Catching Lucas Riley

by Lauren Winder Farnsworth

  “I assume he’s as vertically blessed as the rest of you,” Lucas surmised.

  “Yep, we’re a family of freaks.” Alex grinned. She dipped her fry in her chocolate shake and popped it in her mouth.

  Lucas wrinkled his nose as he watched her. “You remind me of Sealey. He does that all the time.”

  “Does he?” Alex asked in surprise. “I didn’t know he was a ‘sweet and salty’ kind of guy.”

  “How well do you know him?” Lucas asked innocently.

  “Not well,” Alex answered, much too quickly. “You know, as much as anyone really knows their ward executive secretary.”

  “He seems to know all about you. But I guess that doesn’t surprise me,” Lucas said, dipping a fry in ketchup. “He knows everything about everyone. No idea how he does it.”

  “He’s a mystery, all right.” Alex was itching to change the subject. The more they talked about Sealey, the more likely it was that she would blow everything. “So, now it’s your turn. Tell me about your family.”

  “Well, my background isn’t nearly as exciting as yours,” Lucas claimed with a sigh. “I grew up here in Utah. My dad is an accountant, and my mom is an attorney. I have a little sister, Ashley, who’s twenty-four, almost two years younger than me.”

  “Is she in school right now?” Alex asked, relaxed now that the subject of Sealey was off the table.

  “She followed in my dad’s footsteps. She just finished her graduate degree in accounting, and she’s working for a big firm in Salt Lake. She’s awesome but pretty intense.”

  “Really?” asked Alex. “How so?”

  “She’s kind of protective. She likes to ‘save’ me from people,” Lucas said wryly, emphasizing the word with his fingers. “I have to tell her to cool it sometimes.”

  Alex could practically hear the words he wasn’t actually saying. Warning! My sister is a lunatic to girls who like me! Proceed with caution.

  “Interesting,” Alex said, trying not to sound as intimidated as she felt. She cleared her throat. “So how do you think the football season is going? There’s a game tomorrow, right?”

  “Oh, it’s going good,” Lucas replied warmly. “I’m really proud of the team. They’re really stepping it up this season. We play the University of Utah tomorrow. Should be a good game.”

  “Oh, sure, sure,” Alex said, nodding like she knew what she was talking about. The subject of football carried Lucas all the way through the meal and onto the miniature golf course. Alex understood roughly an eighth of what he said, but she loved watching him get so excited about something.

  “I’m sorry. I’m completely boring you, aren’t I?” Lucas said as they walked onto the fourth hole. “I forget that not everybody loves football as much as I do.”

  “No, it’s been interesting to hear you talk about it,” Alex insisted. “I don’t know much about football myself, but I’ve never been able to learn from an expert before.”

  Lucas rolled his eyes. “I don’t know about the expert part of it, but I’m glad I could educate you on the greatest game ever played.” He winked at her.

  The sun had finally dipped below the mountains and Alex felt goose bumps start to rise on her arms. Dang it. The only scripted part of the evening was about to commence. She did her best to keep her face relaxed and unconcerned, even as she started to shiver slightly. Darn that Sealey. Was it really necessary that she suffer, just to make herself look vulnerable? She wasn’t really that kind of girl. She was the kind of girl who was actually smart enough to remember a jacket so her date wouldn’t have to save her. Well, according to Sealey, Lucas didn’t need to know that about her.

  Huffing quietly in frustration, she dropped her golf ball onto the fourth green and lined it up. In true Alex fashion, she smacked it much too hard, sending it ricocheting off the barrier at the other end of the green and flying back at her.

  “Ahhhh!” she screamed, covering her head with her hands and dropping to her knees.

  “Whoa!” Lucas yelled, ducking for cover as well. The ball landed in a thick bush behind them, and they both re-emerged, laughing.

  “Um, would you like some pointers?” Lucas asked, breathless from laughing.

  “Please,” Alex said, clasping her hands in front of her. “Golf is not my sport of choice.”

