Page 136 of Playing to Win
“Baby, I am not the sole reason for your confidence. You did that on your own,” I tell her truthfully. “I’m proud of you.”
“Thank you. You know what? I’m proud of me too.” She glances down at her partially eaten chalupa and curls her lip. “Want to go make out?”
I have a mouthful of burrito in my mouth. With onions. “Uh…”
“You can brush your teeth first,” she suggests brightly. “I need to.”
“You want to make out?” I set my burrito down.
She nods. “In the shower.”
“You want to take a shower?”
“And make out, yes.”
“Wash all your troubles away?”
“No, I want to make out with you naked in the shower and possibly give you a blow job. What do you say?” She’s laughing, pleased with herself, and I’m hopping out of my chair, grabbing her hand and dragging her toward her bathroom.
“I say that sounds like a great idea.” I pull her into my arms and kiss her, burrito with onion breath and all. “I love you.”
“I love you too.” She kisses me back.
“I’m proud of you.”
“Thank you,” she murmurs. “Everything is going to be okay.”
“Yeah, it is.” I pull her into my arms. As long as we’re together…
Everything is going to be just fine.
FORTY-THREE
RUBY
“It’s reallynice being able to sit next to you at a game,” Natalie says, her attention completely focused on the field below us.
I nudge her shoulder with mine, my gaze on the sidelines where Ace currently stands among his teammates, watching our defense work it out on the field. “I totally agree.”
“You went all out too.”
“I had to.” I am completely decked out in number ten gear. I’m wearing a Townsend jersey with a long-sleeved thermal shirt underneath because it’s freezing cold outside, but I refuse to wear my coat over it because I want everyone to see his name across my back. I’ve got a knit hat on my head with the number ten stitched on the front and a puffball that wobbles on my head every time I move, plus I drew the number ten on each of my cheeks in red glitter paint.
I’m Ace Townsend’s number one fangirl. None of the girls in his fan club—last I heard, they disbanded once it came out that we’re together—can match my enthusiasm for this man.
Not a single one of them.
The game is intense and I’m a yelling, shrieking maniac for most of it. Barely able to control myself. Natalie keeps telling me to stop screaming in her ear but I can’t help it. The game is exciting. They’re all playing so great but then…
During the last quarter, the other team scores a touchdown during the last seconds and wins the game. Our teamlost.
It’s devastating.
“I’m a bad luck charm in the stands,” I tell Natalie as the stadium clears out quickly. It’s so cold and the skies are dark gray. A storm is looming and the wind is making everything worse. “I feel terrible.”
“It’s not your fault they lost,” Natalie reassures me, though from the look on her face, she’s got me feeling full of doubt.
Maybe it was my fault.
