Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 104766 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 524(@200wpm)___ 419(@250wpm)___ 349(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 104766 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 524(@200wpm)___ 419(@250wpm)___ 349(@300wpm)
I’m over him.
How can you have a crush on a guy you haven’t seen in four years, if not more?
The last time I was in the same room as Drew was at my brother's high school graduation party, and even then, we were mostly on opposite sides of the room. He nodded at me a few times—said hello when he got there, obviously—but other than that…
He had as little interest in me back then as I have in Brian Flanders now, the nerdy tech geek who works in the computer lab on campus and stares at me uncomfortably every time I go in for assistance.
And unfortunately, I need a lot of assistance.
Sigh.
“Are you listenin’ to a thing I say?” my brother asks, giving me a jostle under the table with the toe of his cowboy boot.
We live in Texas, and cowboy boots and sneakers are interchangeable, though I stopped wearing mine around town the day I left for college.
“I heard you.” I bite into the burrito I’ve taken off my plate and chew thoughtfully. “Drew is actually flying home? For just the weekend?”
He nods.
“How’d you convince him to do that?”
Grady just shrugs.
Grady always shrugs. It’s his lazy way of giving a noncommittal answer or not answering at all.
“I think he needs a break.”
“A break? From what?”
Another shrug. “School. Drake. Drake and his girlfriend. Football.” He rattles off the many reasons Drew Colter “needs a break.”
“That’s pretty much everything.”
“If you ask me, I don’t think he wanted to play football in the first place, but you know how his old man was. And he can’t escape it, not with every single Colter playin’ it.”
“So he’s flyin’ home,” I state matter-of-factly. “When does he get here?”
“Thursday. He’s skipping his Friday class.” My brother picks at his taco, removing half the lettuce. “Can you do me a favor?”
And here it is.
Grady needs something.
“I should have known you asked me here so you could ask me to do something for you.” Buying me lunch? Come on now, how transparent could the guy possibly be?
“That isn’t true. I wanted to see you anyway, and this gave me the perfect excuse.” His smile is charming, so I smile back.
“What?”
“Can you grab him from the airport?”
I throw down my napkin. “Grady, no!” Leaning back, I cross my arms, pouting. “No.”
“Come on, sis. I have to work. And he’s your friend, too, you know.”
Barely.
I would not call a childhood crush and following him around like a puppy dog a friendship. The guy could barely tolerate me, his twin brother even less so. The pair went everywhere together, along with my brother and Lucas and all the other football meatheads who traveled in packs.
They ate together. They hung out together. They practiced together. All their free time was spent together. They lived and breathed for that game, and the Colters still do.
Football is in their blood.
Their daddy played, and the twins’ older brothers both play.
They’re like one of those famous football families you see on television—the kind where two brothers play on opposing teams, and the cameras always pan to the momma and daddy sitting there cheering. Or cringing.
That’s the Colters.
I never got the feeling that Drew cared as much, but nonetheless, it sounds like he’ll play professionally anyhow. Whether he likes it or not.
I sigh, nibbling at my burrito. “What time?”
“One o’clock.”
Ugh! “Honestly, could you have chosen a more inconvenient time? That’s right smack in the middle of the damn day, Grady Donahue.”
“I didn’t choose it. He did. Calm down. If you don’t wanna do it, that’s fine. I can see if Sissy Lancaster has the time.”
Sissy Lancaster?
Oh hell no.
Sissy is the best friend of Lucas’s fiancée and always has her claws in fresh meat—and even though Drew grew up around here—and even though I have no feelings for him anymore, that doesn’t mean I want Sissy Lancaster picking him up from the airport.
“You and I both know if Sissy picks him up from the airport, he’ll never be rid of her.”
That’s the truth.
“So?” My brother snorts. “He probably won’t want to be rid of her.”
Grady says it so nonchalantly—as if he wants to get stabbed with the end of my spork.
I’m not jealous. I’m not.
Like I said, I haven’t seen Drew in ages, and in that time, I’ve dated plenty of other people.
“Do you not like her?” he asks smugly.
Um, does my brother not know I had a crush on his best friend at one point in our lives… because he’s acting like he does, but it’s hard to tell by the expression on his face.
Does he?
Did he?
“Of course I like her. Everyone likes her.” Which is slightly annoying, but I’m too polite to say so out loud.
“So I’ll just have her pick him up, then. She did offer.”
I stop chewing the burrito and gulp it down. “She offered? Oh. Well then, I mean. Why are you asking me, then?”