I couldn’t believe how much I loved going to cheerleading practice. I was getting better at it, too. My fitness had bumped up a level, and I could keep up better with the other cheerleaders. I felt more part of the team than I had at first, too.
Training, being curvy and fit, and putting my body through a rigorous exercise routine to get stronger, all took my mind away from my troubles. I’d had to change my number again, and the process was never fun. I had to let so many people know and update so many applications and systems, all while knowing that inevitably Tyler would find me again. It was a pain in my ass, but training as hard as we did at practice allowed me to forget for a while.
We were training at the Florida Sharks’ training center today, which was exciting. We often trained at a sport’s field or a local school or college— wherever we could get everyone together for the extra sessions— but a few times a week we were on the official training grounds.
We got glimpses of the football players from time to time, watching them train when our sessions were done. It was always spectacular. Their fitness was on a different level, and there was something about the speed, strength and finesse executed as they practiced.
My whole life had been about sports. I had been the only one watching football while all my friends watched fashion shows and makeup clips. I had understood the basic principles of fitness and the importance of the right carbs while my friends had starved themselves to death.
The only person who understood me was Sara, and it was why we were still friends. She had a naturally fast metabolism, never picking up weight, and her money had given her confidence that made her naturally attractive. So she had no complexes. Sara was too self-centered to care about me stealing her thunder.
When we took a water break, I noticed someone standing at the side of the field. My blood ran cold for a moment. What if Tyler had found me? What if he was watching me? But Tyler had dark hair, and the guy standing next to the field had light hair. And Tyler had never been sure of himself.
I let out a breath I didn’t know I’d been holding. There were spectators for the different team practices all the time, but Tyler calling me all the time, and so soon after the move, had left me anxious.
We trained on, doing stretches, strength training, sprinting to hone our explosive muscles and long distance runs for endurance.
We were almost done when the football players ran onto the field. The girls all stopped and stared.
Dina laughed, “All right, I see we’re not going to be able to do any more today. Let’s stretch it out before hitting the showers.”
We sat down in a circle on the grass, doing our stretches, keeping an eye on the muscle wrestling it out on the field. I noticed that the spectator had moved forward and now that he was closer, he looked familiar.
“Do you know who that is?” I asked Samantha, who stretched next to me, gesturing with my head. She had been on the Sharks Cheerleading Squad for almost two years now. She shook her head. No one famous, then.
He turned around, even closer now, and I realized who it was.
Kyle, my ex. My first and only true love. He hadn’t changed. If anything, he had become even hotter. He had grown into himself. His face angular, his body muscular and the reediness of a growing teenager was long gone.
“Dina,” I said. “I see someone I know. Can I go say hi?”
Dina nodded. “If you’re aching tomorrow because you didn’t stretch, it’s on you,” she said.
I grabbed my bag and walked toward Kyle, hesitant. How would he receive me? He was the one who had essentially called things off between us. He’d told me that things had gotten hard for him, that he’d had to reinvent himself, and he hadn’t been able to do that with me by his side. Basically, he chose his sport over me.
It had hurt, and I had spent nights crying about this boy who had all but told me he didn’t need me. I had been serious about him, sure that we would reach our forever. Yeah, I had been young and in love, but I was convinced I knew what love was. I still didn’t understand it, but I had been bitter then. I had dealt with it and eventually moved on with my life. I wasn’t angry anymore.
Seeing him now brought back memories— and emotions. It hit me like a wave, making it hard for me to think straight. Butterflies erupted in my stomach, the way they had when I’d seen him for the first time. My stomach twisted and turned when I remembered how it used to be with him. And how it had ended.
The idea of seeing him again seemed strange. I wasn’t sure if he would want to talk to me or if I was making a mistake. Maybe it was better if I didn’t approach him. Not speaking to him at all would be better than being rejected.
I got irritated with myself. I usually knew what I wanted and did what I had to do to get it. This was the same. All I had to do was make a decision and stick to it.
Easier said than done in this case. Walking up to the man that had shown me the door was harder than it sounded, and I hadn’t been as confident back then as I was now. I thought maybe I was the problem, and I could never forget my first love and how they made me feel.
I was nearly next to him when he turned around and saw me. Too late. Even if I wanted to run away, I couldn’t do it now.
Kyle looked surprised, a smile crossing his face. At least that wasn’t a bad sign.
“Maya,” he said.
“Hi,” I offered.
“What a surprise, seeing you here. What are you doing at the training center?”
He was drop-dead gorgeous. My pussy tightened looking at him, and my heart raced at the fact that he was once again standing right in front of me. His light brown hair was shorter than he’d had it in college, and his eyes were cornflower blue, the way they used to get when he talked about things he was passionate about. His shoulders were broader than I remember, his muscles compact.
