“Oh.” Her eyes widen in front of me. “Like a real datedate?
“Well, yeah. What’d you think I meant?”
“I just… I think I’m in shock. Chase Hunt just asked me out on a date… I have to get home and add this to my diary.”
She brushes her hand against my abdomen and even the slightest touch sends all the blood in my body rushing south. A smug smile spreads over Summer’s face and she backs away only leaving me wanting more as she says goodbye to CeCe, and waves to me from the door.
“Tomorrow.” She points at me with a smile, and I nod.
We only have a couple more games left in the regular season and therefore practices have felt a lot more intense than usual. We’re in a position to be in the playoffs, but we won’t get that first round bye week that we’ve become so used to having. Wildcard weekend is where we’ll begin and hopefully continue our playoff run.
“What are you staring at?” I ask Liam as I approach him on the sidelines. His focus is on the group of reporters in a circle on the opposite side of the field.
“What do you think that’s about?” he asks me, gesturing to all of them talking.
“Player interviews, probably.”
“Nah,” Liam says, shaking his head. “Look. Just watch her.”
When he saysher, I look more closely, seeing the woman he’s talking about is Demi Sanchez. She’s a sports reporter who has handled a lot of our team interviews and game day reports for years. She’s also very active in Nate’s foundation. She hosts a podcast and did a live show at one of his events last year, sharing her own experience with mental health and she had a handful of athletes on the panel to talk about their struggles too.
Demi wipes her cheek as two other women stand around her, one clutching Demi’s arm in what looks like it’s meant to be a comforting manner. I’ve only ever seen Demi be as professional as they come. So, I’m surprised when it looks like she’s having a personal moment out on the field.
“I knew something was wrong,” Liam yanks his helmet from his head. “I’ll fucking kill him.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Who are you talking about? Kill who?” I ask.
Nate walks up to us with a bottle of water in his hand, squirting it at Liam like a child.
“Cool off, man.”
“Did I miss something?” I ask again.
“Mia told me about an article she saw last night about Demi and Brandon.” Nate shakes his head, and we all watch as Demi regains her composure and walks back into the building, out of sight.
“Yeah, we’ve all met him. Nice guy.” I say.
Liam scoffs and spits on the field. “Piece of shit guy.”
“The article said that Brandon had an affair and left her weeks ago. I don’t know how much of it is true, but you know… leave it to Mia, she’ll find out what happened.”
My jaw drops. “No fucking way.”
“Please, let me run into that motherfucker at an event or better yet on the street without press so I can level his ass,” Liam mumbles as he walks by us and to the locker room.
Nate and I exchange looks and Ford jogs up beside us as we begin to make our way in as well.
“Well, well, well…” Ford says immediately. “I hear someone’s got a date.”
Nate’s head spins toward me and I don’t bother trying to hide it or downplay anything.
“Yeah. I’m taking Summer out tonight.”
“My guy,” Nate says, slapping my shoulder. “I take it yourno kissing againrule flew out the fucking window.”
“Yeah, about immediately after I made it, to be honest.”
Both of them laugh and shake their heads as we enter the building.
