Sublime Karma

by Peyton Garver

  “We’re down to twelve minutes,” Alec called after him.

  Still in awe of Lamb’s smooth move with a complete stranger, Jake took a swig of his beer and shifted onto the only vacant bar stool.

  A cute, perky brunette rested her hand on the back of his stool. “I love your voice.”

  “Thanks,” he skimmed her body with his eyes.

  She cast her eyes down, then looked back up at him from under her lashes. “So, you gonna buy me a drink?”

  Shock registered briefly on his face before he could disguise it. “Uh, sure,” he blurted. “Whadda ya want?”

  “Sex on the Beach,” she said, leaning into him.

  “I bet you’d like that, too,” rasped a sexy female voice low in his ear. Jake spun around just in time to catch Julia. His own grin spread on his face when he saw Alec claim her.

  “Enjoying yourselves?”

  “Oh, yeah,” Alec chuckled. “By the way, we’re down to eleven minutes. Do what ya can with it.” Then saluting Jake with his beer, he pulled Julia to him.

  Still perched on his stool, Jake snickered and turned to the bartender. “One Sex on the Beach.” He turned to the girl, who now stood possessively between his knees with her hand on his thigh, giving him a good peek at her cleavage. Taking another gulp of his beer, he swooped his hair back off his face again. “So, what’s your name?”

  After the gig, Jake lifted the last of the amps to load it into the Suburban. The touch of a soft hand slid up his bicep. The brunette peeked around the amp.

  She moistened her lips and looked coyly up at him. “Call me?” She dangled a cocktail napkin in front of him.

  He met her challenging eyes. “Uh, sure.”

  She pushed the napkin into his front jeans pocket and gave him a teasing smile before she scurried off to her waiting friends.

  He watched her leave, then turned and hoisted the amp into the back of Kurt’s Suburban, pulled the back door down, and hopped in the passenger seat. “That was frickin’ amazing.” He combed his hair back with his fingers. “I’m not going to be able to sleep tonight. I’m still riding that high.”

  Kurt grinned. “I told you—you were ready. Jamming in a basement is one thing, but when you have a whole crowd digging your music, it’s indescribable.”

  “I described it. It’s frickin’ amazing.”

  Kurt laughed. “Yeah, it is that.” He started up the Suburban. “I told you there’d be plenty of hot girls in there tonight. Looks like you found one. You get her number?”

  Jake smirked. “Yeah, she gave it to me.” He pulled the cocktail napkin out of his pocket.

  “What’s her name?”

  Jake hesitated. “I don’t even remember.” He looked at the other side of the napkin. “Uh, got her number, but not her name. How ‘bout I just call her Sex on the Beach?”

  Kurt Laughed. “You’re gonna give Lamb some competition.”

  Jake gave him a faint smile then leaned back in his seat and looked at the number on the napkin. He crumpled it in his fist. “That was stupid.” He hesitated. “That girl? Across the street. You remember?”

  “When we were unloading?”

  “Yeah. She wasn’t just some random girl. I know her. I thought maybe . . .”

  Kurt snatched the wadded napkin out of Jake’s hand and chucked it out his window. “Sorry, man. I didn’t know.”

  “Doesn’t matter.” Jake shrugged. “She’s taken, remember?”

  “I never pegged you for a quitter.”

  Jake scowled.

  Kurt sniggered. “What I’m sayin’ is, don’t give up on her. If you thought there was something there? Maybe there was. Ask her to come to our next gig.”

  “She’s underage.”

  “Don’t worry. I’ll handle that. She can come in with Julia when we set up.”

  Jake’s eyes lit up. “Yeah?”

  Kurt grinned back. “You’ll definitely have one up on that other guy.”

  Chapter 11

  The bus jolted forward. “Umph.” Brie grunted, falling into place with a giggle.

  “Jeez. You okay?” Jake swung himself into their seat.

  She nodded and shifted the backpack off her shoulder. “Yeah.” She studied him briefly. “You play the electric guitar, too?”

  He nodded. “Yeah.”

  “In a band?”

