He spikes the ball and turns toward the stands. And then he points.
Atme.
Oh, my God. It’s Maverick.
“Is that…” Kia says from my side.
I don’t answer her because he’s taking off his helmet and heading this way.
His dark hair is plastered to his head with sweat. His lips are quirked up in a grin.
He hops the fence like it’s nothing and keeps going until he’s directly in front of me.
I stand and look up at him.
“Hi,” he says softly.
“Hi.”
He turns to Kia and extends his hand. “I’m Maverick. Nice to meet you.”
“I’m Kia.” She smiles widely. “And I’m leaving.”
She takes off before I can stop her, and Maverick leans down and kisses me.
A short kiss, but it doesn’t feel like a goodbye. It feels like a hello. And a question.
“Yes,” I tell him. “To whatever you’re going to say.”
“I love you,” he says.
“Exactly.” I throw my arms around him. “I love you, too.”
“I don’t want to be apart from you again,” he says into my hair. “I want what we had this week forever.”
“Me too.”
“It’s fast,” he says.
“It is.”
“I don’t care.”
“Me neither.”
He scoops me up into a full, sweaty hug. “Will you stay for the rest of practice?”
“Yes.”
I have a feeling I’m going to be saying that word a lot lately.
Maverick Court makes me want to say yes to life.
And I can’t wait to see what happens in the future.
Epilogue
Six months later
