“You jumped,” Burton says, and I’m not sure if he’s trying to say that in a literal or figurative sense.
“Loud sounds make me a little jumpy.”
He laughs. “Is that why you love Pearl so much?”
I try to hold back a smile and say, “I haven’t thought about it like that, but I guess. We have a lot in common.”
He lets go of me, but his hand finds mine, holding it softly as we watch the finale wind down.
“Thank you for making today so special,” Burton says, squeezing my hand a few times.
“I was just thinking the same.”
CHAPTER 27
BURTON
The next two days are a whirlwind, but we hold off the Rattlers and come out with two wins.
Laney was there at both games, cheering us on loudly, and I finally understand what it’s like to have someone in my corner who isn’t related to me. Kissing her was an impulse, but one I’m so glad I followed. We’ve shared a few kisses in the past couple of days, and I’m catching feelings.
Big old Courtney Burton is falling for someone. It’s like this magical dream I’m afraid to wake up from.
Laney likes to call me Court while we’re alone, and I don’t hate it. Maybe it’s because she’s the onesaying it, and she’s not trying to do it in a teasing tone.
Sunday comes, and we’ve got one more game against the Rattlers.
We’re in the third quarter, and I still feel great. The extra running and training have been crucial for that.
Turner Fifield, the Rattlers star midfielder, goes tearing down the field with the ball, and Denning, our goalie, stops it.
I breathe out a sigh. Anytime we can stop Turner is a good day.
“Are you ready to lose, Courtney Burton?” someone says from behind me. I glance back and then turn to focus on the ball. Billy Thornton has been a pain in my side for the last couple of years.
“We’re doing pretty well on the weekend, I’d say.” I run up and cut away from him, getting open for the pass. With a quick fake to the right, I move left and have the perfect shot lined up. I shoot, and it goes sailing into the back of the net, past the goalie’s head.
I walk over in front of Billy and say nothing.
The crowd is going wild, and Laney is just as animated.
Finny wins the faceoff and runs down the field, coming toward us. I try to get away from Billy, but this time he’s sticking with me, as if he learned his lesson from last time.
Finny passes to Jackson, who cradles the ball for afew seconds and then passes to me. The ball goes wide, and I cut, trying to stretch to get it before it goes out of bounds.
Pain shoots up my hamstring, and I limp a little.
“What happened, Courtney? Did you turn into a woman who can’t handle this sport?”
There’s nothing more I want to do right now than turn around and punch Billy, but with the game being so close, we don’t need a penalty to bring us a man down.
The ball goes to our defensive zone, and I wave to Coach Martin to send out a sub as I try to hobble off. A rookie, Luke, goes in, and I collapse on the bench, trying to fight through the pain.
“Tell me what happened,” Frank, our trainer, asks.
“I’m hoping I just pulled my hamstring.”
I’m not sure how it happened like that. It would’ve been different if we were in the first quarter, but this is the third, so my body is plenty warmed up. And I’ve done a move like that dozens, if not hundreds, of times and never had a problem.
