Page 87 of Holding On

"I still work out. I train my upper body for an hour or two a day."

"Two hours? Wow. No wonder you look like that."

"Like what?" I shoot her a smile.

"Like, I don't know, muscular. I assumed you had to work out a lot to have abs like that."

"You were checking out my abs?"

"It's kind of hard not to. You don't see abs like that every day." A tinge of pink appears on her cheeks. Is she embarrassed to give me a compliment or embarrassed that she admitted to checking me out? Either way, she doesn't need to be embarrassed. I like that she noticed. At least someone appreciates all my effort.

"Here's your change." The guy who brought our food is back, standing by Becca with a stack of bills.

She takes them and hands them to me.

"It's yours," I tell her.

"Ethan, I'm not—"

"Ethan Baxter?" the guy at the window says. He ducks his head down to look inside the van. "I thought that was you. How you been, man?"

"Good." I give him a nod and go back to eating my food.

"How's the leg?" He rests his arms on Becca's door. "You think you'll be able to play this season?"

This is why I don't leave the house. I'm here less than ten minutes and already have people bothering me.

Becca intervenes. "We're on a date so..." She attempts to roll up her window.

The guy backs away. "Oh. Sorry." He leans down and gives me a wave. "Hope to see you on the field."

"Yeah." I give him a wave back as Becca rolls up her window.

"Do you want to leave?" she asks.

"No. I'm fine."

She turns to me. "I see what you mean. You get a lot of attention."

"Happens wherever I go. This town isn't big enough for me to blend in, and everyone here is a football fan."

"I'm not." She sips her malt.

"You're not?" I grab a napkin from the stack Becca put on the dashboard.

"Nope. I don't know anything about football. Well, I know a little because Mike's a big football fan but I really have no interest in it."

"And yet you're dating a guy who may end up playing pro ball someday."

She shrugs. "That's not why I'm dating you."

"So why are you dating me?"

"Same reason you're dating me. Because you're hot and fun to hang out with."

I smile. "Did you just compliment yourself?"

"I'm just stating a fact."

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