Page 16 of Matched (LSU #5)

M y phone vibrated against my leg, and I eased it from my pocket, glancing up at my lecturer to make sure she wasn’t paying attention.

Sophie:

It went well. Really well

My brow furrowed as I stared at the message that had appeared on my screen, before I remembered that I’d finally given in and texted my sister late last night, asking how her date went. Had she gone home with Charlie, or had he gone home with her?

I rubbed at my stomach in a futile effort to get rid of the sudden, weird feeling. Balancing my phone on my thigh, I tapped out a quick message.

Me:

Not too well I hope

She sent me back several eye roll emojis, and after the longest minute of my life, my phone buzzed with an actual reply.

Sophie:

I know what you’re implying and you can stop it. He was a perfect gentleman. He walked me home and kissed me. Not that I would tell you if anything else happened, because IT’S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS. But you can hold off the big brother routine

Gritting my teeth, I stabbed out a reply.

Me:

There’s no big brother routine. It’s called being concerned for my sister

Sophie:

I know but please remember I’m an adult now

Me:

I know. Sorry

Sophie:

Can you promise to act cool on Friday? I’m assuming you’re going to the student union with the rest of the football team. Charlie will be there and I don’t want you to scare him off. I really like him

Friday. Fucking hell. It wasn’t even a proper night out—it was supposed to be casual drinks, with the flimsy excuse of celebrating Charlie’s final training session with the team, which was happening on Wednesday. Now, Charlie had presumably invited my sister.

I exited out of the message thread with Sophie, opening my conversation with Jonas.

Me:

You know how I couldn’t do the LSU Matched date. Can you mess with the algorithm or whatever so I can go on Friday?

Jonas must’ve been on his phone already because his reply came back almost instantly.

Jonas:

You mean how you pulled out of it for no good reason and spent the evening moping instead?

Me:

Fuck off

Jonas:

Did I hit a nerve?

Seriously though. The app isn’t designed like that. I can’t manipulate it that way, but if you go back to your matches and put in your preferred dates, just select Friday. You don’t have to select more than one day

Nate:

Thanks. I’ll do that

Jonas:

Good. See you later. I’m making cottage pie for me and Jada for dinner. Want me to save you some?

Nate:

So domestic

Jonas:

And?

Nate:

Yeah I’ll have some if you have any spare. Don’t worry if not. Thanks

Jonas:

Of course we’ll have some left. You know I always make too much. I’ll save you a plate

Nate:

Thanks mate. Really

Jonas:

Anytime. Did you hear from Charlie or Sophie about their date?

Why was he asking me? It was none of his business. Or mine, for that matter. I wished I’d never mentioned their date to him.

Me:

It went well from what I hear

Jonas:

Ok. See you later

That was it? He wasn’t going to push for more details?

Whatever. I returned to my conversation with my sister.

Me:

I’ve got a date on Friday but in the unlikely chance I happen to see you, I promise to try not to embarrass you or scare Charlie off

Sophie:

Thanks. You’re the best. I don’t want to mess anything up

Something inside me twisted, and I couldn’t bring myself to reply. Shoving my phone back into my pocket, I did my best to concentrate on my lecture.It was a lost cause, though. The events of the past few weeks played through my mind on a loop.

By the time the lecture ended, I’d come to a decision.

I was going to put some distance between me and Charlie—even more than I had over the past week. The fact was, Charlie liked Sophie. Sophie liked him back. Charlie and I were friends. He was a good guy. Good enough for my sister, and that wasn’t something I thought about many people.

A memory flashed through my mind, completely unbidden.

“I like Ria. Who do you like, Nate?”

I glanced over at my new friends, sprawled out under the shade of the large elm tree on the school field. They’d been discussing the party we’d been at last weekend.

Meeting Mark’s gaze, I shrugged. “Uh…I dunno.”

Alfie rolled his eyes. “You have to like one of them, at least. Is it Amelia? Or Kayla? She kissed Henry, but I know she thinks you’re, like, fit or whatever.”

“What if I don’t like any of them?” My voice came out scratchy, and I swiped my water bottle, downing the contents.

“Any of them? What? You have to like at least one of them.”

“Yeah. That’s weird. You’re not gay or anything, are you?” Alfie and Mark pulled a face at each other, and then Mark sat upright.

“It’s okay to be, uh, gay, or whatever,” he said slowly before exchanging another grimace with Alfie. “But everyone knows football players are straight, though.”

Their faces were too easy to read. It was okay not to be straight, but they’d have a hard time accepting it. Not that I needed to be thinking about that, anyway. I was straight. Noticing other boys didn’t count.

It didn’t.

It couldn’t.

I was a football player, and they were right. It was going to be my career when I grew up, and there were no professional players in the Premier League who were anything but straight. Not openly, anyway.

I wanted to fit in here at this new school, and that meant I needed to act the way they expected me to. It wouldn’t be hard, anyway. I liked girls, a lot. Noticing the odd boy here and there was something I could easily ignore.

“Yeah. Kayla’s alright. Amara’s nice, though, isn’t she?”

The looks of relief on their faces made something clench in my gut, but as they continued talking, it eased up.

I had friends. I fit in. I was good at football.

I was becoming popular in my school year, and that, in turn, would ease the way for Sophie when she joined the school in September.

She’d been struggling since Mum and Dad divorced, and having to move to a new house and school had made her life even harder.

As her big brother, it was up to me to make things go as smoothly for her as I could.

That was what was important.

The noise of students packing up their things around me shocked me out of my memory. On autopilot, I gathered everything up, swinging my bag over my shoulder and exiting the lecture hall.

It was only when I was back in my bedroom that I let myself look at my final unread text.

Charlie:

Looking forward to our training session after the team session on Weds. My last ever one with the team!

My jaw clenched. Opening the LSU app, I entered the booking calendar and changed mine and Charlie’s session to the following week. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t face him alone. Not yet. Not so soon.

I couldn’t even explain my actions to myself as I tapped out a message.

Me:

Forgot to say they double booked the training pitch. Rebooked for same time next week

Scrolling quickly to the message thread with my team captain, I let him know that I couldn’t make this week’s team training because I had a major assignment due. Then, I turned off my phone.