Hannah looked down at her phone and bit her lip. She’d been sitting in her car for twenty minutes, trying to decide whether seeking out Curtis to talk in person was the right move. When he’d texted the night before, he’d said he had practice from eight until ten, but he’d be available any other time.

She’d been surprised how adamant he was that they talk. As far as she was concerned, there wasn’t a desperate need to explain something, but he seemed to think there was. Whatever was going on between him and Nina wasn’t her business, but the thought of seeing him again drove her to see what he looked like without the moon or gymnasium lights casting shadows.

It was just after ten. His latest text appeared to be concerned about her welfare, something he didn’t have to worry about, but knowing that he did caused flutters in her stomach to go off.

Nina had texted too, about ten times, demanding Hannah call her. A couple of the texts included threats of showing up at her door, a confrontation Hannah wasn’t prepared for. She didn’t have all the story and she’d promised Curtis to let him have a say. More than anything, she was embarrassed for the way Nina had treated him, actually screaming at him, the night before and wanted to apologize.

She knew Nina had a special way about her, but all Curtis was trying to do was help. He didn’t deserve to have Hurricane Nina unleash on him because Hannah didn’t have the ability to stay on her feet when he spoke to her.

Hannah was just about to text back that she’d like to meet Curtis when a loud knock made her jump and throw the phone. Her heart started thudding rapidly in a quest to beat right out of her chest. She briefly pretended to search around for the phone, but even if it was right in front of her face, she would’ve missed it.

“Sorry.”

It was Curtis’ voice, which made her panicked reaction all the more terrifying. She had seen his car in the parking lot, so she knew eventually he was bound to come out, but she lost track of time engrossed in her thoughts. She needed to learn to train her scattered thoughts to be more considerate of the situation.

Taking deep breaths, she tried to slow the anxiety attack trying to take over. Showing up in person wasn’t like her. She wasn’t a daring person who got up early, put on the tightest jeans in the closet so she could wear black leather boots that went up to her knees and a partially see-through top that revealed she only had a bra on underneath it in the right light. Yet, for some reason that was the way she dressed and she’d even put on some lip gloss.

She’d convinced herself that the getup spelled sexy, a look she really wanted to pull off. Seeing Curtis out her window in a deep red button-down and slacks made her seem completely underdressed.

Hannah rolled down the window and smiled, attempting to make it seem totally casual that she was sitting outside his place of business stalking him. He was quickly going to regret the whole date request and asking for a chance to explain whatever Nina and he had been going on about.

“Hey, I was just reading your text. Sorry about last night. I have no idea why I passed out on you. I’m not used to crowds, so that probably had something to do with it.”

The words had sounded better when she’d thought about them to herself. The way they came out sounded like a drunk person slurring together words that made no sense. Hannah didn’t like crowds, but she had never fainted because of one before. In fact, as far as she knew, she’d never fainted before.

“There’s nothing for you to be sorry about. I’m the one that needs to apologize. I let Nina bait me into our usual fight. I would’ve thought she’d grown up some since high school, but like the rest of our class, she seems to be living in a fantasy world.”

It had always been clear the two hadn’t gotten along, but Hannah had never heard or seen them do battle. They obviously had in the past, but she’d somehow missed it. It made her wonder what else she’d missed.

Was the fighting because they had hooked up and it didn’t go well? It seemed impossible for Curtis to have sex with someone and not leave them happy. Hannah had plenty of unsatisfying experience that should’ve made her think otherwise, but the thought of Curtis naked and powering himself in and out of her made her feel like she should put her hand between her legs and try to plug up the leak she’d just sprung.

“I think fighting is one of her favorite things to do, so if it’s any consolation, it probably means she likes you.”

Hannah kicked herself for saying that aloud. Curtis had made it pretty clear he wasn’t looking to hook up with Nina, and yet Hannah found herself continuing to push the two together. It was one of her go-to defense mechanisms that she fell back to. If she ever got flustered around a guy, it was easy to spout Nina’s praises.

Curtis visibly shuddered at the idea, only reaffirming he had zero plans of spending quality time with Nina. Hannah should have been happy about that, but she was confused because her emotions didn’t seem capable of settling on anything.

“Yeah, me and Nina isn’t ever going to happen. I know she’s your best friend and all, but I can’t think of a single nice thing to say about her.”

Curtis shook his head. He leaned forward to rest his arms on the top of the door frame with his forehead on them. Seeing him even closer, Hannah thought he looked tired. There were small creases under his eyes that weren’t there the night before. She hated to think she had anything to do with his lack of sleep and hoped it had to do with having practice early that morning.

“I sort of got that idea last night. I guess I just default to thinking every guy is looking for a way to get in good with her, which has been a pretty consistent fact. They never seem to last long, but they find happiness for however long it is.”

“Well, you might as well know that I have a thing for soft-spoken women with long red hair and green eyes. So loud mouthed blondes aren’t really my thing.”

Hannah’s cheeks warmed and she turned her focus to the steering wheel. He could’ve just been saying the words to be nice. He was so out of her league that she may have just imagined he said the words while he was really asking if she happened to have Nina’s number.

Shaking her head, she chastised herself for falling back to the idea that every guy wanted Nina. She’d had her own boyfriends before, so clearly not everyone was trying to get with Nina. Of course, the guys she went out with didn’t have a prayer getting Nina’s attention.

“You said last night that you wanted a chance to explain something. I live in the same building that Nina does, so I couldn’t stay there and give you a chance. She threatened to show up at my door.”

She overexplained things, but she didn’t know where to take the conversation after he claimed to be interested. Small talk wasn’t her fine suit. It always led to her saying something embarrassing and running away.

