Distracted By You: Book 1 in The Exeter Running Girls Series, стр. 30

Savannah and I were the first ones to arrive at Chequers, so we perched on the stools to claim our pool table while we waited for the others.

“That bad?” Savannah asked as we discussed Tye’s argument with his dad on Saturday.

“The tasmanian devil could not have looker angrier,” it would be a long time before I could forget how furious Tye had been. His face had been pink, veins popping, and the words had felt venomous, even if I didn’t know what they had meant.

“Talk of said tasmanian devil,” Savannah pointed over my shoulder at the guys as they walked down the stairs towards the pool tables. Tye was sporting a face as good a thunder. As soon as they reached us, Luke elbowed me and gestured to Tye, wordlessly urging me to say something.

“I’ll go get us some drinks,” Luke’s hint was quickly taken up by Savannah.

“We’ll come too,” she had to grab the rather non-plussed Sam to pull him away.

“I don’t think it’s a three-man job,” he complained but she was ignoring him.

Once their backs were turned, Tye perched on the stool next to me, his eyes fixed on the floor.

“How did your meeting with Mr Grumpy go?” I asked carefully, enjoying how I had managed to compare his dad to another one of the Mr Men.

“Horrible,” Tye quickly pushed past the small smile my words had brought, returning to a heavy frown. “There was a lot of shouting,” he ran a hand across the back of his neck.

“Do you want distracting again?” It was pretty much the only thing I could do.

“Yes,” he turned to face me fully, splaying out his hands in a pleading gesture. “Distract me as much as you can. Come at me with any idea you have, with everything you’ve got.” In the soft lighting of the pub, he looked particularly handsome, even though his cocoa eyes were sad. I was desperate to cheer him up.

“Yes sir,” I saluted him as an idea popped into my head. The last time we had been at the pub playing pool, my distraction technique from the game had worked surprisingly well, it could be fun to have another go. Especially as he had given me carte-blanche. It meant I could indulge in fantasies, have fun without risk. I crossed one leg over the other, bringing my boot-clad foot to brush the inside of his calf up to his knee slowly. Last time the move had worked so well, and I was not disappointed. His handsome face cracked into a smile.

“You’re planning to flirt with me all night?” His voice had dropped a little deeper than it had been a moment before.

“Best distraction of any kind,” I repeated the movement of my foot.

“So it is,” his eyes followed the movement of my heeled boot as it dropped down his calf again. “Careful, Ivy. Flirt too much and my resistance will cave.”

“Resistance to what?”

“You.” His cocoa eyes couldn’t even lift to meet mine.

He was resisting me? This was not coupled with his normal wink.

“What if I don’t want you to resist?” I asked very quietly, feeling my stomach knot in nerves. The little people that sat in my tummy were all waving their heads madly, as if to ask What the hell are you doing? Backtrack!

It was the barrier we hadn’t crossed, despite flirtation, but I wanted to know. I really wanted to know if he was just flirting with me to be distracted and have a bit of fun, or if he was actually interested. I wanted to be more than his friend, was that so wrong? It was hard not to ask, sat with him like this where all I could think about was removing that t-shirt and looking at those tattoos beneath.

Tye’s face I couldn’t decipher, but his eyes were now running over me. This move only made my stomach jolt. Before he could answer, the others returned.

“Guys against girls again?” It was Sam, it appeared as if he had rushed back, much to the glower of anger from Savannah behind him. “Great, Savannah, you break.” Sam delivered instructions and a hearty shove of the cue as she mumbled something to him. Luke handed out the drinks, passing me a customary cider. “We’re going to win our money back.”

Tye and I avoided looking at each other as we drank our first sips. It seemed my little push had answered the question. He hadn’t said anything, not that he had had much chance before Sam had returned, but he had said nothing. Looks like I was going to be stuck as a friend.

Not wanting to show how deeply this thought cut me, I returned eagerly to my happy normal tone and conversation. I could be gloomy about this thought later. Tye joined in and within fifteen minutes of play we were back to normal. I also lived up to my promise and flirted ridiculously with him.

We were drinking from the same cider glass with him sat on a stool and me stood in front between his legs when the chat of the group shifted to the Easter break.

“How about you, Tye?” Savannah asked as she took her turn at the pool table. “Where are you going for Easter?”

“Home, to the family,” he took another gulp from the glass. “Just for the first week. I’ll be back for the second to start revision.”

“And you, Ivy?” Savannah passed the cue to Sam.

“I’m staying here.”

“What? Here in halls?” Her surprise was obvious and high pitched.

“Yep,” I took the cider glass back, eager to busy myself and look away.

“You’re not going home at all?” Tye asked frowning, not picking up on the obvious clue I did not want to talk about it. “Your friends aren’t staying