Hot by Halloween

by Jessica Bucher

I looked down at the tile below my feet. I was beginning to get the impression swim team was going to be one embarrassment after another. “I didn’t not think you could make it up.”

  Gray let out a deep sigh. “This is so much worse than I thought,” he mumbled under his breath. “Addy? Is that your name?”

  “Yep,” I answered, kinda wishing he didn’t know it at this point.

  “There is a lot more to competitive swimming than crossing the pool.”

  Now was probably not the time to tell him I had no desire to swim competitively. Or that my real goal was sexy arms in a sleeveless top. Not when he was looking at me with that super serious face, his arms crossed over his chest so that the biceps...okay, this was not a time to be thinking about his biceps.

  “Right,” I said, pulling my eyes up to where they belonged—on his face, not his arms. “I can learn. I just need a little help.” And then I nudged him with my elbow and made a winky face. As soon as my skin made contact with his, I knew I had made a mistake. He was not ready for contact. Not ready for such an obvious Addyism. Lucy was always warning me to let people warm up to me before I got weird on them. Too bad I was basically incapable of impulse control.

  Instead of thinking it was cute—the way Mitch would have, he shifted away uncomfortably, his eyes all wide and petrified as he tried to find something, anything to look at that wasn’t me.

  “That was awkward,” said Amy, drying her hair with a towel.

  I briefly contemplated stiff-arming her back into the pool, you know just to destroy the witnesses, but I resisted the urge. After all, I needed her on this team. She was the only one I had a chance of beating.

  Gray opened his mouth to say something, probably, please don’t ever touch me again, you psycho. Fortunately, by the sweet, sweet grace of God, coach Griffith interrupted, blowing his whistle and calling us all to the side of the pool for our next set of instructions.

  Chapter Four

  Gray

  After practice, I stood in the locker room with my head under the shower trying to forget the last hour. Not only did I make a total ass of myself in front of two girls on the team—one of whom I planned on getting rid of as soon as possible, but I also got on the coach’s bad side and spent most of the remaining practice teaching the basics of swimming to my teammates.

  I could forget it all...except for her. On top of being the worst swimmer I’ve ever seen, she was also painfully awkward. Granted, I could be sarcastic do my fair share of harassing, but I would never invade someone’s personal space like she did.

  That level of maturity on the team was only going to get in my way.

  If I could convince the coach that she didn’t take the team seriously, then he’d be more likely to send her packing than if she wasn’t meeting our speed standards. He had to respect the team enough to agree with me, and if he wasn’t going to do anything about it, then I could get the captain on my side. He could pull a lot of weight if he played his cards right.

  With my new goal, and the rest of the day’s events pushed far, far back in my mind, I quickly toweled off, got dressed, and headed out of the locker room. I was apparently the last one to leave because when I reached the parking lot, I noticed it was only my black car and a little red SUV with the interior lights on and someone inside staring down at their phone. In a rush to get out of there and get something to eat, I walked past the other car without looking closer.

  Normally, my Jetta would automatically unlock when I touched the door handle, but it didn’t respond when I bumped it with my forearm. I fished the key fob from the bottom of my duffel and unlocked the car manually. The lights flickered in a weird way when the door opened, and a sinking feeling settled in the pit of my stomach. Not today, please.

  Dropping into the seat, I hit the start button with hopeless desperation. To my utter dismay, the car did nothing. Not even a blip of battery left. The car did this somewhere between L.A. and Duluth, and we managed to get by with a jump and didn’t have to replace the battery. Unfortunately, I was almost completely alone in this dark parking lot and didn’t know a soul in town, except for my mom who couldn’t do much to help me now.

  My forehead landed on the steering wheel with a thunk. I seriously considered sleeping in my car when I heard approaching footsteps.

  “Everything okay?”

  It could have been anyone else on the team: the coach, the freshmen, the janitor, for all I cared. But it wasn’t the janitor. It was her.

  I peeled my head up from the steering wheel and looked at Addy, with her messy bun on the top of her head and her too-large sweatshirt. Her bottom lip was pinched tightly between her teeth as she waited for my reply.

  I guess she could have driven away when she saw me trying to start a dead car. Judging by the hesitance on her face, she was probably regretting that she didn’t. For that, I guess I could give her credit.

  “It would appear that my car battery is dead,” I answered through gritted teeth.

  “Uh-oh.”

  I was already regretting my next words. After a deep sigh, I asked, “You wouldn’t mind if I used your car to jump mine, would you?”

  Looking at her, I tried to push away the memory of being so rough on her in practice, saying it was “so much worse than I thought” to her face, and throwing her an unnecessary amount of shade for a simple nudge. Karma was at it again.

  “Yeah, sure. Of course,” she stammered, looking back at her car then back at me. “You probably need those cable things, huh?”

  My spirits lifted. “Yeah, actually I do. Do you have them?”

  “No,” she answered. “Sorry.”

  For reasons I did not understand, I smiled. Maybe because she was comically clueless or because the universe was having a laugh at my expense.

