“Good luck at practice.” I retrieve my bag from the backseat and kiss him lightly.
His smile is uneasy. “Thanks.” The word is filled with melancholy. Of all days, I wish I could be with him until the clock demands he leave me. Two more practices, three more soccer matches, and the season will be over.
He looks sad and lost. Wistful. As if he’s preparing to say goodbye.
I squeeze his hand. “Try not to anticipate the end. It’ll take away from the experience you’re having now.”
“How did you get so wise?” he asks, his head cocked to the side.
“I read that on a fortune cookie.”
His eyebrows lift. “Really?”
“No.”
He chuckles. “Ember, I…” His mouth clamps shut, he pauses, then he opens it again. “This weekend will be fun.”
Quickly I kiss him and open the door. I climb out and close it, and through the window Noah has rolled down, I say, “It should be great. I’m going to have a great time during my sleepover at my new best friend Kelsey’s house.”
Smiling at Noah’s laughing face, I walk into the building to find sweet old Edna.
* * *
I wentto football games with Sky before she graduated from Northmount. She loved them, but not me. I didn’t understand why anybody would want to ram their heads into one another, or chase a ball, but I liked the energy of the crowd. All those people, rooting for a common cause. It was inspiring to be around.
This is different. Noah’s soccer match makes those football games look like they were Pop Warner.
Pandemonium surrounds me as screaming, bleacher-stomping fans hold posters to support their favorite players. I tried to be surreptitious about it, but I’ve since given up and started blatantly craning my neck to read all the signs.
We flip for Tripp.The cheerleaders hold these signs. They’re down near the front, a few rows away from me, and ten feet over. Through observation, I learned soccer doesn’t have cheerleaders, and my confusion about why they’re in the stands has been cleared up.
Looking behind me, I spot a group of girls holding a giant sign that readsSutton can press my button.My eyes go wide and I try not to show my unease. I keep looking around, and the feeling passes. Signs with his last name are everywhere. One is in the hands of two girls who look like they’re twelve, but are probably older. Others are held up by girls I recognize from classes. Even Elsie Sweetzer, class president, hoists a sign above her head.
Memories of lying in Noah’s bed run through my mind. Sutton was certainly pressing some buttons, until his dad spoke through the door and I nearly had a heart attack. Before that happened, other things were taking place. Good things. Things I didn’t want to stop.
Suddenly my chest feels hot, and the tops of my thighs start the now-familiar ache. To distract myself I run a palm over my face and pinch my lower lip. It works.
“Hey, Ember.”
I look up. The too-bright stadium lights blind me momentarily, and I blink until my eyes adjust and I see Noah’s dad standing above me.
“Hi,” my voice squeaks.
“Mind if I join you?” Derek points to the empty space beside me. “Noah’s mother and Brody are on their way, and I was going to sit alone until I saw you over here.”
“Of course.” I scoot over. “Nobody likes to sit alone.”
“Except you,” Derek points out with a playful chortle.
My laugh sounds nervous. “Oh, well. Yes, I guess so.”
“Excited for the game?” Derek reaches into the pocket of his jacket and pulls out a bag of candy. He offers some to me, and I accept. We’re chewing the sweet, fruity candy when he asks about my parents.
I give him the short version. Not that there’s really a long one. I just skip the editorializing.
“And your mom’s name is…?”
“Maddie.”
