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I held the shirt up in front of me. I really wanted to wear it, joke or not.
So that day, when Cooper came out of the tunnel and looked up at me, I had on the jersey, his number painted on both cheeks, and my hair pulled back. Our eyes found each other and locked. This little thing sprouted in my stomach, taking life, because what I saw in his eyes wasn’t anything I’d seen before.
When he got drafted, he sent me his jersey for his new team, and it’d been like that for as long as I could remember.
* * *
I stare at Bradley’s jersey, wondering how on Earth I can show up with it on. Luckily, I’m called into a room. I shove the box in the cabinet below, pushing off that decision for a later time.
Bryce and Adeline are already seated at the fifty-yard line, both of them wearing their husbands’ jerseys. Bryce has taken it to a whole new level with earrings, clips for her hair, and necklaces. Everything has Miles’s number on it. Adeline is alone, so she must have opted not to bring Clover today.
I have my beer and popcorn, my must-haves for a game. As I slide through the row, Adeline and Bryce look up to see me coming.
“What the hell?” Bryce says.
Adeline doesn’t say anything, but her mouth is hanging open.
“What are you wearing?” Bryce whispers when I get closer.
“Just stop.” I look around, the feeling of betrayal hitting me from every direction. But I’m not dating Cooper, I’m dating Bradley, and he deserves to know I support him. If the roles were reversed and Bradley was wearing some other girl’s number, I’m sure these two would have something to say about that.
“Okay.” Bryce mimes zipping her lips shut.
Adeline looks over and pats my leg. She really has that whole mom thing down. “I get it. And I’m sure Cooper will understand.’
“Oh no.” Bryce shakes her head. “He will not understand. I mean, you needed one of those half-and-half jerseys made. Don’t be surprised if Cooper climbs up here and tears it off your body.”
I roll my eyes. “You’re so dramatic.”
She turns toward me. “Do you even like Bradley this much?” She runs her hand down my arm.
“Hello, you’re my friend. You’re supposed to have my back.”
Her face softens, and she opens her mouth but shuts it. “You’re right, but I can’t help but hurt for Cooper. He’s my friend too.”
I swallow the guilt that’s threatening to suffocate me.
“Guys,” Adeline says, but what else is she going to say? She doesn’t know the entire story. No one does. Bryce is our closest friend, and I think she’s becoming as confused as I am. “Here they come! I hope Damon’s not upset, but Clover is breaking a tooth, and she’s not very cooperative. She would not have made a good cheerleader today.”
“He’ll be excited to have you to himself for a night. I’m assuming Miles and I are by ourselves after the game?” Bryce sips her beer. “Because Cooper is going to disappear, and you’ll be busy with Bradley.”
“We’ll go out,” Adeline says, but then Damon comes to the wall like he does before every home game.
“Alone tonight?” He waggles his eyebrows.
Adeline laughs and bends down to kiss him. “She’s at my parents’.”
He bites his lip and stares at her as though he could take her right here and now. God, what it must feel like to be wanted by a man like that.
“We’re going out after the game,” Adeline says.
He kisses her quickly on the lips.
“Siska! I’m going to bench you!” Coach Stone yells like he does every home game.
“No, we’re not.” Damon winks at Adeline, then moves to jump down off the ledge but stops when he notices what I’m wearing. His eyebrows raise, and his mouth hangs open. “Oh shit.”
As he lands on the ground, I blow out a breath. I look at the field and see Bradley looking at me with such a big smile that, for a second, I’m glad I did it. Then I glance behind him. Cooper stands there, his hands nestled in the warmer at his waist. He doesn’t show any reaction but turns away and goes to talk to one of the coaches.
