Chapter 5
CHAPTER
FIVE
ELLERY
“So, you’re bringing Bradley to Peeper’s Alley?” Bryce asks while we’re waiting for the guys to come out onto the field, her gaze diverting to Adeline.
“Um… yeah, why?”
Bryce shrugs, but it doesn’t seem like she was just wondering. She’s judging.
“Since when are you at a loss for words?” I ask.
“We just don’t normally invite other people.”
“Isn’t that because two of us three are dating players? Cooper is welcome to bring someone. Heck, after game day, he can grab any available woman hanging out to get a pic and bring her into the back room if he wants.” I grab my popcorn and shove it in my mouth.
Neither of them says anything, and I get it.
Me dating Bradley has rocked the boat in this glorious six-person friendship.
But it was bound to happen at some point.
It just never has happened until now. Neither Cooper nor I have ever brought the person we’re dating around each other, but I can’t help that they’re teammates.
Neither of us has found anything serious since we came into one another’s lives back in college.
“And Cooper knows?”
“Oh, I didn’t know he gets to police who I can and cannot bring.”
Bryce is annoying me, and the game hasn’t even started yet. The seats next to me fill, and we have to lower our voices.
Bryce says, “I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just… weird.”
“Well, I’m sorry you’re not comfortable.”
“Jeez, Elle, I was just conveying my feelings.” She turns her body away from me and sips her beer.
Adeline pretends she has to get something out of the diaper bag while Clover is dancing on her lap to the music. The Grizzlies are announced and come out onto the field as the crowd roars. Clover leans to look over toward the tunnel with her pacifier in her mouth.
I’m just happy I don’t have to talk about Cooper anymore.
I’m not sure what Bryce expects me to do.
We’ve been over this. He and I will never be a couple.
Sure, our relationship isn’t in sibling territory, but we don’t want to lose one another, and we promised each other that a long time ago.
And it’s not as if Cooper has given me any indication that he wants to change anything.
Damon jogs over, and Clover claps, smiling around her pacifier. It might be the cutest thing I’ve ever seen, and for a moment, I wonder what it would be like to have a little one like her. How would Cooper be as a dad? He’s a great uncle figure to Clover.
As usual, Damon plays with fire as he lifts himself up on the ledge and wraps his arms around Adeline, squeezing Clover between them. His lips find Adeline’s, and the people around us all squeal with joy.
“Always making fans,” I say.
“Good luck,” Adeline says. “Wish Daddy good luck.”
Damon pushes his finger gently into Clover’s stomach. “Tell Mommy that Daddy doesn’t need luck.”
“There’s the cocky side we all love,” Bryce says, rolling her eyes.
“Don’t do that, Bryce,” Damon says without looking away from his wife and child.
God, that look in his eye, like he’d like to defer the game and sit in the stands with them. What must it be like to have a man look at you like that?
I’m so transfixed by them that Bryce has to elbow me to wave to Bradley.
“Thanks. It’s just so…”
“Toothache inducing? Yup.” Bryce sips some more beer. She blows a kiss to Miles, who brings up both hands and forms a heart.
After I wave to Bradley, my eyes search out Cooper, but he’s already talking to his coach about the plays, and it looks as though he’s about to warm up his arm.
“Jesus Christ!” Coach Stone yells. “I get it that you love your family, but get down and warm up, Siska!”
Damon smiles and kisses Adeline one last time before kissing Clover’s cheek. He whispers something only Adeline can hear, but she blushes as he jumps down.
“Dada!” Clover yells.
He turns around, blowing her a kiss. Her bottom lip quivers and Adeline reaches into the bag, grabbing a snack to distract Clover, but her eyes are fixated on her dad.
“What did he say to you?” Bryce asks because she thinks everything is her business.
“Nothing.” She shakes her head, but she can’t get the smile off her face, nor can she stop blushing.
“OMG, what?” Bryce asks again.
Adeline looks around, then leans in closer to us. “If he scores two touchdowns and they win, I promised him we’d go away for a weekend during the bye week, just the two of us.”
