A New Reflection

42. Reunion

I spin around as Alex glides towards me, grinning ear to ear. Unsure of his next move, my heartrate increases exponentially until the veins in my temples are about to explode.

He envelops me in a hug that momentarily washes away every doubt I have ever had about myself, every negative thought swept away like jagged grey pebbles in warm, translucent ocean waves.

"I lied to you," he says, breaking away but not stepping back from me; his voice is low, soft and laced with humor. "To get you here by yourself with me."

I mutter something tremendously sexy and articulate, such as "Huh?"

"Practice starts at 10:00. Come here."

Alex grabs my wrist with a touch all at once light and insistent, leading me over to the stage in the far corner of the gym. He leaps up, using his arms to propel himself; once settled, he grabs my hand to drag me onto the stage next to him. My ability to scale onto the high ledge is far less smooth than his.

When I find we are seated atop the stage leg to leg, I gulp in a sudden breath and blurt out: "Don't you have a girlfriend?"

Alex laughs low and mischievous for several seconds, and it's the most endearing sound in the history of all time.

"Nope. Didn't have one when I hugged you the last time either."

"At the basketball game?" My limbs are pulsing with torrent blood as his words begin to sink in.

"That's right."

"Or when you texted me over the holidays?"

"Yep. Singly-single." Alex turns his head, his kaleidoscope eyes morphing with various shapes and colors as he gazes intently into my face.

"Oh."

"Oh?" he chuckles. "That's all? You're single, right? I hunted your social media account for clues."

"Clues?" I snort. "Yeah, I'm single."

"Okay..." Alex grins at me, and he looks like an excited child as pronounced dimples materialize across his summer-tanned face. His hair appears a shade lighter than I remember; it's a touch longer, and the way it hangs tangled in all directions causes me to believe he put no extra effort into his physical appearance this morning to impress me. He just showed up as himself.

Alex makes a random movement over my hand, which I have tensely placed on my thigh; his fingers tickle mine for a moment, and he bounces his palm a few times as if playing chords on a piano. It's like he's dying to take my hand but is attempting to hold back.

"Okay?" I echo his word back at him. "So...?"

"So?" he repeats, eyebrows raised in expectance.

"Can you be direct with me here? I'm not good with decoding all the mixed messages. Why did you want to me to come here early?"

"Be direct?" he exclaims, and his cheeks shine pinkish with a mix of exasperation and amusement. He runs his eyes along our legs, now melded together, down to our tennis shoes, which are hanging in contact with each other's. Then he grasps my hand fully in his for the first time ever. "I like you, Natalia Stevens!"

"Oh." Unable to meet his eyes, I blush and crack a smile.

Alex places my hand back onto my thigh in a gentle gesture, extracting his own hand. "I'm sorry that I sent you mixed messages. I did have a girlfriend when you texted me the first time, in the fall, which is why I wasn't able to be more forthcoming in expressing my feelings for you."

I recall our conversation at that time. He may not have been overly expressive, but he was genuine and honest.

"I missed the emojis." I giggle, relaxing a slight bit and meeting his eyes.