Case in point: Ace stands right in the center of our group, speaking animatedly about the game. The girls in my group giggle, completely charmed, but I’m momentarily thrown off. Because my eyes spot Aston over Ace’s shoulder.
Aston stands in the middle of the room, watching us. Watching me. The intensity of his stare makes me suck in a breath. I wait for him to keep walking toward us, maybe interrupt his brother, maybe show me that all the sideline flirting actually meant something.
But he doesn’t move. He just stands there.
I feel a prickle of annoyance, mixed with disappointment, settling in my belly. I like a man who knows what he wants and isn’t afraid to take it. If Aston wants to be here, he would be.
Turning my head back to Ace, I force a smile and catch his last words; he’s still going on about the play he thinks we missed. “Ace, I’m pretty sure we caught your thirty-yard rush, but we just chose to cut it from the highlight reel.”
Ace clutches his chest dramatically. “Ouch. That cuts deep, Evangeline. I guess I’ll just have to buy you dinner to make it on the highlight reel the next game.”
He’s bold. I respect it.
While Aston has spent months making me wonder if he would make a move, Ace has been talking to me for fiveminutes and already laid his cards on the table. I need to accept that maybe Aston isn’t interested and I should stop wasting my time.
I turn at Aston again, and I’m honestly irritated with myself at this point. Especially when I see a girl with bleached-blonde hair slide right into Aston’s path. She puts her hand on his arm, leaning in close, like she’s familiar with him. And Aston doesn’t pull away. Instead, he stands there, talking to her.
I look away quickly, focusing on Ace to hide my disappointment. I’m an idiot. Maybe Aston never was going to ask me out. Maybe I completely misread all the flirting.
“Evangeline, you gonna let me take you out or what?”
“I’ll think about it,” I answer, my voice steadier than I feel.
Ace nods slowly, smiling at me, like he already knows what my answer will be.
Someone calls his name, and he excuses himself with a promise he’ll find me later.
An hour later, I’m in the kitchen, looking for a bottle of water while also trying to process the fact that I’m considering going on a date with a guy who has the exact face of the person I actually want.
While I’m lost in thought, someone I’m pretty sure I recognize from one of my classes is making a move. He’s completely hammered and trying to convince me of … I’m not exactly sure. But he sounds like a jackass, so I play with him a little by insulting him, but it goes over his head.
And just as I’m about to walk around him to continue my water search, Aston walks up next to me. He saves me by interrupting me and the hammered boy, making up an excuse to talk to me about game footage.
The blonde flashes in my mind, but I carry on an easy conversation with him anyway. I’m jealous of a girl I don’t even know, but I absolutely won’t let on that I was watching him with her tonight.
So, instead, I decide to take one last shot to find out where hishead is. I have to know if I imagined the spark between us or if he’s just really hard to read.
“Is there any reason why I shouldn’t go out with your brother?”
I hold my breath, waiting for him to answer. I watch his face, looking for a twitch in his jaw, maybe a flash of jealousy, or anything that would tell me he wants me for himself and I should say no to Ace. That maybe he feels a fraction of the connection I feel and doesn’t want his brother to take me out.
But he doesn’t say what I want him to.
“Ace? Nah. He’s a good guy. An idiot sometimes, but his heart is gold.”
And that’s all I need to know. He doesn’t care. I have completely and embarrassingly misread every single glance, smirk, and conversation we’ve ever had. To Aston, I’m just a girl on the broadcasting team he likes to banter with. Nothing more.
I think I answer him, but I can’t be sure because all these thoughts are swimming in my head.
And then, before things can get even more awkward, Ace walks in. The contrast between them is glaring. Ace has a huge smile on his face and is looking at me like I’m the only person in the room while Aston looks like he’s mentally checking out of the conversation.
“Oh, hey. There you are,” he says, walking to me and placing his hand on my shoulder. “The guys are setting out a new round of beer pong outside. You coming?”
I look at Ace and give him a genuine smile. He’s confident, interested, and not making me guess. Which is exactly what I need.
“Sure,” I say, then look at Aston one last time. “I’ll be out there in a second. Let me grab my friends.”
As I walk away, I take a deep breath and realize I left my bottle of water on the counter, but I’m not going back in there now.