“How come I don’t think that’s all of it?” Bryce smirks.
Adeline’s cheeks grow pinker, and she strips her gaze away from us.
“Okay, keep the dirty stuff between you two, but let me watch Clover while you’re gone,” Bryce says.
“Oh, you’d want to do that?” Adeline asks.
“Of course.”
I stare at Bryce. Since when does she volunteer to babysit? I mean, we all love Clover, but a whole weekend with Clover?
“Okay, I guess we’ll see what happens today.” Adeline suddenly looks as if she doesn’t want Damon to score two touchdowns, which we all know is feasible.
“Clover, come to Auntie Bryce.” Bryce holds out her hands, her diamond rings looking as though she just got them cleaned as they sparkle so brightly.
Clover goes of course, because she pretty easily goes to all of us. Bryce sits the baby on her lap and talks to her as if Clover is six, pointing out players and saying how we don’t like the green team, only the orange and blue one.
Adeline sits back and, for the first time since we got here, takes a sip of her soft drink, watching the guys warm up.
“What’s it like?” I ask her.
“What?” Her head tilts.
“Marriage? Kids?”
She laughs. “Hectic. But nothing really changed after we got married.”
Bryce and Miles were married in a big ceremony over the summer, and right after, Damon and Adeline rushed off to Vegas to tie the knot, deciding they didn’t want any part of a big wedding for themselves.
“It has to be more than just hectic. You’re too happy for hectic.”
“True. I’m not sure how to explain it. For me, it’s like peace.
Although our life is crazy, there’s something about knowing someone else out there loves your daughter as much as you, and you just as much as you love him.
I know we’re in the early days for the love thing, but I can’t imagine not wanting to spend every minute with Damon and Clover. ”
I smile, remembering that feeling when I first met Cooper. Thank goodness our psych class was three times a week. Tuesdays and Thursdays dragged until we got to the point where we were hanging out then too.
“You’ve felt it before?” Adeline studies me.
I shrug and drink my water, bringing my popcorn back to my lap. I’m not saying a word. Admitting I had feelings for my best friend would only further the commentary that there’s something going on with Cooper and me. But that was so long ago. It’s hilarious to think of us being together now.
“Bradley?” she asks, and I want to thank her for giving me a reprieve on the whole “you love Cooper” thing. Adeline is the sweetest person I’ve ever known.
“No.”
She gives me a small grin. “I didn’t think so.”
We don’t wait for the guys at the stadium after the game. Instead, we head to Peeper’s Alley bar. When we get out of the car that Damon hired for Adeline and Clover, there’s a crowd around Peeper’s Alley, most women wearing our men’s jerseys.
“This is always kind of awkward, no?” Adeline says.
“Only to you. I like to show off to them that my man is taken, and they’re not sinking their teeth into him.” Bryce saunters out of the vehicle and winds her way toward the entrance.
“I want to be her someday,” Adeline says, holding a sleeping Clover to her chest.
I laugh. “I’ll grab the car seat.”
After seeing Bryce, the women turn around, and the whispers commence. We walk through a group of women, but one of them reaches for my arm and throws me back.
“No cuts,” she says.
I scowl at her. “Excuse me? I’m expected in there.”
“Oh please.” The woman looks drunk, and of course she’s wearing Cooper’s jersey, matching mine. “If you think you’re getting in there before me because you look like the cheerleader type—”
“I’m friends with him.”
“It’s her, the best friend,” another girl yells.
“Ellery!” Adeline calls from the door.
“I’m fine. Go.” I wave her off, wanting, for some reason, to finish this.
“You’re best friends. Are you a lesbian?” the woman asks me.
Here we go.
“No, I’m not.”
“Then I don’t buy it.” She looks as if she wants to spit in my face.
Her friend steps in, trying to get her to keep quiet. “Just excuse her, she’s had a lot to drink tonight.”
The group goes wild, and I look around and spot Damon and Miles going in the back entrance of the bar, which is what we should’ve done.
But that would have meant Adeline and Clover had to go through the basement and up the flight of stairs to enter Peeper’s.
