“Alice,” she pouted, her eyes looking at me wickedly, “since when have I had harebrained ideas?”
“Since you became my best friend.” I giggled and shook my head at her. Unfortunately it was true. We both seemed to have spur-of-the-moment ideas and plans that always seemed to get us into trouble. To be fair to Liv, I was the one who usually had the really stupid ideas, but Liv had been giving me a run for my money lately.
“We’re going to join a flag football team.”
“Say what?” I frowned.
“Flag football,” she said excitedly. “Xander was telling me about it. He’s going to be on it, too.”
“Okay,” I said, not feeling as excited. “How is this going to help me get Aiden?”
“He’s going to be playing on the same team.” She grinned. “It’s going to be perfect.”
“I don’t know about this, Liv.” I chewed on my lower lip. “Do you really think me playing football is going to win any guys? I’m not exactly the queen of anything sporty.”
“Trust me.” She grabbed my hands. “That’s not the only plan I have. That’s just step one.”
“Step one?” I groaned, but my stomach was doing flip-flops in excitement. I wasn’t a huge football fan, but if joining a team meant I would get to see Aiden weekly, then I was all for it.
“Oh yeah, baby.” She grinned. “I’ve come up with a surefire way to make sure you and my brother get together.” The look onher face looked so satisfied and excited that I held in my second groan. I didn’t want to rain on her parade, but I’d also had a surefire plan once and it had blown up in my face.
“What’s your surefire plan?” I asked weakly. There were times that I didn’t love that I had rubbed off on Liv so much. When we were younger, Liv was innocent and quiet and I was the rabble-rouser, always looking to get into something. I always had a plan or a scheme, and they had never worked out as I’d planned them to.
“You’re going to go to the flag football games with me and Xander. You’re going to look pretty and flirt with all the attractive single men. You’re going to be nice but not overly friendly to Aiden. You’re going to let him see what he’s been missing all these years.”
“You think he’s even going to care or notice?”
“I’m positive of the fact.” She grinned. “Now that I know what happened between the two of you, I understand the dynamic between you both a lot better.”
“Really?”
“Oh yes.” She nodded. “I always wondered why he used to look at you with such protectiveness, but also with a kind of possessiveness and jealousy.”
“He treats you the same way.” I rolled my eyes, but my hopes were rising.
“Nope.” She laughed. “Yes, he is overprotective and a bit of a jerk, but he’s never acted jealous when I’ve talked about another guy and he’s never acted possessive or upset when he’s seen me with another guy. He couldn’t care less. You know he told me he’s glad I’m dating Xander because now Xander can worry about me.”
“Yeah, but he’s just saying that. He loves you.”
“Yes, he loves me. I’m his sister.” She grinned. “But he has feelings for you as well. Feelings that are about more than being your honorary big brother. I bet he’s confused.”
“Confused about what?”
“He’s confused that he had this night with you all those years ago that he enjoyed, but feels guilty about it and now he’s not sure what to do.”
“You think so?” I asked hopefully.
“Yeah, I really do.” She nodded. “The problem is he still sees you as a teenager. You need to show him you’re a woman now.”
“And flag football will do that?”
“You, in some short-shorts running down a field, with hot guys chasing you as your long blonde hair flies in the wind, will do that.” She grinned again. “Come on, Alice, you know how guys are.”
“But what about Scott? And what about my Facebook message?”
“Ah, forget them. They mean nothing.”
“You think so?”
