Page 49 of Catch
I looked at Max briefly. “Thanks. Hi, I’m Sutton.”
“How good are you?” one of the cheerleaders asked.
I shrugged. “Good enough.”
Missy grabbed my arm. “Oh, she’s great. We’ve had two winning seasons with her as our quarterback.”
There was nervous energy being in this mix and I felt my anxiety ramp up. “Hopefully, we can go to state next year.” Max nudged me when the cheerleaders giggled. I didn’t feel threatened by them. Their body language told me I was more than welcomed there, but they were too shy to speak.
“We need to get some food before they announce the second round results. We’ll see you later. Good luck.” He steered me away from the girls. “What the hell was going on there?” he asked.
“I don’t know. Missy isn’t usually so nice. Let’s grab some burgers,” I said. I found the cheeseburger truck and stood in line.
“Excuse me, Sutton?” A super cute cheerleader from the group we just talked to stood three feet from me.
“Hi.”
“Hi, I’m Gemma. I’m with the Franklin Falcons from Dover County. Hi.” She was nervous but determined.
I pointed to our line. “Are you going to eat lunch?”
She waved her hands at me and shook her head. “Oh, no. I’m too nervous. Especially now. Can I talk to you?” She looked at Max and then at me.
“I’ll have a cheeseburger, fries, and a Coke.” I handed Max a twenty and moved out of the line to see what Gemma had to say.
“I know you don’t know me, but I wanted to know if you wanted to go out sometime,” she said.
To say I was taken aback was putting it mildly. No girl had ever asked me out before. “Um, Dover County is across the state. That’s pretty far.” What a stupid thing to say. I tried again. “I mean, I’m flattered, but I’m interested in somebody else at the moment.”
She looked crushed but recovered quickly. “Oh, okay. Missy said you weren’t dating anyone.”
“I’m not, but I’m working on someone.”
“How about I give you my number anyway? I mean, if things don’t work out with her?” Gemma asked.
It was at that moment that I realized life was going to work out for me. I might have been a baby dyke in a small world, but people were interested in me and that boosted my confidence. Even if Parker wasn’t gay, there were plenty more lesbians out there for me. “Sure.” I thought she was going to write her number on a napkin, but she wrote her name and number on my forearm and punctuated it with a tiny heart.
“I hope you call me,” she said.
I sat on an empty bench and watched her walk away, stunned by what just happened.
“Here’s your food. What was that all about?” Max slid a tray of food next to me on the bench.
“I just got asked out. By a hot cheerleader.” I showed him my arm.
“Woohoo! That’s my girl.” He held up his hand and waited for me to slap it. I didn’t hesitate.
“Hell, yeah.” I was on cloud nine. I was about to shoot Max a devilish grin until I noticed that Parker O’Neal stood twenty feet behind Max. She had witnessed the whole thing. I gave her a nervous smile hoping I didn’t come across as too much of an asshole. Her face showed no emotion. Not a smile or a frown. It was as if she didn’t see me. She turned to her parents and pointed to a smoothie truck in the opposite direction of where Max and I stood.
Chapter Twenty—The Marriage
Present
I froze with my phone in my hand. When Parker texted me and asked if we could talk, I didn’t think she meant right now. It was eleven at night. I was curled up in bed with Crowbar. The phone rang four times before instinct took over and I swiped right. “Is everything okay?” I was afraid something was wrong. We weren’t pick-up-the-phone-and-call-one-another friends yet.
“Everything’s fine. I just have a lot on my mind.”
“I’m surprised you’re still awake.” I was sure she had to get up early to get the kids up and ready for school. “There is school tomorrow, right?”
