I lock in my seat belt. It’s possible he enjoyed said breezes as much as the food, but still. I wonder if Alex has told him about our deal and if he’s planning to eavesdrop. But I don’t want to give Alex away, so my angle becomes his overt kindness in driving us. “This is suspect.”
“No, it’ssuspectthat Artemis wants to come too. She has a pool in her own backyard.”
“Okay, but a pool is not a lake…?”
“Close enough that there’s no reason she’d need to come to a lake where she’d have to spend hours with her little sister and her friends.” He waggles his eyebrows and I suddenly know where this is going. “Unlessshe has an ulterior motive, likeseeing me.”
