Page 164 of Can't Always Get What You Want

My stomach does an actual somersault.

Running.

He’srunning to me!How romantic.

Swoon!

Everyone cheers.

I jump to my feet, smoothing Luca’s jersey down, trying to finger-comb my hair and wondering if it’s possible to look cute while being emotionally feral and lightly damp with anxiety.

The prison door slams open.

Panting. Wild-eyed. Clothes pulled on haphazardly like he pulled his gear off mid-sprint simply because he’s required to return it to the laundress for washing.

Luca is flushed, bleeding from his nose, chest rising and falling like he’s either about to pass out—or propose.

I rise.

The holding cellerupts.

“Oh my gawd,” Hailey breathes, clutching my arm. “He’seven hotter in person.” She fans herself with an empty granola wrapper.

The security guard tries—and fails—to keep a straight face as Luca storms up to the bars like a man on a mission.

“I’m so sorry but can I just say—I’m your biggest fan,” she gushes, smoothing her hands down the front of her beige uniform to look professional while gushing. “My nephew made me memorize your stats. And that goal you scored in Chicago? I cried. Like,actuallycried.”

Luca blinks at the beaming officer, clearly not expecting to be emotionally tackled by a stadium employee while bleeding from the face.

“Uh—thank you?” He was clearly not expecting accolades in the stadium prison. “Thanks!”

The drunk guy in the corner hiccups. “Is it weird if I ask for a selfie?”

“Yes!” we all say in unison.

The guard sighs, dreamily. “You’re socommitted.Running all the way down here in skates like it’s a Nicholas Sparks film.”

I mean.

Not really?

“Can I remind you all that the reason he’s here is because I made an ass of myself in front of the entire stadium full of people?” I hate to point this out, but I’m trying to keep everyone on task.

“Can I remind you that before you made an ass of yourself, I was making an ass out of myself? I played like shit.”

Hmm.He has a point.

I tilt my head at him. “Are you saying your terrible performance wasmyfault?”

He scoffs. “I’m saying you’re a monster who lives rent-free in my head and it’s impossible to skate when all I can think about is whether or not you hate me.”

Hailey lets out an audible sob.

Mascot fighter clutches his chest like he’s having heart palpitations, entering the conversation. “Bro.”

The guard sighs again, this time misty-eyed. “You two are, like… my new Roman Empire.”

“She hijacked an entire stadium event and screamed ‘I love you’ in front of twenty thousand people like it wasHockey: The Musical.”

---