Page 35 of Offside Attraction

“You serious, Coty?”

“I swear to God, I’ll come down to Brooklyn and beat you with a fucking bat if you call me Coty again.”

Seth laughs loudly, shaking his head. “I’m not even kidding, man. I like her. You know I do. I’ve been trying for years, and she finally said yes. Told me to take her out.”

“Huh.” I tilt my head. “That’s… weirdly sweet.”

“Yeah.” His grin fades a little. “And I get this… feeling. Like, right here.” He taps his chest. “Every time I’m around her. I don’t know if you get what I mean.”

Yeah.

I do.

And I hate that I do—especially when the person doing that to me is the one guy I want to hurt more than anyone else.

…and maybe fuck.

God. This is fucking pathetic.

“And I hate that it feels nice,” he adds quietly.

I scoff. “Yeah. Look at you, falling for the good girl. So fucking cheesy.”

“Fuck you, Dakota,” Seth mutters, and I laugh.

“And who knew you could finally call me by my real name?”

“Well,” he shrugs, “I don’t want you flying down here to hit me with a fucking bat. Even though…” He hesitates. “It’d be nice having you around again.”

“Yeah.” I sigh, dragging a hand over my buzzed hair that’s already starting to grow out.

One of the reasons I came back to this town without making a fuss was so I could leave again the second I graduate. Mom doesn’t know that yet—and she doesn’t need to.

“I’m happy for you,” I say. “You’ve spent years fantasizing about the two of you together. I’m glad she’s finally coming around.”

“Yeah.”

“But you still haven’t told me why you’re in the kitchen,” I add, sitting up and resting my phone on my thigh as I start unbuttoning the cuffs of my shirt.

“I’m gonna cook dinner,” Seth says softly.

I grab my phone immediately, staring at him.

He’s blushing. Biting his lip.

“What?”

“You heard me, asshole. I’m cooking for Aaliyah. We’re having the date at my place.”

I snort. “Damn. Look at you, learning how to cook to impress a girl.”

“Hey,” he points at the screen. “I know my way around the kitchen.”

“You can’t even cook noodles, Seth. You don’t know shit.”

He rolls his eyes. “Whatever. I’ve been watching cooking videos on YouTube. It doesn’t look that hard.”

“Oh yeah? You could save that girl a trip to the toilet by admitting you can’t cook for shit.”