Seth
I’m dying. My heart has completely stopped. Hannah Stuart is walking in my direction, chatting with Tess. She’s laughing at something Tess said a moment before. She has a killer smile, but that’s not what has me stopping dead in my tracks. She’s wearing my old Queen t-shirt from when I was in high school, and she looks like an absolute babe attack. It was actually my dad’s shirt first. He got it at one of their concerts long before I was born, and he let me have it after I was an idiot and wore it while painting my bedroom. It still has the glob of blue paint on the right sleeve, so there’s no denying that it’s mine.
I loved that t-shirt—so much so that I wore it to school every day for twenty-seven days straight. Everyone thought it was hilarious. Well, everyone except my mom. After the twenty-seventh day, she intercepted the shirt from the dryer and hid it from me until I agreed to wear other clothes. I was put on a strict, once-a-week schedule with the t-shirt after that. That put a stop to the madness.
Hannah and I lock eyes with each other when she’s five feet in front of me, and the apples of her cheeks turn pink. She looks away quickly and refuses to look at me again. So, it would seem she’s heard the rumors going around town.
“Cool shirt. Do you like Queen?” I ask, drawing her gaze back to me.
“Oh, yeah, they’re great.”
“Where’d you get the shirt?” I can’t resist asking. I’ve wondered where it had disappeared to. I spent a week searching everywhere for it before accepting that it was gone forever. And now, here it is, well over two years since it went missing, on Hannah. It’s big on her, so she has it knotted on the bottom. I love that shirt, but I love it on her even more. I’m never asking for it back. I want to see her wear it at least a thousand more times.
“Oh, I don’t have many clothes left, thanks to the fire, so Colby gave me a few t-shirts to wear. At first, I was a little annoyed that he gave me a paint-splattered shirt, but it’s an actual Queen concert shirt, and it’s so soft,” she explains with a shrug of her shoulders.
That jerk, Colby, had my shirt the whole time. I would be angry, but I’m choosing not to be since it led me to this exact moment. Now, I’m thinking I ought to go kiss Colby’s feet, but he’d just end up punching me or something.
Tess glances between the two of us a few times before scratching the side of her head and saying, “Well, uh, I better get back home to Dan and the girls. Call me later, Hannah.” She gives her a quick hug before walking back in the direction they just came from. I hope I didn’t run her off from what appeared to be a girls’ day, but I’m glad for the opportunity to spend a moment alone with her.
“Have you had lunch yet?” I ask. Her eyebrows scrunch up in confusion as she glances at the time on her phone.
“Seth, it’s 3:30 in the afternoon,” she laughs. “Of course I’ve already had lunch.”
“Just checking. Come get some coffee with me, then,” I say as I take the shopping bags out of her hands. I don’t have long before I need to be back at the station. I grab her wrist with my free hand and drag her behind me as I walk quickly to the coffee shop. She giggles behind me as she rushes to keep up.
“I’ve already been here once today,” she laughs.
“It’s coffee! Everyone needs more coffee.”
We sit at the first empty table I spot, and then I realize that us being here together is only going to add fuel to those rumors circulating about us. She looks around the shop and then slinks down a bit in her chair. She glances over at the baristas and groans softly.
I go to the counter and order our coffees. The girls behind the counter giggle and eye me the entire time. I wonder if I have something on my face, so I try to see my reflection in the napkin holder on the counter. Nothing, as far as I can tell. Or maybe it’s the scruff left above my mouth that I didn’t shave this morning. It’s March, and I’m a firefighter. I have to at least try to grow a mustache, no matter how late to the game I am.
I take our drinks to the table, and the baristas are openly staring at me and Hannah. Ahhh, now I understand what’s happening here.
“I heard a crazy rumor going around about the two of us,” I say, trying to gauge her reaction. Her head pops up in my direction.
“Yeah, me too.” She chews on her bottom lip, and I want to reach out and pull it out from between her teeth. Her wide mouth and full lips are so inviting, but that’s not what I am meant to be thinking.
“I want you to know that I have nothing to do with that rumor. I ran into Shandi earlier this morning and found out she’s been spreading it all over town, thanks to her friend Leslie.”
“Leslie? Joey’s mom?”
“Yeah, I guess they’re friends. Anyway, you’re Colby’s sister. You have nothing to worry about from me,” I say. It sucks how true that statement is. “You’re practically like a sister to me.” That statement, however, is a bald-faced lie. If she were my sister, seeing her in my shirt would annoy me. I’d demand it back immediately. Instead, I can barely keep my eyes off her sitting across the table from me.
“Yep, practically my brother,” she says in a nervous voice. Her nose is scrunched up, and looking at her, I know my heart is in trouble. Deep, deep trouble. I’m glad we got this cleared up.
My day of reckoning has arrived. It’s Thursday, and I’m standing in the library with Hannah, waiting for all of the miniature people to arrive and wreak havoc on my day. Hannah has thankfully asked my coworker Chris to read the book. I think she can see the terror in my eyes. A sheen of sweat has broken out on my forehead, and my hands are shaking so much I wouldn’t be able to hold a book even if I wanted to.
“Are you okay?” Hannah asks as she puts her hand on my arm. Her touch is soft and gentle, and it eases my nerves a little. Truth is, I’m not okay. Kids freak me out. They always have. Why did I agree to do this? I should have told her no or, at the very least, given the task to someone else. The other guys all love this kind of thing. I just couldn’t stand the thought of some of those guys being here, hanging out with Hannah, flirting with her, and putting a smile on her face, when I know half of those guys are interested in dating her. I know it shouldn’t bother me, but it does.
They wouldn’t have done anything past harmless flirting, though. Now that I’m here, I really wish I would’ve swallowed my pride, but it’s too late. I’m here now. I shake out my arms in an attempt to get my hands to stop shaking.
“Is Joey going to be here?” I ask, and I can guarantee that she hears the panic in my voice. Why am I the way that I am? I have a good 150 pounds on these kids. If they attack me, I could probably fling all of them across the room and get away without any serious injuries—not that things would ever go that far south. I’m sure they’re all precious angels, just like Hannah said. I shake the image of rabid kids hanging on me out of my head and replace it with children sitting calmly on the rug with sweet smiles on their chubby faces.
“I don’t know. I get the impression that Leslie was a little peeved with the way we dumped him on them at the end of the night on Saturday,” Hannah says.
“Are you serious? After we got stuck watching him the entire night while he ran around like a maniac, she’s annoyed with us?”