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“Did you hear Maeve Stevens was at Josh’s house last night?” Chris asks as he’s spotting me. My fingers tighten around the hard metal as I straighten my elbows.
“Nope.” It’s not a total lie. I didn’t think anyone else would realize who she was.
“Caroline recognized her from soccer. I wonder if she reported back on how much better our parties are than Glenmont’s. I can’t believe she actually came to Alleghany.”
“Why the fuck did she?” Charlie asks from the next bench, setting his own weighted bar down with a loud clang.
“Josh said there’s a new girl who moved here from Glenmont a couple weeks ago who she was with. Still can’t believe the Glenmont golden girl dared to be seen with us. She had to know we’d all be there,” Chris replies.
“What are you guys talking about?” Adam joins the group that’s huddled around me, discussing the one topic I really don’t want to hear about.
I still can’t believe I fucking kissed her. I’ve made a litany of excuses for what I confessed to her our freshman year. How I couldn’t get the look on my mother’s face out of my head when she realized my father hadn’t gone to the office like he told her, the two beers I’d drunk, the fact that she stayed on that log long after she realized who I was. I don’t have any such excuses for last night.
I kissed her because I wanted to. Because when I saw her in Josh’s kitchen, I forgot there were other people in the room.
But I can’t figure out why she kissed me back.
“Maeve Stevens.” Chris replies to Adam’s question.
“Coach Stevens’ daughter? Why?”
“She was at Josh’s last night. Blonde hair, killer body, I think she was wearing a pink dress?”
It was green.
“Holy shit. That was Maeve Stevens? She’s hot.” Grudging appreciation fills Adam’s voice.
She kissed me back. And I can’t make sense of why. I’ve done nothing over the past two years since we first spoke but continue to shred apart her family’s football legacy, and she fucking kissed me back. I got the sense when she talked about her dad’s drinking they aren’t close, but I know she and Liam are. Maeve came out onto the field and hugged him after our game against Glenmont this past fall while I watched like a creeper.
“Is she dating anyone?” Charlie asks. “Doubt any Glenmont guy would be happy about his girl hanging out at our party.”
I do four more reps and then set the heavy bar down with a loud rattle, sitting up and wiping my face dry with a towel.
“Who cares?” Adam scoffs. “But probably. The guys in Glenmont are jerks, but they’re not blind.”
“Let’s get out of here,” I finally interject, grabbing my stuff and heading toward the door that leads out to the gym’s parking lot. I know they’ll all follow me, but I don’t expect them to still be discussing Maeve Stevens when they do.
I grit my teeth with annoyance as I open up the trunk of the brand-new Range Rover my parents bought me as a bribe and toss my gym gear inside.
“Caroline said she’s good?”
“Yeah, but I don’t know what that means. Hell, I didn’t even know Caroline played soccer until sophomore year.”
“Jeez, Adam, don’t mention that to her. No wonder you’re single.”
“You guys arestilltalking about Maeve Stevens?” I ask, making sure my tone conveys I think their fixation is ridiculous. Advice I should take myself.
“Charlie just told me she plays soccer. Figured Liam took all the athletic genes in the womb.” Adam is the only one who laughs at his lame twin joke.
“She doesn’t just play, she’s the team captain,” I inform him. Adam, Charlie, and Chris all look at me with surprise. “What?” I ask.
“How the hell do you know that?” Chris questions.
“I read it in an article about how Stevens was selected as Glenmont’s,” I reply. I’m not sure why they bothered writing a news article about it; everyone knew it was a forgone conclusion Liam Stevens would be selected as Glenmont’s football captain this year, the same way everyone knew I would be Alleghany’s.
The only reason I even read the piece was because I was curious if it would mention Maeve. It did, but only in a cursory sentence that insinuated her athletic success was merely an extension of her brother’s. It bothered me more than I expected, and not only because I’m far from Liam’s biggest fan. I wonder if I even would have noticed if she hadn’t already flat-out told me people only see her as her father’s daughter or her brother’s sister.
“You can read?” Charlie jokes.
