Drew

It was Wednesday, which meant the last playoff game was tonight. There was nothing in this world more important than this game—not to me, anyway. I should have been totally focused.

Instead? I was obsessing over Veronica.

To be honest, I’d never stopped. But now it was reaching a crisis point because I had a game to win, a team that was counting on me, and a scholarship to score. Now was not the time to obsess over a girl. Any girl. Not even if that girl was Veronica.

My new friend.

I watched her from across the cafeteria, like I had every day this week. I’d been worried about her on Monday, about how she would deal with the aftermath of the Tina incident. But she’d handled it like a champ. From what I could tell she’d taken the high road. I’d been standing with Alex, Melody, Tina and a few others on Monday and when she’d walked by she’d given us all that same friendly smile she always wore. The one that was neither ingratiating nor vacant, just…friendly.

I was glad to see that Melody, at least, gave her a wave and a smile like nothing was wrong. Alex and Tina either didn’t see her because they were too busy making out or they pretended not to see her.

From what I could tell, Veronica had come out looking like the winner in the scenario. She’d been the mistreated new girl and if anything, she was even more well liked now thanks to the fact that she’d been so poorly treated by Tina, who everyone knew had a tendency to be a mean girl.

I’d split from the group to walk with her. I hadn’t wanted her to be alone on her first day back, and she gave me a grateful look before plastering that friendly smile on her face. We’d chatted for a bit about our weekends and it was all very… friendly.

Because that’s what we were. Friends.

Somehow that felt anti-climactic. No, not just anti-climactic. It felt wrong. Did I want to be friends with her? Hell yes. Of course I did. She was the first person in this school that I felt a connection to. She was the first person I’d opened up to since April and Lee screwed me over last year.

So, yeah, obviously I wanted to be friends. But did I just want to be friends? I watched her walk into the cafeteria and head straight toward the table in the back where she’d been sitting this week with some girls I recognized from the soccer team.

She seemed to laugh more now that she was sitting with them. And I saw her get animated as she was talking. When she was sitting with Melody and the others she’d been more prone to sit quietly and listen, smiling and laughing politely, rather than genuinely.

And all this begged the question—just how long had I been watching her like this? Man, I was creeping myself out with my stalker ways. I hadn’t even realized I’d been paying such close attention to Veronica’s lunch habits until now.

Now, the question I’d been asking myself since Monday afternoon seemed to echo through my brain. Did I really want to be just friends with Veronica Smith?

She slid into the bench seat and her face lit up with a grin at something one of her new friends said. I felt that smile like she’d reached into my chest and squeezed.

No. The answer was clear and there was no use trying to deny it to myself any longer. I didn’t want to just be friends with Veronica. And I didn’t want to just hookup with her either.

I wanted to be with her. For real.

I sat there staring at her for God knows how long before Alex interrupted. “Yo, earth to Drew.”

Turning to face him, I met all kinds of weird looks from my teammates. “You all right, man?” Alex asked.

I nodded. “Yeah. Just thinking about the game tonight.”

Lie. But it was an effective lie. Everyone at the table nodded in understanding. This was a big game. The game. Everyone knew the pressure I was under so they left me alone for the remainder of lunch. I was free to stare and obsess to my heart’s content.

I couldn’t believe it. Oh, I’d finally reconciled the fact that Ronnie and Veronica were one in the same. I was no longer blown away by the knowledge that they were two sides of the same person, but I was still marveling over the fact that I had a thing for her.

For Ronnie. Having a thing for Veronica wasn’t so strange, but Ronnie? This was the girl who beat up Tommy Landon when he’d picked on one of her friends. If I was being honest, I’d never really thought of her as a girl before. I’d thought of her as Ronnie, asexual at best. I could vividly remember the baseball caps she wore and the oversized jerseys and tees.

I think we all thought of her as one of the boys. But looking at her now across the room, it was hard to see how we could have missed the beauty who was in our midst that whole time. I’d noticed that since the Tina debacle she seemed to have eased up on the girly. She wasn’t sporting heels in the hall and she’d been wearing jeans instead of sundresses.

She still looked hot, don’t get me wrong. But she looked a little more like her old self.

Granted, I don’t think I ever saw Ronnie wearing skinny jeans or flattering, figure-forming tops. But even so, it was hard to believe we hadn’t seen past the clothes and hairstyles. I mean, how had I missed that smile? How had I not seen the way it transformed her face and made her radiant?

Maybe she’d been right. Maybe she had become invisible, in a way. I guess when you grew up with someone and saw them every single day, it was easy to take them for granted.

I found myself smiling like an idiot as she laughed at something her friends said, her head tipping back and her eyes screwed up tight in unselfconscious abandon.

I never wanted to take Veronica Smith for granted again. She deserved so much more than being invisible or treated to the games and manipulations of the Tina and Alex’s of this world.

She deserved to be treated right. To be taken out on a proper date—one that included dinner. She deserved to be seen and heard and freakin’ cherished.

Yeah, okay, maybe I was a bit of a romantic deep down. That was one of the reasons I’d sworn off dating after April. Because I knew myself and I knew that I can’t keep my distance. I have a hard time compartmentalizing.

