Page 2 of Echoes of Us

“You said one drink,” I whined.

“God, you’re such a big baby. Just drink the beer,” he complained.

I took another sip. I glanced back towards Colin, hoping he would keep his one-drink promise, and choked on it.

Wow.

“Are you okay?” Ezra asked me.

I turned towards him and gestured vaguely. I managed to work my throat around the drink and coughed a couple of times while he patted my back.

“I’m fine,” I said, not feeling fine at all.

Colin was still talking to the guy he had called out to, and he was just…wow. I had never felt so viscerally attracted to a person I had just seen, not like this. From the way he stood with his hands half-tucked into the pockets of his jeans to the smile he gave Colin, he just looked perfect. He was shorter than me. His dark brown hair stood messily over his head, giving him that just-out-of-bed tousled look. He licked his lips before he broke into a wide grin at Colin’s words. God, he had a great smile too. His dark brows were thick over his eyes in the most attractive way possible, curving at just the right angle. The stubble over his jaw was light but enough to make it look sharp. I couldn’t distinguish the color of his eyes from this distance, but I could see a beauty mark over his cheekbone.

“Hey, are you there?” Ezra asked with a laugh, making me turn back to him.

I tilted my head absently. How long had I been staring at him?

“What were you looking at?Whowere you looking at?” he asked, the humor evident in his voice.

I panicked. I hadn’t shared this tidbit of my personality with them. It hadn’t come up, and it wasn’t like I could just claim that I was gay in the middle of practice and carry on with business as usual. He sneaked a peek at Colin and then at me.

“No one,” I tried, but he frowned.

His eyes drifted back to Colin, and then his eyebrows shot up. I started shaking my head.

“Holy fuck, Att, I had no fucking clue,” he said with a grin.

“It’s not—” I started to argue, feeling my heart in my throat.

“It’s not? You’re literally drooling looking at that guy,” he said, moving a little closer and keeping his voice low.

I pressed my lips together. “I wasn’t—” I tried again.

“Att, it’s fine. I just figured you were like an asexual volleyball-obsessed guy, but this is fine too. You can be a guy’s guy. There’s nothing wrong with that,” he went on.

I closed my eyes, trying to push the embarrassment back. Why the hell did I have to stare? He was never going to let this go now.

“I won’t tell anybody if you don’t want me to, but it’s fine, really, it’s fine,” he insisted. He was too excited about this.

I sighed. “Don’t fucking tell,” I said.

He let out a little yelp of excitement. “I won’t. I swear I won’t. Oh, fuck, they’re coming over. You got this, okay? Don’t freak out, I’ll help,” he said quickly.

I started panicking again.

I turned and saw them both walking towards us. Shit. I grabbed my cup and took another big gulp, grimacing at the taste once more.

“These are a couple of guys from the team,” Colin said, and his friend looked at us. His eyes were green. “Ezra is in my year, and Atticus is a freshman.”

He shook Ezra’s hand. My chest tightened as he extended his hand towards me, his green eyes looking curiously up at me.

“This is Noah. He used to be on my team in high school.”

Noah.

I grabbed his hand and tried not to look completely overwhelmed. He had a firm grasp, and his hand was warm but not clammy.

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