Page 103 of Futbolista
I promise.
“Yo, Piña,” Ahmed says, knocking on my open door just as I’m sending my paper to Coolidge. “You’ve, uh … someone’s here for you.”
37
AHMED GIVES ME THISsmirky half smile as he tilts his head toward the stairs, like,¡Corre, puto!And, as I do just that, he pats my back, giving me a “Good luck” as I rush down to the second floor and then the first floor and—
“Hi,” Vale says, standing near the front door with Pérez and Nguyen nearby.
“I—hi.” I force myself to take slow steps toward him, as if they didn’t hear me sprinting and nearly falling down the stairs just now. I give my boys eyes that are telling themI’ve got this from here. And both of them, too, give me a solidarity back pat on their way up, leaving the two of us alone.
I try my best to stay cool. To be prepared for the worst even if I’m hoping for the best. If Vale is only stopping by to give me a solid “No thanks” on us getting back together, I will respect that. I’ve got my boys, my Pops; they’ll all comfort me through the heartbreak.
But every second that goes by with neither of us saying anything is making it harder to remain cool.I’ve got this. I’ll survive. Just let me down easy, Vale.
And every second that goes by in silence has me more and more confident that that’s what’s going to happen. I’m almost sure of it. I—
I start to see a smile growing on Vale’s face. A soft one. Not the sort of beaming smile that first caught me off guard and woke up some feelings that had been asleep and buried deep down inside me for a while. But the kind of smile that is just as good. Just as beautiful. That made me fall so hard for him. It’s warm and cozy and looks like the feeling of holding him. The kind of smile he gives me when we’re lying in bed cuddling.
“So,” he starts. “You think we could have a happily ever after?”
“I … I thinkever afteris a long time. A real long time.” My entire body is buzzing. I want to hold him. Just his hand, even. A finger. I want it so badly I have to remind myself to breathe. And thinking about it—about a few months, half a year, a year, maybe even more than that—my own smile stretches across my face. “But Iknowthat I’m not done being in love with you, Vale. And I could see myself being in love with you for a real long time. I don’t want to rule out happily ever after. If you’re down.”
He takes those couple of steps left between us, slowly raising his hands, letting them wrap around the back of my neck. The tension in my body, from head to toe, all goes away at his touch. As his eyes, beautiful and brown, stare right into mine.
He gives me a small nod.
And he kisses me.
And I kiss him back, my hands landing at his waist. Again and again and again. Enough for him to (hopefully) know how sorry I am. How much I missed him. How much I want him. How ready I am to show him off to the world.
“I could see myself being in love with you for a long time too.”
“And I want to tell you again, I’m sorry. You—you’ve been such a great friend and tutor and boyfriend, and I let you go way too easily. I’m not doing that again. I’m keeping you. No one is taking you away from me again.”
“You promise?”
“With all my heart. My entire heart. I’m going to fight for us. For me. And I—I was actually going to do something really big to hopefully get you back but—”
“I beat you to it?”
“Kinda.”
“What were you going to do?”
“Hadn’t thought it all the way through yet. Boba, for sure, was going to be involved. And, like, maybe get you to show up to the pitch, have flowers waiting for you where you always sat at my games. Lots of flowers, even. And I’d be in the middle of the field holding up a giant Bluetooth speaker that’s playing a really romantic song. Something slow, heartfelt. Had a few options. Maybe a whole playlist.”
“Yeah, that definitely would’ve worked on me.”
“I can still go do it. If you want to give me a few hours, I can go by a couple H-E-B’s, buy out all their flowers. Honestly, everyone was asking—my boys here, our new squad captain, my Pops—and they probably expect me to come back to them with a really epic story about how I earned your forgiveness and—”
Vale laughs, his hand going to my chin, forcing my mouth to stop talking and pay attention to his.
“As long as you really mean it,” he says quietly, his lips close to mine. “That’s all I need. That this time we’re not letting go.”
“I promise. You’re stuck with me, baby. You good with that?”
“I can think of worse things,” he teases.
