Offside by Kelly Jamieson

of
rebellion against my parents.”
    He shot her a sideways glance as he
slowed for a red light. “Ah yes. Rebellion.”
    For a moment they both fell silent. He
was probably thinking about the same things she was—namely all her
stupid rebellious stunts. “I’m not proud of some of the things I
did,” she finally said in a quiet voice.
    “What’s done is done,” he said with a
shrug.
    She blinked at him from behind her big
sunglasses. Yeah. She’d been working on that kind of attitude for
years now. It was easy to beat herself up over and over again for
the mistakes she’d made. Therapy had helped somewhat, but she
sometimes fell back into that hole. She nodded. “Yeah.”
    Matt parked in a lot near the beach
and they walked to a shop that rented bikes.
    “They rent skates too,” Matt said with
a wicked little smile at her. “Maybe we should roller
blade.”
    She gave him a look, raised eyebrows,
pursed lips, and he laughed.
    With helmets on, they soon set off
along the paved path that crossed the expanse of pale sand. Lots of
others were out walking, running, cycling, and they steered around
them. They passed tall skinny palm trees and farther on short,
stubbier ones. The sun shone brightly, but a brisk wind kept the
air cooler, especially nearer the ocean. Honey cycled along behind
Matt, who was no doubt keeping a slower pace for her, admiring not
only the view of the man in front of her and his ass on the bike
seat, but the ocean on their right, sparkling in the sun. The
bright light and scenery and using her muscles created a lovely
feeling of being at peace. Happy. She couldn’t help but smile as
they cycled farther, Matt occasionally dropping back to ride beside
her and point out sights.
    The path was so smooth and Matt was
moving faster, so she put some weight into her pedals to keep up
with him, her thigh muscles developing a pleasant burn. And she
laughed out loud.
    They slowed their pace to watch a
couple of guys in wetsuits surfing. Sandpipers ran back and forth
in front of the waves as they rolled onto the flat, wet
sand.
    They continued on to Venice Beach,
with more palm trees, more surfers and lots of people. They passed
buskers and mimes and a woman skated past them from the other
direction who looked exactly like Dolly Parton, in a pair of short
pink shorts and tiny tank top that showed off ginormous hooters,
blonde hair out to there. Matt paused to look at Honey and they
both burst out laughing.
    Then they continued on to Marina del
Rey with all the gleaming yachts in the harbor, circling around
them, then stopping at a little restaurant right on the water. They
sat out on the patio eating clubhouse sandwiches and curly fries.
When Honey couldn’t finish the second half of her sandwich, Matt
enthusiastically took it from her and devoured it.
    “God, the way you eat,” she said,
smiling.
    He eyed her. “You don’t look like you
need to watch what you eat.”
    His appreciative gaze made her feel
warm. It was true that she’d inherited a good metabolism from both
her mother and her father. “I should eat healthier,” she confessed.
“More veggies. Living alone means I often don’t feel like cooking a
big meal.”
    “Yeah, know the feeling,” he agreed.
“One of my buddies—he plays for the team too, Chris Dobie—is health
nut, so he’s always giving me nutritional advice. Gotta eat
healthy.”
    Honey dipped a curly fry into ketchup
and popped it into her mouth. “Okay. Starting Monday.”
    They shared a smile.
    “Doing okay on the bike?” he
asked.
    “Yeah, fine.”
    “Want to ride farther, or turn around
and go back?”
    She lifted a shoulder. “I’m good to
keep going. I might not be able to walk tomorrow…”
    “I have a hot tub at my apartment,” he
said. “We should hit it after this. That’ll help your sore
muscles.”
    “I didn’t bring a bathing
suit.”
    He grinned.
    “Don’t even say it. And don’t remind
me that I’ve done it before.”
    Yes, there were