“How long have you been sitting out here?”

The pink in her cheeks deepened at the question. There was no way out of the conversation without sounding pathetic, which wasn’t such a bad thing. It was better that Curtis knew she was still the loser he knew back in high school. He could say he had a thing for a woman being soft-spoken, but she wasn’t sure he knew exactly what he was getting in to. It had to be difficult to look around the women throwing themselves at him to find anyone even a little soft-spoken.

“Only about twenty minutes. I left early this morning and went up to the lake for a while to hide out. I like to go there sometimes to think about things. Since it involves nature, Nina hasn’t ever come looking for me.”

Hannah left out the fact that she’d been giving herself a pep talk about seeing him. It was better that he imagined her taking in the sunrise, rather than pacing around talking to herself. Thankfully, there hadn’t been many people there to watch her.

“I hate her, Hannah. You need to understand that. And by hate, I mean despise her in a way that I very well might cheer when I hear about her death.”

Evidently, he felt he needed to reiterate that. Hannah supposed that her bringing up him getting with Nina made her understanding of the situation seem confusing. Hate was stronger than the picture she had, but it wasn’t out of place after the argument she’d heard the night before, even in the detail he described his hatred.

“I imagine you think I should hate her too.”

There were times Hannah wanted to hate Nina. There were tons of actions she couldn’t condone, but Nina had been there for Hannah in her own way like no one else had.

“I wish you would, but I’m sure there’s a good reason why you can’t. Shit.”

Curtis’ head turned towards a man headed in their direction. There were cars around Hannah’s, so she assumed the guy was just walking to his car. His focus was on Curtis, which didn’t mean they knew each other. Curtis straightening all the way up and directing his sole attention to the guy did make her think they were at least acquaintances.

Hannah studied the guy for a second. His build was similar to Curtis’, but he was a few inches shorter. He wore a blue and green plaid shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, exposing a large tattoo on his right arm. Hannah couldn’t make it out as his arms swung, but it was a lot of ink.

“I can go. I just wanted to say sorry for last night.”

A scowl met her gaze as she looked to Curtis for direction. It should have scared her, but something about his squinted eyes and pursed lips sent a different reaction through her body. Hannah wasn’t the type of girl to think she needed to get laid, but getting turned on from the look clearly meant she was in need of something in that department.

“Quit apologizing. We still need to talk. I just wasn’t ready to introduce you to my best friend. He can be a bit of a jerk sometimes. Now that we’re finally talking, I kind of don’t want him to scare you away.”

The concept of them finally talking sounded weird. Hannah wasn’t sure why they weren’t previously if he wanted to. She vaguely remembered something about her being off limits during Nina’s rant, but that didn’t make any sense.

“I heard that, Curtie. You better let your friend know it takes a jerk to know one.”

The man pushed Curtis away from the window and leaned down to get a look at Hannah. Her choice in clothing made her a little self-conscious as his hazel eyes looked over her.

“I take it you’re Hannah. The pictures Curtie’s showed me of you don’t do you justice, doll.”

Curtis quickly pushed his friend out of the way and added an extra punch to his shoulder when Curtis reclaimed his spot by the door. Hannah had been slightly embarrassed from the comment, so she looked down at the steering wheel again and contemplated whether she should leave.

“I warned you he was a jerk. Keep moving, Brady.”

“Come on, man. You’ve had a crush on her for over a decade and haven’t done anything about it. I think that means she’s fair game.”

Curtis turned his back to his friend and stared down into the car. Hannah’s eyes had moved their focus down to her lap, trying to figure out a way to disappear. It sounded like Curtis’ friend clearly had the wrong story. A date had been mentioned, but the idea that it’d been anything more than a whim during the reunion wasn’t possible.

“Would it freak you out if I jumped in your car and asked you to drive off? It’s either that or I’m going to kill him.”

Before Hannah could fully register the request, Brady added his own two cents. The sort of teasing nature in his voice disappeared, which seemed like a smart decision on his part.

“Just so you know, Hannah, I didn’t mean any disrespect. Our buddy here doesn’t give many chances to get under his skin and I had to take my shot. I’ll let you two kids carry on, but I do recommend moving it out of the parking lot. There’s at least a dozen other guys coming out here soon and every one of them is about as mature as I am.”

Hannah heard a smack that she assumed was Brady hitting Curtis on the back, and then the sound of steps retreating away from them. She really should have considered the audience potentials in the parking lot.

“He’s probably a little off as far as how mature some of the others are, but we should find somewhere better to talk. You mentioned the lake earlier. You want to head there?”

The idea of saying everything was fine between them and that he didn’t have to worry about explaining last night or Brady’s nonsense was hard to pass up, but Hannah held her tongue. Rather, she bit her bottom lip and tried not to think about the concept of him having a crush on her. He had already said something about having a thing for someone fitting her description.

“Sure. If you want. I mean, you probably had other plans today and I’d hate to take you away from them.”

“My plans included me waiting around for you to call, so I’m all yours. You want me to jump in or should I follow you?”

The admission seemed silly, but brought a small smile to Hannah’s lips. She’d thought more about the night before and remembered the couple of times before she blacked out that their hands had accidentally touched. She wasn’t sure why the thought came up. She’d actually been in his arms, so if she wanted to think about touching him, she should’ve turned to that. Instead, it was the innocent touches that warned her being too close to Curtis was bound to leave her heart a little tattered.

The idea didn’t stop her from telling him to jump in. If he was fine leaving his car unattended, she didn’t see a reason to waste his gas to satisfy her curiosity.