14. Liliana
Chapter 14
Liliana
I take one last look in the mirror before I head into the living room and try to keep myself busy until Kevin gets here. I'm hoping if I keep moving, I won't let myself freak out. I won't overthink things.
I really thought Smithy would’ve stepped in by now and done something to stop this date from happening. I wanted him to. In a way, I needed him to because now I feel even more lost than ever.
Over the last few weeks, he’s seemed more clingy and needy when it comes to me. I thought he was building up the nerve to make a move, but now? I wonder if I was just imagining all of it.
I mean, c’mon! This is Smithy we’re talking about. If he really wanted to date me, he’d just come out and say so, right? He isn't shy or scared of being rejected. He’ll always have a line of women begging to repair his broken heart.
Plus, let’s be honest here, I'm not going to break his heart. He could do so much better. He could get his dream girl.
Speaking of his dream girl… who is his mystery girl? I’ve been trying to figure this out for years and I’ve never been able to.
My heart drops as I realize Smithy doesn’t want me. He wants his mystery girl and he hasn’t stopped this date. Winnie and I were wrong. He’s not going to make a move because he never wanted me to begin with.
Maybe he was just using me to keep women away at the bar. Maybe he wanted to cuddle and be close to me because he’s going through a dry spell and misses being close to a woman. I don’t know.
A knock on my door pulls me away from my thoughts. I squeeze my eyes shut and try to erase all thoughts of Smithy from my mind. If he doesn’t want me, then there’s no reason I shouldn’t go out and find my own happily ever after. Maybe that will be with Kevin, but if not, that’s ok too.
I swing the door open and come face to face with a man who could give Smithy a run for his money. He’s handsome, but a stark contrast to Smithy. His dark hair is slicked back, making him look classically handsome. His jaw is cleanly shaven and his chocolate eyes are sparkling in the light.
He’s so different from the laidback man I'm used to. Smithy’s hair is a mess most days and I rarely see him without some scruff on his jaw. He’s typically wearing athletic clothing, unlike Kevin in his dress pants and button up shirt.
“Hey, Liliana, I'm Kevin.” He takes a step towards me to give me a hug and I happily accept it.
After my realization tonight, I could use a hug. I’ve spent the last chunk of my life being in love with my best friend and wasting so much time.
“It’s nice to meet you.”
“You too. You’re beautiful. Winnie didn’t tell me that.” He grins as he takes a step back.
“Thank you,” I say softly as I tuck a strand of hair behind my ear and peek up at him through my lashes.
“Are you ready to go? I have reservations for us at Catalino’s.”
“I’m ready. Did Winnie tell you Catalino’s is my favorite restaurant?”
“She might’ve mentioned it.” He smirks as I lock up. As soon as we start walking, he places his hand on my lower back and leads me out of the apartment building and in the direction of his car.
“Do you let Winnie set you up on dates often?” I grin up at him.
“No.” He chuckles and shakes his head. “The only reason I agreed to this is because she wouldn’t stop going on and on about how amazing you were. I figured if you were a quarter of amazing as she says, you’d be pretty great.”
“She’s a fantastic hype girl.” I chuckle, knowing exactly what he’s talking about. “She did the same with talking you up.”
“I hope you weren’t disappointed when you opened the door. I'm a little afraid of what she could’ve said.”
“Not disappointed at all.”
Kevin opens my door and once I climb in, he carefully shuts it for me. I'm about to turn towards him when movement across the street catches my eye. I do a double take when I see Smithy’s SUV. It could be someone else’s SUV, but it’s the same make and color as Smithy’s.
I swore I saw someone in the driver’s seat, but when I looked back, there’s no one there. My brows tug together as I watch the car carefully. He doesn’t drive that car a lot, normally he likes his truck or sports car, but I know he still has it.
Why would he be here though? What the heck is going on?
“Are you ok?” Kevin glances over at me as he starts the car.
“Yeah, I thought I saw someone I knew, but now I'm not sure where the person went.”
“Ah, that’s the worst. You feel like you’re going crazy then.” He pulls out of the parking lot and takes the highway out of town. “I'm not ignoring you, but I don’t really want to get to know you while I'm driving. I want to be able to look at you while we’re talking. Is that ok?”
“Definitely.” I settle back into my seat and enjoy the quiet.
As soon as we’re seated at a booth and have ordered, Kevin leans in and his full attention is on me.
“Tell me a little about yourself. Winnie was fairly vague about anything past you’re amazing.”
“She loves creating a mystery.” I grin. “I’m a sports reporter. I’m a little obsessed with sports, which makes some guys unhappy.”
“Well, I love sports too, so I don’t see why that would be a problem.” He winks at me. “What’s your favorite sport, team, and player?”
“Oh, that’s easy. Baseball, the Pit Bulls, and Travis Smithy.”
“Favorite hockey team and player?”
“Pythons and one of the Robinson twins. I won't pick, so don’t ask me to.” I arch a brow, making him chuckle.
“Fair enough. What about football?”
“Right now my favorite team is the Tigers and Creed Everson.”
“I don’t know that team.” Kevin tilts his head to the side and watches me carefully.
“It’s a high school team and Creed is taking everyone by storm. The kid will definitely be going pro if he wants to. I just hope he gets to play for Philadelphia. I know he wants to.”
“Ahh, so you’re a diehard Philly girl.” He nods his head. “Makes sense. Philly fans are intense and win or lose, they pretend their teams are the greatest teams in existence.”
“Because they are.” My smile widens.
“Oh, yeah. Of course.” He rolls his eyes while nodding his head in agreement.
