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I feel my eyes widen a little at her words. A drop of rain lands on the tip of her nose and I swipe it gently, trailing my thumb lower, along her cheek to her own cool lips.
“I’d love for you to be my girlfriend.” I grin. “I mean, if you’re offering.”
Her eyes meet mine and a shy smile lights up her face. “Okay.”
“Okay.”
I lean in again and kiss her, lightly at first. Then harder. Deeper. I can’t get enough of this girl.
“We should go inside,” she murmurs. “It’s raining pretty hard.”
“So?” I shrug. “Do you melt in water or something?”
“No.” She laughs. “I just don’t like being out in the rain, unless I’m doing something.”
I know she means searching tidepools and that kind of thing, but I tease her anyway; slide my hand beneath the hem of her T-shirt… graze her bra. I dip my thumb higher, sending a shiver across her body. “We’re doing something.” I grin wickedly.
My fingers clasp at her T-shirt, pushing it farther up, and she lets out a soft sigh. I trail my lips across her stomach, dotting her pale skin with kisses.
Somewhere nearby there are voices. It sounds like a group of guys.
I tug Caro’s T-shirt down, glancing over my shoulder. Four sophomore guys are walking past the Arts building, a couple of them holding soccer balls. I wait for a second to make sure they’re not stopping, then lean down again.
Caroline brings a hand up to brush a damp strand of hair out of my eyes. “Are you nervous for the big game Friday?” she asks softly, tracing my jaw with her finger.
“Well, I mean, given my less than mediocre skills…” I grin down at her. “Yeah, I’m nervous.”
“I’m serious,” she says, although she’s still smiling.
“Yeah, it stresses me out sometimes,” I admit. “I don’t want to let anybody down.”
She wraps her arms around me, lacing her hands together against my lower back.
The rain suddenly starts coming down harder and we hear it above us, against the foliage. It trickles through the leaves more steadily and Caroline wrinkles her face at the droplets soaking her cheeks and forehead.
“I’m gonna be there cheering for you,” she says, then kisses me; gently. Lovingly.
“You sure about that?” I arch an eyebrow. “Even in the rain?”
“Even in the rain,” she says, smiling. “In fact, I’ll cheer extra loud for you if it rains, so you hear me over the sound of the storm.”
I lean in for another kiss. We end up being half an hour late for the meetup at Hooks.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Caroline
It’saperfectfallevening, the night of the State Football Championship. Not a rain cloud in sight.
I sit with Maggs and Jax and a bunch of Jax’s friends who, of course, are Seb’s friends, too. I’ve sort of gotten to know a few of them over the last few weeks, and I’ve reluctantly admitted to Seb that most of them are really nice. Even some of the cool kids.
Seb’s parents and both sets of grandparents sit a few rows back from us, and they’re all decked out in full Titan colors, with foam fingers and noise makers and everything. The atmosphere tonight is insane. The stadium packed. More people cheering for the other team. For our team. The shouts louder. The chants longer. The energy more intense.
It’s honestly really overwhelming, and I search out specific focus points to help ground me. Inane things like the logo on the guy’s hoodie in front of me. The hole in my jeans. And I slowly stretch my focus farther out until eventually I’m taking in the whole stadium.
People go crazy when they play the pre-game video for each team. It’s pretty obvious who the star of the team is with the Titan’s video: there are almost twice as many clips of Sebastian than any other team member, and Maggs and Jax nudge me every time a close-up of him flashes on the screen. Maggs, of course, also rolls her eyes with every shot of Xavier.
When the team comes out on the field, everyone goes nuts. Seb appears and a bunch of people shout out his last name over and over like a chant. He turns and looks up at the section where we’re sitting, and I know he’s searching for me. I can tell when he spots me, because he gives me a thumbs up, which I return before he continues his jog to the lineup. And my God, I want him to win tonight. So badly. This game is so important to him.
