“Thank you for being okay with it,” I managed to murmur while I kept watching his cell phone screen until they focused on another player arriving.
Had he made the shirt? Had he ordered it? It wasn’t like it mattered, but I couldn’t help but feel this incredible, overwhelming shot of straight-up love filling my veins at what he’d done.
And he hadn’t said anything.
“What am I going to do? Tell you both not to be happy? Loving you, B, is the easiest thing in the world. He never had a chance,” Boogie said, getting me to lift my face up to look at him and that face I really did love so much. I set aside Zac and his shirt for a minute. “Some things do good by themselves, but some things do better together, like cheese and burgers.”
I nodded at him, keeping my eyes wide so that I wouldn’t tear up still. “Cheeseburgers are pretty amazing.”
My cousin grinned. I shoved his shoulder a little, and he shoved mine right back.
“I told Liz that night after you dropped him off at the hospital that it was only gonna be a matter of time.”
Boogie and I both turned around to the row above us to find Paw-Paw with a smile on his face. It was him that had made the comment. Liz was Zac’s mom’s first name.
“Paw-Paw,” Ms. Travis groaned from her spot beside him. She had a temporary tattoo on her cheek with Zac’s number 4 on it, and his jersey on under her jacket.
The older man put his hands palm down on his chest, covering the White Oaks logo of the thick jacket he had on. “I did say it. I’m not lyin’. The last time Zac came by and he told us all about Bianca, didn’t I say it again?”
She blew out a breath and glanced at me with a faint smile. “You did.”
Oh man. I hadn’t even thought about being quiet or telling Paw-Paw or Ms. Travis about… us—not when it was just yesterday that he’d said anything.
Maybe Zac had wanted to tell them? Maybe… he didn’t want them to know?
Nah.
Well, too late now anyway.
Folding my hands together, I looked up at both of them with hope in my heart. “Are you both okay with me and Zac seeing each other?”
“You’re going to be doing more than seeing each other,” my fucking sister scoffed under her breath as she pretended to look toward the field, but I didn’t take my eyes away from the two Travis family members. I kicked her in the leg instead.
“Yes,” Ms. Travis confirmed, that faint smile turning into a fierce one. “I need help keepin’ that boy in line. I hope you’re up for it.”
I was up for it, and I told her so with a laugh.
A second later, my phone vibrated from inside of my pocket, and I took it out, wondering who would be texting me. Deepa?
The name on the screen had me freezing.
ZAC THE SNACK PACK: You make it?
I smiled down at my screen.
Me: Yes. Paw-Paw and your mom are behind us.
Me: Connie glued a mustache to my face, by the way.
I got a response almost immediately.
ZAC THE SNACK PACK: A mustache??
Me: A blue one. I think Trevor might have done the sign of the cross when he saw it.
It showed he was typing up a reply before I’d even hit Send on my second text.
ZAC THE SNACK PACK: I’ve always had a thing for mustaches
I laughed.
Me: You’re in for a treat then. It’s a good one.
Me: Also, you’re going to do great today. I’m so proud of you and so is everyone else.
I almost expected not to get a reply from him, but my phone vibrated after about a minute with a new text.
ZAC THE SNACK PACK: In that case, I’m gonna try even harder not to let you all down.
My heart squeezed.
Me: You could never let us down. And even if you don’t win and the team doesn’t go to the playoffs, you’re still invited to go to Disney World with me once I reschedule my trip.
ZAC THE SNACK PACK: You’re only supposed to go there if you win it all.
Me: You’re winning just by being where you are right now.
The typing icon stayed on the screen for almost a minute before I got another text.
ZAC THE SNACK PACK: You right.
ZAC THE SNACK PACK: Follow Trev after the game, okay?
ZAC THE SNACK PACK: Love you kiddo
“Love you, kiddo,” he said like he’d said it a hundred times before.
Which he had.
But I read it in his text then. The difference. I wasn’t sure how I could ever explain the nuance, but it was there, as different as day and night.
He loved me. Me. And he meant it.
I thought about that until he was running out onto the field with his teammates—some of whom were my friends now too—to play another big, important game that most commentators had going in favor of the Three Hundreds because they’d had a slightly better season.
Zac was too nice to ever rub anybody’s face into anything—well, most of the time—but I hoped they cried silent tears when the White Oaks won.
I stood there in the stands with my cousin on one side, and my sister and Richard on the other, and Zac’s Paw-Paw, mom, and manager directly behind me, cheering just as hard as everyone in the stadium as the game prepared to start. And we stood like that for a long time.
For the entire game.
Because it was stressful as hell. The Three Hundreds were out to prove a point. Unfortunately for them, so were the White Oaks.
For three quarters, the teams were tied nearly neck and neck. The Three Hundreds would score and then the White Oaks would do the same. Every fan in the stadium screamed at the field over tackles and fumbles and interceptions.
And then, with less than fifty-five seconds left on the clock, Zac and Amari did it.
They scored.
They had won.
THEY WON.
And just about everyone went apeshit.
Boogie and I hugged,
