“I think we should make it a little more fun than what we typically do.” Greg pointed to the TV, where the game was starting. Hellions were first to kickoff. “Whatever team wins, that person pays for dinner.”
“That’s not fair!” I laughed at him. “Look, Darryl already tackled Johnson, and we both know when that happens, the Snakes don’t even have a chance!”
Darryl was the Hellions’ best linebacker and Johnson was the Snakes standing-in quarterback. Ricky was out until next week for an injury, and by all that was holy, I thanked God that he wasn’t playing this game, or I knew for sure the Snakes probably would win.
“Let’s just watch and see what happens.” If I hadn’t been looking at Greg directly, I wouldn’t have seen the sparkle in his eye at that exact moment. He was enjoying this a little too much and I almost thought of him being the Snake right now, and not his team up on the screen.
We watched in full focus, devouring our wings, going into half-time. Two touchdowns for the Hellions and one for the Snakes. I never had much faith in the first half of the game, because, once the boys got done with halftime, it was almost always a completely different game. They were either charged up and ready to go, or they dropped the ball from getting too cocky. And as much as I wanted my team to win, I didn’t want to pay for dinner.
“Do you guys need another order?” I was grabbing for the last wing when Tony popped up with his question.
“Cleary.” Greg laughed at me and then, ripping open a towelette, he took hold of my hands and cleaned them off. I loved the buildup of sauce on my fingers and pouted once I looked down at my clean fingers. “You’re like a child sometimes.”
“Admit it, you love me.” I laughed off the expression because we had said it a million times. It was something we always joked about, that no matter what we did, we would always love each other for our differences and weirdness. I just never expected that, when I said it right now, it would cause butterflies in my stomach to flutter wildly. I didn’t expect that Greg would look at me with dark eyes and lick his lips, causing me to take in a deep breath and contemplate what I would say next.
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said anything. It just kind of slipped out.” I continued to ramble on. “I’m just so used to saying it with us, and I feel like it made it awkward now and I don’t want it to be awkward, because I like how tonight is going and I don’t want us to close off again—”
“Stop.” The smile on Greg’s face was what made me stop, not because he was telling me to. That smile was exactly when I knew it. That look in his eyes was no longer full of lust or desire, but pure adoration. It was a look I had been starved for and for the first time in all of this mess, my heart knew it was true. The look on Greg’s face was filled with love. I knew in this moment I had to stop running, I felt it in my heart that this was going to work. We were going to work.
“You’re fine.” He leaned over and kissed my forehead.
“Here you go.” Tony announced his presence a little louder than needed to be as he slid the basket of wings onto the table. Greg and I didn’t break eye contact as we waited for him to leave so that we could continue our moment. We hadn’t even noticed that the game was back on, until the bar erupted into cheers.
I looked up to the nearest TV and then back to Greg, who still hadn’t moved from looking at me.
“Touchdown.” I poked him in the chest. That had him more aware now. He looked over to see what I was talking about.
“Shit.” We were tied now. The last time a rival game tied, we ended up staying at the bar until it closed because we couldn’t settle the bet at all. I think the period after that night was the longest Greg and I had gone without talking. It was a week of silence, but when I brought a green and black cupcake the following week and put it on his desk, he quickly forgave. I did not want a tie, even if that meant I won.
Greg picked up a wing and devoured not one but two in a single minute. I had to pull the basket away from him, but he pulled it right back and I knew there was no stopping him and his stress-eating. I quickly joined in as the Hellions made it to the one-yard line. The whole bar was on edge at the back and forth, waiting for the outcome of this game.
We downed our second basket as the clock read ten minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. This was it. Ten minutes would decide a lot of things. Who would win this bet? Who would get to gloat for the rest of the year? But, most importantly, what would happen after this date? It was almost ten at night and my leg was already bouncing with nervousness.
We were literally going back to the same place and Greg would have to walk me to my door, but would he come in? Would he invite me into his place? This was only a date, so who said there had to be more, but wasn’t there always more?
“Fuck yes!” Greg pumped his hand into the air. Apparently, I had zoned out for too long to see that the Hellions had made a touchdown in the last two minutes of the game. The whole bar was in chaos of people booing and cheering. Greg pushed at my shoulder in excitement and I watched him watch the rest of the game.
He was leaning over the table, slightly lifted off the chair and hands flat on the table. I didn’t care if the Hellions won, because I was pretty sure I was the one winning tonight. The man sitting beside me was everything that I had ever wanted and, when I heard the buzzer and cheers come from the TV, I knew I had lost the bet. Greg swung around and looped an arm around my shoulder, as he cheered. It almost seemed like he was the one who was the Hellion fan, not me.
“That was such a great game!” he shouted, as the bar grew louder with everyone doing a play-by-play of their favorite parts.
“Whenever you guys are ready.” Tony slid the check onto the table, but as I went to reach for it to settle the bet, Greg snatched it up and handed over his readied credit card to Tony before he left the table.
“Wait!” I tried to wave to Tony to come back, but I knew he couldn’t hear me over the ruckus. I smacked Greg in the chest. “I was supposed to pay that!”
“You can find another way to pay the bet.” He leaned in and kissed my nose and then my lips. I took his meaning to my core and launched myself into the kiss. The whoops and hollers got louder and, when we pulled apart, all eyes were on us. I giggled and tried to hide my face, but Greg pulled me from the booth. I grabbed for my purse and coat without a word and we walked over to where Tony was finishing up with check.
“Thanks, man.” Tony handed back the card and threw me a wink before Greg effortlessly dragged me from the bar as people who were also regulars at Finnagin’s cheered us out the door.
“That wasn’t awkward at all,” I mumbled to myself when we hit the quiet outside air.
“Don’t know what you’re talking about.” Greg pretended to play dumb. He once again helped me into his car and we made our way back to the apartment.
My hand was in his and the way his thumb circled my wrist had me already wishing we would continue that kiss from the bar right now. Greg barely made a yellow light, and I knew then he was thinking the same thing.
We needed to get home.
