Chapter 15 #2
I scoff. “What do you mean, let me? No one tells me what to do.”
Maddy opens her mouth to respond, but before she can, the stadium lets out a roar.
All our attention turns back to the field where Tyler is dropping back in the pocket on the thirty-yard line, football in hand and his eyes glued downfield.
That’s where my eyes go too. Drew races straight down the middle of the field, arms pumping and legs moving faster than seems possible.
He shakes off one defender, then two, rotating his body just as Tyler lets the ball fly.
It arcs over the field, seeming to hang midair, the entire stadium going silent as the ball drops down straight into Drew’s waiting arms.
Drew reacts immediately, tucking the ball close to his body and sprinting five yards, ten, twenty, and straight into the end zone.
Pandemonium explodes, and it’s chaos in the stands.
Tyler flies down the field and attacks Drew on one side, while Cam crashes into him on the other.
The Renegades entire offense is in the end zone, celebrating the touchdown and probable win, and everyone is trying to talk to Drew, but Drew’s eyes arrow straight to me.
And when he points to me and winks again, I think I might actually die.
“He scored that touchdown for you,” Sarah squeals, clasping her hands to her chest dramatically. “That’s the most romantic thing I’ve ever seen.”
“It’s hot is what it is,” Emmy says. “Ten out of ten scorching hot.”
I don’t answer, my eyes still on the end zone. I don’t know what’s happening to me, but it’s like, in this moment, I’m incapable of looking anywhere else. Drew tilts his head towards the tunnel that leads off the field, and somehow, I catch his meaning right away.
Wait for me.
The version of me who kisses a beautiful man in my office and comes to football games for the first time in years to see that beautiful man play even though I kind of hate sports wants to agree.
“Still think no one tells you what to do?” Maddy asks, hand on her hip and grin on her face.
“What the fuck is happening?” I mutter, and all five of my friends burst out laughing.
Sophie links arms with me and leans her head against mine. “You like a boy. That boy,” she says, gesturing to the field where Drew is trotting off, helmet under his arm and his hair a sweaty mess that makes me a little weak in the knees. “Just go with it, Cait. This is going to be so much fun.”
“So much fucking fun,” Maya says, bouncing up from her chair, dating irritation seemingly forgotten. “We’ll be needing all the dirty details. Every last one.”
Dirty details. Shit. An ocean of nerves slams into me as I think about exactly what might be a part of those dirty details.
Things I’ve never done before. Things I might not know how to do.
Might not be able to do. All the experience I definitely don’t have.
But then I do my best to shove them away because I’m getting ahead of myself, and all of that seems like a problem for future Caitlin.
“Maybe take notes so you don’t forget anything.” Sarah bumps her hip with mine. “If I’m not having sex, at least I can be hearing about someone else’s sex.”
“Hey, I tell you about my sex all the time,” Sophie says. “That’s not enough for you?”
Emmy rolls her eyes. “Blah, blah, blah, Tyler and Cam are sex gods, you’re both lucky bitches, whatever. We need new material, and it looks like our girl is about to provide us with some.”
“He just winked at me from the field. That doesn’t exactly spell night of hot sex.”
At least I hope it doesn’t. Or maybe I hope it does? I have no idea.
“We’re just messing with you, you know,” Maddy says, taking my hand again, voice low like it’s just for me.
“You don’t have to go home with him if you don’t want to.
You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do.
” She turns to me, face serious. “Say the word and we’ll leave the stadium right now and go get tequila drunk, no boys allowed. ”
“You would do that for me?” The words come before I can stop them, embarrassment heating my cheeks.
Maddy doesn’t seem surprised by my question. Instead, she squeezes my hand and nods. “Of course. There isn’t anything we wouldn’t do for you. Bury the body, friends forever, smart bitches for life, Cait. That’s just the way that goes.”
“For life!” Maya says, swinging an arm around my shoulders. “And if you want to go get drunk you know I’m always down, but might I suggest banging the hot football player first, and then we can get drunk tomorrow night when you can tell us everything?”
“That is a much better plan.” Sophie beams at me and Sarah grins and Emmy claps, as if she’s applauding my impending night of…
whatever this night is about to bring. Maddy is on one side of me and Maya the other, and their enthusiasm chases away some of the nerves sparking under my skin.
My unease at sharing and the thought of all the things I’m still keeping buried.
We may be in a football stadium with the noise of sixty thousand fans, but in this moment, it’s just the six of us. And it’s as perfect a moment as I’ve ever had.