“I’m on the Sharks Cheerleading Squad,” I said, pointing to the girls stretching on the grass. “We trained here today.”
“Oh, wow,” he said. “That’s impressive.”
I smiled, fighting a blush. I wore spandex training shorts and a tank top. I was minimally dressed, and Kyle’s eyes slid down my body and back up again. I was suddenly self-conscious.
“Have you been with the squad for long? I don’t remember seeing you on TV.”
I shook my head. “I only just started with them. It’s a great opportunity.”
“For sure,” Kyle said.
He turned his gaze to the football training in front of us, and we stood together, watching the men collide for a while. It was pure poetry, thick flesh slamming, grunts and groans and the whistle lacing it all. The game was gritty and dirty, and I loved it. It wasn’t about the men; it was about the art of it.
“How about you?” I asked. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m watching Jacob train,” Kyle said and pointed into the writhing bodies that fought for the ball. “You remember him, right?”
“How could I forget?” I asked. Jacob and Kyle had been like brothers at college. “I’d heard when he transferred to the Sharks last season. Bit of a rocky start, if I remember.”
“Very,” Kyle said.
He seemed bitter about it. He watched the team, and as I watched him, he didn’t look like he enjoyed it.
“Do you remember when we went out to Sparky’s place on the beach with the team?” I asked. “It was after that game against NYU, and you got tackled so hard you were concussed; your speech all jumbled up the more you drank.”
Kyle laughed, “I was such an idiot then, drinking with a concussion. God, I could have killed myself.”
I chuckled. “Yeah, you were kind of reckless back then. Are you calmer, now?”
“I don’t know. I guess that’s relative.”
“To what?” I asked.
He looked at me with a naughty smile, a smile I knew too well. It made my panties instantly wet— then and now. “To who’s asking.”
I laughed. “Right. That sounds like the Kyle I remember.”
Kyle’s face fell, and he seemed suddenly thoughtful. “Really? Does it? It seems like a long time ago. A different life.”
“Well, it’s been a couple of years. But not much has changed, I see. Cheerleading for me and football for you.”
“Oh, I don’t play,” Kyle said.
His tone was weary, bitter. I thought it better not to ask details about why that was so.
“I have to get going,” I said. “I’m covered in sweat. I have to get home and get cleaned up. It was great seeing you again, Kyle.”
He nodded, still looking at the team. I turned and headed toward the training center where we were using the locker rooms.
“Maya,” Kyle called after me. I stopped and turned around. “I know it might seem a little, well, awkward or something, but can I take your number? Will you let me call you sometime?”
I smiled and nodded. I had been arguing with myself the whole time we’d been talking. I’d wanted him to ask me and hoped to see him again. But then I’d also been scolding myself for wanting to give him another chance.
I hadn’t thought it was what he’d wanted, but there it was. He pulled out his phone, and I walked closer, reciting my digits to him as he punched them into the phone.
“You’ve changed your number,” he said.
“Yeah, sometimes it’s a necessity,” I replied, not willing to mention that it was my fifth number since college or that I was doing it to run away from Tyler.
“Got it,” Kyle said. “I’ll pop you a text sometime.”
“Great. Have a good one,” I said and walked away toward the locker room.
Warmth spread through my body. Kyle had been everything I’d ever wanted in a man. I had been shattered when he’d broken up with me by moving on.
I’d been telling myself I was over him, but now that I saw him again, I realized how much I still felt for him and realized why I wasn’t that interested in dating. It was dangerous to think he still cared for me in the same way, but he’d asked for my number. He wanted to talk to me again, maybe see me again. That was something.
I walked into the locker room where the girls were pulling tracksuit pants over their sweaty clothes and pushing their feet into flip-flops. I did the same, running a brush through my hair and cracking open another ice cold bottle of water.
“What was that all about?” Samantha asked me. She was one of the few on the team who had pulled me in from the start.
“An old college friend,” I said. “I hadn’t seen him in a while.”
“He’s hot,” she said.
I nodded. “Very.”
My phone beeped. I picked it up, unlocking the screen.
Dinner? Tomorrow night? Kyle
I couldn’t help but grin.
“And that face?” Samantha asked when she saw me smiling at my phone.
“He just asked me out to dinner,” I said.
Samantha smiled. “Looks like more than just a college friend then,” she said and waggled her eyebrows at me. I laughed and typed a reply to Kyle.
Love to. Let me know where and what time.
A thrill ran through me when I hit send. I had been on a few dates over the past couple of years since Kyle, but I’d never felt this way about any of them. I was excited to see him. Even if we were only going to be friends.
A small part of me hoped that that wasn’t the case.