Page 58 of Game Plan

“Pretty much, yeah. Anyway, what do you say? A warm home-cooked meal sounds good? I’ve always loved driving around with you. Unless you don’t wanna share me with anyone else and you fancy a night in instead. Pizza? Mexican? We can also do Chinese or Indian.”

“Mase, I said I had plans.”

“I heard you. But I can also read your nonverbal cues, and I know you are bullshitting me right now.”

“No, I am not. How can you say that?”

“I just know it. Sixth sense or something. I⁠—”

Three girls walked up to him, pushing out their chests and batting their eyelashes. “Masssson,” they purred, trying to latch onto him.

The scent of one of their perfumes made me lightheaded. It reminded me of Tanya and all the other girls Mason used to spend time with, and it felt like high school all over again. A sturdy knot tied my stomach.

“Can you sign our notebooks?” one asked, flipping her hair over her shoulder. She was wearing a tiny black skirt with a silver belt, paired with a white cropped tank top and four-inch heels.

Another one, dressed in low-rise skinny jeans and a petal-pink baby doll top, pushed her notebook into his chest with a rehearsed smile. Mason looked terrified as they kept boasting about his achievements on the field.

I was seconds away from bolting and escaping the scene. As if he could read my mind, Mason tugged at my sleeve to keep me beside him. Don’t leave me alone with them. Please, he mouthed.

Okay, I mouthed back.

He stretched an arm in front of him to keep his fangirls out of his personal space. “I’m touched that you all took the time to come talk to me, but I only have two minutes because I have somewhere to be,” he announced while autographing blank pages.

One of the girls pouted.

Another grinned at him in a flirty manner I recognized and had witnessed too many times before. “We’ll be at your next game. And tonight, we’re going to that party on Greek Row. Want my number so we can meet up later?”

“As I said, I have plans. It was nice meeting you all.” He spun to face me, blocking them out. After a few seconds, they appeared to get the message because they walked away. “Sorry about that. It’s not like before, I swear.”

“I believe you.” The difference between High-School-Mason and College-Mason was hard to miss. The first one had been an attention hog—or he had pretended he was for the show—and the second one looked uneasy facing these girls.

“Where were we? Oh yes. What will it be? Night in with a movie or a drive to Elk River to enjoy my mom’s lasagna?”

I shook my head. “Neither. I can’t go anywhere. I have a shift at five thirty.”

He checked his watch. “Which means we have almost four hours to kill. Or three hours plus one hour to have dinner afterward.”

I sighed, pretending to be annoyed. “I never agreed to any of this.”

“You never disagreed either.” He pulled at my hand, and our fingers intertwined together like no time had passed since the last time we held hands.

My heart danced in my chest. It had no right to be so enthusiastic about this simple fact, and yet, it had stopped listening to me a long time ago when it involved Mason Pierce.

Mason must have read my mind because he added, “Muscle memory. Our hands didn’t forget.” He rubbed my skin with the pad of his thumb, and fireworks erupted inside me.

Before I could bring myself to pull my hand away from his grip, he led me to his car parked in the lot between the bookstore and the science building.

“Any plans for Halloween?” he asked when we settled in his car after I dropped my books on the backseat.

“My friend wants us to attend a party at some fraternity house, but I am working that night. She’s making us costumes. I’m supposed to join her once I’m done.”

“I think it’s the same party the team is going to. The one on Middle Row Lane?”

I shrugged. “I’m not sure.”

“What are you dressing up as?”

I mimicked zipping my lips. “I promised Cassie I wouldn’t tell a soul.”