Page 87 of Who's Playing You
She turned in my arms, her pointer finger pushing into my chest. “What the fuck,Nick?! You’re NicholasfuckingSoba! You’re my best friend’slittlebrother!”
“Well, the good news is my whole family already loves you so…” I decided to go with not just honesty but a little joke.
Wrong move.
“Seriously?!” she yelled back and I kind of just gave her awell yeahshrug.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened them again, she looked right into my soul. “Nicholas. Please tell me… did you know who I was? And if so… why not tell me?”
“Because of this?” I phrased it more like a question than a statement. I let out a heavy sigh, because I was busted. “Scottie, yes I knew who you were.Of courseI knew who you were!” She was about to speak but I raised my hand to gesture for her to wait. “I was afraid… I was afraid you wouldn’t give me a shot if you knew I was Nat’slittlebrother. I was afraid you wouldn’t give me a snowball’s chance in hell of entertaining something romantic between us. So I wanted you to get to know me - without any of the associations to Nat or my family. I wanted you to get to knowme.”
With that, she visibly relaxed a little and looked at me with a mixture of sympathy, understanding and remorse. I hated it.
“You could have told me,” she whispered.
“Would you have?”
She closed her eyes and bit her lip. I hated how conflicted she was feeling. I cupped her face and gently, with my thumb, applied the tiniest pressure to her lip so her teeth released it.
“I didn’t think so,” I said so gently. “Shit, Scottie - I’m sorry okay. I didn’t directly lie to you but I withheld that on purpose. I know that. But it was my intention to tell you, tonight in fact because if you decided to come to tomorrow’s game, you’d have found out right quick,” I chuckled.
She looked up at me and gave me a little smile, “Kind of hard to hide you being out on the field, huh?”
“It would’ve been a little hard, yeah,” I smiled in return.
“So you’re likegoodright? Like some super sporty, great player or something?”
I let out a deep laugh because she was so clueless about sports that it was endearing. “I mean, kinda, yeah.”
“I feel like you’re downplaying it. Nat’s been bragging about you for years, saying you’re like some God’s gift to football or something.”
My eyebrows rose to the sky on that. “I’m sorry, what? Nat, as inmy sisterNatalie, has been bragging about me - saying nice things? I don’t believe it.”
She gave me a little smile, “Believe it hot-shot. She’s very proud of you, too.”
I think my jaw hit the ground. “As flattering and completely life-altering as that little tidbit of information is,” I stated, still processing the fact that my sister, who I thought hated me, was actually bragging about me. “I just wanted a chance with you. An unbiased one. And had you known, you probably would have friend-zoned me right from the start.”
“Probably,” Scottie mumbled. “But… she’s my best friend, Nicholas. I feel so conflicted. She’ll probably hate me for this.”
“I’ll take the blame, and she’ll be fine. This just makes you a for-real part of the family. She’ll love that. It means you’re not going anywhere,” I said matter of factly. “Plus, my mom already adores you, and now with the elevated status of being my girlfriend, well let me tell you that you’re entering Saintly territory in her eyes!”
“You’re making this seem like something that’s not a big deal, when this is ahugedeal.”
“What’s the real issue, honey? You like me, Ireallylike you. We’re both consenting adults. My entire family already loves you. I see no issues with any of this. I apologized for not telling you, but I also think we wouldn’t be here right now if I’d have told you. So maybe I was selfish for withholding that, but I was desperate for you to see me for me.”
She leaned her head forward, letting it fall to my chest. I quickly enveloped her tiny frame in a bear hug. “You make it sound so simple,” she said and groaned. “But I’ll be viewed as some cradle robber. Oh my God! How oldareyou?!”
I just laughed. “It’s not funny, Nicholas. Seriously, how old are you? You know I’m pushing 30, right?”
“I’m fully aware, sweetheart. And I turned 23 in May.”
She just groaned. “Definitely a cradle robber!”
“Honey, you can rob my cradle any time you want with what you do to me.” I said and laughed.
“Your mother will not approve of that, and your sister is going to disown me. I can’t lose her, Nicholas. She’s the only family I’ve got,” she looked up at me with tears in her eyes.
“Shh, shh, honey. She won’t. She’ll be fine. But all that stuff doesn’t matter,” to which she looked at me with confusion. “You have me, regardless. I’ll forever be here for you. Your family if you’ll have me. To me, the only thing that matters is this, us. Because I want this, I want us. Desperately if I’m being honest,” I told her, laying myself out bare before her. “And I just hope that you want it a fraction as much as I do because… I love you.”
