Page 34 of Find Me

I made my way up the bleachers slowly because my hip was still hurt. Ethan stood, offering the spot between him and Keelan.

“Hi,” I greeted Keelan and Knox shyly before taking a seat. They both were staring at me. Keelan was looking at me all over, probably taking in my outfit, and Knox…well, he was frowning. I wondered if he was still upset about yesterday.

“Shi, do you want to fix your sweatshirt?” Ethan asked as he pulled up the sleeve that had fallen down to my wrist, revealing my long, nasty scar on my inner arm.

That drew Keelan’s and Knox’s attention. Keelan had already seen my scars, but Knox hadn’t—at least until now. He might have just gotten a glimpse of the scar before Ethan could cover it.

I tried not to feel embarrassed. In fact, I forced it down with all my might. I didn’t want to ruin this evening with my insecurities. I give Ethan a grateful smile. “Thanks.”

He grinned back. “I’m assuming you’re wearing a jersey to my game. Did you put my name on it, too?”

“Not exactly.” I pulled out my phone. “Since you pretty much figured it out, I might as well show you.” I went to my pictures and found the one with the dark blue jersey. I showed him my phone.

He burst out laughing. “No, you didn’t!”

Yes, I did. Instead of his name on the back of the jersey, I’d ironed onFootball Godover his number on the back.

“This is the best thing I’ve ever seen.” He beamed.

“Did you invite Isabelle to the game?” I asked him. Isabelle was the girl I had caught him staring at in biology yesterday. We hadn’t been able to talk about her again until today. I’d tried to give him advice and suggested that he invite her to his game.

“Yeah, but I don’t know if she’ll show up,” he said.

“You didn’t act like a horndog when you asked her, did you?”

“I was respectful,” he deadpanned. “She said she would think about it.”

“Did she say anything else?”

He shook his head.

I bumped his shoulder with mine. “She’ll be there.”

He shrugged, not completely convinced.

Ethan was a sweetheart when he wasn’t acting like a womanizing fool. She would be a fool not to show.

“Do you want some popcorn, Shiloh?” Keelan asked me.

Surprised, I turned to look at him, then over his shoulder to see a student selling popcorn and drinks while walking up and down the steps of the bleachers. “Yes, please. I love popcorn.”

Keelan waved at the student and bought two slim, red-and-white-striped cartons of popcorn and a water. I reached into my pocket to get him some money. Keelan put a hand over mine, stopping me. “I got it,” he said, handing me a carton of popcorn.

“Thank you.” Popcorn was my favorite. It was my go-to when I was sad, happy, or bored.

The meet started shortly after that and everyone really got into it. Even I was cheering on the twins as they soared through the water. They kicked butt and smoked the competition. Ethan had to leave when the meet was over. Keelan, Knox, and I stayed behind, sitting on the bleachers waiting for the twins to come out of the locker room after showering.

Mostly everyone had cleared out, except for a few waiting like us. Creed walked out of the locker room first, Colt following closely behind. I hopped up from my seat. Ignoring the slight zap of pain in my hip, I made my way down the bleachers to the ground next to the pool. Colt grinned at me and Creed smirked at my appearance.

“That was exciting. Good job, guys,” I gushed.

Creed held out his hand. “Take the sweatshirt off.”

I looked at Colt. He had his hand over his mouth in an attempt to hide his smile as he stared down at me. I glanced around quickly out of habit before sliding my sweatshirt off and handing it over to Creed. I did a slow twirl, like I’d done for Ethan. By the time I completed my turn, both were smiling broadly but didn’t comment as to what they thought.

I put my hands on my hips. “Ethan said I looked adorable.”

“He also said sexy,” Keelan said as he approached with Knox.