Page 75 of Matched By My Rival
I scoffed. “Not necessary. Just get plenty of exercise, and no one need ever know.”
He smirked. “I can think of one or two ways to burn off calories.”
In truth, calories weren’t a problem for football players. They burned so many calories in training that they had to eat a lot to meet their bodies’ needs. No, the real issue was what kind of calories you dumped into a primed athletic machine. But I didn’t bother ruining Parker’s joke with semantics. I was sure he knew, as well as I did, the reason Coach frowned on pizza, beer, and other junk food.
Parker started to push the pizza back toward me, but I shook my head. “Keep it.”
“But it’s your dinner.”
I pulled his plate toward me. “We’ll trade.”
His eyes widened. “But you looked disgusted by the veggie.”
I laughed, feeling that blush threaten again. “It’s no big deal. I just want you to experience the best my favorite restaurant has to offer.”
Parker looked stunned as he sat back. “I don’t know what to say.”
I laughed, embarrassed. “It’s just pizza.”
He seemed to see right through me. “No,” he said. “It’s a lot more than pizza. But thank you.”
I knew I was blushing again. But this time I didn’t really care.
The door jangled, admitting a crowd of jostling guys. They paid no attention to us as they lined up at the counter, joking around as they waited to place their orders.
Parker and I gazed into one another’s eyes, smiling smugly, feeling like we were getting away with the world’s biggest prank. We were on a date, and no one was the wiser.
21
SIMON
Parker and I meandered across campus Saturday afternoon with no destination in mind. It was a nice day, breezy, but without much chill in the air.
“If you keep feeding me junk food, I’m gonna get too bloated for the game next week.” Parker paused, giving his chocolate-banana shake a suspicious look. “Was that your evil plan all along? Bring down your rival with junk food?”
I laughed. “No, but it’s not a bad plan.”
Parker shook his head. “The betrayal…”
I licked my ice cream, swirling my tongue around the top suggestively while Parker watched.
“Don’t worry. We’ll work it off before then,” I said with a wink.
Flirting this way was different. Playful, rather than overtly sexual. We weren’t leading up to anything. Just enjoying the intimacy that expanded between us in so many little ways.
Since Parker’s confession that he wanted more than quickies around campus—which had matched my own growing feelings—we’d been meeting up to hang out more often. After we went to the pizza parlor last week, Parker had walked me to Tracks and bought a beer while I started my shift. He’d patiently nursed it, waiting for the few minutes I could snatch between customers to talk to him until he had to leave for his study center hours.
The next day we’d met up for a jog around campus. I was pretty sure he was humoring me when he said he needed to get in a run. Parker got plenty of exercise with his team training. But I needed to get back into the habit of more exercise. I’d lapsed since leaving sports. Daily exercise had become twice weekly, then weekly, then bi-weekly. If I continued on that path, I’d be down to semi-annual visits to the gym within a year.
Parker had been a good running partner. We were pretty well matched physically, and he was in better shape than me, so he pushed me just enough to make it a real workout.
But today’s meetup was more relaxed.
After a series of rainy days the week before, we were soaking in the sunshine. It looked as if the rest of the student body had the same idea, though. The campus was buzzing with activity.
The odds of running into someone we knew were high. But we werejustwalking. And after a few hangouts with no dire consequences, I was feeling too relaxed to worry about it.
“Uh-oh,” Parker said.
