"Can I tell you a secret?" I asked.
"You better, now that you started with it." Nisha tilted her head to the side a smidge.
"This is my first pro game," I said, under my breath.
Nisha's eyes widened, clearly surprised.
"Me, too," Angela said, grimacing. "It's not really my thing."
"I've never even watched on TV," I said.
Nisha whispered, "Like ever?"
"The last football game I went to was soccer," I said quietly.
"Maybe let's not broadcast that part to the other plus-ones?" Nisha mimed zipping her lips.
Angela and I had seen Elliott play when we were all in high school together, but back then, he was less helpful and way more self-absorbed. Thanks to his attitude, he made sure any teenage infatuation I might've had with football players vanished. Pretty sure he handled that for Angela, too.
"Don't worry, I've got your back here." Nisha gestured to the end zone. "Okay, you see those pokey things at the end of the field? Those are called goal posts."
Angela and I laughed. Then I disentangled my arm so I could snag some popcorn. "I understand the basics. I've just never… been to a game."
"Not since high school," Angela added.
"Then welcome to your new home away from home," Nisha said, gesturing to the field.
I paused, tossing the popcorn in my mouth to study Sloan warming up on the field. He moved his tall frame with purpose, stretching and then jogging a quick sprint.
"I think this is one of my favorite parts of the game," Angela said, scanning the guys on the field.
"Me, too," Nisha said dreamily, as Darius did a toe touch stretch that put his backside on display.
"You're Maya Mitchell." One of the other women approached us. I hadn't met her before and was nearly certain she hadn't been at the Sloan Got Married to a Real Person Party.
I turned to her. "I am. Hi."
"I've seen your videos," the woman said with a huge smile. "Big fan."
"This is the new Shelby," another of the women said, stepping forward with a mini hot dog on her plate and a toothy smile.
"Who is Shelby?" Angela asked.
I wasn't entirely certain I wanted to know who that was since I was the new her.
"That's Ryan's ex-wife. They got a divorce, so she had to give up her seat in the box," Nisha said with a frown. "We're gonna miss her."
"But now we've got you," the first woman said. "I'm Denice, and this is Karie."
I actually felt bad for Shelby that she'd be missing the popcorn and…well…her friends.
"The new girls rarely stick around for long. It's very hard to be together with an athlete long term," Nisha said, letting that hang there in the air between us.
I waited for her to finish and tell me why it was hard to be with an athlete for the long term, but she didn't add to the statement.
"Because they're athletic?" I asked, going for a guess.
I had three sets of owl eyes blinking at me.
