Page 31 of The Surprise Play

“Sorry,” Sienna murmurs, chasing her into the living area. “Have you seen her beanie?”

I look around, helping Sienna out, who is obviously running late. Lifting up the beanbag, we unearth Zoey’s hat and mittens.

“Thank you.” Sienna smiles, racing after Zoey, who runs into the dining room still shouting, “Fooooobawl!”

“Who was that?”

“That was Zoey’s mother, Sienna. She lives at Football Frat too. Although, they’re in the detached garage, so it’s like they half live here. Kinda.” I tip my head and grin.

“Okay, then.” Satch lets out a nervous chuckle.

Satch. Yeah, I like that for her.

Satch, the tutor girl.

Satch, the one who’s gonna save my ass.

CHAPTER 10

ELIZABETH

To say that I’m nervous is the understatement of the decade.

I’m about to walk into a den of lions.

I mean, jocks.

That’s gotta be worse than lions, right?

Why the hell did I agree to this? I was second-guessing myself the entire way in the Uber. I should have just walked, to be honest; it’s not that far, and I do love to get out in the fresh air, even when it’s cold. The sting of winter on my face is always so invigorating.

If I’d known it was so close, I wouldn’t have caught an Uber so soon. Now I’m stupidly early.

Closing the car door, I wave goodbye to the driver and hover on the sidewalk.

Do I go in now?

Or maybe I should walk the block a couple of times first.

Or maybe?—

“Satch! You made it!” I glance up and spot Wilywaving at me from a window on the second floor. He has a towel draped around his neck. His smile is wide, his blond hair wet and mussed. “I thought we were meeting at four?”

“Oh, yeah, I…” I point to my wrist, then shake my head. “I didn’t realize Football Frat was so close to campus.”

“Right on its doorstep.” He grins and flicks his hand at me. “Come on up.”

I point toward the front door. “So, you just want me to…”

“Yeah, let yourself in.” His head disappears back inside, and I release a shaky breath.

“You can do this,” I murmur under my breath, my legs practically shaking as I walk up the front steps and imagine what awaits me inside.

I bet a bunch of super-cool, super-hot football players are lounging around in there, all relaxed and completely unaware of how intimidating they all are. I’m gonna be the injured gazelle struggling to keep up with the herd, and every head in this pride of footballers will snap my way as soon as I walk through the front door. Then they’ll all be thinking about how fast they can devour me.

Would you stop, please? They’re not going to eat you.

And Wily’s nice. You don’t have anything to worry about.