Page 120 of The Secret We Keep
Still he doesn’t look away.
It’s only when Danny comes up behind him, roughly placing his hands on his shoulders, that Paddy’s forced to break the hold he has on me.
And I breathe, filling my lungs with some much-needed air.
By half-time, Paddy’s team is losing 3-0. I want to say he’s playing well but I’d be lying. He’s missed two open goals and he’s given the ball away more times than I ever remember him doing in school.
I’d like to think I have nothing to do with his lack of concentration, but after bumping into Siobhan, Frank and Evie, who told me I looked like a Barbie, I knew deep down I’d probably distracted him.
Sarah pays for our order of hot drinks at the little shack near the carpark. “There you go.”
I take the hot chocolate from her hands. “Thanks.”
“You must be freezing,” she says, eyes running down my bare legs as we move from the queue and head back towards the stand.
“You’d think so.” Honestly, my nervous system is firing on all cylinders, I’ve struggled for forty-five minutes to regulate it.
We waited for the players to be out of sight before going and grabbing a drink. Seeing Paddy looking up at me again as he walked off the pitch sent me into another spin.
We both walk up the steps and back to Holly.
“You sure you don’t want anything?” I ask her.
“No, I’m good, thank you.”
I smile at her, and we take our seats ready forthe second half.
It isn’t long before Paddy’s back to his usual ways and after forty minutes, his team has brought the game level. Getting so wrapped up in the chants and general throng of this game being totally flipped on its head, I’m now standing with everybody else, cheering the Stoney Grange Gladiators on.
Sarah cups her hands around her mouth. “That’s a foul, ref,” she hollers, earning her a few nods of agreement from the row in front. “He could have broken his legs.”
Danny looks up at Sarah from the pitch, and I don’t miss the wink he gives her for defending him. Seriously, she hasn’t stopped giving poor Derek grief since Danny was taken down in the penalty area.
“You’re not doing what I think you’re doing, are you?”
Sarah double takes. “What?”
I see the familiar trait of pulling her ear when she’s lying, rear its head.
“Oh, Jesus, you are. You’re flirting with Danny while he’s on the pitch.”
“Am not.”
“She is,” Holly agrees, and I drop my arms to my side.
“Danny?” I ask, having to shout over the crowd.
“So what? You’ve been looking at your fella the whole match.”
He isn’t mine.
I flit my gaze to Danny, ignoring the knot in my stomach.
Sure enough, he looks up and gives Sarah a wave.
“You could double date.”
I give Holly a look as if to say now is not the time for jokes.
