Page 47 of Dared

“You got pizza?” He stared down into the open box, his eyes wide and so fucking green.

“Yeah. I knew you wanted it, so I ordered from the place that does pizza and chicken. See, I can compromise?—”

He launched himself at me, and I automatically wrapped my arms around him, holding him in place.

“Best, best friend,” he mumbled into my throat, and I grinned. When he lifted his head, I pressed a quick kiss to his nose, right over his smattering of freckles, and then handed him a plate.

“Help yourself before it gets cold.”

With a bright smile, he did.

19

“This is…busy.” I eyed the crowds, automatically hunching in on myself, making myself smaller.

“Babe.” Niccolò tucked his arm through mine, giving me a bright smile. “It’s gonna be okay. Anyway, we need you here today. You’re our resident football expert.”

“I’m not an expert. I watch it on TV sometimes…and live, now, I guess,” I mused as I kept my gaze fixed on Noah’s back, following him and Elliot through the tiered stands to our seats. Charlie had been the one to invite me—via Finn—but he hadn’t been able to make it in the end. I was saved from the stress of potentially letting Finn down rather than showing up alone when Niccolò had texted me to check if I was coming. Maybe “check” wasn’t the right word since he’d basically told me I was coming with him. He’d taken charge, sorting everything out, andall I’d had to do was wait outside my block of flats this morning at the specified time.

Now, here we were.

“You and Elliot are the ones who know about football,” Niccolò proclaimed. “You’re way more of an expert than me and Noah.”

“No, I don’t think I am.”

“You are.” He gently tugged on my arm, and I realised we’d come to a stop. As we settled onto the hard plastic seats, Nic gave me another bright smile, and I realised at once what he’d been trying to do. Distractme, and he’d managed it successfully, too.

Thanks, I mouthed, and he nodded, bouncing in his seat happily.

“Hey, Leo.”

I spun to face Noah. “Y-yeah?”

“Are you coming back to ours afterwards?Mario Kartrematch?”

“Me?” I stared at him. Why would he want me there? We didn’t even know each other, and there was nothing interesting about me.

“Yeah. You’re the only one who can give me a run for my money. I don’t feel challenged playing any of the others.” He smirked, and I couldn’t help laughing. “Finn will want you there, anyway. If you’re not there, he’ll be texting you or talking about you, so you should just come and put him out of his misery.”

My face warmed, and I shifted in my seat. “Um…”

“How is this my life?” Noah shook his head, changing the subject as if he realised I was uncomfortable. “Living with footballers, a footballer boyfriend, planning events for footballers and their—” At my sudden intake of breath, he paused. “Uh, their friends and whatever.”

“You brought it on yourself when you started dating Liam,” Elliot said from his other side.

“Yeah. I guess he’s worth it, though.” Noah sighed dramatically, then grinned. “It just hits me sometimes that this would have been my worst nightmare come true last year. It’s weird how things work out.”

In my head, I could hear Finn saying,What about a dare? I dare you to speak to one person, like he had when we’d been in the student union together and he’d been trying to give me flirting pointers. “O-oh? Why was it a nightmare?” I could do this. I could make conversation with someone.

“It’s a long story, but I’ll give you the highlights. When I was at school, there were some asshole footballers who made my life a misery…”

As he spoke, I found myself responding automatically, interjecting with comments and questions like we were having an actual conversation. Wewerehaving an actual conversation. And this confident guy had been through some of the same stuff I’d been through, too. Not bullied or teased for his shyness but singled out for being different. Somehow, knowing that gave me the confidence to speak to him like I would with my other friends.

My mind flashed back to my school days. Days I didn’t like to think about. If I was completely honest with myself, though, I had changed. I’d come a long way since then, and I was doing better now, even if it didn’t feel like it a lot of the time.

Our conversation came to a natural end when the teams came out, Nic pulling me to my feet with a strength that belied his size, clapping and cheering for the LSU team. The players knew the section we were seated in, and when my gaze found Finn’s, he was already looking at me. When our eyes met, he gave me a huge, beaming smile, and I smiled back, suddenly shy. Okay, I was always shy, but the way he was looking at me, like he was just so happy to see me there…

Fuck. I should’ve come to one of his matches before this, shouldn’t I? Even if it scared me. That was what best friends did. They supported each other. From now on, I was going to make it a priority to come to as many of his games as I could. Maybe I should bring Ed with me, too. I knew he’d been wanting to come and watch Finn play.

---