Page 91 of From Drummer to Gamer

I could hear Tin calling out my name, but I gripped Matty’s hand and tugged him far, far away from the concourse.

The entire time, I did not meet his eyes, while my mind ran wild with a thousand thoughts.

What was I going to do now?

What good excuse could I ever come up with?

But first of all, how the hell did he find me?

My panic only increased tenfold at the thought that he could call Mom, who would have my head when she found out.

But before that, what the hell was he thinking?

Matty just found out I tricked him, lied to him, and kept secrets from him.

He was the most honest, trustworthy, and real man I’d ever met, and all he’d ever been was nice to me, but here I was, quite the opposite of that.

Embarrassment trickled its way up my veins.

Why couldn’t I just, for once, be normal?

But it was already too late to ponder that.

I stopped just as we rounded to an empty corner and took a deep breath before I met his eyes.

“How much do you know?” I mumbled.

His impassive face and his neutral eyes told me everything I needed to know.

I was so screwed, wasn’t I?

Matty wasn’t even going to send me back to Iona like a pretty packaged parcel. I was going to be flung on my mother’s doorstep like a lowly community flier.

“I’ll explain everything, okay.” I waved a frantic hand, wide-eyed. “First of all, I didn’t mean to lie to you. Second of all, I don’t have a lying bone in my body, okay? I know that might sound contrary to all the lies and secrets I’ve been keeping, but can you blame me? I had no other choice. Like really, no choice. My mom wants me to become a doctor.A doctor,” I hissed in disbelief, pointing at myself. “The last person in the universe that should become a doctor is me, I mean, if I held a scalpel, there was going to be more dead bodies at the hospital than on a freeway. I know nothing about science, Matty. That’s not really my thing.”

“I think I got that,” he replied dryly, his expression giving nothing away.

A faint flush burned my cheeks. “Gaming is all I know…all that I’m good at,” I muttered. “It’s everything to me, and my mom doesn’t understand, not now at least. It’s not something she would take seriously unless I show her the proof. So I needed an opportunity, and what better way than winning a tournament, right?” My words tumbled out in a breathless laugh. “I was going to join the tournament anyway, but when Raphy brought you home, I thought, what better way to go to New York than to be in New York itself? I swear I didn’t plan it or anything,” I rambled. “It just happened, and here I am. And I swear I had no idea you playedFantasy Legendstill I saw you. Trust me, I didn’t intend to trick you at all, but when you said I was your favorite, I just couldn’t help it. I wanted to play with you, so I gave you a request, and here we are. I just… I like playing games with you. I’ve also been pretending to go to classes when all I’ve been doing is going to the gaming café fifteen blocks from the apartment. That’s it. I haven’t told another lie.”

I almost had to catch my breath as I finished.

His gaze was still fixed on me with such intent that my nerves fired with an invisible shiver.

I swallowed, thinking of the biggest secret. “Wait, there’s one more.” I took a step toward him, and his eyes followed my motion without blinking. “I’m a fangirl. Likeyourfangirl, like obsessed with you kind of fangirl to the point I call myself your number-one fan. I don’t like J.J., Mikey, or Landon. I like you. You’re my favorite celebrity, and I know everything about you that there’s to know, and I listen to your music all the time, especially your instrumentals. I can’t game without it,” I spewed. “That’s it. That’s all, no more secrets…I don’t have any more secrets.”

A beat passed as he just stared at me, piercing me with his green eyes that smoldered the blood pulsing through my veins.

“Are you finished?” he asked.

“Yes, I think so,” I said, nodding frantically. “I don’t have anything else to say. Or do I? I don’t know. Do white lies count? If you think maybe I’ve lied some, I think, I don’t know…”

His lips twitched, but it didn’t just stop there. They curved into a faint whisper of a smile.

“You’re smiling,” I blurted.

His smile widened, and my heart skipped a beat.

Matty Evans was smiling atme.