Page 24 of Alive At Night

“I—” He opened his mouth, shut it again, and frowned. “I knew you came to some of them. But I didn’t know you went toallof them. Pretty sure you called me an empty-headed jock on at least one occasion. I took that to mean you weren’t exactly a fan of the game.”

“Oh, I’m not.”

Julian rolled his eyes and muttered something that undoubtedly wasn’t in my favor beneath his breath.

“I don’t like the game itself very much,” I explained, “but I do like going to them.”

“God, you are so confusing sometimes,” he groaned, rubbing his forehead like he was about to get a tension headache.

“Imeanthat I like their energy. The atmosphere is fun. I loved those fall Friday nights at high school games. It’s that camaraderie part, ya know?”

Julian dropped his hand, his face clearing a bit. There was a slight pause. “Yeah…I do, actually.”

With that second unusual agreement, Julian turned his attention back toward the field, likely looking for Noah. When he spotted him, he nudged me—as if I wasn’t already paying attention to exactly what he was doing.

“Right there.” He pointed to a lean, golden-brown-haired player wearing a number nine jersey, similar to the one I had on.

I nodded, squinting to make him out as Julian returned to surveying the field like he was a coach taking stock of the situation. He put his hands on his hips, twisting to glance down to the opposite end zone, and I was left looking at his back.

“You’re wearing an LA jersey.” The gold lettering on his jersey spelledEVERETT,and a bell rang in my head. “Is that your other former teammate?”

“Yeah, you just noticed?” He spun back toward me, exasperation painted on his expression. “Keep up, Lily.”

I bit down on my tongue to try to keep from snapping back—he’d already called me out for being obstinate once today. “I really try not to look at you as much as possible, Julian.”

Guess I didn’t bite down on my tongue hard enough. But if we were keeping score, I’d give myself a little point for that one.

“Oh, yeah?”

He said it like it was a challenge.

Luckily, it was an easy one. “Yeah.”

“It must be hard if you have to put so much effort into it,” he said with a smirk.

My cheeks flamed in response, which was so startling that I eagerly sought an escape.

“You know what? I think I’m going to go get some food.”

Julian straightened, his demeanor immediately shifting. “Do you want me to come with you?”

I shot him a glare over my shoulder as I began to retreat back down the row of seats. “That would defeat the purpose of why I’m leaving.”

His dramatic sigh cut through the crowd’s chatter before he called after me. “Just watch where you’re going for once, will ya?”

“Believe it or not, I can survive in public without you,” I shot back.

“Fine.” I saw him throw his hands up from the corner of my eye. “Prove it.”

I did prove it. I got a little turned around on my way back from the concession stand and lost some popcorn while descending the stairs, but I survived.

Julian had his hands on top of his head while intently staring at the field when I reached him, and I saw an odd bit of relief when he glanced over to find me in my seat again. He’d likely been worried he might have to tell Gemma he lost me at the game.

“You’re back.” His relief morphed into judgment. “All you got was popcorn?”

“For some reason, I just had thisfeelingyou would judge my food choices, so I went with popcorn. Absolutely no one can hate on popcorn.” I scowled. “Except you, apparently.”

“I’m not hating on popcorn, and I don’t give a shit about what you eat.” He grabbed a few kernels from the top of my tub and tossed them in his mouth. “But unless I missed it, you didn’t have lunch today. And I don’t want you passing out on me before I can watch Everett score.”

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