With Every Heartbeat

She went to Cora for instruction, but Cora didn’t have a clue what was going on. She was busy being one of the sign holders.

When no one was very forthright about giving her any duties, I hesitantly called, “You can help me.”

She turned, and I was bowled over by how pretty she was. Her hair was a tad bit darker than mine, but it looked, I don’t know, better. Shinier. It had this natural wave that curled perfectly around her heart-shaped face. And her eyes were a bright jewel blue while mine were more washed-out green. But she grinned at me as if I could be her new best friend.

“It looks like the guys over there are teaming up and having two or three people clean each car,” I said.

“Sounds like a good plan to me.” She bounded forward and grabbed the hose. “I can rinse.”

“That’d be great. Thanks.”

We easily set up a workflow, and before long, we were able to talk and clean at the same time. She moved closer to scrub on the same side of a bright orange SUV as me when I couldn’t keep up, and spoke low as she leaned in to ask, “So, are we the only two who didn’t get the memo that we were supposed to wear bikinis to this thing?”

I blushed. “Actually, I did kind of get that memo. But I refused, so my roommate settled for stuffing me into this.”

I wished I were wearing something more like her outfit. Her shirt was oversized with a hole in one sleeve and the shorts were long and paint splattered. She looked so comfortable I was envious.

“Well, thank God you didn’t listen to her, or I’d be feeling totally out of my element right now. Though, I swear, those aren’t swimming suits they’re wearing. Seriously, who would actually swim in one of those things without worrying the first wave to come along would rip it right off you?”

I giggled, totally agreeing.

“And that thing that blonde in the blue is wearing?” she went on, shaking her head with horror. “No. Just…no.”

I grinned but felt compelled to say, “She’s my roommate.”

The blonde flushed hard, her eyes growing wide. “Oh my God. I’m so sorry.”

With a laugh, I waved her apology aside. “No, it’s okay. I love her to death, but I totally agree with you on the outfit. Not over my dead body.”

She set her hand over her heart and blew out a breath. “Whew. Thanks, but I still feel crappy for talking about them all behind their backs.” Then she cleared her throat as she picked up the hose to rinse. “So, you’re Cora’s roommate? You must know Quinn, then?”

My heart sped up at the mention of his name. Keeping my eyes on a bird dropping I was trying to rub off the paint, I murmured, “Yeah, I…I met him last night.”

“He’s such a sweetheart,” Caroline assured me. “Cora has herself the best right there. He’s friends with my brother Noel. They’re on the football team together and they both also work at Forbidden.”

I wasn’t sure what Forbidden was, but I nodded politely. “I’ve only met one other member on the team. Ten, I think his name was.”

My new friend nodded as a strange look lit her eyes. “Yeah. I’ve met him too.”

When she didn’t go on, I cleared my throat. “I haven’t actually been here long. I arrived last night, in fact. I’m going to be a freshman at ESU this year, so Cora’s taking me under her wing.”

“Really?” Her face lit up. “I’m going to be a freshmen too.” Suddenly, she slapped her hand to her forehead and laughed. “Crap, I forgot. I’m Caroline, by the way. Caroline Gamble.”

I laughed because I also hadn’t realized we hadn’t introduced ourselves yet. “Zoey Blakeland.”

“It’s so nice to meet you.”

We both burst out grinning at her dramatically formal greeting as she stuck out her hand and bowed to me. In seconds, the grins turned into laughter. I’m not really sure why we were laughing, but it felt nice.

Business picked up. With Caroline and me working together, we whipped through each car and started getting busier than the guys’ side, which made Cora and her band of sign wavers cheer and hoot, calling out insults to them.

But soon, a bunch of the men ripped off their shirts and sprayed each other down. When Ten and Quinn got into a laughing tussle over the water hose, both Caroline and I had to pause and gape. Quinn kept his shirt on, but he was still absolute perfection. Together, the two guys made the game look like erotic water play.

When a third guy burst in, soaking them both down and breaking them apart, Caroline snorted in disgust. “Noel, you moron,” she said to herself. “Way to ruin a perfectly yummy view.”