I stifle a laugh. “Oh, I just needed a–uh… a change, I guess.” Ford looks at me curiously, like he’s heard that answer before and doesn’t buy it.
“Summer, you still live there?”
She turns her attention to Liam and gives him a nod as she sips her beer. “I do. Once I’m done with nursing school, I’ll probably leave too, though.”
Liam licks his bottom lip as he stares at Summer.
“So, quarterback, huh? Decision maker.” Summer shoots her pearly white smile at Liam.
“That’s me,” Liam replies to her and turns his body so his focus is solely on Summer, as if Ford and I just don’t exist.
“Hm. Shame. Quarterbacks were once upon a time my favorite. Not so much anymore, though.” Summer gets up from her seat and grabs her beer as she walks towards the pool tables.
“Where are you going, blue eyes?” Liam calls after her, but she keeps walking.
“Can’t win em’ all,” Ford says to Liam as he takes a swig of his beer.
I laugh behind my glass seeing Summer smile at me from the other end of the bar.
“First time for everything, I guess.” Liam shrugs his shoulders and gets up. “I’m no quitter, though.” His cocky smile is on full display as he follows in Summer’s direction.
I shake my head laughing. “No chance. Summer dated the quarterback in high school, it ended horribly, I’m pretty sure she’s still recovering.”
Ford doesn’t respond to that, he just sits there staring at me.
“You played a good game.” I try to break the silence with something easy. Leaning on football because I feel like that’s where he’s most comfortable.
His beer is about done as he takes a small sip before looking back at me. He licks his bottom lip before speaking “Thanks.” Something in his demeanor changes. With it being just the two of us at the table now, our knees are dangerously close to touching and I almost scoot closer to him to make that happen.Almost.
He tilts his head low, leaning in towards me. “You should know that you look fucking gorgeous tonight.” His voice is raspy when he says it and my cheeks start to blush.
“Thank you.”
We sit in silence for another moment before a blonde woman approaches our table. She’s wearing a black mini dress that definitely leaves little to the imagination up top. She leans more towards Ford and places all of her attention on him, essentially ignoring the fact that I’m even sitting here. He probably has beautiful women throw themselves at him all the time.
“Great game today, Ford!” She bats her long eyelashes at him while biting her lip and introducing herself. She starts talking to him about the game, but it’s obvious she didn’t watch it and has no idea what she’s even talking about. I’m about to take a sip of my beer when Ford grabs my hand and ushers me out of our seats.
“Excuse us, Jill,” he says to the woman.
“Oh, it’s… um, I’m Julie,” she calls as we’re already walking away. I turn back to look and she’s definitely giving me the evil stare as I trail behind Ford with him leading the way to the end of the bar.
“Not in the mood for any of that tonight,” Ford says as he pulls out a barstool for me to take a seat.
“You probably get that all the time,” I say, letting out a sigh and looking at Ford.
His brow creases a little and he orders us a couple of waters. “It gets old.”
Chase walks over and tells me he’s decided to head home for the night. “You sure you and Summer can find your way back okay?”
“You’re kidding, right? Our building is literally only a few blocks away. Give us some credit.” He pulls me towards him for a hug and gives Ford a handshake before walking out.
“It’s the one with the red sign. Big red sign, Ab, you can’t miss it.” If I had something to throw at him, I would’ve, but I don’t feel like getting glass all over the floor or breaking my cell phone tonight so an intense eye roll in response will have to do instead. Chase is laughing as he scurries out the door. It’s only eight p.m. and I can’t help but wonder if he is actually calling it a night or maybe has plans of his own. Either way, I won’t be out much longer considering it’s a school night.
This bar isn’t actually half bad, considering when I asked Mia about it on the way she described it like a hole in the wall. To be honest though, those are always the best ones, even though your feet almost always stick to the floor and it usually smells like old beer. I’m sure it gets packed during the day for games with all of the TVs in here. It’s dimly lit right now with a few neon signs around on the walls. The actual bar goes in one long line overlooking the rest of the place. The pool tables are further away and the high top tables are in between.
Ford and I are both seated at the bar and he’s leaning with his back against the bar top facing out while I’ve turned with my knees directly to the side of him.
“Fucking idiot.” Ford laughs under his breath. He’s watching Liam try too hard to get Summer’s attention and she’s just not having it. I laugh next to him and we sit in another moment of silence. You’d think these moments would turn awkward, but they don’t. I’d rather sit here next to Ford saying nothing, than have a conversation with anyone else right now.