  “All right, then,” Lucas said, going to retrieve her ball for her. He dropped it onto the rubber pad and placed it just right. “Come here,” he gestured to her. She approached him hesitantly. Taking her arms, he positioned her in front of him, her back to his chest. Sliding his hands down her arms, he corrected her grip on the putter and placed his hands over hers to take the shot.

  Alex stopped breathing. The goose bumps on her arms became much more pronounced and she shivered even more violently at his closeness, every nerve tingling. Lucas was all but holding her in his arms. His head was right beside hers as he studied the green, their cheeks almost touching. He turned his face back to the ball but seemed to suddenly be distracted by something. She watched as he stilled, and his eyes narrowed. Unexpectedly, he began to run his hands softly up and down her arms again.

  “Wow, you’re freezing,” he said in surprise. “Get a load of those goose bumps!”

  “Ah, it’s not too bad,” Alex said, remembering Sealey’s instruction to not complain. “It’s my own fault for forgetting my jacket.” She tried not to betray her reaction to his closeness. His hands were still sliding up and down her arms.

  “Do you want mine?” Lucas said in concern. “Seriously, I can feel you shivering.”

  “I can’t do that!” Alex exclaimed, relieved to realize that this actually took very little acting chops at all. Her natural inclinations were right in line with Sealey’s instructions. “Then you’ll be cold! I’m seriously okay.” Then, without warning, a deep shudder ran through her body as a chilly wind rushed over the miniature golf course.

  “Right,” Lucas scoffed as he felt her shudder under his hands. “Nice try, Alex.” He shrugged out of his tan jacket exposing his USU Football T-shirt and bare arms to the cold. He placed the jacket around her shoulders and once again placed his hands over hers on the putter.

  Immediately, she felt warm and comfortable. With Lucas’s jacket and his muscular arms around her, she thought she could stand like this forever.

  “You ready?” Lucas asked, turning to look at her. Their faces were mere inches apart, and Alex once again stopped breathing as she stared into his sea-foam green eyes. They crinkled at the corners as he smiled.

  “Ready,” she said, a little breathless.

  “All right,” he replied, turning back to watch what he was doing. “It’s all about the follow-through.”

  He guided her hands through the motions as he spoke. The putt was nearly perfect, landing her ball within inches of the hole.

  “Nice!” Lucas exclaimed. “See, the secret is making sure the face of the putter is aimed where you want the ball to go, and make sure you follow your stroke all the way through. Don’t just stop once it hits the ball.”

  “Oh, right, of course,” Alex replied, as if this made perfect sense to her. All she really wanted was Lucas to stand here and hold her like this for several more hours. But Lucas let his arms drop and bent to put his ball on the rubber mat.

  The date seemed to go very quickly after that. Though Alex had only partially understood Lucas’s instructions, she managed to do much better on the rest of the holes. But Lucas still destroyed her with his effortless and infuriating lack of strokes. She was beginning to wonder if there was anything he wasn’t good at.

  “Thanks for coming with me tonight,” Lucas said, walking her to the door at the end of the date. “I had a lot of fun.”

  “So did I,” Alex replied, a little nervously. Doorstep scenes always made her antsy, even on nights like tonight when she was ninety-eight percent sure she wasn’t kissing anyone. She trembled slightly due to the combination of nerves and chilly night air, and for a moment she wished she hadn’t left L
ucas’s jacket in the car.

  “We should do it again sometime,” Lucas said.

  Alex was immediately in turmoil. Did he mean it? She knew that phrase was generally thought by womankind to be a blow-off, but the very meaning of those words indicated that he was interested in seeing her again. Was Lucas the blow-off kind? He seemed too nice for that. He seemed like the kind of guy that would never have said those words if he didn’t really mean them. She’d have to ask Sealey.

  “I’d love that,” Alex replied, trying to keep her voice and expression unassuming. “Good luck with the game tomorrow.”

  “Thanks,” Lucas replied. They stopped at the door to the apartment, and Lucas turned to her. He pulled her smoothly into his arms and gave her a warm hug. “Have a good night, okay? I’ll see you soon.”

  “Thanks again,” she said, giving him a little extra squeeze. What if she never had the chance to do this again? Might as well take advantage. “Who would’ve thought five dollars at a date auction would buy me such a great date?” she teased.

