Page 74 of The Playbook

She winked as Noah came up.

“What’s the deal? What’s the plan for the after show?”

“Party at Dax’s,” Lana said. “You going?”

Noah wrinkled his nose. “Not so much. Garrett and I were thinking about video games at his place if you two want to come.”

“I’d rather admit that drums are better than flutes than playing video games tonight.” Lana raised her eyebrows at Noah who clutched his chest in mock pain.

“Oh, you’ve wounded me. How will I ever survive?”

She snorted at him.

“You in, Grace? We can break blocks and shit if you want. Finish that city we worked on over the summer.”

I shook my head at him. “Not tonight. I think I’m just going to go home and read a good book. It’s been a while.”

“Ah, ever the damn party pooper. Well, you know where to find us if you change your mind.”

I didn’t get to answer him because Mr. Brown signaled for us to line up. I hustled over to my kit and quickly strapped it on and adjusted my uniform. Playing for games pumped me up. And if I were being honest, I was even more excited now that Logan and I were a thing. Watching him play was mesmerizing. I hadn’t paid all that much attention to him before the two of us started hanging out, but now I had a hard time keeping my eyes off him.

I didn’t tell him that though. He’d never let me live it down.

I joined the rest of the band outside, getting into formation and tapping my drums with the rest of the line. Soon, we began moving toward the football field.

People in the crowd turned their heads as we approached. Once we were settled in the stands, the cheerleaders took their positions on an end of the football field to welcome our team through the tunnel.

I scanned the crowd, which seemed larger than usual. With homecoming fast approaching and the team doing so well, it made sense more people were coming to games.

The football team emerged, and the crowd went wild. We played the school’s fight song as they rushed through the tunnel onto the field. I stared as Logan ran onto the field last. His eyes scanned the band before he found what he was looking for.

Me.

He blew me a kiss, making heads swivel in my general direction.

Including my father. I didn’t miss the look on his face either.

I swallowed my nerves and kept playing. Sooner or later, Dad was going to find out. I supposed I wanted it to be later considering Logan and I had made a deal about no one knowing.

Maybe no one would think anything of it. Everyone knew Logan was a jokester. A few girls in the crowd giggled and waved back, probably thinking he was blowing them a kiss.

And in that moment, I was OK with that because my father’s gaze darted to them, and he shook his head before focusing back on the team.

He said I could date. I was eighteen, after all. But the possibility disappointing him still hung heavily over my head.

I’d have to work on that.

CHAPTER36

Logan

After an amazing pass, we had another win under our belts, and I was one step closer to getting the fuck off the field so I could get to Gracie.

I’d watched her whenever I’d gotten the chance. I hadn’t been able to convince her to wear my jersey to school today, but I’d promised myself that I’d get her to wear it tonight because I had plans for us after the game.

“Walker, where are you going?” Dax shouted at my back as I booked it out of the locker room a few minutes later. “Your ass better be at my party, man!”

I ignored him and kept going, my heart pounding a mile a minute. He cursed as Ryan called out goodbye to me. He knew what I was doing. I’d told him earlier that I had plans involving my girlfriend. He’d only grinned and bumped knuckles with me. I knew he had something going on with Lana and was planning on making it official at the party.

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