Page 3 of What if I Told You

“What girl?”

“You know,” he adds, wiping his face with the hem of his t-shirt, “your friend. That one you facetime every week.”

My brows peak and I nearly spit out my drink when I realize who he’s talking about. “Ella?”

“Yeah. Her. How about her?”

Now I do laugh. “Dude, she lives on the entire other side of the country first of all. Secondly, she’s nowhere near my type and thirdly, if she would’ve heard you just now suggesting that the two of us hook up she would be laughing even harder than me. And she’d probably give you the finger.”

“Oooh. Right up the butt, I hope. Man, I enjoy a girl who likes to get dirty.”

“Fuck off, Ollenberg,” I say to Griffin. Ella and I don’t have to be dating for me to know I don’t like other people talking about her. Or her fingers apparently.

Griffin frowns. “I guess I just assumed you two were in love or you had this secret relationship you didn’t want to tell anyone about.”

Harrison raises his hand but continues to stare out at the field. “Not going to lie, August. I thought that too.”

“Same,” Oliver adds.

“Yep,” Barrett says with a belch.

I shake my head emphatically. “No way, guys. Ella’s just a friend. My very best friend. I’ve told you that. We’ve known each other for…pfft…basically since we could walk. We were neighbors so we hung out a lot as kids. Her parents were kind of hard on her growing up so she spent a lot of time at my house. I guess I was kind of her getaway. Her safe space.” I take another gulp of my beer and swallow it down. “Anyway, if we were going to be an item, that would’ve happened a long fucking time ago. And if we were having a secret relationship, you certainly wouldn’t ever see me fucking other women in a goddamn hotel after a game. Not that you see that, you know, literally. I’m just saying. I would be loyal as fuck to her. She’s too good of a person to be cheated on. I’d fuck up the asshole that ever did that to her.”

Griffin gives me a little side eye and then shakes his head. “So, you two never…?”

I snicker with a shake of my head as well. “Not a chance. Well—” I stop short. “We did kiss once.”

“See? I knew it!” Griffin’s eyes bulge as he points at me. The rest of the guys laugh quietly.

I lift my hands in front of me. “Whoa, slow down. It wasn’t like that, I promise. We were like twelve. Maybe thirteen but not quite in high school yet.”

Griffin twists his mouth. “Oh.”

“Yeah. We agreed to kiss each other, you know, be each other’s first, so we could both learn what it felt like, and it was terrible. And by that I mean we were both terrible at it. First it was this tiny peck on the lips and then we didn’t know what to do with our tongues so let’s just say it was a gross wet mess that tasted like Swedish fish and sour cream and onion Pringles.”

“Oh, my God.” Ledger snorts. “Okay, that’s funny shit.”

“Yeah we both laughed about it after the fact and promised never to tell anyone and certainly never to try it again. So don’t tell her I told you anything.”

Griffin crosses his heart with his fingers. “Cross my heart.”

I don’t miss Ledger and Oliver crossing their fingers and giving each other a high five. I roll my eyes, frustrated with myself for breaking my own rule. Never tell the guys anything you don’t want coming back to bite you. That little tidbit I just dropped is definitely going to bite me in the ass one day.

“Anyway, we watched each other date lots of,” I shake my head, “wrong people over the years. We’ve always had, and still have to this day, one of those relationships where I can tell her anything, you know? And I know she doesn’t judge me for it because she knows me and I know her. And I’ve always reciprocated that for her. She tells me all sorts of random shit whether I need to know it or not.”

“What does she do?” Harrison asks.

Griffin tilts his head. “Isn’t she like, a professional cheerleader or something?”

“No. She’s a cheerleading coach back where we went to college.”

“And how would you feel if she lived out here?” Barrett asks from the end of the row. Seriously, I didn’t think he was paying attention to this conversation.

How would I feel?

Elated.

Happy as fuck.

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