  Lucas chuckled. “Hopefully you got your money’s worth.” He pulled away and winked at her. “See you, Alex.”

  “Bye,” Alex said, trying not to sound too swoony. She watched him walk back to his car before opening the door to the apartment, where she was sure to be immediately accosted.

  “So? So?” Sage demanded. “How did it go? What happened? Did he hug you? Kiss you? Was he easy to talk to? Are you going out again?”

  Alex froze in the doorway, taking in the sight of all five of her roommates, squashed together on the couch in the living room, staring at her. The curtains at the window behind them were swaying in a suspect fashion, as though moments before, they’d had five curious faces peeking through them.

  “Why bother even asking? You saw everything,” she accused good-naturedly.

  “No, we didn’t!” Jaclyn protested. “The stupid window juts out too far. Hardly optimal for spying on doorstep scenes. It looked like he might’ve made a move, though. You guys certainly looked cozy . . . at least based on what we could see. Which was, you know, the tip of your elbow.”

  “He hugged me,” Alex confirmed.

  “And?” Meredith pressed. “How was it?”

  Alex sighed in a dreamy sort of way. “Amazing. But it was nothing compared to what happened on the golf course. Listen to this . . .” She began her story, telling of how Lucas had taken her in his arms to improve her golf game.

  “Wow,” Sage said, sighing. “Who would’ve thought that just three weeks ago you were watching him from afar, coveting him, and now, he’s voluntarily holding you in his arms.” She sighed and sank back on the couch, accidentally elbowing Rachel in the ribs and bumping heads with Kacey.

  “So did he say anything about going out again?” Kacey asked, giving Sage a dirty look. She slipped off the couch and onto the floor, bringing her knees to her chin. “’Cause, let’s face it, if he doesn’t want to see you again, Mission Score Lucas Riley has officially failed.”

  “I don’t really know,” Alex replied. “He said ‘we should do this again,’ but who knows if guys actually ever mean that when they say it.”

  Kacey groaned. “It’s a cop-out, for sure.”

  “Oh, I don’t know,” Meredith defended. “If any guy could say those words and actually mean them, it would be Lucas.”

  Alex smiled at her. See? There was a reason Meredith was her best friend. “Well, I have a phone call to make,” she said, heading for the stairs.

  “Wait, you’re calling him already?” Jaclyn cried after her. “Doesn’t that look a little desperate?”

  “I’m not calling Lucas,” Alex responded incredulously. “I need to call and report to Sealey. He gets testy when I take too long.”

  She closed the door to her bedroom behind her, kicked off her sandals, winced at the blisters that had formed and uniformly popped during the course of the evening, and sank onto her bed. She pulled out her phone and dialed Sealey’s number.

  “Hey, Foamer,” he said by way of greeting. “You’re getting better. Luke just barely pulled in. Hang on a second while I duck into the other room so he can’t hear me.” After a few seconds, she heard the sound of a closing door on the other end of the line. “Okay,” he said. “Report. How did it go?”

  “Really good,” she said honestly. “Really, really good. I was actually surprised at how much fun we had. Everything was so comfortable.”

  “Good to hear,” Sealey responded. He sounded pleased. “How did the jacket thing work out?”

  “Exactly how you said it would,” Alex conceded. “Not only did he give me his jacket but it also gave us the opportunity to get a bit, um, physical.” She felt herself blushing.

  “Oh,” Sealey said, sounding a little startled. “He . . . touched you, then?”

  “Yeah, he was really just helping me with my golfing,” Alex replied. “But he, you know, did it in the most physical way possible.”

  “Ah,” Sealey replied. His voice sounded a little strange.

  “Sorry, did I do something wrong?” Alex asked, worried. “Was there supposed to be a scheduled timeline for touching or something?”

  Sealey cleared his throat. “No, nothing like that. Just . . . don’t be too easy, Foamer, okay? I told you, he needs to chase you. Just make sure you don’t allow him to catch you before he’s done chasing.”

