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“Oh-kay.” I draw out the word as I stuff the napkins I scribbled on in the front pocket of Wes’s sweatshirt and grab my phone. “Goodnight, Steve!” I call out as I follow Matt toward the door.
“See ya, Maeve!” Steve replies.
Rather than the sedan I’m expecting to see, Sam’s silver Suburban is the car waiting in the parking lot. I climb into the car filled with every senior member of Glenmont’s football team.
“What the hell is going on?” I ask Liam, who’s sitting in the front passenger seat.
Sam is the one who answers. “We’re just taking a quick trip. To Alleghany’s football field.” He gives me a wicked grin from the driver’s seat.
This can’t be good. “Why?” I ask cautiously.
“Just a little something I came up with,” Sam replies as he pulls out of the parking lot, heading in the direction of Alleghany.
Unease continues to trickle through my veins. I pull my phone out of my pocket and send a quick text to Wes.Running late. Be there as soon as I can.I hope he doesn’t check my location. I don’t want to risk sending him a longer message, though. Not in a dark car filled with Glenmont football players.
We pull up to the football field, and the stadium is quiet and empty. But the lights are on, same as in Glenmont. Eternally shining.
Everyone piles out of the car, and I reluctantly follow. I look around, seeing Wes’s school with fresh eyes. I haven’t been here many times, and this will probably be the last. We alternate who hosts the Glenmont versus Alleghany game each year. They’ll be traveling to us tomorrow night.
“Come on, Maeve.” I turn back to see each football player is grabbing a plastic bag from the trunk of the SUV. The contents clank and clink.
I follow them out onto the pristine field and watch as Glenmont’s football team begins distributing metal horseshoes across the green grass. It’s kind of brilliant, and I’m relieved we’re not vandalizing anything. As far as pranks go, this is pretty harmless. Hopefully Wes will think the same. And after the pool prank he admitted to, he doesn’t have much of a leg to stand on with this.
Matt offers me a handful of his horseshoes, and I scatter them across the field. This feels like penance, in a way. I’ve been far from a loyal Stallion as of late.
Thanks to my help, Matt’s bag depletes faster than everyone else’s. Sam’s the closest one to us, and he’s a good fifty feet away. We stand, watching the spread of metal horseshoes glinting under the bright lights, and I take a deep breath.
“Matt, there’s something I’ve been meaning to talk to you about.”
Matt turns to me, his face friendly and open. “Oh, yeah? What is it?”
“It’s about what Sam said. In the cafeteria last week.”
Matt’s face goes from affable to wary, and I know he realizes what I want to discuss. “Yeah,” he says, scuffing his sneaker against the blades of grass we’re standing on. “I thought you caught that. I’ve been meaning to bring it up, but I thought it would be better to wait until next week. Once your season had ended.” He takes a deep breath. “I like you, Maeve. I really like you. I have for a while. I wasn’t sure what to do, because of Liam, and I know you’re crazy busy with soccer and everything right now. But I’d like to take you out sometime. On a real date.”
“Matt…” I start, and then stop. I’m not sure what to say. This is harder than I thought. I glance down to collect my thoughts, which is a mistake. Because suddenly Matt’s right there. He tilts my chin up and kisses me, and I freeze.
It’s unfamiliar. He’s several inches shorter than Wes, but my response is what feels most foreign. My body is bereft of the delicious shivers and pulsating heat Wes’s touch always incites.
Matt’s kiss feels wrong. Disloyal.
How my first kiss with Wes should have felt but didn’t.
I break through the shock and push him back. “Matt! You can’t just kiss me! I didn’t realize how serious you were, and I—I’m sorry, but I’m with someone else.”
That pulls him up short. “What? Who? You said you were too busy to date anyone at the start of the year.”
I sigh. “I know I did.”
“Who is it?”
“You don’t know him,” I lie.
“Real convincing, Maeve. You don’t have to make someone up to spare my feelings. I just wish you’d give me a chance.”
“I’m not making him up,” I insist. “I swear.”
“Maeve! Matt! Let’s go! We’ve got to get out of here,” Sam calls. I look over to see he and everyone else have finished spreading the horseshoes over the field and are heading back toward the parking lot. I hope none of them saw Matt kiss me.
