He smiled at me walking backwards, pursing his lips and shaking his head. “Not that amazing,” he said, gesturing to Reed. “Clearly not that amazing.”
Then he was gone.
I sat by myself for the next hour, wrapped in Reed’s warmth and thinking on how things ended with Sean. I felt oddly lucky. But I also felt lost. I was nobody’s now. At least when I was with Sean I felt like I was a part of something. Sitting in the middle of the field alone, I started to feel my gut sink.
I needed to do my warm ups, so I rolled up the sleeves of Reed’s shirt and stood to walk to the track. I looked over to the stands where Sean and Reed were sitting by each other. Both of their heads were down, and I could tell Reed was consoling him. Becky came into my view and I realized she was jogging over to join me. She had a sympathetic smile on her face as she came up to me with open arms. I hugged her, not knowing what else to do.
“I heard, Noles. I’m so sorry,” she said, patting me on the back. Good lord, word travels fast out here.
“Thanks,” I said, moving toward the track. She followed me and started to jog my warm ups with me.
“You know,” she started. “I’m not surprised. I mean, I think a lot of us saw this coming. You don’t look at Sean like you look at Reed.”
Becky was smarter than I thought. I shrugged at her, acknowledging my secret to an outsider for the first time. “It doesn’t matter, though. Tatum has him wrapped around her… well,… her everything,” I laughed.
Becky laughed, too, but then got quiet. “She’s steaming mad at you, you know,” she said, giving me a sideways glance. What could I have done now? She’s the one who decorated the highway with my fleece warm ups.
Becky continued, “She asked Reed where his shirt was and he pointed to you, said something about you forgetting them?” Becky made a skeptical face. “Which is odd… because we packed together, so…”
I knew where she was going. She thought I pretended to not have them just to wear Reed’s. I didn’t want her thinking I was that vapid, but I spoke too quickly.
“Yeah, I did pack them. Then Tatum ‘unpacked’ them for me on the highway,” I said, instantly wishing I could retract it all.
Becky’s eyes were wide and we both started to slow our jog to walk the straightaway part of the track. “Are. You. Kidding me!?” she said defensively.
Sheepishly, I looked down and nodded. “It’s no big deal. Please don’t say anything. I don’t want it to become bigger than it needs to be.”
Becky closed her lips tight and stared straight ahead. After a few seconds of silence she turned to me and grabbed my shoulder. “She’s evil, Nolan. Really. I know what she’s been doing to you. I’ve seen her this way before. She’s a bully, and a terrible person. You have to tell Reed. Not because you want to steal him from her, but because he needs to know. So he can get the hell away from her!”
I would never tell Reed, and I think a part of Becky knew that. But I nodded anyway, pretending. The announcer called my race and I left Becky, heading for the starting line area. I breathed in the smell of Reed’s shirt a few more times before I took it off and set it down on the track. I was in the third heat, so I had some time to kill. I did a few starts and short sprints to get my legs moving. I headed over to the sidewalk side of the track to sit and check my laces but was stopped before I could sit down by a painful shove.
“You just don’t get it, do you? He’s not into you. He’s my boyfriend and you need to back off, trailer trash!” Tatum was yelling in my face. I was without words, something I was vowing to work on while I searched for the right thing to say to her in response. I shook my head, trying to get my mouth to work and then looked over to the stands across the way to see Becky sitting next to Reed and both of them staring at Tatum and I. Becky was talking animatedly with her hands, as if she was angry. In an instant I knew she was telling Reed about the secret cruel pranks Tatum had played on me. Milliseconds were passing so slowly. I wanted to pause everything, get my bearings and ready myself for this next round. But there was no stopping this.
The stinging sensation on my cheek was warm, almost like a burn. My head was flung to the side and my hair was in my eyes. I didn’t see her arm coming at me, but the slap Tatum delivered to my face in the cold weather made a ringing sensation in my ear. So this is what it feels like to get slapped, I thought. And then there was spit. In my face.
I turned away in disgust and quickly wiped my face with my arms. A nearby coach from the other team came over and grabbed Tatum by the shoulders, moving her away from me. I heard yelling and Becky’s voice was nearby. Suddenly someone was wiping my face with a cloth. It burned. It burned so badly.