“I'm not sure this is going to work out.” I pretend to slide out of the booth and Kevin throws his head back and laughs.
“Ok, ok! No bashing Philadelphia sports teams. I got it. I’ll keep my opinions to myself.” He holds his hands up in surrender.
“I'm almost afraid to ask this, but who are your favorite teams?” I wince, waiting for the blow to happen.
“Pit Bulls with Everson being my favorite player for baseball. Pythons with Huxley being my favorite for hockey. And the Philadelphia Tigers with Taylor being my favorite for football.”
“Oh! So, all Philadelphia teams! Why are you giving me a hard time then?”
“Just to see that beautiful smile on your face.”
“Hey! What are you doing here?” Cici stops at the edge of our table and smiles at me.
“Hey! I'm here with Kevin on a date. How have you been?”
I don’t get to see Cici a lot, but she’s always gone out of her way to be kind to me. She’s genuinely nice and I love to spend time with her.
“I'm great! It’s ironic to see you here though.”
“Why?”
“I'm here with Smithy. I asked him to dinner so we could discuss some business.”
“Smithy’s here?” I glance over her shoulder to where Smithy’s sitting alone. His attention is on his phone, completely unaware of the world around him.
“Travis Smithy?” Kevin perks up at that. “Didn’t you just say he’s your favorite player? You should go say hi!”
“Oh, no. It’s fine.” I wave him off as heat creeps up my cheeks.
“When will you get another chance like this?” Kevin pushes.
“Probably more often than you’d think.” Cici chuckles and I glare at her, making her laugh even harder.
“Am I missing something?” Kevin looks between the two of us.
“Smithy’s her best friend.” Cici smirks as Kevin’s eyes widen.
“Why don’t you invite him over here? You two can join us… unless you don’t want to.” He peeks up at Cici.
“I'm sure Smithy would love that. We discussed most of our business while we were driving.”
Cici calls Smithy’s name and waves him over. I watch him carefully. He pretends to be confused as he rises from his seat and makes his way over here, but it’s fake. I know him way too well to believe this act.
As soon as his gaze lands on mine, his sexy smirk spreads across his lips. I want to fight it, but a smirk is spreading across my own mouth. He stopped this date. He didn’t want me to go on it, but he didn’t want to look like the bad guy.
“Hey, Sweets. I didn’t know you’d be here.” He leans down and presses a soft kiss to my cheek. “You look stunning, Lils,” he whispers in my ear.
“Of course you didn’t.” I roll my eyes, knowing I wasn’t imagining things tonight. He was sitting outside of my apartment. Winnie told me he tried to figure out where Kevin was taking me, but I never imagined he’d stalk me.
“Kevin invited us to have dinner with him and Liliana. Since we’re mostly done with our business discussion, I figured we could join them.” Cici slips into the booth next to Kevin, leaving Smithy’s only option next to me.
“I’d love to,” Smithy practically purrs as he slides in next to me and rests his arm along the back of the booth.
His fingers toy with the ends of my hair and as much as I want to tell him to stop, I love when he does this.
“I can't believe you’re best friends with Travis Smithy. No wonder he’s your favorite player.” Kevin stares at Smithy with amazement. “You’re amazing on the field.”
“Thanks. I love the game.” Smithy never accepts the praises he receives so frequently. He’s a fantastic player, but he doesn’t let it go to his head like some many guys do.
“Did you always want to go pro?”
“Nah. I just liked to play. Still to this day, I only do it because I love the game.” Smithy lifts his shoulder in a shrug.
Most people would roll their eyes at what he just said. They’d assume he’s just spouting bullshit, but he’s not. He genuinely loves playing baseball. I have no doubt if he ever stops enjoying it, he’ll retire and do something with his business degree.
“What made you change your mind and want to go pro?” Kevin looks like a kid in a candy shop. I wonder if it’s just because Smithy’s a pro baseball player or if he actually admires him as a player. He said Wyatt was his favorite on the team.
“There was this girl in college. She came to my games and she’d scream like crazy.” He smiles to himself as he gets lost in a memory. “She was perfect. Everything I ever wanted in life.” He shakes his head, bringing himself back to the present. “After one really difficult game, she told me I needed to go pro. She said I had the skill to be the best in the major league.”
“So, you decided to do it for a girl?”
“I decided right then and there, I’d try to go pro for her. I wanted to give her anything she wanted in life and to do that, I needed money. What better job could I have? I get paid a lot and I get to play the sport I'm obsessed with. I’d be stupid to do anything else.”
“Who was the girl?” Cici asks. I blink at her for a moment. I almost forgot she was here.
“Ahh, that’s not for you to know, Powell. She’s my mystery girl and that’s not for you to know.” He relaxes back into the booth and grins at her.
I think back to all the games I went to over the years. I haven’t willingly missed any of Smithy’s games. I think the only ones I didn’t attend were because I was sick. Back then, I couldn’t watch them on TV. Now, even when I'm sick, I don’t miss his game.
I don’t remember any women screaming and cheering for him at the college games. I don’t remember him talking to anyone after the games either.
Because Winnie was dating Wheeler at the time, we went to every game in college. We’d hang out with the boys and the team after each game and though there were girls who would flock to the guys, I don’t remember Smithy really hanging out with any of them. He stayed close to Winnie, Wheeler, and me.
Back then, he ignored the cleat chasers. He didn’t seem to have the time or patience for them. He was happy hanging out with his friends and that was it.
The other night at the bar kind of reminds me of college. Smithy blew off the cleat chasers and focused on his friends. It was nice to see a peek at the old Smithy, but I keep wondering what changed? Why is he doing things differently?