Chapter 24
Look how hungry his arse is
Morgan
Alright, so Holly wasn’t entirely wrong when she said she would make me look gorgeous. I checked myself in the mirror before we left and realised that, behind the mask, there’s a girl who actually enjoyed getting ready and making an effort to go out.
Unlike the last time I went to anything social, I haven’t slipped on any old clothes and skipped make-up.
I still refused the fake eyelashes Holly insisted I wear, but I applied a thick layer of mascara and some blusher to my cheeks.
Putting my trust in the failed hairdresser, I let her tame the curls and style my hair in a half-up-half-down do.
“Is it supposed to sit this low on my chest?” I tug at the black top showing off my cleavage.
Holly looks down at my tits. “Yeah.” She gives me a look that says duh.
“I think I’m going to throw up.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. You look sexy.”
Looking around the football field, everyone’s wearing coats and jackets. I don’t see any chests or bare legs. “I’m not sure sexy fits in here.” Oh, God, what am I doing?
“Listen to me.” She turns me to face her. “Remember your dream?”
Of course I do. I nod.
“Well, I told you that now we have to work harder to get them. So, that’s what we’re doing.” She gives me a stern nod. “Alright?”
Sucking in a breath of courage, I straighten my spine. “Right.”
“Good, now let’s find a seat because I think the players will be out soon and I’m pretty sure I just saw the O’Keefe family pull up.”
Quickly making our way over to the small block of bleachers that are to one side of the playing field, we take a seat towards the back, saving one for Sarah. The two-tier stand is virtually full with home and away supporters, so I’m happy when we blend into the crowd.
A few minutes later, one fan bangs a drum strapped around his neck, and the players run out of the tiny dugout which is similar to the small shed my dad has at the end of the garden. It’s funny because it’s not. “They’re taking this very seriously,” I say with a laugh.
“Have you seen number seven?” she asks, and my eyes search for the player wearing the plain white jersey with a seven on the back.
“What is he doing?” I gasp.
Number seven is stretching, or more so, wiggling his rear end in the air as two players stand in the middle of the pitch.
The referee, also known as Derek Rogan, June from the shop’s husband, tosses a coin up into the air, but I can’t look away from the man jiggling his trunk.
His socks are over his knees, and his shorts are sitting above his hips.
Holly nudges me when he pulls his shorts up even higher. “Look how hungry his arse is.”
I nudge her back. “Don’t be cruel,” I say, still trying to suppress my laughter.
Just then, I see Sarah searching the bleachers for me.
Standing to my feet, I don’t give it a second thought. Even in this skirt, I’m giving her a wave with my arm stretched up high.
She waves back, and in that instant, I feel the air shift around me.
Surpassing the beat of the drum being played, my heart hammers in my chest when I notice a few people looking my way. Lowering my arm, my gaze wanders through the crowd to the players on the pitch.
They’re all getting ready for the ref to blow his whistle.
Except for one.
Paddy. He looks good enough to eat in his kit, with his muscles popping in all the right places and his hair a little wild due to the breeze.
Someone nearby coughs, and what with my body aching from ogling him, I abruptly sit, my core starting to heat.
Holly leans in closer. “I think my work here is done,” she whispers, grinning from ear to ear.
With my insides on fire, I try to clear my throat when Sarah takes her seat on the other side of me.
“Lord have mercy. Would you look at the rods on this one.”
I look up at her, keeping my head dipped low. “Is he still looking?”
Sarah looks at the pitch then back to me. “Yeah,” she says bluntly with a surprised look on her face. “But I’m not talking about him.” She assesses me. “You look killer, Morgan. I’ve never seen you so dressed up.” Her smile widens when she looks towards the pitch again. “I think you broke him.”
Holly laughs. “Oh my God, Morgan. He-man can’t get enough.”
“Stop,” I tell them both. My cheeks flame. The longer I refuse to look the more I’m fuelling their fascination.
Sarah places her arm on my shoulder. “Don’t be embarrassed.”
Her soft words make me look up.
When she nods her head to the pitch, I finally let myself look at Paddy.
He’s got his hands on his hips, staring at me. Even through the crowd, his gaze cuts through them like a knife in butter, landing on me with an intensity so hot, he takes my breath away.
Mr Rogan blows his whistle.
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 for the 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.
“We could double date.”
I swing my head to Sarah. “Oh, God, not you too.”
Sarah’s shoulders bob up and down. “I don’t see what’s wrong with him,” she laughs.
My hands fly up in the air when number seven makes a run down the wing. He tries his best to keep the ball in, but it rolls across the sideline.
“Oh, unlucky,” Holly says, clapping her hands together. “Five minutes left,” she then adds.
My head twists as the ball goes to the other end of the field and the other team narrowly miss scoring a goal.
The crowd quietens, but as if stirring them all up again, Paddy runs along the length of the pitch encouraging them to make more noise by raising his arms up and down.
I see Evie holding up her banner to him in the front row.
“He’s still the best player, regardless of most of these men looking like they need an IV line,” Holly remarks.
My eyes follow him. “He is, isn’t he?”
“Did he play in school?” Sarah asks me.
I lean in closer so she can hear me. “He and Danny both did. They and their other friend, Jake.”
“Is he here?”
“No. I haven’t seen him yet.”
Her eyes track Danny.
“You should talk to him after the game,” I add.
“Really?” She beams a wide, infectious smile.
“Yeah. If you want to date him, then you should go for it.”
Sarah snickers, and Holly chuckles beside me. “I’ll think about dating him. Mostly, I just want to get underneath him.”
I’m sure neither of my friends hear my gasp over the noise of the cheering crowd.
With my mouth popped open in shock, I turn to look at the game just in time to see a player a little older than Paddy and Danny, pass the ball across the field and into the box.
Paddy’s boot is locked and loaded. He strikes the ball with a thud, and it sails through the air, hitting the back of the net in the top left corner.
The crowd erupts in unison, arms up together, frantically waving and celebrating Stoney Grange’s win.
“They did it,” I cheer, watching Paddy celebrating with his team on the field.
He runs to Evie and wraps his big arms around her, bending over the railing at the front of the stand.
My heart bursts seeing them together, his mum and his dad jumping up and down with him.
Sarah taps my arm. “You should go down there.”
So I do.