Page 30 of The Fall

When I get to the living room, Logan and Max are chatting with Kelsey.

“Sav, that smoothie is for you,” Max says, nodding to the smoothie sitting on the counter.

“Thanks.” At least he brought food to make up for the rude wake-up call this morning.

“You ready?”

I sigh. “Yep. Let’s get this over with.”

Everyone stands from the couch, and Kelsey gets to me first. “Can I talk to you for a sec?”

“Sure?” I look at her suspiciously as she pulls me into her bedroom and shuts the door.

“Um, that man is your coach?” she whispers, pointing to the door. “The one you hate?”

“Yes,” I say and take a sip of my smoothie without offering any explanation.

“The same coach you shared a “look” with that one time?”

I roll my eyes. “Yes.”

“Oooo, this is so good. I didn’t realize he looked like that. Not to mention, he seems like a really nice guy.”

“You talked to him for like five minutes. You can’t possibly know if he’s nice in that amount of time.” Why does everyone think Logan is the nicest guy in the world? He literally crushed my dreams and my ankle in one fell swoop.

“I like to think I’m a good judge of character.”

“Well, you keep thinking that.”

“I will,” she says smugly. “I can’t believe you’re surrounded by hot men all day, every day.”

I laugh. “It’s not my fault you gave up skating.”

“Yeah, I’m regretting that decision right about now.”

“Did you actually have to talk to me, or did you just bring me in here to drool over my new coach?”

She shrugs. “No, just wanted to drool.”

“Ok, well, wipe your mouth. I gotta go freaking hiking.”

She laughs. “Yeah, have fun with that. It’s gonna be hot today.”

“Great.”

I open her bedroom door. Both men stop talking when they see me and smile in my direction. Having both of their attention on me feels overwhelming.

I need to get out of here. Immediately.

“What are you two standing around for? Let’s go,” I say. They say bye to Kelsey and follow me out. This is going to be a long day.

Thankfully, Max picked an easy hike. It is technically our rest day after all, and we don’t want to kill our legs.

Max and Logan talk most of the walk. Well, Max talks and Logan listens. I swear, Max could talk to anyone about anything. I admire that about him, actually. I’ve always struggled with making friends. Skating has been my life for so long. I eat, sleep, and breathe it. I know it’s probably not healthy, but it is what it is. Max, on the other hand, knows a lot about a lot of other things, so he’s great with small talk.

I hate it. I would rather sit in silence than have to strike up a conversation with a complete stranger. Max knows this about me, which is why he always jumps in.

I walk behind the two of them. Not because I’m slower or because I like the view of both of their backsides (can’t blame a girl for sneaking a peek, though) or anything like that. I would just rather be by myself.