Page 84 of Romancing the Grump
SUMMER
The energyat the stadium in Atlanta iselectric.For starters, the team is walking into the arena on an actual red carpet. There’s a huge media presence here, rows and rows of cameramen and reporters, as well as an enormous crowd of fans hoping to glimpse their favorite players.
Beside me, Parker loops her arm through mine, her eyes scanning the crowd. “It’s crazy, right? I still can’t believe this is happening.”
We’re standing in a roped off section for team staff and family members, watching as the Appies slowly trickle into the arena.
The Yellow Jackets, as the home team, came through first, and there was a lot of enthusiasm as they did. But only a few Appies have filed past, and the response has been just as big. I’m not sure the Yellow Jackets expected our fans to show up like they have, but the game is completely sold out, and thefans circling the arena are wearing just as much turquoise and gray as they are yellow and black.
The charity sponsoring the match-up, an organization that supports underfunded sports programs in Title One schools, has been very vocal about the money the game has already raised just through ticket sales. Based on the energy of the crowd, they’ll likely get that much or more from merch sales, which both teams agreed to donate.
That’s the most important part, I know. But as I watch the guys talk to reporters from ESPN and USA Today and Sports Illustrated, pausing to answer questions and pose for photos, I hope they play well, too.
Nathan has been nervous this week. Theyallhave been. Even though the stakes of this game are basically nonexistent, I know they would secretly love to win, if only to justify all the attention they’ve been getting. I can’t imagine the pressure.
Ifeel it, and all I’m doing is pretending to be the very smitten girlfriend of the Appies’ top left defender.
To be honest, I’m not having to pretend much, at least not when it comes to thesmittenpart.
Nathan and I have mentioned beingfriendsat least a dozen times in our text messages this past week, as though we have to remind ourselves over and over so we don’t forget.
I’ve never been so excited to attend a game, if only to drop thefriendlabel for a few hours and embrace thegirlfriendone.
I realize how backward that sounds. But I get to kiss Nathan when we’re in public. I get to step into his arms like I belong there, like hewantsme there.
At some point, I’m going to have to talk to him. Own the intensity of what I’m feeling. But right before one of thebiggest games of his life hardly feels like the right time. And then the playoffs start in a couple of weeks, and he’s got his trip to Boston for Blake’s plea hearing next weekend.
There’s a lot going on for Nathan.
He doesn’t need fake girlfriend drama.
Or so I tell myself.
Really, I’m just scared.
I don’t want this to end. And admitting real feelings could absolutely end it.
Nathan and Alec appear at the beginning of the red carpet, waiting while several other players make their way down. I haven’t seen him since we got off the bus a few hours ago, and my heart clenches at the sight.
He looks so good—in a dark gray suit I haven’t seen before, his hair down and brushing his shoulders. He’s looking at his phone, unaware of my ogling, so I drink in the sight of him completely unchecked. The sharp angle of his jaw, his broad shoulders, his fitted suit pants, which do a very nice job of accentuating how good hockey can be for a man’s legs and glutes.
The man is basically perfect?—
I startle when my phone buzzes from my back pocket, pulling me out of my Nathan-induced trance.
But then I smile, because it’sNathanwho is texting me.
Nathan
You’re staring, Callahan.
I look up and meet his gaze across the crowded space, and his lips lift into a knowing smirk.
I scowl and type out a reply.
Summer
Don’t let it go to your head. It’s all part of the act. *winking emoji*
