Page 32 of Matched (LSU #5)

“ T his is amazing!” Noah stared around us, wide-eyed. “I can’t believe they arranged to have the cup final at Plymouth Argyle’s ground.”

“Hearing you talk football is still weird.” Elliot shook his head.

“But you’re right. I can’t believe we ended up here, either.

The last game of the semester, and it’s the actual southern division cup final.

The sun’s out, we have the rest of the summer to look forward to, and whether we win or lose today, we made it to the finals. ”

Noah grinned. “Yep. Nothing to complain about.”

The team had gone down separately the night before, so I hadn’t seen Nate yet, but we’d texted for hours yesterday, throughout his own coach journey, and then again when he was in the hotel.

He was sharing a room with two of his teammates, and after the match, he was booked to stay for an extra two nights so he could meet up with his new postgrad supervisor on Monday and check out his accommodation for the next semester.

That was something I was trying hard not to think about. At least right now, I had something to distract me. Something big.

“What seat number are you? I think this is us.”

Up ahead, I realised that my friends had come to a stop, and I had to dig my heels in to stop myself running into Elliot’s back. We filed into our row, where Niccolò, Leo, Levi’s boyfriend, Asher, and another guy I didn’t recognise were already seated.

“That’s Preston’s boyfriend, Kian,” Elliot whispered to me, following my gaze. “They both went to the same school as Levi, but they were in the year above him. The same age as me.”

I nodded, pulling down the seat of the plastic chair and lowering myself onto it. Now I remembered. I’d seen him around a few times, although I’d never spoken to him.

Twisting around to scan the arriving crowds, I noticed JJ filing in, along with Killian and another two older guys. Elliot was still following my gaze, and when he saw them, he gasped, sinking down into his seat as if it would make him invisible.

“Who are they?”

“Gage, one of the business school lecturers, and Stuart, who’s the head of the entire business school.”

“I guess they came with Killian, or for support, maybe? I guess they all have students playing in the match, don’t they? I’ve seen other lecturers here too.”

Elliot relaxed at my words. “You’re right. Nothing weird about it.” He gave me a wry smile. “Nothing, other than the fact that they’re my lecturers and I’m not used to seeing them in this kind of environment.”

“Probably no weirder than our housemate dating your lecturer,” I pointed out. “You’ve seen him in different environments.”

Elliot shuddered. “Don’t remind me. Oh! Cole! Huxley!” he suddenly called, his attention diverted by two guys making their way along our row, one with dark hair and the other bleached blond.

“That’s your cousin, yeah?”

Elliot nodded. “My cousin and his boyfriend, Huxley. Hux is in a band.”

“I remember. The 2Bit Princes, isn’t it? You dated their drummer at one point, didn’t you?”

“Um…let’s pretend that never happened.”

“What never happened?” I gave him my best clueless look, batting my lashes, and he laughed before turning his attention to the newcomers.

Moving aside so Elliot could greet them, I found myself right on the end of the row, with the stairs on one side and Leo on my other.

Leo was quietly engrossed in some kind of game on his phone, and rather than disturb him, I decided to stretch my legs, heading up the concrete steps to the top of our section.

I lifted my hand in a wave when I saw Jonas sliding into a seat a couple of rows behind mine, along with another guy and two girls, but I continued on until I reached the top of the stairs.

From my new, higher vantage point, I looked out over the pitch, taking in the stands across from mine.

Home Park, Plymouth Argyle FC’s stadium, had a capacity of around eighteen thousand people.

Even though there were only a fraction of that number here, the atmosphere was electric.

It wasn’t just students and staff from the two respective universities, either.

Friends, family, and wider acquaintances were all filtering into the stands, every one of them here to enjoy what would hopefully be a great game of football.

Part of me wished I could be out there on the pitch as part of the team, and another part of me was happy to be here, close to the pitch with my fellow supporters, cheering on the players I’d trained with.

The players I’d come to know in those few weeks, and those I already knew.

My friends, my housemates, and my…whatever Nate was. Mine .

“Hi, Charlie.”

I turned to see Sophie standing against the wall, giving me a shy, tentative smile. She was wearing an LSU football shirt in the home colours and a small leather bag hooked over her shoulder, holding a pint of what looked like cider in one hand and a bottle of water in the other.

