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“I’ll see you tonight?”
“Yeah.” He caught her hand and drew her close. “I’ll call when I’m done.”
“Okay.”
He handed over her backpack and kissed her. She rested her free hand against his jacket, keeping him there a little longer. When they finally pulled apart, he was smiling at her.
“Go on, Wright. You’re gonna be late.”
“So are you.”
“I know.”
She laughed and let his hand slip from hers. Halfway across the lawn, she looked back.
He was walking backward, still watching her. When he saw her turn, he lifted his hand, and she waved before facing her building again.
She was going to have to pay better attention in this class.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Nicole was going to sound like a frog tomorrow, maybe the next day too, and it was worth every bit of it. When the clock ran out, she tried to scream with Bailey and got out a croak instead, which only made them both laugh harder.
Drayton had won, and nobody around them seemed ready to leave. People hugged strangers across rows, slapped hands, and shouted toward the field while the band played over all of it. A few rows below, a little girl on her father’s shoulders shook a gold pom-pom so hard Nicole wondered how it had any strands left. She clapped along, her palms tender from an afternoon of doing exactly that.
Beating Auburn made the win that much sweeter. Drayton and Auburn had been going at each other for years, and Nicole had heard enough from their fans on the way into the stadium to enjoy every second of watching them leave. Auburn had made them work for it, but every time they scored, Drew and his teammates answered right back. By the fourth quarter, she had given up trying to sit down between reasons to cheer.
And her man had looked so damn good doing it.
Watching him on television last Saturday had been fun, but here she could keep her eyes on him after the whistle. She liked seeing who he went to first, the quick conversations, the hand he rested on a teammate’s helmet before they headed back into position. Even from up here, she’d recognized that grin when something went exactly the way he wanted it to. More than once, she’d caught herself smiling back.
Beside Toni, Jackie leaned close to say something to Lauren, but Lauren was already reaching under the bench for her purse.
“Come on.” She caught Nicole’s sleeve. “Let’s go down.”
“To see them?”
“Yeah. I always meet Dayshawn down there.”
Nicole glanced toward the field. Players were shaking hands and pulling each other into quick, back-slapping hugs, and she could still pick Drew out among them.
“We’ll meet you back up here,” Lauren told the others.
Bailey smiled at Nicole. “Take your time.”
Toni looked toward the field, then back at Nicole, and pressed her lips together before she bent to collect the empty cups under their seats. Nicole knew that look. Toni could cheer for the team all afternoon and still have opinions about who Nicole went home with. But she was keeping them to herself, and Nicole would take it. She slipped her purse across her body and followed Lauren into the aisle.
Getting down took some patience. People were coming up with seat cushions tucked under their arms, stopping to talk, turning back for things they’d left under the benches. Nicole angled past a man balancing three half-empty sodas and murmured an “Excuse me” as someone’s jacket caught on her purse. The smell of popcorn hung around the seats, mixed with the beer somebody had spilled along the steps.
Lauren kept finding openings, and Nicole stayed right behind her. By the time they reached the front, she’d lost Drew.
She rested her hands on the railing and searched the field, leaning a little to see around a man waving his cap. Down here, she could hear cleats clicking along the pavement under the stands and players calling to people they recognized. A television cameraman walked backward in front of a coach, his assistant guiding him around a bag someone had left in the way.
“There he is.” Lauren raised her arm. “Dayshawn!”
He was walking with Drew, both of them carrying their helmets. Lauren waved again when he looked over. Dayshawn said something to Drew, who turned toward the stands.
Nicole lifted her hand, and his grin widened as soon as he saw her.
