Page 43 of TJ Powar Has Something to Prove

The mood has soured slightly, so she tries to lighten it. “So. Nationals. Congratulations.”

“And here I thought we were being honest with each other,” he intones. She snickers.

“Okay, fine. Screw you for taking my rightful spot.” He nods as if that’s better. “At least I owned Nate.”

“On paper, anyway.”

She aims another kick at his foot. He pulls it off the table at the last second, and she twists to get him in the leg instead. He laughs softly. TJ smiles against her will; he seems less tired now.

They lapse into yet another easy silence. This time, though, they’re half facing each other. She studies his face because she’s never seen it so close. Charlie has gently rounded eyebrows, the edges fuzzy and indistinct the way natural brows are. His lashes are long, but not as thick as hers. There’s the tiniest bit of stubble glinting off his jawline. She searches the strong lines of his throat for more, but there are too many shadows.

She raises her eyes back to his, and finds him staring back unblinkingly.

“I like the earrings,” he says suddenly, reaching out to tap one.

She feels warm for no reason. He’s complimenting the earrings, not her. She reaches up to steady the swaying earring, brushing his fingers in the process. “They were my grandmother’s.”

“Hmm. I knew you couldn’t have such good taste.” She scoffs. He drops his hand. “A ponytail would show them off even better.”

Curse him and his fashion sense, he’s totally right. This look would be much better with a slick, high-up ponytail. And she even tried it, back in the hotel room.

But. Then she took in the whole picture: Black dress with lace sleeves, matching tights and heels, killer eyeshadow, sleek ponytail, dangling Rajasthani earrings, and...sideburns. Long fuzzy caterpillar sideburns that completely killed her aesthetic. So she put her hair back down and curled it around her face. She’s not proud of it. It’s a point against her in her little internal debate. But given the last few days, she just let it go. Part of debating is deciding which hills are worth dying on, after all. And this hill... Well. TJ just didn’t have the strength for it tonight.

She rearranges her hair to frame her face. “I don’t need your subpar fashion advice.”

“That would hurt if I didn’t know how obsessed you are with my tie collection.”

“I am not!”

“Then why are you blushing?”

“I don’tblush.” One of the many benefits to being brown.

“You don’t turn red,” he concedes. “But your skin... glows.”

Her face gets hotter. Charlie even looks surprised at his own words. But then he smiles, and something in her chest flip-flops.

If she puts her pride aside, she can acknowledge Charlieiscute. Actually, he’s... more than cute. TJ usually just chooses to focus on how annoying he is. But she’d bet he’s got admirers at Whitewater.

She frowns, not liking that thought.

“What?” he asks.

TJ shrugs. “I just realized I don’t know much about you.”

“What do you want to know?”

Later, TJ will blame her lack of filter on her sleep-deprived state. But as it is she just blurts, “Are you single?”

He blinks. Then: “Yes.”

TJ can hardly believe that. Not with those bright, intense eyes and the easy confidence in that grin. She craves that kind of confidence. She’s craving a lot of things right now, actually.

“Was that it?” he asks, and she realizes—too late—she should’ve had more questions prepared to avoid sounding transparent. She scrambles for something, but her hesitation is too long.

“You know, I’ve had this theory for a while,” Charlie says.

His voice sounds deeper than usual. She licks her lips. Her curiosity about him has suddenly expanded in all sorts of other directions. “A theory, you say?”