"Umm," was all I was able to respond.
"Shall we?" he asked, rising fluidly.
I almost groaned. Time for Gym.245 I stood with care, worried my balance might have been compromised by the strange new intensity between us.
He walked me to my next class in silence and paused at the door; I turned to say goodbye. His face startled me—his expression was torn, almost ripped, and so fiercely beautiful that the ache to touch him in his weakness flared as strong as before. I resisted, my hands trembling at my sides, a goodbye stuck in my throat.
He raised his hand, hesitant, conflict raging beneath his eyes, and then swiftly brushed the length of my cheekbone with his fingertips. His skin was as icy as ever, but the trail his fingers left on my skin burned with passion—like I'd been burned with hot ice.
He turned without a word and strode quickly away from me.
I walked into the gym, lightheaded and wobbly. In my trancelike state I changed, and was only vaguely aware that there were other people surrounding me, giggling. Reality didn't fully set in until I was handed a racquet and realized I'd put my shorts on as a shirt and my shirt on as a shorts. Before I could tell Coach Capp I needed to change, he blew his whistle and ordered us to pair up into teams.
Mercifully, some vestiges of Mike's fat crush still survived; he came to stand beside me.
"Do you want to be a team?"
"Thanks, Mike—you don't have to do this, you know." I grimaced at the thought of owing Mike anything.
245. Time for Gym (1973 - 1976) was a critically acclaimed sitcom about a group of uncoordinated teens as they endure the trials and tribulations encountered in a high school gym class.