Honor Among Friends (NaNoWriMo14)

Chapter 15-B

Shocked by his appearance, Madison stood and stared. That's when Avery decided to help her out and give her a nudge....a particularly hard one.

"Oww," she muttered, throwing Avery a glare. Her shoulder and arm lifted as she rubbed the spot.

"Excellent!" the director snapped, smiling widely. "Thank you, Ms. Chase. I'll leave you to it."

Looking pleased, Carson shoved his hands in his pockets and sauntered over. Her eyes roamed over him. He looked strong and unapologetically male in jeans and a black button down shirt. The ends of his shirt were rolled over and pushed up to his forearm. She could see the muscles flexing as he moved.

Kelly stepped from behind and whispered in her ear, "You might want to wipe the drool off your face."

"I'm not drooling," she shot back. But she swiped a hand over her mouth just in case. Her heart kicked into high gear when his eyes locked onto hers. They were like a beacon calling out to her. Unable to control herself, she met him halfway. When he was within touching distance she asked, "What are you doing here?"

"I got your text," he replied.

"But you never responded." She would know. She vigilantly checked her phone every ten minutes since she sent the darn thing.

His hazel eyes flashed. "I wanted to talk in person, but then I remembered you're grounded. The only way I could see you this weekend was to come here." He shrugged. "So here I am."

"Aww," Avery sighed.

"That's so cute," Kelly commented, clutching her chest.

Carson ducked his head and smiled as Madison whirled around and glowered at the girls. "Seriously?" she demanded. "Don't you have something better to do?"

Avery shrugged. "But this is so much more fascinating."

Kelly pushed her glasses up again. "Hey, some of us don't have boyfriends and have to live vicariously through you. So suck it up." Then she turned to Carson and sized him up. With a glint in her eye, she asked him, "Say Carson, do you have any single friends?"

He stroked his chin and smirked. "Actually, I have this friend named Ben. He's single."

"Oh really? Do tell."

Sensing Madison's impatience, Avery butted in. "He can tell you all about that later, Kelly." She latched onto Madison and Carson and ushered out the door. "Why don't you show him around, Madison? Give him the tour." She gave her a sly wink.

"Great idea." Madison squeezed her hand in gratitude.

Once they were alone, Carson rocked backed on his heels. "Sooo...you wanted to talk? What about?"

She did, but she wasn't prepared for him to show up and want to speak now. She thought she had at least a couple more hours to think about the proper words to say. "Um, I....well the thing is..." She stumbled over her words then blurted out, "What were you going to say before? At the track yesterday? You never got to finish."

His expression faltered and suddenly he looked as uncomfortable as she did. "It's stupid now that I think about it. You probably don't want to know."

"I do," she rushed out.

Her eagerness seemed to relax him. The hard lines around his face softened as he chuckled. "Well, I uh, saw you the other day at lunch. You were sitting with Zach Brewer and I was wondering if you and him...?"

"We're just friends."

He looked skeptical. "Really? Because I've known Zach all my life and he doesn't have many friends who are girls. And he doesn't sit with them at lunch unless they mean something to him."