“You too, Greta.” I met Callie’s eyes and smiled. “Hey there.”
She huffed at me. “Hey there? You crash our tailgate and we get ahey there?”
“Ah, well, only thing I could come up with. I feel like a schmuck for tagging along, but Aaron is out of commission and who doesn’t love a good day of football?”
“Hmm. Not sure I believe you, friend, but I’ll take it, I guess. You said you had a meeting today—how did it go?”
We fell into two lines as we walked toward the stadium. Greta and Tanner were in an animated conversation about something and I trusted Callie, even in the short time I’d known her. “It went well. I met with my coach and talked about next couple of years, the draft and the next steps.”
“I bet that’s frightening as hell.” She reached around to put her long hair up, the motion causing her already too-small jersey to rise. I admired her toned body and a pit formed in my stomach.Why am I crushing so damn hard when she laid down the line? She cleared her throat, drawing my attention back to her face. “I know from talking with my dad that too many of the young players leave with the excitement of the majors without the experience of the next level. Often times, they don’t make it. It’s a hell of a transition from high school to the farm system. Not anyone can do that.”
“It is scary as fuck, actually,” I admitted and she laughed, putting her hand on my arm. She did that a lot when she laughed or thought something someone said important. It wasn’t anything special, but her touch did things to me.
“What direction are you leaning toward?”
“Finishing up my degree.” Any lingering doubts I had about it left when I told her. She nodded vigorously and did the arm thing again.
“I know it probably doesn’t matter, but I’m glad you said that. Education is important. I’m interested to hear all about what you want to study, but I’m also really excited for tailgating. I hear it’s awesome.” She grinned, excitement pouring out of her.
“You ever been to one?”
“Nope. First time.” She clapped and pointed to a group of people dressed as mascots. “Look at them!”
“You have no idea what’s to come. You’re going to love it.” I felt insanely happy that the day’s events had turned to this. “You’ve played bags before, right?”
“Bags? What in the world?” She looked around, openmouthed, and Greta shot me a doubtful look.
“You throw a bag of corn into a hole.” I laughed at her expression. “Really. If it lands on the board, you get a point. If you get it in the hole, you get three points. The goal is to get to twenty-one points first.”
“This game seems super freaking weird. Greta, you’ve played before?” She shared a look with her friend that I couldn’t decipher.
“Are you fucking with me?” I studied the two of them, searching for clues. “You are, aren’t you?”
“I guess we’ll have to find out.” She ran her tongue over her bottom lip and walked ahead of me.Damn woman’s driving me crazy.
Chapter Nine
Callie
I’d never had a problem getting up early to run before, but now I walked with an extraoompfin my step. I snagged my headphones, water and keys to go meet Zade at the trailhead. The five-minute walk gave me enough time to wake up and mentally prepare for the run.
He bent down to tie his shoe and I enjoyed the curve of his arm. He took care of his body and I found that trait admirable beyond reason. We were only given one body to live in and it made sense to cherish it, but he took it to the next level. I wanted to ask his body mass index, but that might have crossed a line or two. I used the lame attempt at flirting he’d tried the day before on him. “Hey, there.”
“You.” He stood and glared at me. “I’m not happy with you.”
“You’ll get over it,” I teased, enjoying the easy smile. “It was too easy, come on. I’m from Chicago. I know what ‘bags’ is.”
“I wouldn’t have taken you for a player.” He crossed his arms, the muscles bulging, and I forced my eyes to stay on his face. “You cost me twenty bucks.”
“I’ll buy ya something pretty with it. Come on, let’s run.” I took off down the path and heard him catch up to me. “Plus, your face was priceless.”
“I taught you the rulesandtricks. He pouted, his bottom lip protruding out a little bit. “I feel used.”
“Aw, Zade, it happens to the best of us. How about I buy us breakfast?” I’d remembered to grab the twenty and put it in my pocket. I shot him a side glance—he was fighting a smile. If I’d been concerned about offending him, it would’ve been wasted because he was playing me right back.
“I guess it’s settled.”
“Glad we’re friends again. Now, more running, less talking.”
