She reaches over, catching me by surprise, and runs a thumb along my chin. “Did you get this scar from hockey?”
She’s barely touching me, but I like it, so I lean in a bit and tilt my chin up so she can see it better. “No, I had a confrontation with a coffee table. It won.”
Her hand falls away. “Ouch.”
“Time,” Adam calls, breaking the moment. He holds up his phone. “One-hour time limit.”
“One hour?” Ginny squeaks.
“We’re really good hiders,” Rauthruss says before Reagan climbs on his back and he jogs off. Dude is super competitive.
Ginny and I move at a much slower pace. I manage to get her on my back, the feel of her pressing up against me is way too nice, but my legs aren’t cooperating.
“Maybe I should carry you?”
“I got this,” I say but then stumble a few feet.
“Which way, ya think?” she asks when we get to the first turning point.
Everyone else is going right, so I head left.
“I heard you got a job.” I slow my pace. I’m not all that interested in searching for Maverick and Dakota, or generally being around anyone, but Ginny.
She smells like gummy bears which makes me think about kissing her again.
“I did. Dakota hooked me up with it actually. I start next week. I’ll be leading tours of the Hall of Fame and athletic facilities, even doing recruitment tours once I get the hang of it.”
“That’s cool. I still remember mine.”
“You do?” I pause when we come to another spot where we need to decide which way to go. “You decide.”
She waves to the left, which really doesn’t go anywhere and we’re real close to being out of the borders of the game, but I keep that to myself. “Yeah, I had this guy named Clint. Wasn’t nearly as cute as you.”
Her light laughter tickles my ear. “You’re incorrigible.”
I’ll be honest that I’m not really looking for Mav. I just want to keep talking, so I’m especially surprised when Ginny yells, “There they are!”
Dakota and Maverick are crouched down inside a fancy looking rectangular water fountain that’s currently empty. It’s a good spot and I don’t see them myself until we’re basically on top of them.
“How did you find us?” Dakota asks. “This spot is amazing. I’ve been waiting for weeks to use it.”
“Maverick’s shoes were reflecting in the light.” Ginny points to his shoes.
Dakota throws her hands up.
Reluctantly, I set Ginny down.
“Now what?” Ginny asks, dropping off my back.
“We get in and wait for the others.”
I hop down, not so gracefully, and then help Ginny down beside me. It’s dark but not total blackout due to the lights around campus.
The space is really only big enough for us to sit side by side, but the more we spread out, the easier we are to see. Dakota and Maverick are sitting facing one another legs stretched out in front of them. I sit and pull Ginny down in front of me so her back is at my chest.
Maverick passes me the half-empty bottle of Mad Dog. Do I need another drink? Definitely not. However, we might be here for a while.
After taking a small drink, I tap Ginny on the shoulder with the bottle. Her fingers brush mine. They’re cold and seem to tremble as she twists the cap off.
I wait until she passes it to Dakota before pulling her against me.
“Are you okay?” I whisper. Somehow the end of her braid gets stuck in my mouth in the process.
“Did you just eat my hair?” She runs her hand along her braid and flips it, so it lands in front of her.
“Unintentionally.”
“Shh. I think I can hear someone coming,” Dakota whispers.
Since I can’t soothe her with words, I take her in a vise grip snug against me. Her shoulders are rigid, and I feel her take in a deep breath.
I hum the first song that comes to mind, ‘Fantasy’, and after a few minutes, she melts into me. She turns her head, so her lips are close to mine. “Thank you.”
I’m frozen, staring at her mouth. The cupid’s bow, the fullness of her bottom lip, how soft it feels under the trace of my thumb. I don’t know when I touched it, but I keep doing it. Her eyes fall to my mouth and her tongue darts out, the warm tip wetting my thumb.
I lean in but hesitate to see how she reacts first. She nods her head a fraction, almost as if she’s giving me permission to kiss her.
Adam’s voice calls out, breaking the moment as the other four find us. “Twenty-five minutes. Mav, dude, your shoes are shining like a flashlight at anyone that walks by.”
“Ow! Ow!” Mav yells and shields himself as Dakota pelts him and says, “Worst partner ever.”
15
Ginny
“This is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.” I turn a circle. Flat screens cover every inch of the walls, floor to ceiling, all the way around.
Dakota grins and taps on the tablet in her hands. “Wait for it. It gets way cooler.”
We stand in the middle of the room. It’s cozy, not really meant for more than a few people comfortably. The recessed lighting above us dims and the screens all come alive at once.
Hype music pumps into the room and images and videos of the Valley U hockey team play like a highlight reel. My heart races as if I were sitting front row in a playoff game. My brother is shown a lot, which makes sense because he’s been a big contributor to the team since his freshman year.
Sometimes the clips are of the players in action and sometimes it’s media type posed images. One of the latter of Heath fills the screens. His face, jumbo-sized, stares back at me and my stomach does a somersault. He’s so damn hot.
It goes on and on, a good five minutes of film, but when it ends, I want to watch it all over again.
“Awesome, right?” Dakota asks
