Curvy Girls Can’t Date Soldiers by Kelsie Stelting

Twenty-Five

Nadira

“You’re up late,”Apollo said.

I smiled, hanging my Mathlete jacket back on the hanger. “We had a Mathlete meet today at a school two hours away. It ran late, and then we got supper on the way home.” I yawned silently. “It’s been a long day.”

“How did you do?” he asked, not seeming worn out at all. Actually, he seemed interested.

“We won,” I said with a tired smile. “And I finally had that conversation with Regina.”

“What did you say?” he asked.

I slipped my hanger onto the bar in my closet and slid the door shut. “I told her I was sorry that she’s upset about me being captain, but that she’s an excellent Mathlete and we should focus our energy on getting to state and not on a feud that won’t matter five months from now.”

“Wow.” The awe was clear in his voice. “And what did she say back?”

I rolled my eyes and held my phone between my cheek and my shoulder so I could start unbuttoning my uniform top. “Basically that the reason she didn’t like me wasn’t because I was captain of the Mathletes but because I’m an—and I quote—‘insufferable know-it-all who somehow bewitches the teachers into liking me.’”

He sucked in a breath. “Ouch.”

“Not really. Because she’s wrong. I’m not a know-it-all. If I was, I would know that I was, right?”

Chuckling, he said, “You’re making my brain hurt with that kind of mental acrobatics.”

“And besides, the teachers just like me because I actually do my work and don’t complain.”

“Are you sure that’s why?” he asked. “Not because you’re nice or funny or smart? That’s why I like you.”

My cheeks warmed slightly as I shimmied out of my shirt and then began working on my skirt. “Maybe I am good at trickery if it worked on you.”

“Ha ha,” he said. “I’m training for the military, remember? I can’t be swayed so easily.”

“No one ever said that you’d be good at it,” I teased, stepping out of my skirt. I turned my phone on speaker and set it on my bed as I reached for my pajamas.

“You really know how to build up a guy’s ego,” he said.

“I did follow your advice to stand up to Regina. That’s a pretty big compliment.”

“Hey, you’re right. You did.”

“And that’s just now registering?” I teased. I pulled my shirt over my head and slipped on some shorts before sliding under my covers.

“I’m still surprised,” he retorted.

“Ha ha,” I said. “We’ve known each other for a solid two weeks. It’s about time I try at least some of your advice, right?”

“It feels like I’ve known you so much longer,” he said quietly.

My heart beat faster as I rolled to my side, my back to the door. “I feel the same way.”

“Josh keeps teasing me, calling you my girlfriend. I can hardly convince him you actually exist.”

I laughed softly. “Why would he say something like that?”

“Maybe because when I’m not talking to you, I’m thinking about you.”

The low hum of his words sent a jolt of electricity to my stomach, and breathing suddenly became difficult. Apollo was thinking about me like I was him? I ran his words over in my mind, hardly believing them to be true.

“It’s okay if you don’t feel the same way,” he added quickly.

“I do,” I blurted. Then I steadied my voice. “I do feel the same way.”

I held my phone tightly to my ear, waiting for his response, hoping to hear the smile in his voice.

“Oh,” he said softly, his voice full of that exact smile I’d been hoping for. I could picture it so clearly it was almost like he was there. “Is there any chance...” He let out a breath. “Is there any chance you’d like to meet me sometime? Get to know each other in person?”

The hope in his voice nearly tore me in two, and all of the good feelings I’d had only moments earlier came crashing down.

He didn’t have feelings for me. He had feelings for the girl who looked like Tatiana. Telling him the truth would also mean confirming that I’d lied. Our relationship would end before it even began. But was it a real relationship if I couldn’t even be honest with him?

It was time to let him know this relationship wouldn’t last and blame it on the distance. I’d rather have him forever think of me as his beautiful pen pal instead of an ugly liar.

“I...”

“Don’t say no,” he said. “Not yet.”

“But Apollo, I –”

“Just wait, okay?” he asked, something new in his voice. Desperation. “Don’t say no yet. Give me the rest of the month to change your mind.”

I bit my lip, wishing desperately there was a way come clean without losing him completely. I wanted to give myself more time. Come up with a way show him the real me that wouldn’t lead to sheer and utter devastation of the first guy I’d really had a crush on. Between my friends and me, there had to be a solution.

“I’ll wait,” I said.

“Then I will too.”