Page 65 of Offsides

“Hmm?” She looks up and blinks at me. “Oh. Yeah.” She stuffs the phone under her thigh. “Everything’s fine.”

I slowly back out of the parking spot, keeping my voice light and my attention on my rearview mirror as I say, “Somehow I don’t really believe you.”

She waves a hand, dismissing my concern. “I promise, everything’s fine. My sister’s just keeping me updated about something back home.”

“You can tell me about it if you want to. You know that, right?” I glance at her, unable to make out much of her expression in the twilight. Or it might be that she’s keeping her face carefully blank. It’s really starting to mess with me that something is clearly bothering her, but she won’t tell me what it is.

She lays a hand on my arm. “Eli, I appreciate your concern. I really do. But it’s not something you need to worry about. I promise. Everything is fine.”

I take my hand off the steering wheel so I can hold her hand for a moment. The roads through town aren’t terribly windy, but I do have to make several turns, so I can’t hold her hand for long. I give her hand one last squeeze before letting go. “Okay. But I’m always happy to listen. You know that, right?”

She nods and starts talking about how much fun she had today, whatever caused her to glare at her phone forgotten.

* * *

When we get back to my apartment, we’re both worn out.

Dani drags herself dramatically to the couch and flops down, one arm flung across her face. “I am so tired,” she moans.

Chuckling, I pass her in favor of heading to my bedroom, where I drop my armload of snow gear in front of my closet. When I return to the living room, she’s still lying on the couch, unmoving.

“Come on,” I tell her. “You can crash in my room.”

All I get from her is another wordless moan.

“Oh, I get it. You want to do this the hard way. All right. I can work with that.” Bending over her, I grab the wrist of the arm across her face with one hand, and place my other hand under her side and hoist her to a sitting position.

She squawks out a protest, but I ignore her. I scoop both hands under her thighs, my shoulder against her belly, and in one smooth motion, I pick her up fireman style.

“Hey!” she protests again. “Put me down!”

“If you’re too tired to walk to my room, I’m happy to carry you.”

She’s laughing now more than anything. “This is not the romantic way I’ve always dreamed of being carried to bed.”

With a grin on my face, I push my way through my bedroom door and deposit her on the bed. “You’ve never struck me as the kind of girl who dreams of being whisked away to bed anyway.”

She glares at me. “I think if the semester’s taught us anything, it’s that you don’t have a solid handle on the type of girl I really am.”

“Touché.”

She bends to untie her snow boots and take them off while I close the door. “Do you want to just stay here again tonight?”

When I turn back around, she’s standing and undressing. “I’d love to.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

Dani

I wake up the next morning to my phone ringing. Which is weird, because I have it on Do Not Disturb. The only reason it would be ringing is if somebody called me two times in a row. And the only reason someone would do that is if it’s an emergency.

Sitting up, I scramble for my phone, panic clearing the lingering grogginess. But when I get my hands on my phone, I’m surprised to see it’s Ellie calling. I figured it would be one of my parents, or maybe my sister, with bad news about a family member. Did Dad get in a car accident? Mom? Anita? Our grandparents?

But clearly not if it’s Ellie.

Eli tightens an arm around my waist. “’S’matter?” he mumbles into his pillow.

Shaking my head, I hit the button to answer. “Hello?”

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