Bowen: You look at them once, and it’s over
Bowen: They become a magnet, pulling your gaze again and again
Aaron: What
Aaron: The actual fuck, Bow
Bowen: I’m thinking about taking a creative writing course
Eric: you should, that’s so fun !!
Kieran: There isn’t anything going on between Sammie and I.
Bowen: Sure
Bowen: IF YOU SAY SO
CHAPTER TEN
KIERAN WAS TRYING real fucking hard to be normal as he drove down the highway, but he was pretty sure he was failing.
“Is it nice to have an off week before the last big games?” Sammie was on her third attempt to start up a conversation. Kieran feared he wasn’t going to get any participation medals.
It had been the same the night before, when they’d hung out with their friends at Atticus’ house. He and Sammie had talked, but no more than normal. Not a word was spoken about their new business venture, their “collaborative efforts,” as Atticus had put it when he’d been trying his best to make both of them squirm. Kieran had to try harder, because the woman in his passenger seat was starting to fidget, the awkward tension between them turning palpable as the sun slowly set on the horizon.
“A little,” he finally said, one hand leaving the wheel to scratch his beard. “Practices this week were solid. Lots of excitement building around the tournament. It’s nice to be able to squeeze in some extra prep time. But it also gives room for nerves to grow.”
“Attie?” Sammie asked, glancing over at him.
Kieran chuckled. “He’s no more nervous than usual. His moods are infectious, I don’t know what the team would do without him. Bowen and Eric, they’re great for keeping thingspositive. But your brother can be bright as the sun, and we need that when the season is on the line like this.”
Kieran could see Sammie’s smile growing from the corner of his eye. It took everything in him to stay focused on the road. She tucked her hair back, leaning closer, and the image of that same hair cascading past her shoulders in the mirror popped into his head.
The way her storm cloud eyes had bored into him as she’d rocked in his lap, stripping him bare in a way he’d never felt before. The warmth of her gaze, a warmth he now found himself seeking out. None of it made sense to him. Not the way thinking about their video made his heart beat faster, not the way it felt as though his blood had gone bubbly in his veins.
Sexual attraction came easy to Kieran, but this was different. He’d never fixated on being with someone the way he already was with Sammie. He couldn’t wait for the next chance they’d have to make something new for his channel—nowtheirchannel. It had been heady, exciting, filling Kieran with an anticipation he’d never felt before.
The rush of emotions that he wasn’t used to, it was overwhelming, addicting… but it was also strangely comfortable. He’d known Sammie for so long, and even if they weren’t as close as they’d been as kids, she had never been a stranger to him.
His phone lit up where he had it propped on the dashboard. “Would you mind answering her?” He knew it was his mother, even if he didn’t let his eyes linger on the screen.
Sammie grabbed his phone, typing in the passcode as he rattled the numbers off. Another of her smiles lit up his periphery.
“She wants to know if you’re getting close,” Sammie said, chuckling lightly. “Does she know I’m with you?”
Ah. In the end, he hadn’t told his parents he was bringing Sammie down with him. Not out of shame or embarrassment,but simply because he’d had a busy week and didn’t want to deal with the inevitable deluge of not-so-subtle questions he knew his mother would hound him with.
“You can let her know if you want,” Kieran said. Sammie nodded, still smiling gently as she typed out a reply. Before she had a chance to place his phone back on the dash, several pings went off in quick succession. Kieran sighed.
“What did she say?”
“Uh.” A laugh escaped Sammie. “A lot, actually. The gist of it is that you’re in trouble for springing this on her at the last second, but it’s fine because she just washed the linens on the spare bed.” She clicked the phone off and put it down, and Kieran could feel a slight change in the air between them, a new tension.
“What else did she say?” He turned to face Sammie, locking his gaze on her. She began to pick at one of her thumbnails, and a small ache swelled in Kieran’s chest.
Sammie chewed her lip for a moment before speaking. “Eyes on the road.” The words were teasing, but still tinted with hesitance. Kieran raised a brow before doing as she said, his grip tight on the wheel.
“She congratulated you.” A pause, and Kieran could see from the corner of his eye that she was still picking at that nail. “She seemed to assume this means we’re…” Sammie waved her hands in the air in a defeated motion. “Together. Or something.”
