Page 49 of Brad & Finn
Finn hadn’t realized he’d been gazing over the heads of the cheerleaders at the far wall. Funnily enough, that actually had been one of the many trains of thought he’d been chasing. “I feel like I remember more of the words than the movements,” he said.
“Oh, yeah?”
He glanced around, but everyone in their corner of the stands seemed to be watching the game. “D, D, D, Defense!” he said under his breath.
Chloe grinned and clapped her hands together five times, in time with the chant. At Finn’s nod, she did it all together, a little louder than before.
Brad nudged Finn’s shoulder with his, smiling widely before joining in on the chant. His claps were slightly off-beat, and for some reason, that made Finn’s stomach feel warm, like he’d eaten an entire bag of the spicy chips he could smell all around them.
Suddenly, their full row joined in the cheer, and whentheCameron Jameson pointed at their little corner and brought his hand to his heart, the entire section of alumni joined in.
Chloe jumped to her feet, and everyone around them slowly stood up, keeping the cheer going as the alumni team actually showed some decent defense and stopped the varsity captain from scoring.
“Go, fight, score! We want more!” Finn whispered in Chloe’s ear, and she scrunched up her eyes for a second.
Finn could only remember the first move, so he crossed one arm over his chest, then the other. Chloe’s eyes widened, and she beamed at him.
“Go, fight, score!” she shouted, interrupting the next round of defense chants. She crossed her left arm, then her right over her chest, before throwing both arms over her head. “We want more!” she shouted, pumping her fists in the air.
It took a little longer for this one to catch on, but soon they were all chanting and fist-pumping together. When Cameron sank a three-pointer, the crowd went wild. The varsity team tried to rally, but an alumni player snatched the ball out of the air and ran back for the hoop.
Brad let out a surprised gasp, which seemed a little dramatic given they were still losing. When Finn glanced at Brad, though, he wasn’t looking at the scoreboard or the court. He was staring at a tall, handsome blonde man who was jogging up the steps to their row of the bleachers.
“Oh…my god,” Brad said. Finn gently nudged his shoulder in question, and he added, “I’m pretty sure that’stheAJ Quick.”
Finn couldn’t stifle his giggle in time. What was up with Brad and this strange hero worship he?—
Wait.
“Like,theAJ Quick, quarterback of the LA Chargers?” Finn asked, turning back to look at the man. AJ was trying, and failing, to join in on Chloe’s cheer. She was grinning widely at him, most likely completely oblivious to who he was.
Brad leaned against Finn, putting a pretty substantial amount of weight on his side, like he was going to swoon right off the bleachers. Finn shook his head but wrapped a supportive arm around Brad’s back. They stayed like this for almost a full minute until Finn decided it was time to change the cheer up.
“We’re number one, not number two,” Finn said just loud enough for Chloe to hear.
She let out an excited squeal and grabbed his hand, pulling him away from Brad’s side—which was probably for the best in a crowded auditorium. This had been her favorite cheer, and Finn didn’t even bother finishing the chant because he knew she remembered it.
“We’re number one!” she shouted at the top of her lungs, and the rest of the crowd around her quieted until soon everyone was waiting to see what the next cheer would be.
“We’re number one!” she repeated, this time pumping her hand, with one finger raised, in time with her words. “Not number two!” She did the same thing but with two fingers on her other hand. “And we’re going to beat?—”
She closed both fists and pumped them in the air. This was supposed to be done with pompoms, but oh well. The part that mattered the most was up next.
Chloe pressed her wrists together, forming a V with her hands, and brought them down under her face. “The whoopsie out of you!”
The crowd exploded in laughs and shouts, and Finn watched as the NFL quarterback floundered to follow along. Brad nudged Finn in the side, and Finn glanced over, expecting him to be looking at the football player, too. Instead, Finn watched in awe as Brad brought his hands up under his chin, except they were flat like a tabletop. He pursed his lips in a hilarious duck face, and that warmth Finn had been feeling earlier spread up into his chest, enveloping his heart and making it skip a beat.
The reason Chloe loved the cheer so much was that every cheerleader got to make up their own pose for the last line. It was supposed to be something fun and flirty, and Finn had no idea how to achieve that. Kendall had bent at the waist to blow a kiss, Courtney had put both her fists on her hips, and Finn had donehis best with a variation of what Chloe always did. How Brad remembered this, Finn had no idea, but his jaw ticked, and he felt Brad’s phantom hand on his jaw—but also on his neck, in his hair, wrapped around his back, and in over a dozen places from the night before. Heat erupted across his skin, and he yanked at the collar of his shirt.
Oh, boy. Was this how it was going to be from now on?
Mercifully, Chloe started the chant up again, and the crowd joined in, stumbling the first few times but getting it together by the fourth run through. Each time, Brad would do Finn’s move during the final line, and Finn couldn’t believe he was in his old gym, watching a basketball game, with tears stinging his eyes.
The alumni team won the game, and Finn liked to think their cheering had helped. Some of the alumni flooded onto the court to celebrate with the players of both teams, and the rest made their way outside for lunch.
Brad hustled off to talk to eithertheCameron Jameson ortheAJ Quick, and no, Finn was never going to stop making fun of him for this. Chloe linked arms with him, and they wandered outside with Naomi and Mariana to find lunch. The local offerings were nostalgic, but Finn wasn’t sure how much more nostalgia he could take. He was pleasantly surprised by the food truck options, though, which included pupusas, shawarma, and Indian daal.
He was shocked when Chloe immediately headed for daal. She wasn’t a vegetarian, but Christian was, and most of their takeout centered around cheese, tofu, and lentils. Usually, she liked to take advantage of vacations by eating all the meat she could stomach. As Finn got in line for the shawarma truck, he wondered if she was feeling homesick.
