Page 18 of Sam & Justin (Gomillion High Reunion #4)

“He was in our group, noticed your little ploy with the brochures.”

Justin looked all kinds of smug. “Then it worked.”

“It did.” I paused for a moment, wondering if the next words were going to make him think less of me. Maybe he’d think I was a piece of shit. “Too bad I have no idea who the hell I was just talking to.”

I should’ve given Justin a bit more credit, because he didn’t think I was a piece of shit.

Or if he did, he thought I was a funny one, because he laughed loud enough that someone we passed startled and almost dropped their popcorn.

“That was Robert Dawson,” Justin informed me.

“He was in mostly advanced classes with me.”

“He was in a shop class with me. Used to bitch about the oil and grease and all that.”

“That sounds like Robbie.”

Robbie. The nickname was like a lock turning in my memory, and I started remembering more about the kid he’d been.

He’d bitched a lot, but he’d never really paid me any attention.

The few times we’d talked in class, he’d been nice enough.

Guess it made sense that he was nice enough to me now.

He might have just been one of those guys, the kind that didn’t stand out much but treated people pretty well.

Me and Justin went and found a seat about halfway up the bleachers.

The gym was more crowded than I thought it’d be.

There was a good mix of students from my class, current students, and what I could only assume were townies looking for something to do on a Saturday morning.

If there was one thing I remembered about Gomillion, it was that the basketball games could always draw a crowd.

There wasn’t much to do outside of cheer for the high school teams back then, and I guessed it was on the list of things that hadn’t changed.

“You gotta do anything during the game?” I leaned over to ask Justin, trying to make my voice heard over the din of conversation going on around us. “Or do I get you to myself for a bit?”

Justin grinned one of those grins that made his blue eyes shine. “For the next hour and a half, I’m yours.” I’m pretty sure I had a matching grin. “Assuming, of course, that nothing hits the fan.”

“There a chance for that?”

Justin’s grin faltered, and he let out a heavy sigh. “What I’ve learned in my years of working for Rachel Mendoza is that there is always a chance that something could go wrong.”

Some people might have thought that was a pessimistic take, but I liked it.

There was a shade of reality to it. It was the kind of sentiment I tried to pass on to the kids I worked with, because too many times, shit would go wrong, and they’d let it make them spiral.

I didn’t think Justin was the type to spiral over things going wrong.

If anything, I would almost bet on him having backup plans to his backup plans.

Hell, even last night, when Theo misplaced the supplies, he had a backup plan figured out in under a minute. He was just that type.

But I wasn’t going to be thinking about the things that could go wrong.

I was going to bask in the time I got with him.

I already knew that it wasn’t going to be enough.

In twenty-four hours, I’d be back on the road to King’s Bay, and Justin would be a figure in the rearview.

Because I couldn’t close my eyes and imagine that he might show up in King’s Bay.

He was too woven into Gomillion. It was deep in him, down to his core.

Same way as the revulsion for this town was in mine.

So, the chances of seeing him again after all this? They weren’t good.

I realized just as the thought hit that I didn’t like it one bit. I didn’t like the idea that today was it. We didn’t have anything planned for tomorrow. There wasn’t some big goodbye breakfast. There wasn’t any reason for me to do anything other than load up my car and hit the road.

“Where are you right now?” Justin asked, his voice breaking through the series of realizations I was having.

“Right here,” I lied.

I didn’t need to go into all the thoughts in my head. What good would it do?

A whistle blew and suddenly, Theo was out on the court with a microphone.

People began hooting and hollering as he announced the alumni that were playing and the current basketball team.

Music started playing over the speakers, and it became too loud to think.

Not that I was bitching about it, because I didn’t want to keep thinking.

I didn’t want to travel down the path my thoughts were taking.

The game started after that, and I was reminded of the fact that I didn’t really like basketball.

Everyone else seemed really into it. Even Justin was starting to stomp his feet and act like an idiot.

I found myself watching him more than I was watching the game.

It was why I noticed little things, like the way he kept looking down at the man on the court.

The one who had announced the start of the game.

I didn’t know what he was thinking, watching him.

Maybe they had some kind of history and he was one of the guys he’d seen since he’d come out during college, or maybe they were just friends.

Didn’t really matter, because when the clock was ticking down to halftime and one of our alumnus was dribbling down to tie up the game, my hand was the one Justin reached for.

He pulled me out of my seat, and suddenly, I was being drawn into the game.

I cheered just as loud as Justin did as the ball went through the hoop and tied the game up.

If anyone asked, I was just glad it was halftime, and I could get another pretzel.

The second half of the game didn’t have any other moments that had my heart racing.

At least none that had it racing as much as the fact that Justin’s hand kept finding mine did.

Every time he sat back down from shouting and hollering, he reached over and grabbed my hand.

Sometimes, he’d give it a little squeeze.

No matter how many times he did it, my heart gave a little flutter.

The noise wasn’t enough to drown out the truth.

I had a thing for Justin. It wasn’t in the past the way I thought it was.

No, it had reared its ugly head right here in the present day, and I was in it deep.

Knowing it meant I probably shouldn’t be sitting there, letting it grow.

I shouldn’t be feeding it with holding his hands or watching the way he looked a bit flushed when the alumni scored.

There was a lot of shit I shouldn’t be doing, but I didn’t care.

Not when the fourth quarter started and he leaned in close. “Are you having fun?” I could barely make out his words over the sounds around us, but the warmth of his breath sent shivers down my spine and reminded me of the night before.

“More than I expected,” I answered, leaning in a bit too close.

Our lips were inches apart. I had half a mind to close the distance between us, but I didn’t know if that was a good idea.

He didn’t seem to have the same qualms, because he leaned right in.

I didn’t know what was happening in the game.

The noise around us quieted, and the whole world narrowed down to his lips on mine.

The kiss only lasted a moment, but it proved what I already knew.

To no one’s surprise, I didn’t know who won the game. If I’d barely been paying attention before the kiss, I wasn’t paying a lick of it after. I only tuned back into reality when Justin popped the bubble we were existing in as the final buzzer went off and people began shouting and cheering.

“I need to go check on something,” he shouted over the noise. “I’ll meet you in the parking lot, okay?”

I didn’t even get a chance to respond before he hopped up and started weaving through the crowd.

And I was just sitting there, watching him go.