Chapter 33: Chapter 33

Hector

Text: Hey stranger! I’ll be in town for a while. I know we sort of lost touch, but I really would like to get together if anything maybe just to grab a burger or something. Let me know if you’re up for it.

Hector sat in the gym’s office and read the text from Lisa, tempted to ignore it as he had most of the other ones she’d sent him, ever since he’d figured out she was seeing someone else. The only ones he ever did respond to were the ones that had no flirtatious undertones whatsoever. He didn’t want her to think he was all bitter and shit, so he could still be friendly, but he kept his responses short. He stared at his reply for a few seconds before he responded

Text: How long will you be in town?

Typically, he wouldn’t be so uptight about knowing if the girls he hooked up with were doing so with him exclusively. Since he never made any promises himself, he didn’t expect any in return. He actually preferred it that way, but Lisa had been different. Even though he didn’t feel even the tiniest bit of what he once thought he felt for her, she wasn’t the kind of girl you hooked up with and then just dropped. He already knew firsthand what it felt like to do that to a nice girl. Even though Charlee pretended not to mind, actions spoke louder than words. They were hardly speaking anymore, and Hector didn’t think that had much to do with what he’d said about her and that guy. He saw it in her face now. She was hurt, and it was a real shitty feeling.

His phone vibrated on the desk, and he picked it up again.

Text: A few weeks maybe longer. I haven’t decided.

That could only mean one thing. If she was texting him, wanting to get together and she wasn’t sure how long she’d be around and she didn’t sound anxious to get back, she must not be with the guy anymore. Hector wasn’t sure how he felt about that. She had been a consideration before she started seeing someone else.

Before he put too much thought into this, he’d get one thing straight. The conversations they’d had even back when she was seeing the guy but called him “just a friend” had been flirtatious in nature. For all Hector knew she might still be seeing the guy.

After verifying that she was, in fact, broken up with her boyfriend now and that she was out here alone staying with a friend who was not a dude, Hector agreed to meet up with her, but not in an intimate one-on-one setting. He’d even told her to bring her friend. Lisa had been a serious consideration before her boyfriend came into the picture, but that was before Charlee. As frustrating as it was to admit and as nice as it had been to kiss Lisa, it didn’t even come close to what he’d felt when he kissed Charlee.

He’d learned his lesson already. The way he was still feeling about Charlee there was no way he’d be considering anything serious with anyone for a while. At least not with anyone like Lisa anyway—someone he knew that like Charlee would not appreciate the one-night fling thing. And he wasn’t about to add another thing to his already guilt-ridden conscience.

***

So far anything to do with the U.S. chess team had consisted of conversations on Skype with the coaches and downloading tons of apps they wanted Hector to use for training. With an impending trip coming up in a few weeks to D.C. for one of their first meetings before the Jr. World Olympiad, Hector was hoping to make things a little more amicable with Charlee.

They would be spending an entire weekend traveling together, and since Hector, Walter, and Charlee were the only team members coming from Los Angeles, they’d be on the same plane and sharing the same transportation to and from the airports they arrived at. Not to mention they’d be put up in the same hotels. And this would be happening with every event the U.S. team attended. It’d be awkward at best if things between them continued the way they were now. He didn’t want a repeat of the day before when they hadn’t spoken a word to each other in the lab, so Thursday, Hector made it a point to sit next to her in between games.

He’d planned on just making small talk—something simple and safe about chess. But the second he took the seat next to her and she turned to him with those big startled baby blues, the last thing he anticipated saying to her flew out.

“I’m sorry.”

She stared at him, looking almost as stunned as he felt. “About what?”

“About everything,” the vomit of the mouth began, but he now very consciously wanted to finish, only he lowered his voice. Walter was a few tables over, and he wanted to be absolutely sure he didn’t hear him. “About that day I went off on you the way I did for talking to that guy.”

She shook her head. “No, I get why you were mad. And I only said what I said that day because I wanted to avoid any violence. I figured if I seemed agreeable he’d leave faster. But I don’t plan on being his friend or anything.”

Hector gulped, staring into her eyes like he hadn’t been able to in so long. He noticed how she didn’t conceal her freckles the way she had tried to that night of the party, not even a little bit.

“And I’m sorry about being such an asshole about what happened between us the night of my fight.” Her eyes widened at that. “I know you said you’d forgotten about it, but—”

“I hadn’t.”

Her admission silenced them both momentarily. Then she spoke again.

“I just . . .” she shrugged. “I just didn’t want you to think that . . .”

“It hasn’t been my week all week.” Walter said, plopping across from them.

Hector turned and glared at Walter. The guy couldn’t possibly know what he’d just interrupted, but Hector felt like killing him anyway.

