With The Rolling Stones filling my earbuds from my Hit the Road playlist, I jog the two miles to the middle school as my shoes pound the pavement in a rhythmic beat setting in my runner's high. I only had a few beers last night, so I'm not hungover. But my mind is still reeling from the fact that I ran into Ellie at the bonfire. She's been popping up in my life in unexpected ways. Except last night was different. Last night, she looked nearly angelic in that white shirt she wore. Almost like she'd lost her hard edge. Regardless, Chris is about to bust my balls even though he doesn't know it yet.

The early morning heat is already setting in, and sweat is pouring off of me as I reach the school. Rounding the corner toward the outdoor basketball court, I see Chris aimlessly shooting hoops while waiting for me.

"Hey, man," I say, pulling out my earbuds. Jerking the hem of my T-shirt up, I wipe the sweat from my forehead. Chris and I meet here every Sunday morning for a game of basketball to blow off some steam before starting a new workweek.

"Glad you could make it," he says with a smirk. "Little too much of a wild time last night, huh?"

Trying to catch my breath, I laugh. I pull my phone from my armband and lay it on a nearby picnic table out of the sun. "Nah, it wasn't that bad. Only had a few drinks. But hey, I do have some news.”

He cocks an eyebrow at me and shakes his head as if he knows what's coming.

“You remember what I asked you Friday about the music festival?"

Nodding, he dribbles the ball and checks it to me. "Go on."

"I may have told someone I could secure them press for it."

"Really?"

I nod and sigh at how ridiculous it sounds. Especially the fact that I did this for a girl. Cue ball-busting. "I know you said it was uncouth, but it just sort of happened."

He stops, resting the ball against his hip with his hand draped over it. "First of all, I said no such thing. I don't use the word 'uncouth,'" he says, rolling his eyes, the word sounding strange on his tongue. "Second, you realize that's against company policy, right?"

"Yeah, I know. But I already offered it. It's done. Besides that, I think it's a great idea. It could give us the momentum we need right now."

"And how exactly did you come to that conclusion?" Chris asks, checking me the ball once more, much harder this time.

As soon as I pass the ball back to him, he catches me off-guard. Faking me out, he spins off of my side, dribbling the ball to the left of me and driving in for a layup.

"Think about this for a second," I say as he takes his spot at the top of the key again. "I think we have a real chance here to get some traffic to our online site. Review the bands. Add to the specialty of it. Run a beat the week after. It'll be exclusive to us. Obviously, we don't sacrifice any hard news for it, but we have a chance here to grow things and drive traffic for us. Don't you think?"

"Good point," he says, spitting on the asphalt. "But you think Tonya will see it like that?"

“I guess I need to make her see it like that. Plus we don't have to worry about the preliminary article. I already have someone on it. It'll be ready tomorrow morning.”

Chris shakes his head and grins at me before trying the same layup sequence on me, but I block him, stealing the ball from him mid-dribble. "This wouldn't have anything to do with that girl last night, would it?"

Taking my spot at the top of the key, I shrug and try to suppress a smile. “It might.”

"You dog," Chris growls with laughter. Waiting for a response, he eyes me. But I all I can do is nod. "Really?" he says, scrunching up his face in disbelief. "You haven't so much as spoken a girl's name in what? Two years now? And this is the one to make you go rogue?"

I wipe the sweat from my brow with the back of my arm. "It's not like that man. She's different than that," I say, tripping over the word. "She's smart and funny. But she's also a lot harder."

"Sounds like you're the one that's harder," he grunts, swatting at the ball for a steal as I try to beat him to the net. "She must really have an impact on you to get you to break the rules like this."

After Chris scores once more, he checks me the ball, and it hits me how sour of a situation this could turn out to be when I present it to Tonya. She’s the Editor-in-Chief at The Anchor, and she’s old-school as hell. “You think it's a mistake?”

“I think if you feel a certain way about it, you should go for it. Besides, you're the boss man when it comes to those decisions. Ultimately, it's your call.”

“You put too much faith in me, man. I’m only the Managing Editor.”

“Yeah, but when’s the last time you saw Tonya enforce something?”

I scoff. "That's because I'm supposed to be the one enforcing shit around the office." I sigh and put my hands on top of my head for a rest and glance around the playground.

Chris lets the ball drop to the ground as he stretches out one of his hamstrings. "Speaking of enforcing, are you busy tomorrow? Kevin texted me yesterday and asked if I could find someone to cover his event. He has to go out of town last minute. Family emergency or something. I think it's called Zephyr."

“Yeah, sure,” I say, not really hearing him. “And I’ll have to negotiate, I guess.”

Chris stares at me, probably noticing my distraction. "Dude. Unstick yourself. Look, we can talk it over with Charlie next week. I know the man— I can give him a call to see if we can't work something else out, too. Aside from that, I bet Dale and Leda will be willing to cover the actual event. We'll need press passes, but—"

"Easily," I say, making a mental note to ask Ellie about them tomorrow. "The initial beat will be done in the morning. I'll just have to pitch the rest of the idea at our Tuesday morning meeting. Sneak it in the lineup."

"See? You're in charge, bud. Take control of it. You don't ask people what's going in the paper— you tell ‘em what's going in it." After a few dribbles of the ball, Chris narrows his stare at me. "This girl has a hold on you."

Shrugging it off, I laugh."I'm not sure yet."

"Well, the fact that you're willing to go out on a limb means she's important."

My mind flashes back to my last relationship. There were no sparks, no energy with the girl. I promised myself I wouldn't get involved with anyone without some sort of connection. And until I met Ellie at that concert three days ago, I hadn't imagined I'd find such a connection with someone around here.

"Yeah, man. She's something else. And I've only known her for four days. Though I guess I can't say that I actually know her. We just ended up connecting, and I really didn't expect it. Christ. What does that make me? A fool?"

Chris smiles and nods. "Maybe a little foolish. But not a fool." He draws in a long breath. "Besides, the good ones usually sneak up on you. Knock you on your ass," he laughs. "At least that's what happened with me. Speaking of, Lauren wants you to come over for dinner soon. The kids are asking about you. Might grill out in a few weeks, so keep your calendar open. And you can bring your girl."

"Well, it's not like that yet. She's not my girl."

Suspicious, Chris shakes his head. “What’s it like then?

"We made out a few times. We share some of the same interests. We've had some weird connection thing going on, and as dumb as this sounds, I'm addicted to the way she looks at me."

"God damn," Chris moans. "You have fallen for her." Shaking his head at me, he scratches his face. "Look, Mason. If you feel a connection with her, keep her around. I know you're not worried about the next huge step in your life right now, but when it comes down to spending the rest of your life with someone, you'll really want that connection in the long run. Trust me, man."