Page 75 of Not Catching Love

I climb out, feeling like I might vomit, and follow him across the park to where a whole bunch of really tall guys are standing. Some of them are still in shape like Derek, others have dad bods or scrawny legs, and one of them has a cuddly belly spilling over his gym shorts.

And all of them are happy to see him.

I step slightly behind Derek, hoping they won’t pay me any attention, until one says, “Hey, this must be Xander?”

I glance up at a Black guy with perfect teeth and a fade hairstyle. “Umm, hi.”

“Derek willnotshut up about you. It’s embarrassing. He’s an embarrassment.”

My eyes cut to Derek, and my brain abandons me on what to say. How do I act around these giants? How do I guarantee that they like me and don’t pull him aside and tell him to ditch the loser?

I remember how jocks treated me in high school. I remember how they’d look at the scrawny kid with dyed hair and whisper slurs behind my back.

Derek steps closer, and his proximity is enough to remind me that whatever it was like back then, Derek would never let his friends be cruel. “I tell him he’s an embarrassment frequently,” I say, quieter than I want to, but the man laughs.

“I’m Manny. That’s Cherry, Dongo, Flipper, and Tim.”

“Tim doesn’t get a nickname?”

“Who says the others do?”

The teasing helps release some of the anxiousness throttling me. “Poor them if they don’t.”

“Hey,” protests the guy with the big belly. “I can’t help that my mom thought Flipper was a good idea.”

Flipper?Flipper? Before I can tell him that’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard and remind him that he can legally change his own name, Derek tilts his head by my ear. “Don’t believe a word that comes out of his mouth. He’ll tell you that he saw aliens land in his backyard and kidnap his dog with a straight face.”

“That really happened,” Flipper insists, tossing a ball Derek’s way.

“And your name is really Pat.” Derek throws the ball back, harder. “Stop trying to scare off my friend.”

“But then how else will we know he’s good enough for you?” Dad-bod Dongo asks.

“You trust me when I say that he is.”

It’s like my heart gets little wings as Derek and his friends head toward a bigger group further across the field.

Manny nudges me with his elbow as he passes. “Nice sweater. Now, I could be wrong, but I swear I’ve seen it before …”

My cheeks heat because I’m not sure if Derek wanted people to know or not. That said, it’s from high school—surely Derek knew these guys would recognize it.

I scramble for an excuse, trying not to give myself away. “I was cold.”

“Makes sense. I always have my JV sweater on the back seat, waiting for the day someone is cold at the start of summer.”

“Stop calling me on my shit. It isn’t cute.”

Manny laughs. “Hannah steals my clothes all the time too.”

“I have no idea what you’re implying.”

“Just … go easy on him. Derek hasn’t dated in a really long time, and I was worried about him there for a bit. Got real down about … I dunno. Something. Kind of lost himself for the last year or two. Just be good to him.”

I’m uncomfortably aware that I might have been the reason for the last few years. “I don’t know how to be good to anyone.”

Manny pulls me into step with him. “Clearly, Derek disagrees. My man doesn’t date just anybody.”

“We’re not dating.”

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