The Perfect Touchdown

“There is no use denying it, we’ve been watching the both of you for a while now,” Kendra smirked.

“Yeah, and it’s obvious you guys have been secretly hooking up for weeks now.”

I scoffed. “Okay, it hasn’t been for weeks.”

They gasped. ‘Oh, shit.’

“So, you guys are dating?” they asked.

There was no point in denying it after my blunder, so I spilled the beans after I made them promise they wouldn’t breathe a word to anyone, ever. If word got to my brother, it would be the death of us both.

“Wow, that is ultra adorable,” Kendra squealed.

“Yeah, you guys are living out a fairytale,” Kinsley added.

I rolled my eyes but felt my cheeks blush. “Whatever, now that you know you can never repeat anything spoken in this room. I’ll be killed if Avery finds out.”

“Or if Leah Palmer does.”

I frowned. “Is she still going after Aiden? Were they ever actually dating?”

“Wouldn’t you know?” Kinsley asked.

I was too afraid of that answer, so I avoided asking him.

“Regardless, nothing is happening between them anymore and even if she does find out, no one in our circle would believe her. My brother isn’t too happy with her after she sucked at bowling the other night, he has never lost a match and she finally broke that streak.”

The twins burst into giggles. We sat and talked for a few more hours before I kicked them out to work on more assignments. There was a game coming up later in the week and I wanted to make sure there was nothing that kept me from cheering at it.

~*~

Aiden and I made it through another successful week of stolen kisses and secret night hangouts, then it was the next big game. As the weeks of the semester quickly dwindled and we approached winter break, the football games became more intense as more scouts showed up.

I was stretching on the field before the game began, trying not to make it obvious that I was looking for Aiden, but he was nowhere to be seen.

“Rylee, over here.” I heard someone whisper-call to me and looked around until I saw Aiden under the bleachers.

I rushed over and ducked under with him. “What are you doing?”

“I wanted a good luck kiss before the game.” He grabbed the side of my face and gave me a deep and lingering kiss. When he tried to slip his tongue between my lips I pushed him off.

“We’re too public right now, later.” I tapped his ass and rushed back onto the field, unaware that anyone might have been around.

I watched as Aiden threw me a wink before he ran out onto the field and joined the team before the other team was announced. I cheered and cried out from the sidelines but couldn’t keep my eyes off my football boyfriend. I didn’t want to take all the credit, but he had really shown his improvement and control on the field lately, which was great for the recent scouts in the stands.

In the end, they got another win for the season and another step closer to being champions. I had a smile from ear to ear as I watched the boys celebrate on the field together and knew there was going to be an even bigger celebration later tonight at the frat house. I made sure to get all my assignments done this week, so I had more than enough time this weekend to plan a date for Aiden and me.

Although we’ve had our fun in secret around campus, it was beginning to become stifling at this point, and I really wanted us to go off campus and not have to be so secretive all the time. We also hadn’t had the chance for a date since we got together, since everywhere we went on campus, there was someone we knew from the team or cheer squad wandering around nearby.

Aiden jogged across the field toward me, and I could tell he wanted to rush over and hug me, but he held himself back with much restraint. Instead, Avery ran up to me and lifted me off the ground in a massive bear hug.

“Yeah, we did it! We’re number one!” He and the guys had begun to chant, and I was carried off with Avery.

“Can you put me down, please?” I cried and kicked at his back. He finally dropped me but continued with the crowd of players to the locker rooms.

“As much as I’d like for you to join me, I’m not alone in there so this is where you stop,” Aiden said with a wink, then followed after them.

I rolled my eyes and threw a stray football at him, poorly I would add. I heard his mocking chuckle as he walked away.

The twins popped up behind me. “You guys are so cute.”

“Like, out of this world cute.”

At this point, I had given up trying to figure out who was who since they always finished each other’s thoughts or just added to the others.

“So, we can expect another awesome party tonight?” One of them asked.

“Most likely, yeah. Those guys are never not drinking.”

Kinsley scoffed. “It isn’t fair that guys were blessed with the ability to wreck their bodies and still be fine in the end.”

“Well, if there is a party, you can bet that Leah is going to be there.”

I frowned. “Why do you say that?”

“Because she’s been talking about it all week, we share a dorm floor with her and she’s telling everyone how she and Aiden are finally going to go steady, she knows he’s going to ask her tonight apparently.”

Kendra laughed. “It’s hilarious to watch her flaunt such lies.”

“No one else has said anything else to her about him and me?” I asked.

They shook their heads. “We love to gossip, but a secret is a secret.”

I smiled at them and realized that although we hadn’t talked or hung out very much, they had become pretty reliable friends over time, and it was a really nice feeling to know I had more than the guys and Isabelle. A girl needed more than one girlfriend.

“Speaking of gossiping, which one of you is sleeping with Carter?”

Kendra went stark white, and Kinsley giggled. I loved how they automatically gave each other away without a word being uttered.

“I’ll help you seal the deal as payment for keeping my secret.” I winked at her, and her face lit up again.

“What about me?” Kinsley asked.

“Is there anything you want?”

She thought about it. “What is the name of the cute guy with glasses?”

“Oh, that’s Ryan Hayes, and he’s actually spoken for.” I thought about Isabelle right away, and even though that was technically a lie, I wanted her to have her chance to shoot her shot eventually. If she never did, then Kendra had her chance.

“Come on, let’s go get changed,” I said, and we walked back to the changing rooms as we discussed the party.

Back in the changing rooms, Leah was still going off about how much she adored Aiden and how kind of a guy he was. I rolled my eyes and gagged behind her back, but in reality, I was holding my tongue from telling her off and exposing myself. I wanted to make her jealous, but I didn’t want all of our hard work to come crashing down over petty feelings.

Leah stopped when she noticed me and wandered over.

“Hey, how are you getting to the frat party tonight? Is your brother picking you up?”

They were genuine and innocent questions, but her snarky tone and smirk said otherwise. She was trying to put me on the spot and point out that the only guy I had in my life was my brother. Sure, a lot of people had a few words to say both behind my back and to my face when Jake and I went from being the IT couple to breaking up without ever speaking to each other.

But none of them knew what really happened and that’s all that mattered to me. I knew why we weren’t speaking to each other, and I knew I did the right thing by not allowing him to get what he wanted. He was a piece of human trash and got what he deserved, so who cared what others thought?

This was also my chance to knock her down a peg after she gloated.

“No, Aiden always picks me up.”

Her mouth dropped open slightly, but she picked it back up quickly and turned to see the reactions of everyone else. A few members looked ashamed for listening to her words so easily while others looked pitiful toward her.

“I don’t think that’s possible tonight, he’s picking me up actually.”