Page 70 of On His Team

“How miserable are you?” I ask, reaching for a water.

He looks at me. “I’m fine.”

I lean against the counter beside him.

His shoulder almost touches mine.

I ask, “Are you having fun?”

“Yeah.”

I look up suspiciously.

He notices. “What?”

I shrug. “That sounded sincere.”

“It was. You invited me somewhere. I came. It’s fine.”

“Wow. Put that on Drew’s birthday card, will you?”

He smiles down at the water bottle.

I take a drink.

“You know what I heard in Minnesota?”

His eyes come back to me. “What?”

I turn slightly toward him. “During warmups, this guy behind the bench spent like three straight minutes yelling at Percy.”

He teases, “That narrows it down.”

“No, specifically Percy. He goes, ‘Deveroux, your mustache makes you look like a substitute teacher.’” I use a deep voice.

Rowan laughs. Not the quiet little breath he normally does. An actual laugh.

I grin immediately. “And Percy heard him.”

“He did?”

I nod. “He looked over and flipped him off.”

Rowan laughs again.

“Then the guy yelled, ‘Don’t look at me, subby boy, I didn’t do the homework.’” I chuckle. “Percy ignored him, and the guy kept yelling, ‘Hey subby, subby, subby, hey.’”

Rowan laughs. “That’s actually pretty good.”

I’m laughing harder because he is.

“I’m telling Percy you think he looks like a substitute teacher,” he says.

“Don’t you dare,” I scoff mid-laugh.

“I’m putting it in the group chat.”

I reach for his arm. “Rowan.”