Chapter 14 #2
“Don’t be disgusting.” I leaned forward, poking my head up between the front seats. “We’re going tonight?”
It wasn’t totally a tradition to stop at the Wallflower after a game, but more of a here-and-there sort of thing.
It was the only diner within the county that stayed open late and had amazing milkshakes.
The diner, sitting squarely in Jefferson territory, was on the way back from Chesterville, but I wanted nothing more than to skip it tonight.
Milkshakes with the Bickering Duo and Kyle? Pass.
“We didn’t go last week,” Jade said to me. “Can’t let Jefferson thinking we’ve given up on the territory war.”
“We can’t?” I turned my phone over in my lap, looking at my lock screen. It was ridiculous—even now, I found myself still holding onto my phone tightly when ten o’clock came around. The time we always used to call each other.
The time on my phone tipped to 10:01.
“Look,” Connor said as he slowed down at Wallflower’s entrance. He hit the button to pop the locks undone. “It’s not even that busy. The Jefferson game probably isn’t even over yet.”
Kyle opened his car door before Connor came to a complete stop, hopping out and stretching his arms. I left my varsity jacket in the backseat, still warm from the night of bouncing around in the grass, and the cool breeze felt nice on my skin.
“You should put your hair up,” Jade told me as Connor drove off to find a parking spot. “It’s all knotted.”
I obediently scooped my hair up into a ponytail. “I thought you said my hair looks better down,” I grumbled.
“She does look good all the time,” Kyle butted in, reaching up and tugging on my ponytail. “At least to me, she does.”
I wrenched away, but his fingers tangled in my hair, tearing. “Can you keep your freaking hands to—”
“Ugh, quit flirting and let’s go in already,” Jade cut me off, starting off toward the diner’s doors without glancing back.
Kyle snickered under his breath as I picked up my pace after her, squinting at the back of her head. I thought of Jade’s order earlier in my bedroom. Date Kyle. Was this her way of sneaking in a double date? Surely.
The comforting smell of Wallflower’s kitchen hit me as soon as Kyle pushed the door open. I scanned the space immediately, noting the empty tables, until I froze.
Straight ahead from the door sat Maisie Matthews and her boyfriend.
You’ve got to be kidding. Would I ever catch a break?
More importantly—was this another coincidence of Connor’s? He wasn’t actually intentionally crossing paths with Maisie… was he?
“Jade—” I began, but never got the chance to finish.
“Fancy seeing you two here,” she said as she approached their table. “You know, that burger is so greasy.”
“Careful,” Maisie replied, sounding bored. “With how clumsy I am, I’d hate for all that grease to get on your costume.”
I glanced at Jade’s white cheer top and blue pleated skirt, almost gasping at the mere threat of getting a stain on it. Hell would absolutely break loose. “Jade,” I murmured, brushing her arm. “Come on, let’s get a table.”
Jade ignored me, and instead focused her sights on Maisie’s boyfriend, who seemed perfectly star-struck by our presence.
Kyle gave a snort/scoff combo. “I’m going to sit down. Come join me when you’re done gossiping.” He slipped his hand underneath my ponytail and tugged, jerking my head back again.
Connor walked in then, straightening his varsity jacket sleeves, stride faltering when he saw us still standing—and saw who we were talking to.
In that moment, I could instantly tell that this wasn’t a planned meeting.
Of course it wasn’t—why on earth would Connor plan to run into Maisie? “What’s going on?” he asked.
“We’re chatting.” Jade had mastered the art of looking sweet and sour at the same time—her lips said one thing but her eyes said another.
Connor glanced at me. Do something. “If you’re done talking,” he said, “I’m starving.”
Maisie’s boyfriend—I still, for the life of me, couldn’t remember his name—practically fell over himself to get to his feet.
His eyes were almost bug-like with how wide they were.
“Connor, man, you did great tonight,” he gushed like a total fanboy.
“That final touchdown? Man, it sailed right into your arms, didn’t it? ”
I glanced over at Maisie as he spoke, noting her jaw clamped shut, gaze focused on her plate.
Thankfully, though, with a quick and casual “thank you,” Connor was able to extract us from awkwardly hovering over their table, but Jade couldn’t walk away without one last quip. “Oh, and Maisie? Bring Connor back his sweatpants on Monday. Don’t be creepy and keep them in your closet.”
Underneath the table, Maisie’s hands curled into fists. A habit of mine I’d picked up from her.
When we were enough of a distance away, Connor’s grip tightened on Jade. “Knock it off,” he muttered.
“It’s pathetic.” Jade, for the first time in the whole ordeal, looked to me. “It’s like he doesn’t even want to date her.”