  “Yeah, in a band,” he repeated, amused but not patronizing. A few seconds of silence passed. Is it my turn for a question? Because I’d sure like to know—

  “That was my brother.”

  “Your brother?” A slow grin crept onto his face.

  She suppressed her smile. “Mm-hmm. We could hear your band from across the street. I wanted to go watch, but they were carding at the door. Leif could’ve gotten in, but I wouldn’t have been able to. We listened for a while. You sounded really good.”

  “Thanks.” He hesitated. “I could’ve gotten you in. I mean, I can get you in, next time. If you want.”

  “Really? That would be so awesome.”

  “Yeah.” His eyes lit up with his smile. “We’re playing there the first Saturday of every month for the next six months.”

  The school day had passed by in a blur. The football team was already practicing. Brie searched the field of players to see if she could spot Jake and surprised herself when she singled him out from his teammates. A fleeting swarm of butterflies passed right through her. She leaned against the fence to watch.

  The team had just completed a speed and agility drill dodging around cones, shuffling, sprinting, changing direction, and sprinting back. She smiled to herself when Jake pulled off his helmet and shook out his sweaty, brown locks.

  The chain link fence moved from the weight of someone standing next to her, holding onto it. “Hey, you ready for a killer run today?”

  She pushed off the fence. “Oh, uh . . . hi, Ryan. Yeah.”

  Ryan looked through the fence, scrutinizing the football players for another second, before he peeled off his shirt and threw it to the bench. He grinned at her. His eyes skimmed her body, hesitating on her breasts. “Good. Time to stretch,” he said, narrowing his eyes in a smirk.

  She crossed her arms in front of her and felt the heat flood her already blushing face. She remembered when she had snuck a peek at him and wondered if he thought he was returning the favor. Okay, now she was ready to run. She couldn’t deal with this, her wariness of Ryan and her crush on Jake.

  Coach blew three short blasts on his whistle. “Today our focus is getting out fast from the line and settling into a competitive stride,” Coach thumped a knuckle against his clipboard. “Once you get trapped behind the lead runners, it’s tough to make up ground and overtake them. You need to be the front-runners, and then you need to hold onto that lead. We’ll practice that on the track today. Tomorrow we’ll work it out on the trails.”

  Okay, let’s just get started already. Brie was hoping for a grueling trail, not a level track. But, if Coach wanted to work on fast starts and settling in, so be it. She would start out strong, and then set a punishing pace.

  Coach flipped to a page on his clipboard. “We’re doing this in packs. I’m going to stagger the starts so you’re running with your pack, not against other packs.”

  What? No. That meant she would have to settle in at Kelly’s slower pace. Her eyes darted to Kelly who was doing standing quad stretches.

  “Co-ed packs,” he clarified, before separating both teams into groups of five to six runners each. “I want each pack to stay together and find your pace—a competitive pace.” Brie headed to the pack she was assigned, the group she ran with her first day, among them, Ryan.

  Wonderful, Brie walked to the line to join her pack, and standing next to Ryan, glanced at the others. Wait. Pac
k running. Shouldn’t she be running with the girls, or at least one other girl, if Coach wanted them to run as a pack at the next meet? Confused, her eyes moved to each of the groups. Brie was the only girl in her pack. There was only one other coed pack: Kelly, Natalie, Stacy, and three guys. All the other packs were either all guys or all girls.

  “You figure it out, yet?” Ryan took his place next to her at the line. “Coach thinks you have it,” finger-quoting it, he studied her. “He also thinks if you’re going to pack run, it’d hold you back. None of the other girls would be able to stay your pace. He wants you to go all out—on your own. You’re that good, Brie.”

  He glanced out at the field of football players and then turned back to her. “You really are, ya know?” He looked toward Coach and gave him a nod to let him know they were ready.

  After the all of the packs had gone through three starts followed by two laps at a competitive stride, Coach called an end to practice. Brie continued running laps even after the others had finished. When she finally entered the locker room, she was grateful it was already clearing out; she wouldn’t have to deal with Kelly or anyone else. She tossed her sweaty clothes into the bottom of her locker, wrapped a towel around herself, twisted the dial on her locker combo, and then headed to the shower.

