Page 76 of The Change Up
“Wildflower?”
Her attention snaps my way as the guys stop talking.
“You knew this was going to happen, didn’t you?”
Her shoulders shrug as my head shakes. Troublemaker.
“Alright.” Bringing my elbows to the table, I rest my head on my hands as I steeple my fingers deep in thought. “What would your walk-up song be?”
She points to herself, and I quirk my eyebrow. It’s funny how she’s buying time as if she didn’t know that this question was going to come back to her. The guys all take drinks of their beers filling the time.
A slow smile spreads across her face as she answers with a flip of her wrist, “‘Fireman’ by Lil Wayne, duh.”
The table erupts in chortles. Hudson spews his beer across the table. I clutch my stomach as I watch my girl bring her hands up, placing one behind her head as she breaks out in the sprinkler dance moves.
Chloe raps a popular line from the chorus while she continues to do the sprinkler.
The heart that I thought would never love anything besides baseball, warms at the goofy blonde across from me. Gone is the shy girl, in her wake is a confident, adorable woman.
“God, I love you.” The words slip out of my mouth with a laugh.
Silence falls over the table as three heads whip in my direction, while Chloe’s eyes nearly bug out of her head. I cannot believe I chose this moment to let those words slip. Sure, I’vebeen thinking of saying those three words, but the time has never felt right. Not that the timing is right in this dark sports bar surrounded by my teammates, but it happened.
“What did you say?” Her voice is barely above a whisper.
There are two options I can play. Either pretend those words didn’t escape my mouth, which will be hard since I have three additional witnesses, or I can own the moment. Own the fact that I said I love you first because I’ve loved this girl since I walked into Marnie’s Diner almost three years ago. She stood in a peach-colored waitressing uniform, as she tried to tamp down her nerves. She was—still is—the most beautiful girl I’ve ever laid my eyes on.
Chloe Mariano has owned my heart and soul for as long as I can remember. I was naïve in thinking that we’d never work out. That our past was too damaged for either of us to come back from. That baseball would be my only love. It turns out baseball was just a filler until we both were smart enough to see what’s been in front of us this whole time.
“I said, ‘I love you.’”
She tucks her plump bottom lip into her mouth as her teeth nibble on her lip in the nervous habit that I love so much. God, there goes that love word. Clearly, it’s the only thing I have on my brain. Well, that and me being the one nibbling on her lip, down her neck, her perfect tits, and her—
The sound of a chair grating across the floor jerks my head out of my thoughts. My eyes follow Chloe as she slides off her seat, and slides behind Niko until she’s standing right beside me. Her arms fly around my neck, her hand pulling my head toward hers. Our lips collide in a rush. Chloe flicks her tongue against my lips, and I grant her the access she’s so desperate for. Our tongues tangle in the middle of the sports bar in front of my friends—our friends.
Pulling away breathlessly, our foreheads rest against each other as I watch Chloe’s chest heave and her cheeks tinge my favorite shade of pink. “I love you, too.”
Shouts and cheers ring out around us as our friends celebrate our love. Her smile is blinding as I pull her into my side—her standing next to me with my arm wrapped around her shoulders.
“I think it’s time to head back to the hotel, boys.” Hudson slides out of his chair while Niko and Ty chug the rest of their beers. All five of us have had more than we normally do the night before a game, but not too much.
The walk back to the hotel is a challenge. My Wildflower stumbles over her feet every few steps. It is like she has two left feet. Our grump, Niko, laughed like a schoolgirl the whole walk back. I don’t even know what had him laughing so hard, but it caused the rest of us to lose it.
Stumbling into the lobby of the hotel, we make our way to the elevators. Tapping the button to call the car, I watch as Ty collapses onto the ground. His long, six-foot frame takes up most of the space. Niko’s leaning against the wall. And somewhere along our journey home, I ended up with Chloe on my back. There’s no way she would’ve made it home before sun up.
“Thanks for tonight, guys.” Chloe’s words mumble into my shoulder where she rests her head.
“Anytime, Chloe girl,” Niko says from where he’s leaning against the wall waiting for our elevator to open.
Tonight was a night full of love, laughter, selfies—thanks, Chloe—and memories. They say people come into your life when you need them the most, and I couldn’t agree more. I didn’t think the night could get any better.
“What the fuck?” I chuckle as I take in the hotel room I’m sharing with Hudson.
He steps in behind me.Chloe’s still on my back. Everyone chuckles at the scene we are witnessing. “Dude, who did this?”
“I have no idea.” I shake my head as Chloe slides down my back. She’s like a newborn baby giraffe learning to balance on fresh legs. After a few stumbling steps, she finds Hudson’s bed where she sprawls out watching me take in our room.
While we were out tonight, someone got into our room and wrapped all of my stuff in plastic wrap. The comforter was secured tightly to the bed with the pillows wrapped underneath the plastic. The black suitcase I had propped on a chair was now plastered to it. Hell, even my charger was wrapped to the nightstand. Whoever had done this had spent quite some time perfecting this prank. As the unofficial CTU prankster, I can’t help but admire the handiwork.
