“Holy shit! How did it go? Tell me everything.”
So, as the two teams lined up for the game, I divulged to Channing what I’d already spent last night telling Josie. And by the end, Channing looked as if she were going to explode with excitement.
“So, he was pointing at you?” she gasped. She pulled her blonde hair up into a ponytail since the heat was out of this world today. It was like spring had come yesterday and full-blown summer hit today. Typical Georgia.
“Yes!” Josie squealed.
“Oh, I love this. Who knew our little Delilah would snag Cole Davis?”
“I mean, it was one date.”
“Whatever,” Channing said with a hand wave. “That was more than a first date.”
And I couldn’t deny that. Not one bit.
It was a brutally hot day. I was sticky and would have happily gone home to shower and chill in the air conditioning, but I couldn’t leave my seat. The dance team continued to cheer through the fourth quarter. When the red team scored the winning touchdown, the entire stadium went wild, even with the dwindling numbers. We made up for the empty seats.
Before the clock ticked down its final few seconds, I grabbed Josie’s hand and tugged her out of the bleachers. We raced down the stairs to field level. Sanford Stadium was set up with a ring of five-foot hedges surrounding the field and a path around the hedges that led to the seats. I wanted to be the first one down there to take pictures between the hedges.
Josie and I snapped pictures individually and then together when we could grab someone to take it for us. The person taking our picture gasped.
I was about to ask what was wrong when I heard the cheers of the football players behind us. Josie grabbed her phone back and swiveled to take shots of the football players in the hedges, chanting with the marching band and remaining fans.
A few players jumped the hedges and pulled themselves up into the stands in front of the marching band to dance and celebrate.
“Oh my God!” Josie cried, taking picture after picture after picture.
We were at the heart of it. I couldn’t have planned it better if I’d tried.
Then I heard my name behind me.
Josie and I both whipped back around to find Cole Davis standing on the other side of the hedges. His helmet was still on, but I could see the gleam in his eyes and the wide smile on his face.
“This is crazy!” I yelled over to him.
Whatever he said next disappeared as the marching band started up another song.
“What?” I called.
He shook his head in exasperation, and then with two purposeful steps, he jumped, vaulting the hedges and sliding over to the other side. My eyes widened in shock. I’d seen other players clambering over the hedges, but he’d made it look like he’d taken a hurdle. Precise and somehow effortless.
“I said,” he began, tugging his helmet off of his head and looking down at me, “I was looking for you throughout the game.”
“Oh,” I said. “You found me.”
“I guess I did.”
He took that final step forward, bridging the distance between us with ease. His hand pushed up into my hair. My head tilted up to look at him towering over me.
We hung there, suspended in space and time. Everything shifted. The world dropped away. The chanting buzzed into silence. All around us, people celebrated, and here, right now, it was just me and Cole.
Then his head dipped down, and his mouth touched mine. We melded together as if we were always meant to be. He tasted like sweat and the sweet tang of a sports drink and something inexplicably him. My fingers tangled into the front of his jersey, distorting the number eighty-eight. I reveled in the feel of his kiss. I’d been hesitant last night, but all that hesitancy had evaporated.
He hooked his other arm, still holding his helmet, around my back, crushing me against his chest. I’d never felt so small as I did against his muscular build. I stood on my tiptoes, throwing my arms around him as he deepened the kiss. His tongue sweeping in to claim mine. I groaned deep in the back of my throat.
Then to my surprise, he effortlessly lifted me off the ground. I gasped as he twirled me around and then stole another kiss.
My eyes were only for him as he gently set me back on my feet. That was when everything else rushed back in. And the cheers from the crowd had changed in volume, erupting into applause and catcalls and whistles. Which was the moment that I realized they were cheering for us.
My face turned beet red, and I buried it into his jersey. “Oh my God!”
He laughed. “That was quite a kiss.”
“You were on the big screen!” Josie cried, snapping a picture.
“We were not!” I gasped.
Josie winked. “I got it all on my phone.”
“Stop! You did not. How many pictures did you take?”
Josie shrugged. “How could I not take pictures?”
Cole chuckled softly. He put his finger under my chin and tilted it up until I was looking at him. Then he stole another kiss. “Don’t listen to anyone else. This was perfect.”
My eyes locked with his again. “It was.”
“You’re mine now,” he said with all the heat of our first kiss baking in the summer sun.
Still, I shivered at the proclamation. And how right it was.
“I already was.”
And that would never change.
4
Athens
May 5, 2008
Finals week wasn’t the ideal time to throw a party. I definitely should have been studying for my Spanish final. Languages were not my strong suit, and I needed an A on the final to keep my B in the class. It was pathetic.
Instead, I was waiting for Marley to show up in Athens. She was the genius of us. She’d been in the Duke TIP program since middle school, which identified young talent, and had been admitted to the university with early acceptance. I missed her, as she was five long hours away. Thankfully, she didn’t have any finals at Duke and was currently driving south to be here in time for my birthday party.
I texted her, requesting an ETA.
Driving down the Atlanta Highway. *insert B-52 lyrics*
She was ridiculous, but I was glad that she was finally here.
Cole had been needling me all day about coming over to his place early for birthday shenanigans. It didn’t matter that we’d celebrated his birthday yesterday downtown. Half the football team had drunkenly shown up and gotten him so plastered that he’d blacked out the second I got him into his bed.
It was still surprising to me that our birthdays were so close. His on the fourth of May and mine on the fifth. I’d always hated having my birthday on Cinco de Mayo until college when it was apparently the coolest shit ever, and Cole had promptly declared that he was throwing a joint birthday party. Then he’d planned two anyway. Having two birthday parties after claiming we were only having one was perfectly Cole.
HERE! HERE! HERE!!!!!
I dashed out of my dorm room and down into the Brumby lobby. Marley had hiked up the hill and opened the lobby door when I got out of the elevator. We collided in the middle, laughing and practically near to tears. This was the longest either of us had ever gone without the other. I’d seen her at Christmas, and it was too long to go.