  She inhaled the scented body wash, and closing her eyes, she let the heavy spray drench her. With the torrent of hot water cascading over her, she massaged her tight calves, stopping at her ankle. She inspected the side of her foot that she had sealed with surgical tape after it had reopened during the last practice. It had seeped through her sock and into her shoe. Much deeper than her other cuts, it wouldn’t stay shut. Now, it was like a paper cut, open yet no longer bleeding. It looked like a gill.

  She had lied to Leif about it. Staring into the distance, she leaned against the wall. She was glad she hadn’t cut the hand or arm that he had inspected. Being right handed, most of her cuts were on her left arm. Twisting her arm away, she looked at the now healing gash on the inner side of her upper left arm. He would have been disappointed if he’d seen it. And, Leif’s disappointment wouldn’t have been pity. It would have been frustration, and that would have been worse than the despondent numbness that had engulfed her.

  She refocused on her foot, and could almost see herself sitting on her bathroom floor, at home, after her first day at Frederick Central High. Could almost feel herself pressing the blade of the utility knife into the side of her foot, watching her skin split behind the blade.

  Drawing in a sharp breath, she looked back up into the shower spray, shaking her head. Shuddering, she turned and let the hot water beat down on her back.

  She squeezed the excess water from her hair, wondering how long she’d been in the shower. It was eerie having the whole place to herself. She wrapped her towel around her and headed back to her locker to get dressed.

  Running footsteps and laughter echoed through the locker room, followed by the sound of the heavy door slamming shut. Whatever, she rolled her eyes, but then stopped short.

  Her locker door hung open. No, I know I locked it. She looked back, over her shoulder. There was no one else in the locker room, of that she was fairly certain. Looking into her locker, she saw her backpack still hanging there. Relaxing, she pulled it out, but then realized her clothes were missing. All of her clothes. Her clothes she’d worn to school. Her gym uniform. Even the sweaty clothes she had shed before her shower.

  “You have got to be kidding me,” she moaned. She searched her locker again, and then her backpack. Everything else was still there: her purse, phone, books, everything—except her clothes. Sinking to the bench, she pressed her lips together. Mom’s in New York. “Okay, don’t panic.” She took out her phone. Come on, Maria, pick up.

  Straight to voicemail.

  “Now what?” Carlos is out there waiting for me. Crap. He never carries a phone.

  Okay, so . . . what if I just walk out into the gym in my towel like it’s no big deal? I can do this. There must be a coach out there. Okay . . . countdown. On zero, I will go out there in my towel. I really can’t believe this shit.

  She listened at the door, wondering how many people were in the gym. Would there be more photos snapped? Probably. Here goes nothing. Three, two, one, zero. She yanked the door open and stepped into the gym.

  It wasn’t that crowded, just a few stragglers, and a few . . . cheerleaders. Becca, Pam, and Sarah. All three were watching the locker room door, with their smug looks. At least it wasn’t the cross-country girls. Whatever. If I drop my towel that would give them something to talk about. Like I would actually do that.

  Loud, deep, raucous voices filled the gym. She looked toward the men’s locker room. The football team was beginning to filter into the gym. Sudden silence. Some of the guys stopped dead, staring: Marcus, Troy, Kal. Oh, my God. Could it be any worse? And then, there he was. Yes, it just got a whole lot worse. In a panicked horror, her eyes met his.

  You’ve got to be kidding me. I’m standing here naked in a towel, in front of the whole football team. Locking eyes with Jake, she shook her head slowly, then dashed back into the girls’ locker room.

  Brie heard the heavy door slam shut, before she heard him.

  “Brie,” he called, from inside the locker room.

  No, no, no. I cannot believe this is happening.

  “Brie?” He stood in her alcove of lockers.

  She spun around, her eyes shooting daggers. “What.”

  Jake held his hands up in surrender. “I just . . . I mean . . . are you okay?”

  “Do I look okay?”

