Dare You to Chase the Soccer Player (Rock Valley High 5)

“Yet.” I held up a finger. “But you barely know me.”

“Yet.” His lips maintained a serious expression, but I could see the glint of laughter in his eyes.

He searched my face and at once, all the air squeezed from my lungs. I didn’t usually get so nervous around guys. I mean, they were kind of a dime a dozen at my school. All fun to flirt with. Never worth getting serious for. I’d dated more than my fair share of the soon-to-be junior class boys and then parted as friends. Always leave them wanting more, that was my policy. They were as replaceable as the color-of-the-week lipstick tube in my purse.

So why was Zane giving me heart palpitations?

“Well, just remember that I don’t always look like this,” I said, patting my cheeks nervously. My skin had dried, but there was no telling how many of my acne scars were peeking through the washed-up concealer.

“What? You don’t always walk around looking like a butterfly?”

“What? No!” I wrinkled my nose. Shoot! In my anxiety over my foundation, I’d totally forgotten about the face paint job I’d done on myself before the party. Zane probably thought I was the weirdest person alive. “You know what? I’ve got a better idea. Just forget that you saw me today.”

“Why?” Zane pressed his lips together in thought, his gaze still taking in every inch of my face. “You look just as beautiful as the other night when we met.”

Electricity surged through my abdomen. I stared at him, waiting to see a hint of irony or sarcasm in his face, but he was as sincere as ever. I wasn’t sure how to respond. I’d never met a guy like him. This wasn’t flirting. He didn’t have an ulterior motive. That had been a true compliment. For the first time in a long time, blood rushed to my cheeks in embarrassment.

“You’re sweet.”

He shrugged and then pushed off the bench to walk toward the nearest window and stare out it. “No, just brutally honest. My dad says it’s a flaw I got from my mother. He says I need to learn how to bend the truth to my advantage.”

I winced as I watched Zane grimace at the rain. Ouch. My parents went through a rough divorce, but they never said anything that harsh to us kids. I didn’t even know Zane’s dad, but I already didn’t like him.

“Are you a crew member on the movie or something?” I stood up to join him at the window. The storm had begun to let up and the clouds had cleared in the distance. The beginning of a rainbow arched over a patch of bright blue sky. “That’s so cool you get to do stuff like that.”

He chuckled softly, rubbing a hand over his chin. “Something like that. We move around a lot, so it’s not as fun as it seems. There are definitely sucky parts. You’re lucky to live in one place for so long. I’d give anything to experience a normal year of life.”

“Like what parts?”

I crossed my arms over my chest and stared expectantly at him. I would’ve loved to travel around, working on movies. It was my dream. He was really going to have to sell it to convince me leaving Rock Valley forever wasn’t a dream come true.

He shot me an amused grin. “Well, for one thing, moving around a lot means I never get to meet girls like you.”

Oh, he was good. Real smooth. But I was, too.

“I hate to break it to you, but there are no other girls like me,” I said, lifting my chin proudly.

He arched a single eyebrow and then chuckled, plowing a hand threw his hair. “I’m pretty sure you’re right about that.”

Biting back an approving smile, I leaned onto the window screen and inhaled the wonderfully fresh scent that only came after a hard rain. It was combined with the citrusy scent of Zane’s cologne. I closed my eyes for a second, enjoying it with every fiber of my being.

What had started as a natural disaster had turned into an amazing time with a boy who seemed to give as good as he got. He was a bit more brooding than I usually went for in a guy, but I liked seeing his eyes light up when he looked over at me. I had the feeling he didn’t smile often, but each and every smi

le was worth the effort. I wouldn’t mind earning a few more...

But then the rude buzzing of a phone broke the silence. I opened my eyes to see Zane pulling a phone from a pocket in his shorts, then grimace as he read the message to himself.

“My dad’s here,” he said, nodding his head toward the parking lot where a black SUV had pulled up. “I’ve got to go.”

He took a step toward the door, but I instinctively grabbed for his elbow. He couldn’t leave like this. Not when we were just beginning to get to know each other.

“Wait—when will I see you again?”

Something about Zane had me tied up in bows. I had to know that he’d be around. I wanted to know more about the mystery boy with the strange habit of saying exactly what he thought.

“I’ll be around for the next couple of weeks.” He made a face and then shuffled his feet. “But I’m not really supposed to go anywhere. Especially with a girl. It’s against the rules.”

Now it was my turn to make a face. I’d heard of girls not being allowed to date because of overprotective fathers, but I’d never heard of a guy not being allowed. His dad was something else.