Long: A Secret Baby Sports Romance(55)

I told them a little bit about growing up in my hometown. Drinkwater was from Pittsburgh, so he was familiar with Pennsylvania. Hynes talked about growing up in the Deep South and about his big, crazy family, and even Gibson shared a story about his parents.

By the end of the meal, I felt great. I was tired, but feeling good. The four of us left Dom’s and stood outside for a minute, saying goodbye.

“All right, Avery,” Drinkwater said. “You passed the test.”

“What’s that?”

“This was a test,” Hynes said. “Trying to see how cool you are.”

“Oh yeah?” I asked, looking at Gibson.

He held up his hands. “Don’t look at me. At least you passed.”

“And what if you failed my test?”

Drinkwater laughed. “Gibson here has never failed anything in his life.”

“That’s true,” he conceded, nodding.

I rolled my eyes. “All right, boys, I’m tired. It was fun.”

“Later, girl,” Drinkwater said.

“See you tomorrow,” Hynes added.

Hynes and Drinkwater headed off, walking back to the other end of campus. Gibson and I started walking back toward my apartment.

“Sorry about them,” he said. “That wasn’t really a test. He was joking.”

“I know,” I said. Our shoulders brushed, and I felt a pulse run through me. “I’m glad I passed it anyway.”

“You can’t fail that sort of test.”

“What sort?”

“You know the kind, when people are trying to decide if you’re cool or not. You always pass that test.”

I shook my head. “I’m not cool at all.”

“You are. You just don’t know it.”

“You’re the cool one. You noticed people staring at you, right?”

“Yeah. I’m good at ignoring it, though.”

“That’s cool.”

“Nah,” he said, looking into the distance. “That’s not cool. Being cool is being sure of yourself, being comfortable. Cool is doing whatever you like to do and not apologizing for it. You’re as cool as they come, Avery Carpenter.”

I bit my lip and didn’t have a word to say. Nobody had ever said anything so nice to me before. It seemed unlike him. He normally complimented my body, made crude jokes to me, made me blush, but this time he was complimenting me, my personality, the person I was.

It made me feel good, really good. He was being so genuine, and it surprised me.

Finally, we ended up at my door. He nodded at me, smirking. “I’d ask you to invite me in, but I suspect you won’t.”

“I guess not,” I said.

“Invite me anyway.” He stepped closer, and I took a deep breath.

I wanted to. I wanted to invite him so badly. I wanted to drag him into my apartment and let him do whatever he wanted to me.

But I couldn’t. I shook my head. “Good night, Gibson.”

“Night, Avery.”

“See you tomorrow.”

I opened my door and shut it again. I leaned up against it, breathing deeply.

I wanted him, but I was so afraid of what it meant, of the man he was. I was afraid of the mob money, afraid of his fame, afraid of dragging him down. All of it was holding me back from doing what I wanted.

But tonight had felt good. He took me out and gave me a glimpse of his real life. I wouldn’t trade that for anything.

And I’d be seeing him tomorrow.





25





Gibson





I could still hear the screams of the crowd as I slowly dismantled Alabama’s defense.

It was supposed to be a hard game. We were supposed to be two of the best teams in football meeting early in the season. Everyone said it was going to be a clash of titans.

It wasn’t. I didn’t hold back, and we rolled over Alabama. I felt like I couldn’t do anything wrong as I found my targets one after the other. We marched down the field time and time again, destroying Alabama’s team, embarrassing them.

It was a huge win, the sort of win I really needed after that problematic game against Mountain. This was a win against a real team, and there was no struggle to be found. If anyone had questioned my abilities, they were definitely silenced after this performance.

“Come on, man,” Hynes said to me. We were the last ones in the locker room. “We gotta go celebrate.”

“We will,” I said, “but I told Avery I’d meet her here. I’ll see you guys later.”

“Fine. We’ll be at Dom’s. Don’t miss out, man. You deserve a little celebration.”

I nodded as he left and leaned back against the lockers. I sat there and replayed the game in my head, tried to get the feeling that I’d had on the field back. I wanted to experience that buzzing high and excitement again as people screamed my name and I dismantled my opponent.