I ran off the field, every bit the loser my mind told me I was, and there stood Jack. He leaned against the fence while Ty talked to a cheerleader, but there was no doubt his eyes were on me. Something sparked in his expression, something that gave me chills. A promise.
A promise of more kissing? More cornering me and blanking my mind with his fire?
Okay. I could work with that.
Maybe this wasn’t the god-awful moment I’d imagined but a new beginning of sorts.
No one partied that night, choosing to end our season in their own way.
Instead of dwelling on the loss, I sent a few texts to the team, boosting morale, then convincing them to go with me to the first day of the soccer invitational Jack would be in. I’d done my homework. This weekend marked their last games as the fall season wrapped. The Stewart United FC had a great run anddeserved more support from our school with so many of our seniors on the team.
Saturday morning, my backyard barely visible with fog hanging so heavy in the air, I stood next to my truck with Nick, Michael, Jamie, and Asher as we waited for Cara and Kitty before heading to the soccer park.
The quiet moment lent to a feeling of security and privacy, and I blurted the details about mine and Sasha’s breakup. I told them it’d been weeks ago, and she wasn’t letting it die.
“I’m not sure what to do anymore. She kept calling Cara, harassing her, so I unblocked her on my phone and then had to block her on all of Cara’s social media accounts. She won’t quit.”
“Scary,” Jamie said.
“Toxic as shit,” Nick agreed. “You tell your folks?”
“Daddy wouldn’t listen if I tried,” I scoffed.
Nick snorted and patted my shoulder. “Well, damn, dude, no wonder you’ve been all doom and gloom.”
“Eh, there’s more.”
Asher smirked, but I wouldn’t ask him how he knew what I was about to say. Because he did, he always did. He had fate’s ear or some shit.
“I’m, uh, maybe-sorta-almost-assuredly into a guy,” I rushed in one long exhale.
After a long, so, so, so long silence, so long that I almost buried myself under my truck, Nick said, “I don’t know how to respond to that.”
“Uh.” I rubbed the back of my neck. “You don’t have to, I guess?”
“You fucking with us?”
I braced my hands on my hips, unsure if this was going to be an issue. “No.”
“Who?”
I shook my head. “Not you.”
Nick paced away and back. “Seriously?”
“What? Are you pissed it’s not you? Jesus.”
Michael snickered.
Asher stepped to my side and threw an arm over my shoulders. “That’s awesome, man.”
“Th-thanks.” That felt kinda good.
“Why have I known you since seventh grade and only now finding this out?” Nick asked.
“Well, I didn’t know until now.”
“When?”
