Someday Maybe by Ophelia London Page A

out” shot on stunned Police Chief Brody’s face. Everything around him is pulled forward while he seems to be pulling away. Spielberg said the purpose of the shot was to give a sense of dizzying vertigo or a “falling away from yourself.”
    Which was exactly how I felt. I was falling away, but with perfect tunnel vision of the subject.
    Pressure built inside my head. It was going to explode in the blink of an eye…in the blink of a pair of very familiar metallic gray eyes.
    The guy made a sound that, in any other circumstance, would’ve sounded like a low, hissing curse word. But I knew it was my name he’d quietly hissed between his teeth.
    “Hey. Rach .” Meghan kicked my shoe again, harder.
    I shifted my eyes back to her, woozy and dazed. “Huh?”
    “Why aren’t you blinking?”
    I blinked twice for her benefit, causing my mascara-smeared eyes to burn. I blinked again and looked past her shoulder at Oliver Wentworth. Six years older, but I’d know him anywhere, those eyes and mouth, those shoulders and hands. I even knew his knees.
    “ Rach ,” Meghan repeated, causing me to flinch. “This is Rad.”
    Oliver took a step toward me. I recoiled, sinking deeper into the grass.
    “You know,” Megs added, sotto voce, “the one I told you about.”
    “Hi,” Oliver said to me, sounding a little winded and a little…something. He wore a bright blue T-shirt, the sleeves straining over his biceps, and long black shorts, the word Creighton printed in white block letters over one knee. I found myself studying his workout gear longer than necessary, because it struck me as really odd that I didn’t recognize either piece of clothing. Which—I know—made no sense.
    I couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe. Polite convention dictated I was to shake his hand or whatever, but, “Um, hello,” was all I had.
    “Rachel and I grew up together.” Meghan lunged into a calf stretch then pointed her toes, probably something she’d seen on an exercise DVD. “She was supposed to be at Tim’s last night but got stuck at work. I think I told you that.”
    “Only about ten times,” Oliver said, looking at me and lifting a pleasant smile.
    No, it wasn’t pleasant—dammit. It was heart-stopping, just like in college whenever his silvery eyes settled on me.
    My head felt heavy but light, and the pit of my stomach was a cyclone of heat. How did my body remember exactly how to respond to his presence? After my heart was done with its stopping, it went into spasms, trying to beat its way up my throat.
    “I did not tell you ten times, Rad.” Meghan swatted his arm playfully.
    I’d almost forgotten she was standing there. Between us.
    Oliver’s eyes left me and slid to her. He smiled dotingly. I knew that smile by heart, but I’d never witnessed him giving it to another girl. It was so out of context it made my stomach twinge with jealousy.
    “I’m coming over tonight, remember?” Meghan said to me.
    “Right.” I shifted my weight to stand, but feared my legs were about as sturdy as rubber bands, so I stayed put, petting manically at Sydney’s head. “To do what?”
    “Rog is helping me with my Spanish accent for an audition. Gotta nail these lines. Her brother Roger is like a super genius at languages,” she explained to Oliver.
    He looked at me again. “Your brother Roger. Huh.” He scratched his chin. “Wasn’t he the student body president at USF? I think I ran into him on campus once.”
    Hi. I’d like to die now.
    “Uh.” I rubbed my nose. “Yeah, that’s him.”
    Had he really forgotten who Roger was, or was he trying to be funny? Or torture me?
    “I keep forgetting you went there, too, Rad,” Meghan said. “Such a small world.”
    “Getting smaller by the minute.” After the side note, Oliver looked away. Had his face turned just a tiny bit pink? It was probably from exercise. I didn’t need a mirror to know my face was an extremely attractive beet red. “Meghan, we should keep moving if