"Do you think she'll say yes?" Ryan fidgeted beside me and I rolled my eyes. He'd been nervous about asking Ashley out for the dance, all morning.

"Oh my God, how many more times do you want us to answer that?" Jace groaned and I chuckled. "You're asking her to be your date for the dance, not her hand in marriage!"

Before Ryan could respond, Neil and Avi walked over to us. "Hey! I thought the practice was over. What are you guys still doing at the field?"

"It's officially over, but our Captain here–" Jace said, pointing at me. "–decided to stay and extend the practice, because he wants to see his girl. So I'm keeping him company."

It's been thirty minutes since our practice ended and usually, I'd be home by now, getting some much-needed rest before the big game tomorrow. But not today.
Today, I was dragging out the practice and loitering around with my friends, hoping to see her, talk to her and if I got lucky, maybe spend some time with her.

The girl has me hooked, and I was beyond pretending otherwise.

"My boy is smitten!" Jace clapped my back, while the others laughed.

"Whatever guys, can we just play, " I muttered and ran back towards the field.

We dribbled the ball around for a few minutes when I noticed we had an audience.

Veronica was standing near the bleachers, about twenty feet away, watching us with interest.

Like always she was dressed casually– wearing a plain black t-shirt along with a pair of faded blue jeans, her long dark hair was swept up in a ponytail. And like always, I had a hard time keeping my eyes off her.

Suddenly, I heard someone call out her name, and I turned around to find Josh walking over to her with a bright smile on his face. He gave her a hug, which in my opinion lasted a few seconds longer than necessary, and started talking to her about something.

He was just an old crush, I reminded myself.

She had clearly told me that he was nothing but a friend to her. I shouldn't be jealous. I shouldn't have this intense urge to walk over to her and kiss her senseless, just so that I could make it clear that she was mine. But I did.

When did I turn into such a caveman?

I seemed to have acquired a problem and felt like I was going through puberty again. I always stared at her for a beat too long, my mind was a hazy mess of raw sensations when I was around her and I was so damn protective over her, it was getting ridiculous. 

The only thing that brought me some satisfaction was that she seemed just as distracted as I was. She kept glancing over at us, and whenever her eyes met mine, I felt my heart tug.

"Hey, Ty!" Jace's words registered in my brain a split second before the ball hit me in the stomach catching me off guard and eliciting a loud grunt.

Jace and Neil burst out laughing, and I quickly glanced over at Veronica, who was no longer looking at us but was suppressing a smile. She'd seen everything.

"You should go talk to her," Jace said.

"I will," I grumbled, kicking the ball back to him. "And you're gonna pay for that."

We resumed our game and I tried to refrain from sneaking glances at her, with little success.

After I missed another pass from Jace, he let out a frustrated sigh. "Oh C'mon, dude!"

"Sorry." I gave him a sheepish smile.

"I never thought I'd see the day where our captain would be distracted from his game." Neil chuckled.

Jace stared at me for a second and then shot me a mischievous grin. He looked over to where Veronica was standing and before I could stop him, he kicked the ball in her direction as hard as he could.

"Asshole." I narrowed my eyes at him, before turning around to jog over to her and retrieve the ball.

But before I could reach her, she pointed her toe at the oncoming sphere, let it roll up her shin, and into the air. She dribbled it from one knee to the other a few times before she let it hit the ground and kicked it back to Jace with amazing precision.

Jace and I froze, with our mouths hanging open. She shot Jace a grin and winked at my direction before resuming her conversation.

"That's my girl!" I heard Neil call out, from behind me and I chuckled.

Reason No twenty-one why I'm into her.

Soon, Josh left her with another– longer than necessary– hug and she settled down on the bleachers to watch us. I tried to focus on the game, but she made it really hard for me. I was distracted by her mere presence.

We worked on Jace's defending technique for a while and called it a day. When I turned around to look at Veronica, she was still sitting on the bleachers, alone and her eyes were fixed on me. I started walking towards her when someone grabbed my arm and yanked me in the opposite direction. Courtney.

I didn't expect to see her here, but I guessed she had her cheer practice too, judging by the cheerleading outfit she was still wearing.

Suddenly, she threw her arms around me, and mumbled, "Thank God, you're still here."

"What's going on?" I asked, returning her hug.

"I need a ride back home. My car broke down and I was worried that you must have already left." She looked up at me with her arms still around my waist.

I knew her since we were both six years old. She must have hugged me innumerable times in the past, and I didn't mind it. But right now, her close proximity made me uncomfortable.

I chanced a glance at Veronica. Our eyes met for a brief second and she turned away, her lips forming a tight line.

I took a step back and pulled away from Courtney.

"I'm so sorry, but I can't come with you right now. Shall I ask someone to drop you? Or maybe check what's wrong with your car?" I scanned the area for any of my friends.

"Why can't you come? I thought your practice was over." She frowned.

"Yeah, but Veronica is here and she's been waiting for quite a while. We had plans of hanging out." I jerked my head towards where she was sitting, looking at her phone.

"Oh! I'm sorry." Courtney shook her head and smiled. "Right, of course."

