Page 49 of The Boy I Once Loved

Chapter Nine

The next morning, I text Dylan to wish him luck with the game, but I get no reply. Mum is working so I have the house to myself and I decide to settle on the sofa and catch up on Sabrina, my new favourite Netflix show. My phone rings at my side and it's Aria.

“Hey.”

"Hey, so I wondered if you fancy coming to watch the match with me? Connor will moan if I don't go and well, I could do with some girl company."

I hesitate. Normally I would say yes straight away, I loved watching football and it would be nice to see Dylan and Connor play, but today I’m not sure Dylan would want me there.

“I dunno. I don’t think I’m Dylan’s favourite person right now.” I hate how insecure I sound.

“Why what’s happened? Didn’t you two go out last night?”

"We did, and then Dylan went all weird on me when one of my brother's friends came over and asked about catching up sometime. Honestly, I'm getting whiplash from his mood changes."

“Oh, I see. So, are you meeting this friend of your brothers?”

“Yeah, he was my brother’s best friend. It will be nice to see him again.”

“Okay. Well, look, Dylan will get over it and the boys would really love it if you came and watched them, even if Dylan is being weird. Besides, you can’t leave me to go on my own,” she pleads. “Some of those other footie girlfriends are real bitches.”

I laugh. “Okay, I’ll come and be your wing-woman.”

“Excellent. I’ll pick you up in twenty minutes.”

A half-hour later we find our seats on the stands. The turnout for the college team is quite good and I don't miss the fact that there are a lot of girls here, the type that don't look like they give two shits about football. Aria tells me our team is playing a college team from another local town close to here.

"Ooh, here come the boys," Aria announces, squeezing my arm in excitement. "I love watching Connor play, there's just something so hot about guys in football kits."

I laugh. “I prefer the American football kits personally. Man, those tight white pants.” I fan myself, grinning.

“Look, the boys are looking over.” Aria stands up and drags me up with her. She waves and points at me, as if to say, look I brought her.

Feeling like an idiot, I offer a mini-wave to the boys. Connor waves back. Dylan just frowns and kicks at the dirt with his studs.

“See. I told you he wouldn’t want me here,” I tell Aria, taking my seat again and folding my arms in frustration. Why was he being such an arse?

Aria sits back down beside me and links her arm through mine. “Trust me, he does. Want to take a bet on how many he scores today?”

“Okay. I say he scores two.” I secretly smile to myself. When we were younger Dylan used to get frustrated as every match he played, he never scored more than two goals and he used to moan on and on about how he was cursed.

Aria holds out her hand for me to shake it. “I say he scores four and if I win, you have to come camping with me and the boys the weekend after next.”

I groan. I hate camping. It is the one activity I abhor doing. I hate spiders, and moths and yes, I know it makes me sound like a right girl, but there you go.

“Okay,” I concede, “but if I win, you have to come on a bike ride with me once this damn boot is off.”

She grasps my hand in hers and shakes it firmly. “Deal.”

The match kicks off and our team holds the possession and they keep making chances. Dylan is a natural on the pitch and all his passes are all on target. He has the ball when some dipshit from the other team tackles him and takes him down.

“Oh, come on, ref!” I stand and shout. “Foul.”

Aria laughs at me and tugs me back down. Yeah, I'm not one for sitting quietly at matches. I like to voice my opinion. I used to love going watching Uncle Matt play with his biker group and I would cheer them on from the sidelines.

Dipshit is on Dylan again and he gets the ball off him and takes off up the other end of the pitch. I’m on my feet again.

"Chase him down, Dyl! Get that ball off the cocky shit!" I holler at him across the pitch, and I notice a half-smile from Dylan, who charges after him and he tackles him, winning the ball.

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