Page 24 of Overtime Goal
“Are you still down about the game?” he asked.
I shook my head. “Not down.”
“Frustrated?”
“Not really.”
He cocked his head. “You’ve got that look.”
“What look?”
“The one where you’re building a moat in your mind and forgetting to include a drawbridge.”
I blinked. “That’s incredibly specific.”
“I’m a man of hidden depths.”
“And weird metaphors.”
He leaned back and laughed, leaving my heart torn between longing and hurt. It was back to the same loop of frustrating thought: I wanted him with everything in me, but knew he could never be mine. Shakespeare came to mind: “My love is as a fever, longing still.”
Across the table, Abby held up his phone. “Logan and Riley, back me up. Look at this. I had more assists than Packy.”
I leaned forward and squinted at the screen. “Jesus, could you make the print on your phone any smaller? I’m already getting a headache.”
Riley took the phone and chuckled. “That’s last season, Abby. You were still in Pittsburgh, for God’s sake.”
“What?” Abby snatched it back and frowned. “Shit. Wrong tab.”
Packy did a victory pump. “Told you.”
The band had stopped playing, so everyone heard the exchange. We all hooted, and Packy threw a pretzel at Abby, who looked genuinely insulted.
As the evening went on, Riley stayed with me, pressing his leg against mine. My heart would thrum with hope, and then I’d have to remind myself this meant nothing. It was only an electric, infuriating dance that probably drove him as nuts as it did me.
Riles had just come back from a trip to the men’s room when a voice called out, “Aidan! You coming over to say hi, or are you glued to your boyfriend?”
The guys cracked up, and when I looked over at the bar, I recognized a tall blonde Riley had brought to some team events.
He stood, put on his biggest grin of the night, and pointed at her. “Careful! I could sue you for slander.”
Gabe looked at me and raised his eyebrows. “Is she wrong? You’re not doing anything to clear it up.”
Even though my heart was pounding, I kept my expression blank. “Wouldn’t want to confuse things any more than they already are.”
Riles put a hand on my shoulder and leaned over. “I’m not going over there.”
“You don’t have to explain yourself to me.”
“Maybe I want to.”
I didn’t answer because my heart was beating even faster.
He sat back down and rested his leg against mine again. Didn’t he realize he was giving me mental whiplash? I sipped my drink, letting the conversation go by while Riles talked to Brody. When he smiled at me, I looked away because I couldn’t let myself want something he wasn’t offering.
All at once, Harpy stood and said he had to go.
“Not yet,” Gabe said. “One more drink.”
