Page 116 of Kickoff

“You want us to match? Are you sure you’re not sick?” she asked, hauling herself into the car after she discarded her book bag on the backseat. Leaning forward, she touched her hand to my forehead. “Nope. No fever.”

I laughed, something I seemed to do a lot around her. “Not sick, I swear. And here I almost wished I was so you could transform into Nurse Shepard. The time you bandaged the cut on my abdomen is branded on my memories forever. And the nurse uniforms are hot. Just sayin’.”

“Only in porn movies, Mase. Real-life uniforms are not sexy, I swear.”

“And just like that, you killed one of my fantasies.” I rolled my eyes in the most exaggerated manner possible. “Thank you very much, Shepard.”

She patted my hand. “You’ll survive, Mase. And for your information, if you had been sick, I would have cared for you.”

My face lit up. “For real?”

She sighed. “No questions asked. Until you transform into a big baby and I have to quit.”

“I love your faith in me. I’m tougher than you give me credit for.” We both laughed. “Back to business.” I put on my most serious expression. “The theme this year is Midnight Frost. It could be fun to dress the part. Think about it and let me know what you decide.”

“I’m free Saturday morning. If we do this, indigo or arctic blue would work best. If I can find a dress in those hues.”

“That sounds like something doable. Not that I know a lot about dresses, but I’m sure blue is a pretty common color.”

“Yeah, but there’s a whole rainbow of shades. We gotta find the right one.” Melinda toyed with the radio button for a moment. “Hey Mase, do you have plans for Winter Break? Craig and Paige talked about going to the mountains to snowboard. They’re renting a cabin for two nights, and they have a spare bedroom. Christmas present from her parents. Could be fun to join them if you’re up to it. They offered. I’ve never snowboarded before, but I heard it’s not that hard. I would like to give it a try. And three days away from everything would be amazing after the semester we just had. As long as I can fit my work schedule around it and my parents agree.”

“Craig said something about it the other day, but we were interrupted, and we never broached the subject again. Could be fun, though. You sure it’s okay with them if we tag along?”

“Yes. Paige called me last night. They’re going the weekend before Christmas. She said they would love for us to join them. We would only have to pay for our tickets and our food. We could split the money for gas. She even offered we ride together, the four of us…” She twisted her hands on her lap. “Or the two of us can ride alone. Whatever we decide.”

“You’ll love the slopes. Let me run it by my brother first and get back to you.” I stopped at a red light and watched my girl when an idea hit me. “Wanna skip morning classes?”

“Skip? Like skip school?” From the look on her face, it was like I had suggested we commit a murder and bury the body together.

“Yeah. Like you said, we had one hell of a semester, and I need a break. Time to cool off. Football season has been exhausting with the extra training I put myself through. I kinda feel like going to the lake and walking…and talking.” On Saturday, we won the state championship, which meant practices were over—and my high school football career too. The guys and I were still hitting the gym at least three times a week to stay in shape for the spring off-season training. Dedication was the key to our well-oiled machine. And even if technically my high school football days were over, I was still the captain and called the shots—at least until the end of the school year.

Melinda sighed and flipped her hair over her shoulder. My fingertips itched to brush the silky strands. “Even though it sounds tempting, I can’t. I have a quiz and if I miss it and my parents hear about it…let’s just say it’s a complication I’d prefer to avoid.”

I scratched my temple. “Oh, okay. Maybe another time.”

I really wanted to talk to Melinda alone. It was time we had the conversation. We’d been tiptoeing around each other for months now. Our deadline was approaching, and after sleeping in the same bed on my birthday, I was done pretending we weren’t together when we did everything, except kissing and the physical stuff, like other couples did. I couldn’t have her so close to me all the time without being with her—like really being with her—anymore. It had become torture. I was combusting inside each day, not knowing how to get rid of the tension tightening my body. All I wished for was to hold her hand and kiss her whenever I felt like it. Watch movies tangled up together under a blanket and go on dates. I didn’t want to have to come up with excuses to see her anymore. The other day, I caught myself doodling her name next to mine in my notebook when the math teacher went on and on about limits, and I couldn’t care less about the lesson.

“Are you okay?” Her voice brought me back to the present.

“Yeah. Sure. All good.”

Craig met us in the parking lot. “How is it going, lovebirds?”

I made a cutthroat gesture and glared at him. He winked as if he could read my thoughts. I would have vaporized him with my eyes if they had been laser beams.

“Need something?” I asked, not in the mood to kill him this early in the morning.

“Nope. Waiting for Paige. I thought I should come and say hi since it would be impolite not to say hello when you cross paths with your favorite brother and his gir—and his friend in the school parking lot.”

Fucker, I mouthed at him.

He clapped my back as I pushed him aside to walk past him. “I’ll see you later, man.” The sound of his chuckle still made me want to murder him with my own hands. I didn’t need my brother to mess up my plans. No thank you.

We entered the building, and I fist-bumped a couple of guys before making it to the seniors’ wing to walk Melinda to her locker.

“Can you give me a minute?” she asked as we passed the restroom.

“Yeah, sure. I’ll wait here.”