“First Dempsey beats me the other day, and then Samir pulls a Charlee stunt on me just now, playing my own game against me.” He turned to Hector, who was grinding his teeth already. “Like you, I never even saw what hit me until he had me cornered.” Walter shook his head. “I’ve been slacking. With all the time I’ve put into working out lately, I haven’t been doing much research or even playing online. I’m getting rusty.”

Charlee sat up, smiling. “Well, you can’t do that, Walter. Our first meeting with the U.S. team before the Jr. Olympiad is in a few weeks.” She stood up and grabbed her sweater from the chair it hung on. “You need to start training again.” She pulled her purse over her shoulder.

“You’re leaving already?” Both Walter and Hector asked at the same time.

Walter and Hector glanced at each other, and for an instant, Hector regretted sounding as desperate as Walter always did when she left early. But he did feel desperate.

“Yeah, I’m going shopping with Drew tonight.” She smiled, holding Hector’s gaze a little longer than she had since he told her to pretend nothing ever happened then said goodbye and started for the door.

She couldn’t leave now. He had to know what it was she didn’t want him to think. He wouldn’t be back in here until next week. Tomorrow he’d be busy all day helping Noah prepare for his fight. Damn Walter for having the worst timing in the world.

Walter started to tell him exactly what Samir had done to stump him. It was all Hector could to do not jump out of his seat and go after Charlee. A few minutes later and unable to stand it anymore, he pulled his phone out of his pocket and stood up. “I gotta make a phone call. I’ll be back.”

He bolted out of there, his heart already pounding. Not at all sure what to expect, he just had to know now or it’d drive him nuts all weekend.

For a moment, he felt the huge disappointment of not seeing her immediately, but then he saw her headed toward the waterfall in the middle of the campus where Drew waited for her.

“Charlee!” He called out, hoping to stop her before she reached Drew. He had a feeling she might hold back if anyone else were around. She stopped and turned with that same startled expression she had when he sat next to her.

He rushed to her. “You didn’t want me to think what?” he asked as soon as he reached her, stopping right in front of her and staring right into those beautiful blue eyes. She shook her head, her expression a puzzled one. “Back there,” he motioned his thumb over his shoulder, “just before Walter got there, you started to say you didn’t want me to think something after that night. What was that?”

Her eyes widened as they had when he apologized for acting like an asshole about the whole thing. “I uh,” she chewed the corner of her lower lip. “I just didn’t want you to think I had any expectations of anything else happening between us.” She glanced away for a moment then back at him. “I figured since you were asking me to pretend it never happened you didn’t want things getting weird and neither did I.” She sounded as if she were trying to reassure him then added in a lowered voice. “I didn’t want you thinking it was such a big thing for me, so I said I’d forgotten.” She crinkled her nose and smiled in the most adorable way it made him smile despite the angst he’d begun to feel. “Maybe saying I’d forgotten pushed it a little too far.”

A small but very relieved laugh escaped him. “Yeah, that was kind of messed up.”

Her mouth fell open, but she recovered fast enough. “You’re the one who told me to pretend it never happened. That was kind of messed up—embarrassing.”

“I know. I know.” He said, bringing both hands to his chest and holding them there. “And I’m so sorry about that. I didn’t mean to embarrass you. I handled it totally wrong. I just really, really didn’t want things getting weird between us.” He held back saying what he really wanted to ask. Was it as big a thing for her as it had been for him? With the thought of Walter still hanging over his head, he couldn’t, but he did say the one thing clearly—he needed to. “I meant it when I said you were different, Charlee.” The blue in her eyes had never been bluer. Hector had to concentrate on not getting lost in them, or he’d lose his train of thought like he’d done so often the night of the party. “I don’t want you to think that what happened that night was forgettable or insignificant to me at all.”

She smiled that timid little smile that should be anything but arousing because it was so sweet and pure. But it made him want to take her in his arms and kiss her like he could only close his eyes now and remember doing to her.

Something behind her caught his attention, and he tore his eyes away from hers to see her friend Drew holding her books to her chest, swaying side to side with her eyes closed, and he smiled. “I think your friend is getting restless.

Charlee turned to see what he was talking about then laughed softly. “Yeah, she hasn’t been feeling too hot this week, but she swears the flu is all in your head.” She turned back to him with that timid smile that was slowly bringing Hector to his knees. “She says meditating works better than medicine.” She lifted a shoulder and smiled. “She might be on to something, because she says she is feeling better now than she did a few days ago, and she’s refused to take any meds.”

There was a short silent pause where they stared at each other, and Hector knew neither of them was thinking about Drew’s flu. Finally, she smiled a little bigger this time, breaking their moment. “Thank you,” she said simply then added. “I better get going. There’s a reason I left the lab early. We don’t want to be out there too late.”

“Okay, I’ll see you next week.” Hector said, feeling a little disappointed that he couldn’t say more—tell her how he really felt.

Something flashed in her eyes, and for a moment, he thought she might say something, but then it was gone and she nodded. “Next week,” she said before walking off toward Drew.