Page 52 of Matched Up

I sat down at one of the tables and Hunter sat down beside me.

‘Still not going to V-Ball?’he asked, raising his eyebrows.

I hesitated.I hadn’t thought this through.‘I don’t think so.’

‘Oh, you don’tthinkso?So there’s doubt?’He grinned and for the first time I realized that Hunter had a really nice smile.One of those contagious ones that I had to actively try not to smile back at.

‘What I really meant was, no, I’m not going,’ I said, surprised at how easily the lie came out.I’d deal with that later.

‘Oh,’ he said, looking disappointed.

‘Well, seeing that my number-one choice is bailing, I might ask Zoe,’ he said, scanning my face like he was waiting for my reaction.

‘That’s a really great idea, she’s gorgeous,’ I said.

I saw a flicker of disappointment in his eyes before he stood up.I really hoped Zoe would say yes to Hunter, unless she’d found someone else to go with after Shane had said no.

‘Yeah, she’s cool.We’d better go – the bell’s about to ring.’He held out his hand for me to stand up.

I laughed and took it, then he spun me round like we were dancing.

I tried to move away.‘Hunter, what the hell?’

‘Just getting my dance now.’He pulled me into him, so we were centimetres apart.

I was rigid and he must have felt it.I don’t know what he was hoping for here.A kiss?I tried to make my face neutral so my reluctance to be this close to him wouldn’t be so totally obvious.

‘Oh look, there’s Zoe,’ I said, delighted that she’d walked in.‘Hey, Zoe!’I called and escaped from him.‘There you go, Hunter, now’s your chance.’I winked at him and walked towards the door.

‘You two were looking pretty cosy,’ Zoe said, her eyes flicking from me to Hunter.Her tone frostier than usual.

‘He’s all yours,’ I said.

As I left, I wondered if she was pissed off that I was starting in the match instead of her.Maybe she didn’t even know about it.The decision had seemed kind of last minute.

At home I ate pasta, I did stretches, I drank water.I needed to be focused.

I sent a message to Shane before I left.

ME: Wish me luck x

But there was no reply.Nothing.And I didn’t have time to sit and watch my phone.We had to leave.

‘Alexandra, you ready?’Dad jingled his keys.

‘Always ready.’I smiled, knowing by the fact Dad hadn’t called for Niall that he wasn’t coming, and my stomach sank with disappointment.Yeah, he was upset about Megan, but this was the biggest thing that had ever happened to me.I’d thought that maybe he’d want to be there.

‘Just us?’I asked.

Dad smiled.‘Just us.’

I was one of the first ones there.I jogged on to the pitch to stand beside Sadie.

She looked me dead in the eyes.‘Hi, Lexie.You ready?’

I forced Shane and Niall and everything else out of my head.‘Yes.’

I scanned the pitch.Floodlights, frozen breath, the sound of warm-up footballs being smashed into nets.This was it.Thiswas what I’d been training for.Thefirstteam.

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