Ari and I both stop, and my best friend tips her head, staring me down.
I glare at her, not wanting to answer, but she holds her ground and my eyes snap shut in confession, my palms lifting to press into my eye sockets. “Fuck me, Ari. Why am I like this?”
Her arm comes around my shoulders, and she steers me as she starts walking again. “No one is going to judge you if you decide you want to try again with him, you know.”
“I’m going to judge me, Ari. I deserve better than a lying asshole who only approached me for personal gain.”
“So he’s not swaying you in the slightest with his little pop-ups and gestures?”
“I’m pissed off, not a robot. The guy’s practically throwing me a touchdown every time he looks at me, and all I’ve got to do is take it to the end zone.”
“And do you want to score?”
“I want to slap him and kiss him at the same time.”
“Kinky.”
I whip around, cheeks growing pink as Alister steps up. I open my mouth to yell at him, but he simply holds out a flower.
Hesitantly, I reach out and take the wilted, I don’t even know what kind of flower, trying to plan exactly what I’m going to say after he lets it go, but I don’t get that far.
I no sooner accept his little gift than he dashes past.
Ari and I both spin, watching as he jogs over to a small group of guys—baseball players, by the looks of it.
He doesn’t look back once, but me?
I watch him until he’s gone, and unfortunately for me…I think about him long after that.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Cameron
It’s Saturday night,the boys just won 29–18, and while we haven’t even made it out of the parking lot yet, I’m already on my second shot. It pays to have a rowdy group of boys who drive to the stadium rather than walking like most of us—we get to stash our stash beneath their seats.
Ari climbs up in the truck bed as I spin, squeezing my torso through the small back window, and turn up the radio. When I stand again, she’s passing me a fresh lemon wedge, dancing her way to me as music blares through the custom speakers in Brady’s Chevy.
The parking lot is bursting with energy, our entire row more or less a mirror of what we’re doing: getting the party started early and celebrating what sportscasters predicted would be a loss.
Joke’s on them. The Avix U Sharks are a force to be reckoned with, and this season is proving to be no different than the last.
I take a third—small—shot, biting down hard on the lemon before tossing it into the bag hanging off the mirror. Arms up, I sway my hips, spinning and enjoying the chilled night air.
It’s been a fuckingweek—hell, it’s been a month, and I’m so ready to just…let it all go tonight. I haven’t been properly wasted since the week before the semester began, and that’s a college crime if I ever heard of one.
I’ll pay for it tomorrow, but right now all I can think isworth it.
My limbs are loose, and the only thing on my mind is the music blaring in my ears.
Payton is the first of our friends to make it out of the stadium about a half hour later, her camera bag slung over her shoulder.
She smiles as she approaches, drumming her hands on Brady’s tailgate in excitement.
“So, Miss Media Queen, how does it feel to be officially on the field taking candids?”
“Unreal…and feverish!” she teases.
Ari and I both laugh, dropping down on the tailgate to sit as she stands behind the truck.