Too soon, I know, but I am who I am.
“Hang on,” Drew says, eyebrows drawn together as he studies me. “The Super Bowl was two weeks ago. We had the parade and there’s been nonstop media, and I’ve seen you in the weightroom almost every morning. When did you have time to meet someone?”
I roll my eyes at Drew, forgetting that he is weirdly astute and observant most of the time. “You don’t know everything about me.”
“No, but Sophie does,” Cam pipes in. “What Sophie knows, Maddy knows, and what Maddy knows, I know. I haven’t heard anything about you meeting anyone.”
“What is this? A giant game of telephone?” I give them all an accusatory stare, and Jack just laughs.
“You know the answer to that is an unequivocal yes, Ty. Nothing stays a secret in this family for long. So where did you meet this mystery woman?”
I smile to myself because he has no idea how apt hismystery womancomment is. “I didn’t exactly meet her,” I mutter.
“Louder for the class, please,” Drew says with a smirk.
I reach for the ginger ale on my coffee table, taking a long sip to stall for time, as all three of my friends shift absolutely all their focus to me. “I didn’t meet her, okay?” My voice is louder than I mean it to be and I rein it in. “I don’t even know what she looks like. I’ve been messaging her on VibeCheck.”
“The no pictures dating app?” Jack asks, brow furrowed in thought. “Why did you join that?”
“Because the morning after the Super Bowl, he woke up with two strange women in his room and it freaked him the fuck out. He escaped to Sophie’s room and came to breakfast a changed man, carrying on about how it was time for him to find a real relationship.”
I narrow my eyes at Cam. “Are you fucking finished?”
Cam has the audacity to grin at me. “I was just trying to cut through your bullshit. The game is starting soon, and I want to go see my girl.”
“Don’t you live together? You saw Maddy like two hours ago.”
Cam shrugs. “I could see her every minute of every day for the rest of my life and it would still never be enough. There is noamount of time with her that would ever be enough for me. Besides, my kids are sleeping at my mom’s tonight, so I’d like to take advantage of all the kid-free time with her I can.”
“You know I would hang with your kids any time you want, right?” Drew says to Cam. A shadow of emotion passes over Cam’s face. Drew and Cam went to college together and were drafted to the Renegades the same year, so they’ve been friends and teammates for almost two decades. When Cam’s wife died ten years ago, leaving Cam a single parent with a three-year-old and a newborn, it was Drew who helped hold him together and keep his family afloat while Cam was grieving. I don’t know all the details, but I do know those years bonded them and also gave Drew a special relationship with Cam’s kids.
“I know you would,” Cam says with a nod to Drew. “And I appreciate it. But my mom was thrilled to have them, and they like her house better than mine anyway. It’s a grandma thing. So spill it, Ty. We’ve got places to be.”
I shrug even as I feel a little shimmer of excitement at the thought of the girl from the phone. I talk a good game, but I’m not much of a secret keeper, and the truth is right there, just waiting to be told. “I met her on VibeCheck. I thought her profile was cool, so I messaged her. She’s…I don’t know. She’s fun. I like texting her. Signing up for the app felt like a pie in the sky kind of thing, but talking to her is awesome. It feels right.”
“So how much have you texted her, exactly?” Jack asks.
“For a while yesterday and then today when you walked in.”
Cam chuckles. “That’s it? You’re blushing over a girl whose name you don’t know and who you’ve texted for a grand total of like half an hour?”
The answer is one hundred percent yes, but I roll my eyes to save face. “Like you’re one to talk. You saw Maddy in a bar and were practically ring shopping before you even knew her name.”
Cam kicks back in the chair with a smile. “When you’re right, you’re right. So, what’s her username?”
“ChaosQueen. She asked me how many pennies I thoughtcould fit in a Hummer, and I think I might have been a goner right then and there. Is love at first message a thing?”
“Could be,” Jack says thoughtfully. “If there’s one thing we know about spending time around all our parents, it’s that true love—the real, solid, lasts longer than forever kind—exists, and sometimes it’s a slow burn, but sometimes it happens in an instant. I’m not saying you love the girl. You don’t, by the way.” He smirks at me. “But if you get a good feeling about it, follow your gut.”
“And pray you aren’t being catfished by some seventeen-year-old gamer in his mom’s basement trying to amuse himself by making desperate twenty-somethings fall in love with him.”
“Oh, fuck, am I being catfished?” I shoot up from the couch, kicking Drew’s feet off the coffee table so I can walk past him and pace around the living room. Grabbing my ginger ale on the way, I drain the can and crush it in my hand as I consider how it’s possible this literally never occurred to me. I think the penny question melted my brain. “Is ChaosQueen a seventeen-year-old gamer? What if she is? How do I find out?”
I stop my pacing and look back and forth between my friends. All three of them are practically turning purple trying not to laugh. Somehow, that makes me feel better. “No,” I say with a sigh of relief. “That’s not possible. Her messages were epic. She texted like she was way older than seventeen. I’m telling you guys. She was funny, and I could tell she was hot by the way she typed. And smart. So damn smart. There was banter. Epic fucking banter. The chemistry practically jumped off the screen. I felt something. It was real.”
“It was twice,” Drew says. “Calm your tits.”
“Have you even met him?” Jack asks with a wry grin. “His tits are never calm. He’s like an excitable puppy ninety percent of the time.”