  He bit his lips together, raised his eyebrows, and scratched his cheek. “Uh—”

  “Okay, don’t answer that,” she blurted, laughing at the double entendre.

  He relaxed, a nervous smile playing on his lips.

  Holding the towel secure, she motioned to her locker. “I know I locked it. They took my clothes, what I wore to school, my gym uniform, even my sweaty clothes from practice.”

  “It’s an old prank. All the coaches have a locker key. It fits all the gym lockers. Sometimes they leave them in the coaches’ office or in their equipment bags. It’s easy for anyone to snag the keys. The coaches don’t even realize the keys are missing, because they never use them.”

  “That’s great. So what am I supposed to do? I can’t go back out there like this.”

  He opened his gym bag and pulled out his game jersey. “Umm. Here, wear this. It’s my away jersey.”

  She didn’t move.

  “Take it.” He stepped toward her, holding out his jersey. “Do you have another plan?”

  “I’m just so embarrassed.”

  “Don’t be. Here, really, wear it. It’s clean.”

  “Would you happen to have a pair of shorts, too?” She laughed.

  He grinned. “Just what I’m wearing. Wait.” Rummaging through his bag, he pulled out a pair of black sweat pants and held them out to her. “They’ll be big on you, and they reek. I was taking them home to wash.”

  “At this point I don’t care,” she accepted them. “Thanks.”

  “I’ll wait for you in the gym.”

  Nodding, she watched him walk out of the locker room. She sighed. Definitely, My Dream Guy. She smelled the jersey. Mmm. It smelled like him: sandalwood and cinnamon, with a hint of musk. Then, she held the sweat pants up to her nose and took a cautious whiff. They’re not that bad. She crinkled her nose and laughed.

  I can’t believe this. I am wearing Jake Gordon’s clothes with no underwear. She bit her lip in a smile and walked out of the locker room.

  She spotted him leaning against the gym wall, his arms folded over his chest as if he waited there for her every day. She shivered from the rush at seeing him there like that, waiting—for her.

  Smiling, he p
ushed off the wall, not taking his eyes off her. He waited for her to reach him. “Hey.”

  “Hey.” She smiled back. “It’s so big,” she said, holding her hands up, engulfed in the jersey. “I feel like Dopey in The Seven Dwarfs.”

  He flashed his eyebrows at her. “You’re cuter.”

  “Oh, I don’t know. I think Dopey was the cute one.” She laughed.

  Jake laughed with her. Then, passing by Becca and Sarah he said, “Well, I think you look good in my jersey.”

  “Thanks,” she whispered, then giving him a flirty smile, she looked back over her shoulder at the cheerleaders and dramatically mouthed, “Oh. My. Gosh. Thank you.” She batted her eyelashes at the girls before flipping her wet ponytail back over her shoulder and innocently gazing back at Jake.

  “Bitch,” Sarah muttered.

  Brie bit her lips together to stifle her triumphant smile. Score one for me.

  “What’d you say?” Jake asked with the beginnings of a smile, swinging open the gymnasium door.

  “I might have said something like, ‘Oh my gosh, thank you?’” she said.

  His smile grew. But, when she released a nervous breath, he stopped. “Hey, are you all right?” He brushed her cheek with his thumb.

  Her voice trembled. “Yeah. I’m okay. It just . . . hasn’t been easy.” She took another controlled breath.

  He looked pensive. “You need a ride? I usually catch a ride with Troy. He won’t mind dropping you off. He’s waiting for me in the back lot.”

  “Oh, thanks. I actually have a ride.” Like that wouldn’t be weird. Isn’t Pam dating Troy? It was uncomfortable enough sitting at the same lunch table with her.

  “You do?”

  Wait, I do what? Oh yeah, I have a ride. Suddenly things seemed a little awkward. “Yeah, over there.” She pointed to the official looking, shiny black sedan. “Thanks for coming to my rescue.” She raised her hands in gratitude to once again show his jersey that engulfed her arms and hands. “You’re my knight in shining armor.” As soon as she said it, she cringed. I did not just say that. Stupid, stupid, stupid. She felt her entire face warm.