Page 23 of You Belong With Me

I looked warily as I took a sip and realized that her assessment was exactly correct. On the hot matter, that was—it was boiling, and I was pretty sure I burned my tongue.

“It is so hot that I can’t taste it,” I said through amouthful that I could barely swallow, worried it was going to absolutely eviscerate my throat.

“Oh no, that’s just because it never tastes right,” she said dismissively. She took a sip of her own, made a scrunched-up face, and said, “Okay, yeah, I got the cold one.”

“What do you mean it doesn’t taste right?” I asked. I took off the lid to blow on the drink as we started walking back to the game, hoping it might cool down enough to be drinkable soon. At least even holding it in my hand was enough to warm me up a little.

“They always get those cheap packets of hot chocolate—you know the ones that are like less than a dollar and you need like three of them for it to actually taste like chocolate? But they never buy enough, so they only give each person like half a pack, so it always ends up being water with a hint of chocolate in it.” She smiled and took another sip, then made a humming sound. “But isn’t it delicious?”

Deliciouswas one word for it, but as I took another sip, I realized that it was actually growing on me a little.

“Where are we going?” I asked Ainsley as she walked straight past the stairs up to our spot again.

She gestured toward the field with her head, since she had popcorn in one hand and what could only loosely be described as hot chocolate in the other. “We’re making a quick stop.”

She continued on immediately, leaving me no time to decide whether I wanted to follow or not. I looked at the stairs longingly, just wanting to go back up to our spot and not risk getting in trouble for going somewhere I wasn’t supposed to be, which I was sure was what Ainsley wasdoing. But how could I leave her alone? Plus, if I went up to the spot, I’d have to sit alone with Imogen, who I wasn’t convinced liked me. I sighed and followed Ainsley.

She hadn’t gotten far ahead, so I caught up with her quickly as she walked along the blue track that divided the bleachers from the field. We crossed in front of the cheerleaders’ bench, which was empty since the girls were currently performing on the field to the people who hung around during half-time.

“Are we supposed to be over here?” I asked. I followed behind her as closely as I could without walking straight into her. She was clearly in her element right now, but I was terrified of getting called out for being somewhere I wasn’t supposed to be.

“Don’t worry, I do it all the time.” We finally came to a stop as we reached the soccer bench where the team was sitting, drinking water and catching their breath. I was sure they were going to get mad at us for showing up, but to my surprise, one of the boys yelled Ainsley’s name and cheered. She blushed and ducked her head a little, but laughed.“Hey guys. Is Sebastian here?”

“Right here.” Sebastian appeared from an opening in the bleachers just behind the guys and came jogging over to us. In a move that was clearly rehearsed, Ainsley held out her hot chocolate and let him take a swig of it. He scrunched up his face in disgust but then went back for a second sip, so I guess like Ainsley, he enjoyed the flavor. He handed the cup back to her then looked at me.

“Brought Nellie along for the tradition?” He asked, the words clearly directed at Ainsley even though he was staring at me.

“The tradition?” I asked anyway.

He grinned. “We’re all a little superstitious. First game I won at Parkhurst, she brought me a hot chocolate at half time so now we have to do it every time.” He looked me up and down, and if we hadn’t had an argument about his girlfriend only a couple of hours ago, I might have thought it meant something. Now, I felt like he was just studying my outfit. “Aren’t you cold?”

So, he really was studying my outfit. Good thing I didn’t read into that, I guess. I was cold, but I hated to admit that I hadn’t dressed properly for the game, so I just raised an eyebrow and said, “I’m not the one in a t-shirt and shorts.”

“Ah, but I’ve got my blood pumping,” he said. He turned away and grabbed something from the bench, returning a moment later. “Here.”

He held his hand out and I stared blankly at the black fabric in it. I had no idea what it was and I wasn’t sure I wanted to know. What would Sebastian Novak be handingme?It obviously wasn’t something he’d planned to give me since he didn’t know I would be coming down here, but it also didn’t seem to be anything to him based on the way he was handing it over without a second thought.

“Oh, good idea,” Ainsley said. I glanced at her, questions probably written all over my face, and she laughed. “It’s his sweater. You can wear it for the rest of the game so you don’t freeze.”

Sebastian was offering me his sweater? Nope, the words didn’t make any sense in my head, no matter how I reconfigured them. I blinked at the fabric—now that I knew what it was, I noticed the silver zipper and the hood,so it must have a zip-up—then at Sebastian, who was looking at me neutrally as he held it out, like this meant nothing to him. Like all of this was just completely normal.

I couldn’t wear Sebastian’s sweater. No matter how cold I was, I couldn’t do that. But everyone was staring at me, waiting for me to take it, and I didn’t have an excuse ready for why I couldn’t possibly do that.

“That’s okay,” I stammered out. “My shirt’s warmer than it looks and I’m used to the?—”

“You’re freezing,” Sebastian interrupted. “I can see the goosebumps on your wrist from here.”

He wasn’t wrong. My arms were covered in goosebumps and I was one step away from shivering, even with the burning hot drink in my hands. But if I thought playing soccer with Sebastian earlier, where we were almost guaranteed to have privacy, was a bad idea, then what was this? Some monumentally terrible decision. Tiffany must have been around here somewhere. I was pretty sure she was a cheerleader, and even if she wasn’t, she would be here to support her boyfriend. If she recognized this as Sebastian’s sweater, my life would be over. They would find my body in a gutter somewhere later tonight.

But how could I say no? If we had more time before the end of the break or if it was just me and Sebastian, I probably would have continued arguing. But all the boys on the bench were staring at me now, and I didn’t want to draw more attention to myself—or my connection with Sebastian—so I took the sweater and kept it draped over my shoulder as Ainsley said goodbye to the boys and headed back up to our spots. We got there just in time forthe whistle to blow, signalling the end of the halftime break.

I left the sweater sitting on my lap, working as a blanket. Somehow, that felt less intimate than actually wearing it.

“Is that Sebastian’s?” Imogen asked curiously.

“Yeah, I grabbed it from the bench,” Ainsley said. “Nora’s freezing.”

“I’m not freezing,” I mumbled, blushing hard and looking down. “And I didn’t need to steal his sweater. I’ll be fine.”

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