Queen of the track

XIII

Chapter 13.

Gray

Raven Mitchell can seriously pack a punch. Of course, the receiving end of it was aimed at a heavy weight bag, but still, the girl seemed to know what she was doing, though I'm not sure if that actually surprises me.

I had spotted her working out at the gym long before she saw me—that was evident by the shock on her face when we locked eyes in the mirror when I was working out later on. Not surprisingly, she turned away and acted as if I wasn't even there. Still unsurprisingly, she looks good in her work out clothes—sweaty or not.

I managed to avoid telling Ryan that I've accidentally joined the same gym as Raven when he picked me up for the party, because I know that if he finds out, he'll try to talk me into switching someplace else.

He insisted on driving since he's seen the monstrosity that I own, and he assured me that he doesn't drink, so he'll be staying sober for the entire evening. Since I had a nagging feeling that tonight isn't going to bode well, it meant that I also need to stay sober in case AJ decides to pick a fight. But since arriving here at Jonah's house, the first person I laid eyes on was Raven, dancing and laughing with her friends. So now I'm standing in the shadows of the room with a beer in my hand, watching her—but not in a creepy-stalker way, just with curiosity.

"Have you been standing here since we arrived?" Ryan asks me as he approaches. He disappeared shortly after we got here, presumably to find AJ, but it doesn't look like he was successful by his disappointed tone of voice.

I tear my eyes away from Raven and her friends and look down at him. He's nervous, he keeps looking around as if someone's going to jump out at him, and the entire car ride here, he kept tapping his fingers on the steering wheel.

"Relax." I tell him. "It was your idea to come here."

"Yeah?" He laughs nervously and shakes his head. "Well, it was a bad one."

"You found AJ yet?"

"What?" Ryan looks up at me with wide eyes, stuttering as he averts his gaze. "Uh, why would you think—"

"Come on, Ryan." I say firmly. "I'm not stupid. It's obvious something happened between you two."

He looks at me again and sighs, "it isn't what you think."

"So you weren't in a relationship?"

"No—well, yes, but no ... it was complicated—is. It is complicated." He stammers, shaking his head. I nod slowly when he sighs again. "I've barely known you a week, man. When did you find out?"

"I figured it out pretty quick." I shrug. "I notice things."

"Great." He says sarcastically, then follows my line of sight across the room and laughs. "Well, I notice things too, like how you pretend to hate Raven."

"I'm not pretending." I reply, watching as she runs her hands through her hair, her hips swaying to the music as she mouthes along with the lyrics.

"Really? Is that why you haven't stopped staring at her?"

"It's a hateful stare."