The Prospect (Crawfield Football Club #3)

30. GREEN

15 YEARS AGO - Age 9

“You’re back late. Everything okay?” Mum steps away from the stovetop to peer down the hallway at me as I close the front door. “Did something happen at school?”

“No, nothing, Mum.” I shrug off my backpack and kick my shoes off to the side. “Just a normal day. Anyway, I’ve got some homework to do so give me a shout when supper is ready ? —”

“Not so fast.” Mum’s voice commands me to stop in place before I can make a beeline toward the staircase. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing’s going on,” I tell her, but she’s not convinced.

“Daniel…” She does that mum thing where she draws out my name and narrows her stare, waiting for me to cave.

“What?” I respond with. “Nothing happened.” My shifty eyes aren’t quite pleading my case here.

“Nothing, huh?” She folds her arms across her chest, expecting—anticipating—more out of me than that. “Well, that’s not what Ms. Murray had to say when she gave me a ring this afternoon.”

Shoot.

“I can explain…” This time, I attempt to plead my case before Mum has the chance to drill into me. “We were walking through the hallways when ? —”

“Save it.” Mum raises her hand up. “Ms. Murray already told me everything.”

Her legs guide her back into the kitchen, and quickly, I follow her.

“Everything?” I nervously gulp, curious how much detail Ms. Murray opted to go in.

“Yep.” Mum’s short with her words as she reaches for some salt to season the soup. “Everything.”

It’s stressing me out how calm she is. Either she’s really mad, or somehow, by some miracle, she’s not mad at all.

Please let it be the latter.

“She said that you and your mates were messing about in the hallway. How many times, Daniel, have I told you, no football inside?”

Like a scolded puppy dog, I stare at the tile beneath my feet. “I know, Mum, I’m sorry.”

“You’re lucky that you didn’t break anything, or better yet, that the ball you kicked into the classroom didn’t hit that little girl.”

My heart skips a beat.

“Little girl?” I repeat back to her, though it’s apparent Mum knows exactly what she’s talking about.

“Oh yes, Ms. Murray told me about your little interruption today. How you stopped the new girl's introduction to the class with your shenanigans.”

My body aches with remorse. “I know, but it was an accident, Mum. I didn’t know she was presenting, I swear! Had I known, I would have never kicked the ball around there.”

Mum says nothing, instead, she reaches to sample the soup, nodding in amusement as she turns off the stovetop and places the pot to the side.

“So, what will it be then?” I accept my imminent doom. “No football for a week or no tele?”

Mum laughs softly. “Daniel,” she says my name once more. “I didn’t finish, did I?”

There’s…more?

Lord help me.

“Yes, Ms. Murray called to tell me about you in the hallway, which…” she emphasizes the word. “We’ll be talking about it again after supper, but…” She places both of her hands on my shoulder, prompting my eyes up. “She also mentioned what happened when you got into the classroom.”

I can feel the heat rise in my cheeks and know Mum can sense it.

What exactly did Ms. Murray say?

“That was nice what you did for that little girl you know, sticking up for her,” Mum remarks. It warms my heart to see her smile. “And if I’m not mistaken, Ms. Murray said she also saw you talking to her on the school grounds. Is that right, Daniel?”

“Maybe.” I don’t know why I turn so awkward but I do. I only just met Hazel Collins, and somehow, she’s already managed to cast this weird spell on me. I’m feeling things…things I don’t even know how to explain.

“Hazel, right?” Mum continues to pry. “Care to, uh—tell me a little bit about her?”

“Mum…” Now, I’m the one drawing out her name. “Please.”

“Alright, alright.” Mum raises her hands up in the air in defense. “You tell me when you’re ready to tell me, no rush. After all…” She smirks. “The look on your face tells me that this girl, she’s not going anywhere.”

HAZEL

“How come you’re looking at me like that?”

“Like what?” Green’s completely oblivious to the fact that for the past few minutes, he’s been daydreaming about something and has, in turn, been using my face as a resting place for his eyes.

I won’t complain, being the only thing in his view is truly one of the most comforting positions to be in, but now, the luxury is wearing thin. I need to know what he’s thinking… What he’s dreaming about.

“Like you’re on another planet,” I joke. “C’mon, tell me. What’s on your mind?”

“It’s nothing,” he says nonchalantly while running a hand down my back.

“Nothing, really ?” I raise a brow expectantly, forcing a laugh out of him.

“What?” I’m even more desperate now to know what in the world he’s so chipper about. “What's so funny, huh?”

“It’s just…funny how history repeats itself, don’t you think?” He leans back onto his headboard, gesturing for me to lie back down on his chest.

“I suppose,” I comply within an instant, infected by his warmth. “But…I don’t want to think about history right now. I lived in the past for far too long, now…” I tilt my head to peer up at his face and into those deep brown eyes. “I’m more than happy focusing on the present.”

