She looked up and smiled. “Thank you. Thank you so much.” She rubbed at one of her eyes. “I’ve been staring at this screen for too long.”
“Same here. What are you studying?”
“History and politics. You?”
“Just history. I’m Nicky, by the way.” When I was a teenager, I promised myself at the age of twenty-one I’d just be known as Nick. No one else had agreed and I’d stayed as Nicky, still sounding like a pre-pubescent teenager.
“I’m Sonya.”
Her smile was pretty. So was the rest of her.
“Nice to meet you. Do you live round here?” My conversation skills were lame. Unfortunately, there were other bits of me that were even lamer.
Sonya nodded. “About five minutes away. I’m in a house share with three others, but they’ve all gone home for summer. I have a job here, and I’m paying year-round rent, so I decided to stay.”
“Where are you from originally?”
“Rutland. It’s nice being in a big city too. I’ve had a bit of time to explore this summer. You play for one of the football teams, don’t you?”
Disappointment twinged that she knew this.
“I’ve seen girls come in looking for you. And there’s a poster up with your face on just down the road.”
I laughed because she was right. The sportswear brand that sponsored me and Jude had a big billboard up with our ugly mugs on. Across the road from it was another billboard, with our teammate Ryan O’Connell on it, dressed in a suit and wearing designer glasses. That, at least, deflected some of the flack we could’ve gotten.
“Yeah, I play for Athletic. I’m trying to do my degree full time though, hence I pretty much live here.”
“Not in some swanky million-pound pad wherever footballers live?”
“Not quite. I focus better here. And Kitty kicks my arse when I get distracted.” I only tended to hang out here when Kitty was working. I came in most days for the juices and smoothies that did fit in with our diet plans, because Kitty and Neva – the club’s lead nutritionist – met up to make sure players could get a takeaway lunch without going off plan. It had given Kitty’s Café a niche too.
Sonya grinned. “And you get to spend time with your girlfriend, which is cute.”
I frowned. “Kitty’s not my girlfriend.” It wasn’t the first time someone had thought that. We did hang out a lot, and she was cute, gorgeous really, and we teased each other and laughed a lot, but I’d never figured she looked at me like anything other than a friend.
Sonya tipped her head to one side. “That surprises me. You look like you’ve been together for ages. Just the way you move around each other.”
“Really?”
She took a big drink of the iced coffee. “Really. You’re more attentive to her than my boyfriend is with me.”
My heart sank.
“He’s a fool then.”
She finished off her coffee. “Maybe he is. I don’t think he’ll have that title for much longer.” She closed her laptop. “I have to go – I have a shift at the Lebanese restaurant round the corner. Come in some time – I’ll return the drink.”
“Sure. Maybe I’ll see you there.” I backed away, taking my iced tea and retreating to the kitchen where I knew Kitty would be.
“So? How did it go?” She rested against the now clean worktop. “You managed to speak to her.”
“She has a boyfriend.” I shrugged. “I think she’s going to finish with him though.” And I had a feeling I knew why.
Kitty’s eyes narrowed. She pulled off her apron, leaving her in a pair of short denim shorts and a cropped T-shirt that showed off a toned stomach with a belly-button piercing. My eyes went straight to that.
“She thinks you’re interested and she knows who you are?”
I nodded. “Same old.”