  I needed to think, so I set my head against the headrest and shut my eyes. Mom told me to buy new cables since the last ones broke, but I didn’t listen. So I guess I was buying some now. I considered the money I would be wasting if I called roadside assistance, but there was no way around it at this point. Even if I got my hands on jumper cables tonight, I’d have to wait until morning for another car to jump...

  Like she could read my mind, she stuttered with hesitation. “There’s an auto supply store a couple blocks down. I could give you a ride.”

  Looking up at her, I tried to gauge whether or not she was serious. She stared down at me, and I realized that she was being genuine and waiting for an answer.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Of course. I can’t just leave you here.” Then, she turned and walked away toward her car. A moment later, she pulled up next to me and waited for me to get in. Without even bothering to lock my dead-as-a-doornail POS, I hesitated before climbing into her SUV. My harsh words toward her at practice echoed through my head. This was bound to be a painfully awkward ride.

  Sitting in the silence of her immaculately clean car, I glanced at her again as she started driving. She kept her eyes forward and a tight-lipped guarded expression on her face. There wasn’t a trace of that bubbly weirdo I saw earlier in the pool.

  “Thanks again,” I said, but had to clear my throat to speak.

  “Don’t mention it.” I got a sense that she was serving me a bit of cold shoulder—which I probably deserved.

  Addy

  I drummed my fingertips along the steering wheel as we made the short drive from the high school to Al’s Auto Repair. Usually I was good at starting a conversation, but after that awkward wink/jab combo at the pool, I was scared to say anything for fear of sounding stupid.

  There were two types of people in my world. Those who thought I was funny and those who looked at me like a foreign exchange student who has just said ‘I eat Americans’ when they meant ‘I eat American cheese.’ Gray Turner was clearly in the latter category.

  I made a beeline for the back of the store and grabbed the cheapest set of jumper cables I could find. It clearly made Gray nervous, not picking them out himself, but this wasn’
t my first rodeo. I plopped the cables on the counter and pulled my card out for Ricky.

  “I’ll pay,” said Gray, urgently reaching for his wallet. I waved him away and handed my card across the counter before he could stop me. It hadn’t exactly escaped my mind, that having this boy owe me something might come in handy.

  Ricky shook his head as he ran my card. “How many times are you gonna replace your jumper cables before you stop lending them to your friends?”

  “In my defense,” I offered. “Nora’s new car is a total beater. I can either let her carry the cables or be the one she calls every time it breaks down. One of those options is more appealing than the other.”

  Ricky grinned. “I’m not complaining. It’s good for my commission.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Now you are exaggerating.”

  He laughed, holding three fingers up toward Gray. “Third set this quarter, dude. First Mitch, then Nora, now you.” I flinched a little at the sound of my ex’s name.

  There should be some special alert system when you break up with someone. Some bonafide way that everyone is informed without you having to tell them. Like those Amber alerts that you get on your phone. Beep, beep, buzz buzz. Addy and Mitch broke up. Don’t say his name around her. But alas, no one had invented it yet. So instead, I got to smile awkwardly while Gray stood beside me, hands in his pockets, thinking lord knows what.

  On the ride back to the school, Gray made his best attempt at small talk.

  “So, do you do any other sports?”

  “Absolutely not.” I laughed, thinking about my last foray into competition. Somewhere out there, a first time T-ball coach was scarred for life.

  Gray cocked his head to the side, still trying to figure me out.

  “I just wanted to try something new,” I explained. “Before high school is over and they expect you to be good at everything. Know what I mean?”

  Gray winced. “High School sports aren’t as intense as college, but it’s still a competition. Have you considered trying something with lower stakes?” He looked so hopeful, so proud of his suggestion, that I actually wondered if he wanted me to quit. He couldn’t possibly dislike me that much, could he? Maybe he was under the false impression that Delinki, Minnesota had a chance of qualifying for state. I could have and probably should have crushed him with the truth, but now that we were finally having a real conversation, I didn’t want to ruin it with the cold hard reality that he wasn’t in California anymore.

  “That is exactly what my brother Max said,” I admitted, returning my thoughts to the conversation at hand.

  “And what did you tell him?” he asked, eagerness burning behind his eyes.

  “I told him to mind his own business,” I said with a smirk. “I’m doing this thing!”

  Gray gave a nervous half-smile. I could tell he was biting his tongue, but based on his not-so-subtle hint that swim team might not have been my calling, I was glad he kept whatever he was thinking to himself.

  I pulled my car in front of his and popped the hood. We were the only two vehicles left in the darkened parking lot. Careful to attach the red grip to the positive sign and not the negative, I secured the long set of new cables to my battery. Not too long ago, Mitch had been furious with me for mixing up the cables while I attempted to jump his truck, not that it even damaged his vehicle, the little drama queen. Still, I wanted to do it right this time.

  Gray already thought I was a dunce in the pool. I didn’t want him leaving this evening thinking I was bad at everything.

  After Gray had attached his cables to the dead battery, I turned the key in the ignition. The two of us leaned against the side of my SUV as my battery roared life back into his.

  “We should give it a minute or two,” I said. “Make sure you get enough juice to get home.”

