Page 27 of Matched Up

‘Why’d you move to Westing FC?’

‘Better club,’ he said.

‘Yeah, but why now and not when you were, like, six?’I asked, genuinely curious, because usually if you’re really into football, you start young, and if you’re as good as he was, you go to the good clubs.

‘I really liked it at Ferndale,’ he said, closer again.

And then we were sitting on the fountain, legs touching, freezing water splashing the exposed skin on my back.

‘I watched you train the first night I got there.’His breath twisted into smoke beside me.

‘Oh God.’I thought about the faces I pulled when I was concentrating, the sweat, the things I said when someone tackled me.

‘You look so hot when you play,’ he said.

I relaxed, unable to hide the smile that came so pathetically easily with him.‘Oh yeah?Why is that?’I asked, fishing.I let my hand rest on his leg.

‘I liked your wee shorts,’ he replied.

I laughed.‘My shorts?’

‘And I liked how angry you got when your coach gave the other side a corner.Passion.I like that.’He smiled, closer to me again.

‘Itwasn’ta corner.’I tried to sound serious, but I was still smiling.

‘It was.’Even closer.

‘What else did you like?’I whispered into the disappearing space between us.

But I didn’t hear his answer because we were kissing again, and my body was aching for him, in a way I’d never felt before, in a way I’d only read about in books or seen in movies.And it waseverything.

But we were interrupted by a buzzing phone.

He pulled away, then stood up and slid it out from his pocket, walking a few metres down the path to have his conversation somewhere I couldn’t hear.

Except I could.

‘Hello …?I’m just at practice, coach kept me late … Won’t be long.’He put the phone back in his pocket.

‘Everything OK?’I asked, thinking he might explain the lie.

And I half expected him to assure me it was nothing.

But he didn’t.

‘I have to go,’ he said.

‘Oh, OK.’I didn’t know what else to say.

‘Can I have your number?’

‘Sure.’I took out my phone to see messages from Megan.I swiped them away and handed it to him, and he typed in his number, then I phoned him.

I stood up from the fountain, really feeling the cold now for the first time that night.

‘See you at the club tomorrow morning?’

‘How could I forget!’I said, the disappointment of him leaving diluted.

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