"I'll call Jace and he can help you out."

"No, it's fine. I'll go look for him myself, don't worry about it."

"Are you sure?" I asked tentatively, feeling guilty for not helping her out.

"Absolutely. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Call me when you get home, okay?"

She nodded and smiled at me, before walking away. I took out my phone and shot Jace a text regarding the situation and asked him to take care of it.

Then, I walked over to the bleachers and plopped down beside Veronica. "Hey, Mia Hamm."

"Huh?"

"Mia Hamm. The famous footballer."

"I know who Mia Hamm is and you shouldn't compare me to her just because I can pass a football with some skill." She chuckled.

"Where did you get those skills from?" I asked.

"Neil and I used to play in middle school. We still do sometimes, but not that often. He taught me some stuff, it's no biggie." She shrugged. "I'm not that special."

"I'm not sure I agree with that." I grinned and she flushed under my gaze.

"Well, you seemed quite distracted back there, Captain." She raised an eyebrow, taunting me.

"It was all good until you walked in," I mumbled. "You're quite distracting."

"Yeah, I could see that." She chuckled. "It was immensely satisfying to know I had such an effect on you."

I wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer. "You should never doubt that."

She gave me one of those rare smiles of hers, that only makes an appearance when she lets her guard down and it always makes me feel so damn lucky when I'm on the receiving end of it.

"So...um what did Courtney want?" She asked, looking across the empty football field.

"Her car broke down, she was looking for a ride," I explained and she nodded. "But I asked Jace to take care of it."

"If you have to go, I don't mind." She looked at me and I shook my head.

"It's fine, I asked Jace to help her out." I shrugged. "And besides, I've been waiting to see you all day. Leaving without spending some time with you wasn't an option." I kissed her cheek and she leaned into me.

We sat there in comfortable silence, looking over the now-empty football field. A light breeze blew around us and I heard her sigh before she looked up at the sky squinting against the sunlight and asked, "Are you nervous for tomorrow's game?"

"A little bit," I admitted. Tomorrow's game determined our position in the inter-school championship. It'll decide if we'll be qualified for the finals or not.

"You really don't have to be, you're freaking amazing, " she said and I smiled.

"What happens if you win and then you guys have to play against Edgewood high?" She asked after a while.

What happens if I have to play against Max? "I honestly don't know."

She nodded but didn't say anything else. After a few minutes, she got up from her seat and extended a hand towards me. "Walk with me?"

I placed my hand in hers and we started taking rounds around the field. I could see Josh with his friends in the distance and I caught him looking at us every now and then.

"Can I ask you something?" I murmured.

She nodded. "Anything."

"You said you had a crush on Josh, but when you found out he felt the same way about you and he asked you out last year, why did you say no to him?"

She was quiet for a long time, and I was beginning to doubt if she'll ever answer me. But then she took a deep breath and spoke, "Last year was weird for me. My home life wasn't exactly...happy and with everything that happened with Max, I was a spectacle at school. I could feel eyes on me everywhere I go, looking away as soon as they were caught." She grimaced as if she were reliving that memory. "I didn't want to be around anyone other than my friends, and Josh reeked of romance and good intentions."

I frowned at the last part. What did she mean by that?

"Uh okay, I-"

"No wait, I'm sorry that came out wrong, " she interrupted me, shaking her head. "I just didn't have any place for a guy in my life. I needed time for myself."

I respected that. She might make it sound like it was no big deal and try to act fine but I know that what happened last year left some really deep scars in her mind. The panic attack she had at Court's party was proof of that.  
"I get it." I nodded.

"So...do you still feel the same." I couldn't help but ask her.

She stopped walking and looked at me with a small smile. "No. I tried...I tried to push you away, but I couldn't. It was impossible."

I stepped closer to her and rested my forehead against hers. "I'm glad."

"You're the exception to my every rule, Tyler Crosby, " she whispered, before kissing me softly.

I cupped the back of her head and pulled her closer, all my doubts and worries fading away. She pulled away too soon and smiled at me, that dazzling, carefree smile that made my heart race.

"Excited for the dance tomorrow?" I asked tightening my hold on her.

"No." She frowned. "Are you?"

"I am. I'm mostly excited because of the company I'll have." I grinned.

She blushed, but then quickly covered it up by saying, "Ugh, you can be really cheesy sometimes."

"You love it, " I murmured, nuzzling my nose against hers. "Now, tell me why aren't you excited?"

"It's just too much fuss, the dress, the shoes...it makes me very self-conscious and uncomfortable." She wrinkled her nose. "Also...going with you will mean being in a spotlight. Everyone will know that we're kinda...together now."

"Is that bad?"

She sighed. "You are the only reason I'm actually looking forward to it. I'm just not a very...social person."

"I know." I chuckled. "It'll be fine and I promise you'll have fun."

She nodded, but I could see that she wasn't fully convinced. From the look on her face, she was most likely thinking about every single thing that could go wrong tomorrow. So I leaned down and pressed my lips to hers.

I kissed her until she forgot about all the what-ifs and only remembered the why.