  “Thanks,” said Gray. His eyes locked with mine. “For the ride, for the jump, for not leaving me stranded after the way I acted in the pool.”

  I shrugged my shoulders, trying to look cool and aloof, while my heart was going a million miles a second. “No big deal. That’s part of being on a team, right?”

  Chapter Five

  Gray

  I was in the middle of a dream where I was swimming my fastest without having to come up for air when someone kicked my foot, and I jolted awake. Snapping my head up, I noticed the math teacher—whose name I was never going to remember—standing at the board writing the second half of a long and complicated equation.

  Turning to the seat next to me, I watched as Addy studiously copied everything on paper without so much as a glance toward me. She had a page full of color-coded notes and seemed to be following along with ease.

  My notes, on the other hand, had started to trickle off somewhere around “trigonometric function.” Whatever the teacher was writing on the board, I was easily eight steps behind. Taking this extra math class was going to make my transcript look worse instead of better if I was going to fail it.

  After I finally got home from the auto shop and car jumping in the parking lot last night, it was already seven’ish, and I still had to eat dinner and do the dishes so my mom wouldn’t have to worry about it after her long shift. I never even got started on my homework before passing out around ten. And I never got back to sleep after picking her up at three.

  We really needed a second car.

  I spent the rest of class writing down random equations and terms, but I already missed the punchline of this math lesson and would probably have to look it up on YouTube later. Just before the bell rang, as we were packing up our stuff, Addy set her open notebook on my desk.

  “Take a picture of it.”

  “Really?” I asked, looking up at her. Her long, brown hair was clipped back behind her ears, and she had a black cardigan over her tight-fitting T-shirt. I had to remind myself not to get too attached, but it was hard not to find her so attractive.

  “Of course. I saw your notes. They’re basically useless.”

  “Thanks,” I grumbled as I pulled my phone out of my pocket and snapped a shot of three pages of her perfect handwriting.

  Once I was done, she grabbed her notebook and gave me a small wave before disappearing into the hallway. Her words last night about being part of a team felt like another swift punch to the gut. I wished more than ever that she was near decent at swimming.

  At lunch, I followed the same routine of apple, granola bar, loner table in the back. When I passed by Addy’s table, I gave the slightest head nod as a greeting when our eyes met. We were comfortably at the head-nod level, certainly not the stop-and-chat or verbal “Hey, Addy” level. She looked for a moment like she wanted to say something, and I was afraid it would be an invitation to join her, so I quickly looked away before she could. I wasn’t ready for that level quite yet.

  After last night and this morning, I decided to just let my mom take the car for work. It meant I would have to walk the two miles to and from school, which sucked on so many levels. On top of the swarm of mosquitoes that hovered around me all the way this morning, it also meant I had less time for homework and no ability to leave campus for lunch.

  I pulled open my laptop and scrolled through the scholarship database again, looking for anything new to apply for, but nothing popped up. Someone approached the table, and I expected it to be one of the blockheads from the swim team, but to my relief, it was the cool, calm, and collected guy...whose name I still could not remember. He was on the team too, just not as obnoxious as the rest.

  “Hey,” he said with a hand up in greeting. “Mind if I chill here with you?”

  “Have a seat,” I answered. “But you’ll have to forgive me. I can’t remember your name,” I confessed with a grimace.

  “Simon.” He stuck out a hand that I took with a quick shake.

  “Gray,” I replied.

  Simon didn’t seem to have much of a lunch either, just some sort of protein shake in a plastic bottle. I remembered seeing him swim a little at practice, and he was pretty st
rong in the backstroke. In my head, I could see us making a good team for the medley relay. We would just need a breaststroke and freestyle.

  “It’s much quieter over here,” he said while looking down at his phone.

  “Exactly,” I answered. He didn’t respond, but I worried that maybe I was coming across as too harsh. “I mean, they’re good guys and all…”

  “No. I totally get it,” he said with a small chuckle. “They can be too much.” Simon seemed to be on the same page as me already. I nodded my head with a half smile.

  “So, what brought you to Delinki?” he asked.

  “My mom’s job,” I answered, leaving out the rest about my dad finding a different family and leaving her to struggle alone. It was more than I wanted to talk about and probably more than Simon wanted to hear.

  “Well, I think we’re all excited to have some new blood on the team. We could use some fresh ideas. Honestly, man. We’re falling apart out there.”

  I nodded my head, feeling equally energized by the idea that I could help the team and worried that they were too far gone at this point. Glancing over at the table of swimmers, I caught the team captain looking at us, like he could feel me gunning for his position.

  Addy

  “I can’t believe you gave him your notes,” said Lucy, her hands balled into fists on her hips. “Didn’t you tell us he was a jerk in the pool and not that much nicer when you jumped his car?”

  “Yes, but—”

  “There is always a but with you,” growled Lucy, pacing the length of my bedroom. “And usually it results in your getting taken advantage of.”

  I bit the bottom corner of my lip. She had a point, but this time it was going to be different. This time I was going to be the one who did the advantage taking.

  “I’m warming him up. It takes time.”

  “For what?” asked Nora, popping out of my closet where she’d been shopping for the last ten minutes.