I laughed under my breath. Of course. Mr. Popular probably had more unread messages than I had spam emails.
“She was wondering if we could all go on the twenty-fourth. Early. Like sunrise early.”
“Oh.” He thought for a second. “What day is that?”
“Not this Saturday. The next one.”
“I think that should work,” he said. Then his mouth curved. “Good thing it’s notthisSaturday since I’ve got a hot date to a wedding.”
He shot me a wink.
“You totally do,” I said, my stomach doing a little swoop from the way he’d winked at me.
“Do you mind texting the group back for me before I forget?”
“Sure.” I pulled my phone from my clutch, opened the chat thread, and typed quickly.
Me: Miles was too popular to notice this thread earlier, but he says the 24th should work.
“Done,” I said, locking my phone.
“Perfect.”
“Should I send you a calendar invite, too?” I asked, half teasing, half serious.
“Probably a good idea.” He laughed. “I’m not convinced my short-term memory has fully recovered from all the concussions.”
“Really?” I asked, a flicker of concern slipping in.
“I’m mostly kidding,” he said, glancing at me with a grin. “I’ve had a couple, but I’m still functioning. Promise.”
“Nothing like putting your body on the line for a sport,” I said.
“Yep.” He slowed at a red light. “What about you? Any bad gymnastics injuries?”
“A few,” I said. “Mostly sprained ankles. A torn ACL. Tendonitis.”
“No broken bones, though?” He looked genuinely impressed.
“Nope. But I did get a concussion once.” I held up a finger before he could think I’d had it too easy. “Hit my head on the balance beam when I was thirteen.”
“Ouch.” He winced. “That sounds painful.”
“It was.” I exhaled. At least, I assumed it was. I couldn’t actually recall much from that day.
That whole summer had been disorienting. Like I’d disappeared into an alternate reality that now just felt like a really bad nightmare.
He turned down the road that passed campus, and my gaze drifted to the apartment building where Lucy and I had lived for the last three years.
“Did you live in the athletic dorms when you were here?” I asked. “Since you went to Eden Falls University?”
“I lived there freshman year,” he said. “After that, a few of us moved into a frat house.”
“That sounds fun.”
“It was.” He laughed. “And yeah, I definitely didn’t follow the coaches’ advice about partying and drinking as closely as I should’ve.”
“Sounds about right for a college guy.”