Page 49 of The Midseason Fakeout

I point to mine that saysPower Couple. I eat spirals.His has a football where theoin power should be. Mine has a cinnamon roll. “Make sense now?”

“You are ridiculous.” He grabs the shirt and changes, and I try not to ogle his washboard stomach. It’s almost a shame for him to hide that body…if only his shirt wasn’t so damn funny.

“Well, come on, Miss I Eat Spirals,” he says, smiling. “If we do well today, I’ll make sure you get a cinnamon roll as a prize.”

“Ooh, talk dirty to me,” I tease, then immediately clap my mouth shut. “On second thought, bad idea.”

Aidan chuckles some more. “Yeah, we’ll get ourselves in trouble again if we start that.”

I didn’t know how Aidan would react to the shirt, but he wears it loud and proud. He keeps staring down at it and laughing. And when someone comments about them, he sticks his chest out like he couldn’t be prouder to be the other half of a cinnamon roll-eating power couple.

Despite the tension between us when I told him I was still a virgin, things have gone on like normal. Tonight, we’re going out to dinner with his parents after they watch us mop the floor with the other contestants. I mean, couples.Footballcouples.

As soon as Kenna sees our shirts, she punches West playfully. “Why don’t we have matching shirts? That’s the cutest thing!”

West glares at Aidan, but Aidan shrugs, tugging me closer like we’re an actual team. “My girl bought them.”

It’s hard not to get caught up in his words. It doesn’t matter how many times I tell myself that he’s only going along with the idea I had, I can’t help the thrill that races through me every time he calls me Angel or his girl. The feeling only got more poignant after the night of the party. At this point, there’s no way I’m going to get out of this without some level of heartache, but that’s a college experience, too, right? The only thing I want to make sure of is that Aidan never finds out.

A shrill whistle rings out, and Aidan and I turn toward the sound. A beautiful woman with a whistle around her neck waves at everyone. “That’s Mrs. Thompson, Coach’s wife,” Aidan whispers in my ear, sending goose bumps over my body. I nod like he didn’t just turn me on with that little move.

“Thank you all for joining us. We’re so happy to have you here, and we’re really looking forward to raising some money for the Step-Up Foundation!”

Aidan and I clap, and the crowd that’s gathered around us cheers. There are a lot of spectators—more than I thought there would be—most of them are wearing Bulldog-blue. I even made sure that the shirts I ordered had blue lettering to match the team’s colors.

“There they are,” Aidan says while lifting his hand to wave. Following his gaze, I find his parents making their way toward the front of the crowd.

I wave nervously. I’ve met them on several occasions, but the most awkward has been the morning his father showed up unannounced. I’ll never live that down.

Darrin got a good laugh out of it. I see him, too, weaving through the crowd toward them. When he gets there, he yells out, “QB1!” Another round of cheers goes up from the onlookers, drowning out what Coach’s wife is saying.

I shake my head, turning back toward her. She’s explaining the events we have today. It’s stuff that you would see in an elementary gym competition, which is probably the fun of it all. All the players and their girlfriends are about to make asses out of themselves.

There’s a three-legged race, racing with eggs on a spoon, a football throwing competition—becauseduh—and a short obstacle course where the couples have to take turns going through it blindfolded while their partner shouts out directions.

My biggest worry is that I’m going to hurt Aidan. Like the shirt says, I like eating spirals. I definitely don’t throw them.

Aidan lets go of my hand to start limbering up, stretching out his legs and arms. I roll my eyes to hide the fear starting to surface. I just know I’m going to screw this up for him. Sure, I’m competitive, but I know my limitations. I’m going to try like hell, but I already foresee myself crashing and burning. There’s no way we can beat West and Kenna—who is also a freaking athlete.

“Competition starts in fifteen minutes!” Coach’s wife yells, the mic giving her slight feedback that ricochets around us.

“This is going to be terrible,” I mutter.

Aidan peeks up at me from his bent-over position of stretching out his legs. “Ye of little faith. This is part of your college experience.” He walks up to me, moving the hair that’s broken free of my ponytail around my ear. “I really don’t care if we win.”

“Yeah, that’s because you’re going down,” Kenna states behind him.

I bite my lip as Aidan tries not to laugh. Still, he stares into my eyes like he’s trying to convey how sincere he is.

“You’re lying,” I tell him.

Reaching out, he plays his fingertips along my jaw. “Let’s just have a good time. That’s what this is all about. Raising money. Having fun.” He cups my face. “I won’t be disappointed.”

I gulp. He touches me like this in public all the time, but it’s getting harder to discern what’s fake. Which is stupid because it all is. I need to keep reminding myself of that.

“Besides, we’re the power couple,” Aidan says, getting riled up. “We have the shirts to prove it.”

Down the line, one of his teammates boos, and his girlfriend smacks him in the chest. Aidan whirls. “Oh, you just put a target on your back, Rogers! That’s a lot of smack talk for a D-lineman.”

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