Page 69 of Matched

“Gage, one of the business school lecturers, and Stuart, who’s the head of the entire business school.”

“I guess they came with Killian, or for support, maybe? I guess they all have students playing in the match, don’t they? I’ve seen other lecturers here too.”

Elliot relaxed at my words. “You’re right. Nothing weird about it.” He gave me a wry smile. “Nothing, other than the fact that they’re my lecturers and I’m not used to seeing them in this kind of environment.”

“Probably no weirder than our housemate dating your lecturer,” I pointed out. “You’ve seen him in different environments.”

Elliot shuddered. “Don’t remind me. Oh! Cole! Huxley!” he suddenly called, his attention diverted by two guys making their way along our row, one with dark hair and the other bleached blond.

“That’s your cousin, yeah?”

Elliot nodded. “My cousin and his boyfriend, Huxley. Hux is in a band.”

“I remember. The 2Bit Princes, isn’t it? You dated their drummer at one point, didn’t you?”

“Um…let’s pretend that never happened.”

“What never happened?” I gave him my best clueless look, batting my lashes, and he laughed before turning his attention to the newcomers.

Moving aside so Elliot could greet them, I found myself right on the end of the row, with the stairs on one side and Leo on my other. Leo was quietly engrossed in some kind of game on his phone, and rather than disturb him, I decided to stretch my legs, heading up the concrete steps to the top of our section. I lifted my hand in a wave when I saw Jonas sliding into a seat a couple of rows behind mine, along with another guy and two girls, but I continued on until I reached the top of the stairs.

From my new, higher vantage point, I looked out over the pitch, taking in the stands across from mine. HomePark, Plymouth Argyle FC’s stadium, had a capacity of around eighteen thousand people. Even though there were only a fraction of that number here, the atmosphere was electric. It wasn’t just students and staff from the two respective universities, either. Friends, family, and wider acquaintances were all filtering into the stands, every one of them here to enjoy what would hopefully be a great game of football.

Part of me wished I could be out there on the pitch as part of the team, and another part of me was happy to be here, close to the pitch with my fellow supporters, cheering on the players I’d trained with. The players I’d come to know in those few weeks, and those I already knew. My friends, my housemates, and my…whatever Nate was.Mine.

“Hi, Charlie.”

I turned to see Sophie standing against the wall, giving me a shy, tentative smile. She was wearing an LSU football shirt in the home colours and a small leather bag hooked over her shoulder, holding a pint of what looked like cider in one hand and a bottle of water in the other.

“Hi.”

“Listen, I’ve been meaning to speak to you for a while. I wanted to apologise if I made anything awkward between us. I—I don’t know. I felt like there was a bit of a weird atmosphere for a while, and you were purposely avoiding me whenever we ended up in the same place.”

That was true, but not for the reasons she thought. Fuck, there I went feeling bad again. “I was avoiding you a bit,” I admitted. “It wasn’t your fault, though. You don’t have anything to apologise for. It’s all me.”

She blew out a shaky breath. “Okay. Um. Thanks. I want you to know that I don’t fancy you.” As soon as the words came out, she looked horrified, and she threw up her arm, attempting tocover her face with her water bottle. “Bloody hell, I can’t believe I just said that. I meant to word it in a completely different way.”

I couldn’t help smiling. “It’s always so flattering when people tell you they don’t fancy you,” I teased gently.

Lowering her hand, she grimaced at me. Her face was red, but she held my gaze, her lips curving upwards. “Does that happen a lot?”

“Funnily enough, no.”

We both laughed, and although it was still a little awkward, it felt good. Good to be able to talk with her more normally, to move past everything and maybe even become proper friends.

“Do you miss training with the team?” she asked, her gaze going to where some of the Plymouth Uni players were warming up on the sidelines.

“Yeah. It was good, and I wish I could’ve trained with them for longer, but I’m okay. It is what it is, and I don’t mind working. Both my jobs are decent, and the pay isn’t bad. As long as I get to scratch the itch sometimes with the occasional kickaround, I’m all good.”

“I know what you mean. I miss training with my old team sometimes, but I get my fix watching my brother and the other guys. Did you know Nate wanted to be a professional footballer at one point? That was all he talked about as a kid. Funny how things change, isn’t it?” Now we’d passed the initial awkwardness, Sophie was animated, properly smiling and gesturing with her water bottle as she spoke easily about her brother. I soaked it all up like a sponge.

“Now he’s gonna be a successful architect.”

“Yeah.” She studied me, her brows pulling together. “Are you two friends? Real friends?”

“Yeah…we’re friends. We, uh, got to know each other around the time I started training with the team,” I said cautiously, notwanting to lie to her, but I couldn’t tell her the full truth. Not without having spoken to Nate first.

“That makes sense. I guess he hasn’t spoken to me about you because of…well, you know, everything that happened with us.”

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