Crave (Harlequin Teen)

every step, so closely that, when I stopped at the hallway light switch, he bumped into me. He grabbed my waist, I was pretty sure from reflex.
    “Oomph.” His chest felt like a solid wall as it thumped against the back of my head.
    “Sorry,” he muttered and stepped away, his fingers sliding from my sides.
    I worked not to sigh and tried to think straight again. “Um, why don’t you stay here? I’ll be done in a minute.”
    My hands shook as I unlocked the dance-room and director’s office doors, turning on lights in both areas as I went. I grabbed the MegaVox portable PA system, jam box and trainer bag from the office closet then rejoined him in the hallway. I was surprised to find a dark scowl on his face.
    “What, afraid of the dark?” My feeble attempt at a joke.
    “This is part of your daily routine?”
    “Yep.” I headed out of the hallway, but he stopped me to take the sound system. “And I do it all in reverse each evening. Except the foyer doors—those the janitors lock up at night.”
    We headed down the stairs, the heavy trainer bag thudding against my thigh suddenly making me feel about as attractive as a pack mule.
    He waited until we were out of the building before speaking again. “Do the other managers usually go with you for safety?”
    “You sound like me on my first day as a manager. I asked my head manager almost the same thing when she used to do this. There used to be three full-time managers plus the head manager. But then Head Manager Amber moved away, and the other two sophomore managers were needed as alternate dancers for the rest of the football season after two of our dancers got hurt. So now it’s just me filling in as the head manager, and two freshmen office aides temporarily on loan.”
    “So you’re doing it all? The unlocking in the mornings, the setup, the locking up at night?”
    We headed down the cement ramp toward the road that cut through the campus, connecting the front and back parking lots.
    I shrugged. “Somebody’s gotta do it, and the team director’s already working her butt off creating choreography, putting together music, working with the school band on music and dance routines for halftime performances, running practices…”
    He grumbled something under his breath, making me wonder if maybe he had the same problem I did with being awake this early in the morning.
    At the end of the cement ramp, we turned to the left, heading down the road past the back of the math building toward the practice field. In the growing morning light, dew sparkled like thousands of diamonds on the grass that bordered the woods at our right, reminding me of my dreams. Of fantasies spent sitting in the grass at night with the very boy who walked beside me now. I ducked my head to hide the rising heat in my cheeks.
    At the practice field, we entered through the chain-link gate and crossed the spongy black track that circled the grass.
    The Charmers were already gathering at the center of the field, though practice wouldn’t officially start for another ten minutes. As they waited, they stretched individually. But even at this hour, they were anything but quiet. Someone’s laugh rang out, startling birds in the thin woods that ran along the outside of the field’s fence.
    Ugh. Morning people. Needing fortification, I sipped my tea then used the thermos cup to hide a smile as the Charmers visibly reacted to Tristan’s presence.
    I watched the change among the dancers with a strange sort of fascination. Honestly, I didn’t know whether to laugh or roll my eyes. Even the seniors sat up straighter and pushed out their chests.
    Bethany came running over with a perky smile. “Hey, Tristan! What are you doing here?”
    Tristan shot me a smile for some reason. “Everyone seems to be asking that this morning.”
    Why was he smiling at me? I took the sound system from Tristan then tuned them out as best I could, moving away a few yards to drop my duffel and trainer bag so I could start setting up. Unlike the dancers, my duties started as soon as I hit campus and didn’t usually end until practice was over. I didn’t have time to stand around and chat.
    “Hey, Miss Savannah.” Keisha crouched down beside me and the MegaVox at the fifty yard line. Her knees popped from the action, making me cringe. She’d need wraps for those soon. “What’s he doing here?”
    “It seems we have both a new escort and a new manager.”
    “Him?”
    I nodded, keeping my gaze down on