Page 70 of Okay, Cupid

“Yeah, I’m fine,” I lie to him. “Just tired.”

“Late night?” he sings.

“Guess we both had one.”

He looks confused. “What does that mean?”

“Nothing.” I sound so bitter. “Alice just told us you went to the beach?”

Alice didn’t do anything wrong. In fact, she did exactly what I need her to do. She took charge of the situation and sought out time with Huy without me needing to push her.

“Yeah, I just wanted to talk to her. Is that okay?” he asks.

“Why wouldn’t it be?”

Fuck me. Shut the fuck up, Jude. Shut up!

I climb the steps to grab the orange, tossing it over the fence just as I hear my name being called. But not by Huy, and not by Neve or Alice. No, I look up and spy Cal walking along the side of the field toward us. He’s dressed warmly, for the cold weather, and has two cups of coffee in his hands. We play a game as I look at Huy as he looks at Cal looking at me.

Then Huy turns back to me, making that expression where his lips disappear. Is he disappointed that Cal is here? Relieved? Annoyed?

“Hey,” I say to Cal. “What are you doing here?”

“Thought you could use some help,” he says in a quieter voice. “Hey, Huy!” Cal waves as best he can with coffee cups in hand. Then he passes one over to me. “Here, I got you your usual.”

“Thanks.”

“So … soccer! Huh?”

“What about it?” I ask him.

Cal’s brows furrow. “Are you mad that I’m here?”

“No, no,” I promise. “I’m just tired. And I didn’t expect you.”

“You seemed stressed last night,” he says.

I don’t want to have this conversation in front of Huy … but when I turn back to him, he’s moved away to talk to Noah and another guy from Hearst whose name I don’t know.

“What’s wrong?” Cal asks me.

“It’s nothing,” I tell him as I lead him to our spot on the bleachers. “Nothing.”

I catch Alice and Neve as they pass Huy his water bottle, to a grateful response. Alice and Huy exchange a glance that lingers, before the girls return to the bleachers.

“Hey—Cal, right?” Alice asks when she gets to us.

“Right!” he chirps. “Sorry about your dress last night.”

“Why? Not like it was your fault.”

Cal and I share a look, and as Alice and Neve sit back down, Neve looks around, picking up her bag and rummaging through it for a moment before she turns to me.

“Did someone take my orange?”

• • •

The other team takes game two, which means we’re going into game three, and it’s another forty-five minutes of sitting in the cloudy cold as we watch sweaty boys run around chasing a ball. I’ll totally admit, Huy’s a powerhouse at this game. Not that I understand all the intricacies, or even what his role as the captain means he does, but he’s impossibly fast, his footwork a blur as he steals the ball from the opposing team. He almost makes it look easy. In fact, I might believe that it was if after every point he manages he wasn’t doubled over, trying to recover his breath.