The One That I Want by Jennifer Echols Page A

wheel. On our “date,” I would end up watching as both guys fought over her, like they were contestants on one of those dating shows, and I was someone hired to clean the set.
    “You don’t seem happy,” Max whispered.
    I turned to find him unexpectedly close. Staring into his dark eyes, I didn’t realize for a full five seconds that he’d been whispering to
me
.
    I couldn’t admit I’d been pouting that Addison always got the guy. Or guys. So I nodded toward the tile mural behind us, which depicted pastureland in primary colors with billowing clouds in the blue sky. “I was puzzling over the ironic decor.”
    He laughed. “I can just see the caption on the public service announcement: ‘See this beautiful scene? We razed the field to give you this MARTA station.’”
    I played along. “‘And see how we have improved the bucolic landscape with clouds of smog?’”
    Now that I was enjoying the small talk, of course a train screeched into the station. It was full enough at rush hour that we all got separated for a moment, with Addison grabbing the only empty seat and the rest of us hanging on to the poles. I gripped my baton bag, made myself as small as possible in the crowd, and tried not to lose my balance while both boys and fifty onlookers could see.
    Several stops later, as the train slid into Carter and Addison’s station, Addison jumped up. She gave Max a hard hug, which seemed to startle him. He almost let go of his pole. “See you next Friday!” she sang. She turned to me. “I’ll call you!”
    “Okay,” I sang back, hoping she heard the sarcasm. Addison never called me to chat. She called when she needed something.
    “Keep your nose clean,” she added, touching the tip of her nose, before she disappeared through the door.
    Carter gave me a curt nod. “See ya.”
    I nodded back.
I can’t wait.
    As the doors shut behind them, I swung around my pole, into the nearest empty seat. The train had cleared out. There was lots of space now. The people in my neighborhood did not use public transportation.
    Max sat right beside me, dragging his football bag with him. I moved my baton bag to one side so it didn’t poke him in the thigh. I looked out the far window of the train so I didn’t say something else stupid and give away how fast my heart raced at how close he was. We spent a short stint below ground. The lights flashing by on the tunnel wall were the only indicators that we were moving. Then we climbed into the sunset, with the skyscrapers of Buckhead peeking above the trees and coming closer.
    “You didn’t really think you’d ruined my mojo, did you?”
    I jumped a little at the sound of his voice.
    “You looked worried,” he said. “Carter was kidding.”
    Max was
so cute
. But he’d asked Addison out, so I knew he wasn’t flirting with me. Max and I were friends. I could relax. RELAX, GEMMA.
    I loosened my shoulders against the back of the seat and raised my eyebrows skeptically. “So you
don’t
really wear the same underwear every game?”
    He smiled. “Yeah, I do.”
    “And you’re
not
worried that a chick from the opposing team said you would get your ass kicked?”
    He laughed. “Well, okay, but I don’t want you to feel bad about it. You didn’t know I have a problem. And you’re from the opposing team, after all. You should be glad if I lose my mojo.”
    “I watched you at camp, Max.” This was hard for me to do, but I held his gaze, even as the MARTA rumbled over a connection in the track and rocked back and forth. I messaged to him that I thought I’d seen
him
watching
me
.
    His brows dipped briefly, like he wondered what I was getting at.
    “You don’t miss,” I told him.
    He said just as seriously, “No, I don’t.”
    I opened my hands. “Then why are you worried?”
    A little movement in his cheek told me he’d been clenching his jaw. Finally he said, “I
have
to make every goal.”
    I nodded. “Because there’s tension between you and Carter.”