Ruby isn’t a fan of us using that entrance except for days like this.
I used it once with Cooper when his fame skyrocketed from all his endorsements two years ago.
“Excuse us.” Cooper pops up beside me and takes the car seat in one hand and grabs my hand with the other, weaving us through the crowd.
They all yell his name. I keep my head down as we enter, and he leads us to the back room.
“What were you doing?” he asks once we’re secure.
Damon and Miles come through the other door, Damon beelining it over to Adeline.
“I think that was two touchdowns, baby.” He holds up two fingers and does a dance as he gets closer.
“You wake her, and she’s yours for the rest of the night,” Adeline says.
He stops mid-stride and walks over more slowly, then puts his arm around her shoulders and kisses her temple as they both stare at their baby.
“Hey, I think you left one out there. He’s all caught up with those women.” Ruby, who owns the bar, brings in a few pitchers of beer.
“Shit, Bradley,” I say.
Cooper steps away from me and goes to fill his beer mug.
“I’ll be right back,” I say.
I go out to the main part of the bar and ask Ruby to fetch Bradley from the grips of those starved women.
She does, and when Bradley sees me, he looks back over his shoulder at the chaos outside. “Crazy. Do they get like this all the time?”
“After every home game for the most part.” I shrug.
As I lead him to the back room, he continues to look over his shoulder. “Amazing. Damn.”
I want to ask if he’d prefer to be out there with all those girls, but I don’t know if I want the answer.
I bring him into the private room where the guys are arguing about plays. Bryce is practically taking mommy classes from Adeline. I think I need to have a chat with Bryce later.
Bradley quickly joins the guys. I go over to the ladies and realize that I missed that there’s a woman sitting next to Cooper. Who the hell is she? She’s so close to him that she definitely came with him. What the hell?
“She came in, like, a minute ago. Ruby started screaming when she came through the basement, telling her to go away, and Cooper said she was with him,” Bryce tells me under her breath.
“Oh.”
She’s cute. Blonde like he likes and light eyes. She’s petite though. Maybe he likes them small, not tall for a woman like me.
“Who is she?” I ask.
Bryce shrugs.
“He met her at the grocery store. I guess she didn’t know who he was. Sounds a little unbelievable to me.” Adeline rolls her eyes.
As the night goes on, I try not to pay much attention to Cooper and his date, but I can’t help it. He’s attentive to her like he usually is with me. Bradley seems to prefer hanging with the guys and talking post-game stuff, even while Damon holds Clover while she sleeps.
Cooper and his girl play darts. She pretends she sucks so he has to lean over her to give her lessons. Give me a break, who does this girl think she’s fooling?
He waits until the night is halfway done before joining us all at the table again. “Hey, Elle, I don’t think you’ve met Maya yet. Maya, this is Ellery.”
She smiles and says, “Nice to meet you.”
“You too.” Although I don’t mean it. I much preferred it when we kept boyfriends and girlfriends out of our friendship.
My phone rings and I pull it out. When I see that it’s the hospital, I’m thankful I’m being called in.
“Gotta go. Sorry,” I whisper to Bradley.
“You got called in? Now?” His tone tells me he’s annoyed, though I don’t know why. He spent the majority of the night talking with the guys.
“Yeah.”
I wait for a beat, but he doesn’t offer to walk me out, so I say my goodbyes, and Bradley says he’ll call me tomorrow. When I get outside, I inhale a deep breath, but before I can hail a taxi, a hand finds mine. I look over to see Cooper.
“Your boyfriend should know that you need to be walked out of here.” He holds his hand out for a taxi coming down the street, and it pulls over in front of us. “I hope it’s nothing serious.” He opens the taxi door and waits for me to get in.
“Thank you,” I say.
A small smile creases Cooper’s lips. “I’ll always take care of you. You know that.”
The taxi pulls away from the curb, and I lean back in the seat.
What was all that tonight? Surely it wasn’t jealousy. No way.
It’s just that things are changing between Cooper and me, and change is always hard. I’ll get used to it. We both will.