HOW I LOST YOU

CHAPTER SIX

Chapter Six

Sweat beaded down my back and over my shoulders. I pressed my hands and feet into the yoga mat, my butt in the air in the downward dog position, contemplating my belly button, trying to stay focused instead of being hyperaware of the guy at the back of the class who kept sneaking looks at me. I was irrationally mad at him. His presence was interrupting the quiet that should have been in my head. I pretended it was him, not Kya, who had me upset.

Tina, the instructor, flowed into a plank and I glanced in the mirror at the boy’s reflection. His dark eyes met mine and he smiled, but I quickly looked away and swooped down into plank.

I dripped bacon-smelling sweat on my mat, but instead of enjoying the grease cleanse and being in the moment in yoga, my mind and body weren’t connected. When the class finally ended, I still had the little ball of anxiety in my belly. I rolled my yoga mat in record time, grabbed my towel and water bottle, and rushed out.

After a long cool shower, I wrapped my wet hair up in a bun, dressed, and left the change room. I slowed down when I spotted the boy leaning against the counter in the reception area, chatting with the owner. A warm smile lit up his face when he spotted me. I lowered my eyes.

“Hi, Grace.” He spoke in a low tone, slightly above a whisper. Part of yoga etiquette. Speak in low voices. “I played paintball with you and your sister yesterday.”

“I remember.” Levi. The boy with the temper. The badass. “She’s my best friend. Not my sister.” I matched his low tone but smiled because he thought we were sisters. I’d always wanted a sister. Besides the obvious allure of sharing clothes, maybe a sister could help analyze the foreign minds of boys. Maybe share chores. Something other than Saturday morning breakfast. I always got to be the one to do the “womanly” stuff around the house. I’d never seen my brother scrubbing a toilet.

“Oh. I thought you were related.” As if he should know anything about me at all. He paused. “My cousin has a crush on her.”

Of course he did. That’s probably what this conversation was about. To get information for his cousin.

“Tell him to get in line,” I said, but smiled to soften the message.

“He’s already butting his way to the front. Trust me.”

I took a deep breath, appropriate given the wonderful smells that filled the reception area and the slogans about inner peace painted on the walls.

“So, you’re into hot yoga as well as paintball?” he asked, changing the subject. Seems we both liked to challenge stereotypes.

“Grace has been coming faithfully since we opened,” Carly, the owner, told him, sparing me the need to say anything. Carly glanced at me. “Levi told me he was a regular at hot yoga in Canada. He moved here from Vancouver.” There was a slight buzz of excitement in her voice. “He’s going to be going to your high school.”

I groaned. “Ugh. Don’t remind me about school.” It started up in a couple of weeks.

“I know,” Levi said. “Summer goes by fast.”

I stared at him. Maybe he wasn’t movie star good-looking, but there was definitely an appeal to him. Height. Confidence? “Did you like Splatterfest?” I moved past him to sit on the bench across from the shoe rack and slipped on my shoes.

“Yeah. Even though I sucked.”

“I’ve never tried woodsball. Speedball is faster.” I stood up.

“Grace is one of the best female paintball players in Washington state,” Carly said.

Actually, Carly had never seen me play, but it didn’t stop her from trying to pimp me out.