I fought the urge to glance back. “That makes him pathetic?”
“I meant her.”
“Careful,” Connor hissed. “I can think of a situation someone’s in that’s similar.”
I had to lock my jaw to keep it from falling open, but there was no stopping how wide my eyes widened. Jade just gave him a biting smile.
I sank into the booth beside Kyle, keeping a distance between our shoulders.
The waitress came around to us immediately, taking our orders for three chocolate shakes and one strawberry—mine.
“Tired, dude?” Kyle asked Connor. “You took a beating tonight. You need to join us for morning weightlifting, and maybe your scrawny back won’t get battered around so much. ”
“At least I’m not a senior who doesn’t get field time.”
Kyle’s teasing grin went flat in an instant. “You want to go there?”
Connor pressed a finger into his eye. “Trust me. You don’t want to go there.”
What was in the air tonight? And why wasn’t Jade stepping in? “You guys.”
Kyle leaned forward. “Oh, I’m kind of thinking I do want to go—”
“H-Hey, guys. Mind if I pull up a seat?”
Everyone at our booth looked up to find Maisie’s boyfriend standing over it.
For a split second, I thought it was a joke.
I really did. But once my gaze dipped to find his plate of food in one hand, his drink in the other, the realization of what he actually said washed over me like a bucket of ice water.
I looked past him toward where Maisie sat at the table, her half-eaten burger still in front of her, her expression nothing short of enraged.
Enraged and humiliated.
“Of course!” Jade grinned from ear to ear. “Squeeze next to Madison. Madison, scooch over. Kyle won’t bite.”
“No promises.” Kyle wrapped his arm around my shoulders, using the grip as leverage to tug me into his side. I nearly gagged on the stench of sweat wafting from his underarm. “But yeah, Alex man, we can make plenty of room.”
Maisie’s boyfriend—Alex, apparently—crammed himself into the booth, but at least had the politeness to not saddle up against me. “What are you doing?” Connor demanded, staring at Alex. No, glaring. “You’re here with someone.”
I couldn’t help but look at Connor closer. He said exactly what I was thinking, but that was weird. It was no secret that among everyone in the Top Tier, Connor was a bit more friendly to those not in it, but Jade was right—Connor was acting weird.
“Oh, she’s—” Alex chuckled nervously. “She has somewhere to be.”
Sure enough, Maisie was rising from her chair. She wasted no backward glance on her crappy boyfriend before beelining to the door, which swung outward as someone opened it.
My gaze followed Maisie as she walked out, but snagged on the patch of the person who was walking in. It was a bulldog in full growl, red fabric caught between its teeth with a black pawprint as its shadow.
I was afraid to trace my way up to the wearer’s face, but when I did, I didn’t find the golden hair and blue eyes that haunted my nearly every thought.
No, that person stood behind the guy who walked in first, and he was combing his hand through his golden hair when our gazes locked.
Logan.
I immediately jerked my head down, leaning back in hopes that I could disappear between Alex and Kyle. A cold sweat broke out over my skin, specifically along the back of my neck where Kyle’s arm still hung.
Connor stood from the booth, causing Jade’s head to whip up. “Where are you—”
Connor slammed back into the seat, and for a second, I thought maybe Jade had grabbed his arm, until I noticed the figure at my peripheral. “Look who it is,” a deep voice murmured. “Brentwood. What’d you do, lose the game so quickly you got here first?”
Unable to fight it, I let my gaze pivot upward, finding three Jefferson Bulldogs standing over the table. Or, well, two. Logan stood a step behind them, hesitating to come closer. They were clearly football players—slightly sweaty with their hair sticking to their temples.
Logan scratched the side of his neck, clearly as unsettled as I was.
And then, through his lashes, he lifted his eyes to mine.
Everything in me fluttered to life.
“Seriously, though,” the first guy went on, planting his hand on our table and leaning in. “What makes you think you can waltz in here?”
Alex shrank back into me. “It’s public property,” Jade said with a huff, peering at them around Connor. Something almost like amusement glittered in her eyes. “Isn’t it, Mr. Quarterback?”
“In enemy territory.” That was the second football player, the broadest of the three. “You’re fair game.”
Kyle sat back more comfortably in the booth, peering up at the scene unfolding with amusement. He wasn’t like Ashton, who picked fights. He wasn’t like Landon, who tried to defuse them. He just watched, enjoyed.
Logan’s gaze dropped to where Kyle’s arm hung off my shoulder, his hand relaxed far closer to my chest than I would’ve liked. It’s not what you think, I wanted to tell Logan. It’s really not what you think.