"Guess who?"
His familiar soapy smell seemed to freeze me. I prayed he couldn't feel my face heat up under his touch. For the longest moment, I couldn't find my voice. It seemed to shrink inside me, bouncing painfully down my throat.
"Give me a clue,” I said, hoping I sounded bored. Or mildly annoyed. Anything but hurt.
"Short. Fat. Obnoxious overbite." His smooth, teasing voice after all these months. It sounded familiar and foreign at the same time. Feeling him so close made me dizzy from nerves. I was afraid I'd start yelling at him, right there in the 7-Eleven. If I let him get too close, I was afraid I might not yell at him. And I wanted to yell-I'd spent eight months practicing what I'd say in my head and I was ready to let it out.
"In that case, I'll have to go with . . . Calvin Versteeg." I sounded carelessly polite. I was sure of it. And I couldn't think of a bigger relief.
Cal came around me and leaned an elbow on the aisle's endcap. He gave me a wolfish smile. He had nailed the whole devilishly charming thing years ago. I'd been a sucker for it back then, but I was stronger now.
Ignoring his handsome face, I gave him a bored once-over. By the looks of it, he'd let his pillow style his hair this morning. It was longer than I remembered. On the hottest days of track practice, when sweat dripped off the tips, his hair had turned the color of tree bark. The memory made something inside me ache. I shoved aside my nostalgia and eyed Calvin with cool detachment. "What do you want?"
Without asking, he bent my Slurpee straw sideways and helped himself. He wiped his mouth on the back of his hand. "Tell me about this camping trip."
I yanked my Slurpee out of his reach. "Backpacking trip." I felt it was important to make the distinction. Anyone could camp. Backpacking required skill and moxie.
"Got everything you need?" he went on.
"And a few wants, too." I shrugged. "Hey, a girl needs her lip gloss."
"Let's be honest. Korbie will never let you leave the cabin. She's terrified of fresh air. And you can't say no to her." He tapped his head wisely. "I know you girls."
I gave him a look of indignation. "We're backpacking for one full week. Our route is forty miles long." So maybe it was a teensy exaggeration. In fact, Korbie had agreed to no more than two miles of hiking per day, and had insisted we hike in circles around Idlewilde, in case we needed quick access to amenities or cable TV. While I'd never truly expected to backpack the entire week, I had planned to leave Korbie and Bear at the cabin for a day and trek off on my own. I wanted to put my training to the test. Obviously now that Calvin was joining us, he was going to find out about our true plans soon enough, but at the moment my biggest priority was impressing him. I was sick of him forever insinuating that he had no reason to take me seriously. I could always deal with any flak he might give me later by insisting that I'd wanted to backpack the whole week and Korbie was holding me back-Calvin wouldn't find that excuse far-fetched.
"You do know that several of the hiking trails are still covered in snow, right? And the lodges haven't opened for the season, so people are sparse. Even the Jenny Lake Ranger Station is closed. Your safety is your own responsibility-they don't guarantee rescue."
I gazed at him with round eyes. "You don't say! I'm not going into this completely in the dark, Calvin,” I snapped. "I've got it covered. we'll be fine."
He rubbed his mouth, hiding a smile, his thoughts perfectly clear. "You really don't think I can do it,” I said, trying not to sound stung.
"I just think the two of you will have more fun if you go to Lava Hot Springs. You can soak in the mineral pools and spend a day shopping in Salt Lake."
"I've been training for this trip all year,” I argued. "You don't know how hard I've worked, because you haven't been around. You haven't seen me in eight months." I'm not the same girl you left behind. You don't know me anymore."
"Point made,” he said, flipping up his palms to show it was an innocent suggestion. "But why Idlewilde? There's nothing to do up there. You and Korbie will be bored after the fir night."
I didn't know why Calvin was so set on dissuading me. He loved Idlewilde. And he knew as well as I did that there was plenty to do there. Then it hit me. This wasn't about me or Idlewilde. He didn't want to have to tag along. He didn't want to spend time with me. If he got me to drop the trip, his dad wouldn't force him to join us, and he'd get his spring break back.
Digesting this painful realization, I cleared my throat. "How much are your parents paying you to tag along?"
He made a big deal of looking me over in mock critical evaluation. "Clearly not enough."
So that's how we were going to play this. A little meaningless flirtation here, a little banter there. In my imagination, I took a black marker and drew a big X through Calvin's name.
"Just so we're clear, I argued against having you come. You and me together again? Talk about uncomfortable." It had sounded better in my head. Hanging between us now, the words sounded jealous and petty and mean-exactly like an ex-girlfriend would sound. I didn't want him to know I was still hurting. Not when he was all smiles and winks.
"That so? Well, this chaperone just cut your curfew by an hour,” he jested.
I nodded beyond the store's plate-glass window toward the four-wheel-drive BMW Xs parked outside. "Yours?" I guessed. "Yet another gift from your parents, or do you actually do more than chase girls at Stanford, such as hold down a respectable job?" "My job is chasing girls." An odious grin. "But I wouldn't call it respectable."
"No serious girlfriend, then?" I couldn't bring myself to look at him, but I felt immense pride over my oh-so-casual tone. I told myself I didn't care about his answer one way or another. In fact, if he'd moved on, it was yet another flashing green light telling me I was free to do the same.
He poked me. "Why? You got a boyfriend?" "Of course."
"Yeah, right." He snorted. "Korbie would have told me."
I stood my ground, arching my eyebrows smugly. "Believe it or not, there are some things Korbie doesn't tell you."
His eyebrows furrowed. "Who is he?" he asked warily, and I could tell he was thinking about buying my story.
The best way to remedy a lie is not to tell another lie. But I did anyway.
"You don't know him. He's new in town."
He shook his head. "Too convenient. I don't believe you." But his tone suggested he might.