He gave me a small smile in return, continuing the gentle strokes. A look of confusion appeared on his face as his eyes started to wander up the sleeve of my arm.
‘What’s wrong?’
He shook his head. ‘Nothing. Just that … is that my jacket?’ His eyes were laser-focused on my outerwear.
A blush rose to my cheeks at his question.I definitely had not thought this through.
‘Yeah,’ I answered sheepishly, my eyes darting everywhere that wasn’t his face. ‘I forgot I still have it with me. I’ll give it back once I—’
‘Keep it.’
My eyes snapped up to his. ‘What?’
‘Keep it,’ he repeated, his voice just as confident. ‘I like seeing you wear it.’
I was pretty sure my cheeks couldn’t get any more scarlet than they were right then. ‘Are you sure?’
‘100 per cent,’ he reassured me. ‘Plus, we’re getting new ones for the new season. And I don’t need two jackets,’ he then added, his tone light. But I knew what he was trying to say, even if he wasn’t saying it out loud.
‘Well, thank you,’ I answered, grateful for his unexpected gift. ‘It is really comfortable though.’
He let out a small laugh. ‘I’m glad it is.’
‘Yo, Colton!’
Both of our heads turned to the sound of the voice, seeing Miles coming toward us. When his eyes landed on me, he gave me a nod of acknowledgment. ‘Ah, Clara. Good to see you.’
‘It’s good to see you too, Miles,’ I said, mimicking his nod. ‘Congratulations on winning by the way.’
‘Thanks. It’s all thanks to this one hitting that homerun and giving us a lead,’ he said, while nudging his arm at Colton’s side. ‘Anyway, just want to let you know that we were about to leave. Are you coming to the party?’ Miles asked, his attention on me.
‘Umm, probably not,’ I replied. ‘One social event is enough for me today.’
‘You’re not coming?’
My head turned towards Colton at his question, a disappointed look on his face at the indication that I wasn’t going later.
‘I’ll give you two a minute.’ I heard Miles say, before he walked away to give us some space.
My eyes followed him as he left, and once I was confident he was out of earshot, I turned my head back to Colton. ‘I’m sorry.’
‘Don’t be,’ he said softly. ‘I mean, you don’t have to come if you don’t want to. It’s just …’ His voice trailed off near the end.
I scrunched my eyebrows at him. ‘It’s just what?’
‘I wanted to spend time with you,’ he admitted, his voice nervous. ‘I don’t know … I miss talking to you, so I thought we could hang out for a bit.’
There it was again, that squeeze in my heart that seemed to only happen with Colton.
‘I would love to hang out with you too,’ I told him truthfully. ‘I just would rather not do it while I’m in a place with a hundred different people tonight.’
Colton was quiet for a moment, his eyes narrowed as if he was mulling over something.
‘But if you want me to go—’ I started.
Colton was quick to cut me off. ‘Then, we don’t have to go to the party, we can go somewhere else. Just be with me tonight. What do you say?’
Yes. Yes. Yes.