“Hi.”

“Listen, I’ve been meaning to speak to you for a while. I wanted to apologise if I made anything awkward between us. I—I don’t know. I felt like there was a bit of a weird atmosphere for a while, and you were purposely avoiding me whenever we ended up in the same place.”

That was true, but not for the reasons she thought. Fuck, there I went feeling bad again. “I was avoiding you a bit,” I admitted. “It wasn’t your fault, though. You don’t have anything to apologise for. It’s all me.”

She blew out a shaky breath. “Okay. Um. Thanks. I want you to know that I don’t fancy you.

” As soon as the words came out, she looked horrified, and she threw up her arm, attempting to cover her face with her water bottle.

“Bloody hell, I can’t believe I just said that.

I meant to word it in a completely different way. ”

I couldn’t help smiling. “It’s always so flattering when people tell you they don’t fancy you,” I teased gently.

Lowering her hand, she grimaced at me. Her face was red, but she held my gaze, her lips curving upwards. “Does that happen a lot?”

“Funnily enough, no.”

We both laughed, and although it was still a little awkward, it felt good. Good to be able to talk with her more normally, to move past everything and maybe even become proper friends.

“Do you miss training with the team?” she asked, her gaze going to where some of the Plymouth Uni players were warming up on the sidelines.

“Yeah. It was good, and I wish I could’ve trained with them for longer, but I’m okay. It is what it is, and I don’t mind working. Both my jobs are decent, and the pay isn’t bad. As long as I get to scratch the itch sometimes with the occasional kickaround, I’m all good.”

“I know what you mean. I miss training with my old team sometimes, but I get my fix watching my brother and the other guys. Did you know Nate wanted to be a professional footballer at one point? That was all he talked about as a kid. Funny how things change, isn’t it?

” Now we’d passed the initial awkwardness, Sophie was animated, properly smiling and gesturing with her water bottle as she spoke easily about her brother. I soaked it all up like a sponge.

“Now he’s gonna be a successful architect.”

“Yeah.” She studied me, her brows pulling together. “Are you two friends? Real friends?”

“Yeah…we’re friends. We, uh, got to know each other around the time I started training with the team,” I said cautiously, not wanting to lie to her, but I couldn’t tell her the full truth. Not without having spoken to Nate first.

“That makes sense. I guess he hasn’t spoken to me about you because of…well, you know, everything that happened with us.”

“Yeah.”

She took a sip of her cider. “It’s going to be so weird without him around next year. I can’t believe he’ll be here. We’ve never been so far apart.”

My stomach churned. “Yeah. It’ll be weird.”

“I said I was okay with it, that I was looking forward to having a bit of space without him breathing down my neck, but it’s not like that.

He doesn’t even breathe down my neck. He looks out for me because he’s my brother.

” Her lip trembled. “Now it’s actually happening, I wish I could change it. I’m going to miss him so much.”

“Shit,” I muttered. My boyfriend’s sister was upset, and I needed to comfort her. Easing the water bottle out of her grip, I curled my arm around her shoulders, giving her a careful side hug.

Wait a minute. Boyfriend ? Had I actually just thought that?

I groaned aloud, and Sophie stared up at me, concern creeping into her gaze.

Quickly shaking my head, I squeezed her bicep before removing my arm from her shoulders.

“Just thinking. You know, we’ll all miss him.

But you’ll have us still. The rest of the team.

Your friends. I bet Jonas will be looking out for you as well. ”

“You’re right.” Some of the sadness disappeared from her voice. “Jonas has already offered to cook for me.”

“There you go. You’re onto a winner, there.” Glancing around us, I noticed that although there were still a few people milling around up here, most had found their seats. “Come on. We’d better sit down. The match is starting soon.”

Together, we made our way down the stairs. When we reached Sophie’s seat, which happened to be in the row directly behind mine, I handed the water bottle back to her and gave her a reassuring smile. “You’re gonna be fine. And our team’s gonna win today.”

“Yep.” She grinned at me. “Thanks, Charlie. For all of that.”

“No problem. See you later, okay?”

When I slid back into the empty seat on the end of my row, everyone having switched places in my absence, I took a moment to soak up the pre-match atmosphere, setting everything else aside so I could throw my entire focus into this match.

Then the teams came out, and the crowd roared .