“I’m sorry for your loss,” Irish says, reclaiming my attention as he hands me a bunch of paper towels. “Looks like you need these.” His eyes lower to my taco-covered skin.
“Thank you.” I smile at him as I clean up the mess. “I’m Astrid, though I guess you caught that. I don’t know your name.” A faint blush steals across my cheeks. This guy makes me nervous in a way I rarely am. Maybe it’s because I grew up with most of the guys in my school, and I’m just comfortable around them in a way I’m not with strangers.
“Callan Hunt,” he says, leaning his hip against the counter. “I’m sorry for knocking into you. You can blame this idiot here.”
Thor grins. “You can thank me later, dude.” He leans in closer to Callan, pretending to whisper, but Thor is a force of nature, louder than a hurricane, and I’m betting the students at the far end of the cafeteria can hear him when he says, “But know Astrid breaks hearts all over town.”
“That is not true, and youarean idiot.” I roll my eyes. “You’re all loved up with Renee. You can’t still be butthurt I turned you down at twelve.”
“And thirteen, fourteen, fifteen.”
I slap my hand across his mouth. “Enough of that. Renee,” I holler over Thor’s shoulder. “Come claim your man!”
“You causing trouble again, Goodrich?” Gwen asks, appearing at my side with a salad plate in her hand.
I spy Renee getting out of her seat from the corner of my eye.
“You know me, squirt. I just can’t help myself.”
Gwen thumps Thor in the arm.
“Ow!” He rubs his arm and fake glares at my bestie.
“You know I hate being called that.” Gwen loathes being smaller than all her friends, but at five-two, it’s not like she’s abnormally small.
“Quit annoying my friends,” Renee says, draping her arms around her boyfriend’s shoulders.
“Gwen secretly loves it,” Thor quips before brushing his lips against Renee’s.
“I don’t, Thor. I really don’t.”
“He’ll behave,” Renee promises as she side-eyes her boyfriend.
“You guys are no fun.” Thor mock pouts, and it’s ridiculous.He’sridiculous, but it’s all part of his charm.
“Are they always like this?” Callan asks, eyeballing me.
“Yep.” I shrug. “It’s headache-inducing. You should probably prepare yourself.”
“I’m Gwen.” Gwen smiles at Callan. “I’m in your biology class.”
“Cool. I’m Callan.”
“I know. You’re all anyone is talking about today.”
“Gwen!” She has no filter sometimes, but it’s one of the things I love about her and one of the ways we complement one another. I’m the more diplomatic of our twosome, which is required on occasion to pull Gwen out of a hole of her own making.
“Great.” Callan grimaces before dragging a hand through his hair, sweeping it out of his eyes.
“Oh, come on.” Gwen grins, nudging his side with her elbow. “You know you’re hot, and you have all the girls going crazy over your accent. You’re this hotshot soccer player, and I’m guessing you were really popular at your last school. This can’t be a new thing. I bet you love being the center of attention.”
“Understanding it’s a part of playing the game is one thing. Knowing everyone is talking about you is not something I’ll ever want or get used to. I just want to play football.”
“Soccer, dude.” Thor clamps his hand down hard on Callan’s shoulder. “How many times do we have to tell you! You’re not in Ireland anymore. It’ssoccer, not football.”
Callan shrugs Thor’s hand off. “I’ve been calling it football since I was in nappies, mate. Can’t change the habits of a lifetime overnight.”
“Nappies?” Renee frowns.
