Stone Creek by Davis, Lainey (reading diary .TXT) 📕

at the brush of Baxter’s skin against mine? And how do I explain the very different feeling I got when my boss touched me back there?

Coming back to the booth, I slide into easy conversation with the others. Justin doesn’t give me any more lingering glances and doesn’t touch me again, so I tell myself I probably overreacted. He’s probably getting excited about the game this weekend. As I relax, I find myself talking about research plans with Julia and Gabe. They’re both focusing on knee research, which is good business for people who work with football players.

I tell them how I’ve always been fascinated by the shoulder. It’s such a delicate joint, connected to so many muscles. I do not tell them my first foray into shoulder trauma was when Bax injured his dodging a blow from his father.

That night, in the forsythia hideout, I helped massage his joint, stretch his arm, soothe him. That’s when I started checking sports medicine books out from the library and learning all that I could about how all the body’s wonderful parts worked together.

Out loud in the bar, though, I just tell them how I started shadowing and interviewing athletic trainers in high school when I was tagging along after Baxter Morgan, just like now.

Before I realize it, the bar tender is calling last drinks. “Shit,” I say. “It’s late.” Julia and Gabe slink off together, his thumb creeping down the waistband of her jeans. I sigh, sort of dreading walking home alone in the dark.

“Let’s get you home then,” Justin says, slapping a few bills on the table. I nod and smile as he picks up my coat, standing behind me while I shrug into it. He’s looking out for me. This is fine. “You live in McPherson, right? I’m parked not far from there.”

We walk close together, but not quite touching, and he asks me about the coming week. “We’ve had a pretty uneventful pre-season with practices,” he says. I nod.

“I didn’t like the look of JT’s thumb this week, though.” I know Baxter agrees with him—the starting quarterback will be missing this weekend’s game. The second string QB is a transfer student named Kevan. I’ve always thought he seemed nice and polite, but Baxter says Kevan stares at me. I don’t mention any of this to Justin, but I do ask him what they’re doing about JT’s thumb.

As we walk, we talk through the football roster and Justin asks me how I’ve enjoyed the slower pace in the training room this summer. I did a six-week turn working with the soccer team when I got my scholarship extended to summer semester.

“Those guys are all pulled hamstrings and strained quads,” I say, laughing. “Easy as pie.” As we approach my building, joking together, I see a hulking figure leaning against the door of my dorm. As we approach, he stalks over to us, and I see that it’s Baxter. He looks livid. I feel relieved.

Justin nods in Bax’s direction. “That you, Morgan?”

Bax doesn’t register that Justin spoke to him. “Where the hell have you been?” He practically snarls at me. “I’ve been calling you for hours! Hours, Olive.”

“Oh crap,” I tell him. I turn my phone off when I’m at work and I must have forgotten to turn it back on when we went to the bar. I click the power button and it starts vibrating in my hand with text after text, and voicemails all from Bax. I know this is a big deal because he probably thought I was in trouble. Growing up, I often was in trouble. My parents often passed out drunk and forget to bring me home. Bax always managed to find me. He must have been searching for me all over campus when I didn’t answer my phone.

“Easy there, big guy,” Justin reaches out to pat Bax on the shoulder. “She was with me.” This does not elicit the desired effect. Baxter’s nostrils flare and he looks, if possible, even more angry.

“Don’t you fucking touch me,” he says.

“Woah,” Justin says, with his hands up. “Olive, you ok here with this thug? Need me to stick around til you get inside?”

“NO!” Bax and I say at the same time, and my eyes whip up to meet his. Justin knows perfectly well how important Baxter is in my life.

Baxter runs his hands through his curls and drags his palms down his cheeks. “Olive is family, man. And she’s been off the grid, and now I see her coming home with some dude in the middle of the night.” He glares at Justin. “I drew conclusions.”

Justin doesn’t say anything, but he narrows his eyes and looks darkly at Baxter.

“Bax,” I reach for his arm. “I’m ok. I just forgot to turn my phone back on.”

He looks Justin up and down and sighs. I can see his body start to relax, and he pulls me in to a tight hug. “I was worried, Liv.”

Justin shrugs. “I was just walking her home, dude. Like you said, it’s late.”

Baxter takes a step back and looks a little ashamed of his outburst, but I’m still on the fence about how to interpret everything that’s happened since I got to the bar. Bax holds out a hand toward Justin. “I’m sorry, man. You’re right. I should thank you for seeing her home safe.”

Justin puts his much-smaller hand in Baxter’s and looks up into his face. “See you after practice tomorrow, right, Morgan?”

Baxter nods and, after a few moments of awkward silence, Justin excuses himself and walks off into the dark.

CHAPTER FOUR

Bax

My heart won’t stop pounding in my chest. Logically, I knew Olive was probably fine. She loses track when she’s working on someone. She would never admit this, but she basically goes into a trance when she’s with an injured athlete. Her