Like right now. I should be focused on the game, but it was impossible to do until I straighten this out with Veronica.

I thought about that all throughout lunch, and when the bell rang signaling the end of lunch, I knew what I had to do.

I was going to ask her out. Right away. No waiting. It might be crazy to start dating again, but not doing something about these feelings was just as distracting. Maybe even more distracting. If I didn’t do something about this infatuation soon, I would never be able to stop thinking about her. At least if she said yes, I’d have some sort of resolution. I could focus on the game and on our trophy.

Really, when all was said and done, I was doing this for the sake of my team.

Me and my noble reasons headed over to her table. I caught her just as she came to stand, picking up the remains of her bagged lunch and crumbling it in a ball to throw away.

Her smile grew as she spotted me. “Hey, Remi.”

Her use of my last name was so very friendly it almost threw me off my mission. Her friends looked surprised by my sudden appearance at their table as they gathered their bags to head out. I got more than a couple questioning looks. If there was one thing I didn’t particularly need at the moment, it was an audience.

I nodded toward the hallway. “Walk you to your next class?”

“Sure,” she said with a nod, falling into step next to me. “So, you nervous about the game tonight?”

I nodded because it was partially true. I was nervous, but not so much about the game as I was about asking her out. When I thought about the game I felt the same adrenaline rush I always got—more of a thrill of excitement than nerves.

But asking out Veronica Smith? Or Ronnie, for that matter?

My palms were officially sweating.

“Are you going tonight?” I asked.

She shot me a look. “Of course. I wouldn’t miss it.”

A warmth flooded my muscles at the sweet sincerity in her voice. “Cool.”

Yup, cool. That was me, Mr. Eloquence.

“Do you have any plans for afterward?” I shoved my hands in my pocket. God, this was harder than I’d thought it would be. Why couldn’t I just spit out the words, will you go out with me? Instead I found myself circling the question like a wuss.

She shrugged, sidestepping a student who was in her path. “I heard everyone was going to the Hamilton Diner afterward to celebrate.”

“Or commiserate,” I added automatically. Not because I was being pessimistic but because when it came to big games, one could never be too careful about getting too cocky. Or being jinxed. And yes, I was superstitious about stuff like that. It might not make sense, but there it was.

She looked in my direction with arched brows. “Oh please. You’re going to kill it tonight. I’ve seen you play.”

“You have?” Her words got me even further off track. I was supposed to be focusing on asking her out but my stupid ego couldn’t resist hearing more.

“Of course.” She picked up her pace and I had to hustle to stay next to her. When I glanced over, I could have sworn she was blushing.

Ronnie didn’t blush. Did she? Maybe Veronica did.

Okay, I really had to stop thinking about her as two different people. She was still the same girl I’d always known, just…different. Or not different and I was the one who’d changed.

Huh. That thought temporarily distracted me from what she was saying and I only caught the tail end.

“…everyone from Atwater was at the last game of the season when you struck out their player in overtime.” She turned to me with a grin that made me feel a million feet tall. “That was epic.”

Epic. I liked that. My ego freakin’ loved it.

I had to be careful or I’d start strutting like a cocky moron. It wasn’t just the praise. I mean, I was the star of the school’s baseball team. Not to brag, but I got a lot of praise, from guys and girls alike. And parents, and teachers, and some local business owners… Praise I was used to.

But praise from Veronica?

It was a heady experience.

I cleared my throat as I summoned up the nerve to ask her out like a man. Before I could, she spun to face me with an expectant look. “So I guess I’ll see you at the diner tonight after the game, right?”

My mouth opened and I couldn’t think of how to respond. Yes? But also no. That’s not what I meant. I didn’t want to hang out with Veronica and Melody and Alex and the rest of the student body population who would all be there, celebrating or commiserating.

I wanted to be alone with her.

But before I could piece together the right words to say any of that, I realized two things at once. We’d reached Veronica’s classroom and her question had been rhetorical. She wasn’t waiting for an answer, she was already turning away from me, heading toward class.

“Wait, Veronica, I—”

She paused in the doorway, turning back to face me. But a handful of other students were trying to squeeze past her and our little bubble was shattered as one of the girls said something to her and someone else called out good luck to me in the hallway.

My chance was over. I’d missed my opportunity.

But I had to say something; she was waiting for me to speak. I swallowed down my disappointment. There would be other chances, better moments.

“I, uh…I’m glad you’re coming to the game tonight.”

Her warm, kind gaze met mine and I had a brief moment of hope that she would understand what I meant by that. For a second I thought she did read more into that stupid comment, but then she gave me another friendly smile. “Of course I’ll be there to support you. That’s what friends do.”

She gave me a cute little wink before turning and walking in without a second glance.

That’s what friends do? Right. Because we were friends and, as far as Veronica was concerned, that was all we were.

I bit back a groan as I fought past a tide of students who were rushing to beat the next bell signaling the start of class. I took my time, not only because I would already be late to my next class on the other side of the building but because today was one of those days where it was good to be the star pitcher of a winning baseball team.

Not even the strictest teacher would punish me for being late today of all days.

So I took my time and thought over what I should have said. What I would say the very next time I had the chance.