  “Uh-huh . . . ,” Alex said, her tone skeptical. She knew all about the “playing hard-to-get” tactics that some girls employed, and while she knew a lot of girls who piqued boys’ interest that way, she rarely heard of any who actually ended up with someone worthwhile in the long run. But she didn’t feel like arguing with Sealey right now. No doubt he’d have plenty of time to further instruct her on how to keep Lucas at just the right distance. But for right now, she wanted to mentally relive her perfect date. “Sounds good,” she said, just to get Sealey off the phone.

  “Ready for the next steps?” Sealey asked. Without waiting for an answer, he continued. “Are you going to the game tomorrow?”

  “The football game?” Alex asked. “I wasn’t planning on it. Why?”

  “You do recall something about Lucas being a football player, right?” Sealey prompted, his voice slightly sarcastic. “Don’t you think it might be a good idea for you to actually watch him play? How much do you know about football, anyway?”

  “Um, a little,” Alex answered. “I know that a touchdown is supposed to be a good thing, right?”

  Sealey snorted. “Yeah, you could say that. Okay, now that I’ve assessed your level of expertise, you’re definitely going to the game tomorrow.”

  Alex groaned. “Do I have to?”

  “Yes, you have to. I’ll pick you up at eleven.”

  “Aye, aye, Captain.” Alex sighed and hung up. She groaned and collapsed back onto her pillow. Apparently, tomorrow, she began her journey to football fandom. Yay.

  “YOU OKAY?” ALEX pressed, eyeing Sealey with interest. They were on their way to Alex’s first Utah State University football game, despite the fact that she had been a student there for four years. Sealey had been oddly quiet since he had picked her up five minutes earlier.

  He had looked equal parts fashion model and sports fan in his usual low-waisted jeans and a dark blue T-shirt with a block USU on the front as he stood in her living room, waiting for her. She had silently watched him from the hall for a minute, smiling softly to herself. He carried a white hooded sweatshirt over his shoulder, and he stood with his hands in his pockets, looking uncomfortably around the room. Something seemed to be bothering him, but she wasn’t quite sure what it could be. He was usually so unflappable . . . it must be something huge.

  Now, driving toward the game, she was determined to pull it out of him. “Really, you don’t look as put-together as usual. Is something wrong?”

  “What makes you say that?” Sealey asked, glancing at her. “How can you possibly tell how ‘put-together’ I am? I promise you, I got dressed exactly
the same way this morning as I always do.”

  “Okay,” Alex said, but her voice rang with sarcasm. “So there’s nothing wrong with the way you look, there’s just something wrong with the way you sound.”

  “I don’t sound like anything,” Sealey said expressionlessly.

  “Exactly,” Alex said, pointing at him. “Usually you sound like a whole lotta cranky-pants, coming at me all at once. Why so silent?”

  “Oh, come on,” Sealey said, peering at her with a disgruntled look. “I’m not that bad.”

  “Oh no?” said Alex, raising an eyebrow. “Most of the time I can literally feel you chanting Olivia’s name in your head, just to remind yourself that there’s a reason you’re subjecting yourself to my company.”

  Sealey looked startled. “Don’t be ridiculous,” he said. “I don’t dislike your company. On the contrary, I find your company much easier to bear than most people I know.”

  Alex gave him a pointed look. “I assume that’s supposed to be some kind of compliment?”

  Sealey smiled slightly as he glanced at her again. “Let me put it this way. Do you ever see me spending time with anyone else other than Luke?”

  Alex thought about that. “I guess not,” she capitulated, eyebrows raised. “Well, then. Thanks, I guess.”

  “You’re welcome,” Sealey said, an amused smile playing on his face.

  “So let me ask you something else,” Alex said, changing the subject. “How well do you know Olivia? I mean, did you just meet her when Lucas started dating her or have you known her longer than that?”

  Sealey flinched slightly, and Alex wondered if he disliked her talking about Olivia. She couldn’t imagine why. After all, the only reason Sealey was doing any of this was for Olivia.

  “We all grew up together, I guess you could say,” Sealey said, somewhat hesitantly. “Our parents were friends, so even though we were all different years at school, we were thrown together all the time.”

  “How old is Olivia?” Alex asked curiously. “If she’s on a mission, she’s got to be several years younger than you and Lucas.”