Page 67 of Lavender and Linebackers

I grin too, because behind him is Sully. He taps Rico on the shoulder, and when he turns to see who it is, his face blanches.

“Hello, Rico.”

I lock my lips together to keep from laughing. Happy for once that I’m not the one under Sully’s scrutiny.

“And I think I hear my name being called over there. Later, players.” Rico saunters off like he wasn’t just busted.

It’s then that Alice looks over and, even through my sunglasses, her eyes lock with mine. That one look makes me kind of breathless and restless at the same time to be near her.

“I suppose I better go get my picture taken,” I tell them. Sully tracks my gaze and finds Alice. He doesn’t say anything, which is odd for him. Usually, he’s spouting off something about the handbook, but instead, he just nods at me. Camden’s brows shoot up in surprise. I think he was expecting the same.

“I’ll head that way with you. I need some food. Sully, you hungry?” Camden asks him.

“When am I not hungry? Let’s go.”

The three of us make our way over to the tents. At the last moment, they split off, leaving me on my own. Alice smiles at me as I approach. Her lips are all glossy and pink, and I feel mesmerized.

Was that kiss last night a one-time thing? Maybe it was; maybe it wasn’t. I’m hoping for me it wasn’t, as we’ve now opened Pandora’s box and I can’t undo what we’ve done. I don’t want to.

I’m grateful for the glasses until I hear Kelli.

“Oh, look who it is.” Her tone says she’s not pleased, and a few of the people around them snicker.

I pull my eyes off Alice and tilt my head as I look down at her. She stands her ground and scowls back up at me.

“Do you have a problem I don’t know about?” I understand what Rico is saying, and quite frankly, whatever this is, I’m over it.

She steps closer to me. “Actually, yeah, I do.”

“What—”

“All right. All right. Come on, Ryder, let’s go find Danica or Ross.” She hooks her arm through mine and pulls me away from her cheer group.

“What is her problem? I’ve about had enough of her attitude. In fact, my teammates have too. She’s not representing herself well.”

Alice’s face registers with surprise and then guilt. She has to have known that people aren’t going to like the constant attitude.

“Don’t worry about her. She’s looking out for me.”

“How so?”

“She just is. That’s what we do for each other.”

I think about the text thread from earlier this morning and all the warnings that Sully has given me. I guess I should be grateful someone is looking out for her too.

“Okay, but maybe you suggest to her that she tones it down a bit.”

She nods as we walk past all the food. A few people glance at us, but mostly, everyone is off doing their own thing.

“You got home okay last night?” she asks. We’re making our way toward the kiddie activities. There’s squealing and laughter. Add in the band, and it’s actually pretty loud out here.

Mentioning last night has me looking at her lips again. She’s smiling as she doesn’t look at me, but at all the movement around us. “I did. You don’t live that far away. Twenty minutes at the most, and that’s just traffic lights.”

“Good. I bet Felix was happy.” She glances up at me, and my heart clenches. But also hearing his name, I laugh.

“I’m not sure if he even heard me come in. He’s a hard sleeper after he plays all day and tries to destroy my couch.”

“Where does he sleep?”