Green smiles softly down at me, brushing his hand along the apples of my cheeks while planting tender kisses into my hair every now and then.

It’s peaceful…serene, and we stay like this for a while. Cuddled up together, basking in the silence or his melodic sweet nothings. Because after the rollercoaster we just went through together, Lord knows that a little serenity? It’s much needed.

It’s been two weeks since my birthday…or the day, as I like to call it in my head.

The day that everything changed.

The day that fifteen years of history finally taught us both a lesson, but most importantly…the day that Greenie and Haze officially became Greenie and Haze .

It’s absolute bliss.

“You know,” I break the silence with the one thing I can’t seem to break free from my mind. “A part of me can’t believe that if you hadn't suggested your little silly plan, Green, maybe all of this might never have happened.”

Green stares down at me carefully. “What are you on about?” he asks. “What silly little plan?”

“You know, the one that nearly cost us our friendship?” I joke, though it’s partly serious. “The plan… It was ridiculous.”

“Not that ridiculous,” Green counters with. “I mean…it worked. Did it not?”

I scrunch my face in confusion. “Are we having two completely separate conversations right now?”

“Not in the slightest.” Green shakes his head. “The plan…the steps, they worked, Haze. Haven’t you put that together by now?”

I run my fingers along my forehead in thought, but still, nothing comes to me. I’ve never been so lost in my life.

“You’re making no sense right now, Green,” I tell him in all seriousness. “No sense at all.”

“Oh, I’m making sense, Hazel.” Green sits up, guiding me to do the same. I crisscross my legs, and rather than lying against his chest, we sit face to face this time. “Would you like me to explain?”

I bite down on my lip. “ Enlighten me .”

“Fine. Let’s start with step one, shall we? Catch their attention,” he recites.

“Oh, I remember, Green. You caught Amira’s attention by scoring a goal, and I caught Hart’s attention after buying that dress.”

“That dress… right .” Green runs a seductive hand along his bottom lip, lighting me ablaze almost instantaneously. I swallow to suppress it. “Well…let’s just say that Hart’s attention wasn’t the only attention you caught whilst wearing that…little number.”

Green’s admittance practically turns my face beat red in an instant. I hide behind my palm to conceal it, but he pulls my hand back and brings it toward his lips with a smirk.

“You don’t mean that,” I deny the confession, though the look he flashes tells me I’m wrong. I’m so wrong.

“Oh, I do.” He slowly kisses my palm, convincing me with the ways of his lips. “That dress, Hazel… Fuck. It was doing things to me and you didn’t even seem to notice.”

Despite his persistence to maintain eye contact, I pull back, knowing all too well that if we stay locked in like this any longer this story is going to get cut short real quickly, and this ending? I want to hear.

“Fine, but that’s only step one, Green.” I brush aside the sheer coincidence of the two actions lining up. “There were still four other steps that we mapped out?—”

“Step two.” He wastes no time jumping right into it. “Do a romantic gesture, AKA, the flowers… flower ,” he reminds me of the single-stem rose he left on my bed with that note.

I couldn't not get my favorite girl one too.

- Greenie

“Sure, I never intended for it to be overtly romantic,” he confesses, “but I guess you could say it ticked the box.”

Ticked the box? I scoff internally.

That single rose with one dainty stem and forty petals somehow managed to surmount an entire evening with Hart.

I should’ve accepted my fate then and there, alas the show went on.

“Step three, steal a kiss,” he carries on. “Now that one…” He blushes. “We jumped the gun on, given that we’d kissed many years before, but…you can’t debate that the timing of our second kiss didn’t perfectly fall in line with the steps, Hazel. I mean…how can you even deny that?”

“Green…” I’m too dumbfounded to say anything but his name. How long has he had this pieced together in his mind, and how hadn’t I known in the slightest?

“Step four.” He pulls me in tight, wrapping my legs around his waist so that I straddle his lap. I suck in a breath this time as he leans in to say, “Learn a secret about them. This one…” His lips are inches from mine. “Well…I didn’t quite hear from the horse's mouth.”

“Are you saying I’m a horse?” I joke before Green can say another word.

“Figure of speech.” He brushes aside my remark while I roll my eyes playfully. “But thank gosh Amira told me that secret, Hazel, because without it…” Suddenly, I’m flipped over—one with the mattress as Green hovers over top of me and murmurs into the nape of my neck. “You remember step five…right, bug ?”

Seal the deal.

God…I think it would be a cardinal sin to have forgotten, though the way I forget how to breathe from his touch alone, suddenly it doesn’t seem so far-fetched.

“Care to remind me?” I tease, wrapping my arms around the back of his neck as he peers down into my eyes.

“ Gladly . But first…” He pulls back faintly, brushing some hair away from my face. “Can you believe it, Hazel Collins ? Believe that everything happened for a reason?”

I pull him toward my lips with a smile.

“I’ve always believed that, Daniel Green .”