Page 26 of What if I Told You

Stay there. I’m leaving my agent’s office now. I’ll come to get you.

Me

My hero

“So,then she said to me, ‘Ella, I’m not going to beat around the bush anymore. Your experience on paper and your energy just sitting here chatting with you make you perfect for this job so before we let you walk out that door today, we would like to offer you the position’.”

Auggie shakes his head, swallowing a bite of his meatball sub. He offers me a high five but when I reach my hand to his, he clasps his fingers with mine joining our hands. “Fuckin’ right they did! I had no doubt you would knock ’em dead in there today. Congratulations, babe. Seriously, I knew this would be the perfect opportunity for you.”

I’m all smiles watching how happy my best friend is for me. “And they said they’re making me a new suit because the one they had me try on was a little big on me. I worried for a minute that maybe I wasn’t tall enough for the job given the suit but they said they’ve been wanting to give Lumin an upgrade and now is their chance. And I actually got to have a little input on the new design!”

“Lumin. What’s Lumin?”

“Oh! Lumin is the name of the new mascot! They said they wanted to change it since Astro is retiring. Just wait till you see her, Auggie!” I clap my hands excitedly. “She’s going to be so cute when she’s finished and I’m super pumped to get to debut her.”

He sits back against the booth where we’re seated in the diner watching me in awe. “I can’t believe you’re going to be our new shooting star. I mean I totally believe it, but like, God, you’re here.” He beams and a sudden wave of warmth rushes through my chest. “You’re really fucking here and you’re staying. You’ll be at every one of my games. We’ll be doing all this together.”

Strangely, I’m flattered by his excitement.

“Just like we dreamed when we were kids, huh?” I scrunch my nose as I smile, remembering the days and nights of our childhood spent lying under the tree in my backyard dreaming of what life would be like as adults. August always knew he wanted to play hockey but I never aspired to be a professional sports team mascot. I thought I would be a teacher or nurse or, thanks to August, maybe some sort of sports announcer. After all, I had been to every one of his games growing up. I knew all his stats. I probably knew his strengths and weaknesses better than he did. I was his biggest cheerleader, even more so than his parents. I loved watching him excel at something he loved doing. I never expected I would grow up and actually get the opportunity to cheer him on and get paid to do it.

He looks at me like he’s photographing me with his eyes and with an affection I’ve never seen before. It’s enough to cause butterflies to flutter through my stomach, which is weird because I don’t get butterflies around Auggie. Not since early high school anyway.

“What are you thinking about over there?” I ask him when the silence between us becomes a little too close to awkward.

He swallows with a tiny shake of his head and with a smile tells me, “The guys are going to love you.”

“I can’t wait to meet them. I can’t believe you haven’t taken me to Griffin’s apartment yet. Didn’t you say a lot of you live in the same complex?”

He nods. “Yeah but fuck them. If I’m going to be forced to share you throughout the season, I want to keep you to myself for as long as I can.”

“Share me?” I giggle. “Sounds like kinky fun. Where do I sign up for that?”

Auggie’s smile fades and his face turns red. “Not at all what I meant, babe.”

“Relax, I’m just kidding with you.” I pass him a wink even though I haven’t forgotten the conversation we had about my ability to have a life inside or outside his apartment. “I think it’s sweet you don’t want to share me. I’ve missed you so damn much, so I’ll take all the Auggie time I can get.”

“Good, can we go home now? Because I kind of want to be able to chill with you before life gets hectic again.”

I wipe my mouth with my napkin and take one last sip from my drink. “Absolutely. I paid with the QR code so we’re good to go,” I tell him, slipping a twenty from my wallet as a tip for the table.

“Don’t worry about it. I’ve got the tip,” Auggie says, pulling cash from his wallet and laying it on the table between us. My jaw falls open when I see he’s laid down a one-hundred-dollar bill.

“Auggie are you insane? That’s one hundred dollars!”

That could feed me for a month!

He eyes me under his ballcap and gives me a slight shake of his head. “No, I’m not insane. I’m a professional athlete eating in a very public diner. People know who I am.”

I shrug. “Okay. So? Our bill was only?—”

“Doesn’t matter what the bill is,” he adds. “I can’t be known around town as the pro hockey player who only tips twenty percent.”

“Twenty percent?” I scoff. “I’ll have you know that twenty-dollar bill was a forty percent tip.”

“And now it’s a four-hundred percent tip.” He eyes me as he stands from the booth waiting for me. “And it’s no big deal. It’s just money and it’ll make the waitress’s day. Besides, who else am I going to spend it on? Come on. Let’s go home.”

Taking my hand in his, I follow him out as he waves to a few customers who recognize him.

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