back when I see Ivy’s brilliant smile, her long loose hair framing her pretty face. Look at that, she has freckles like her sister. Nevertheless, giving a piggyback ride to the cheerleaders after a winning game is nothing new, it’s just that Ivy has never jumped on my back before. She’s never jumped on my anything.
Why now?
“Great job out there, Landon,” she says, her mouth near my ear, her voice a low seductive whisper. “You were torpedo fast.”
Why the emphasis on torpedo? It’s not like she was ever interested in riding my torpedo before. I put my hand over hers and hold her steady as we head toward the doors. But something gnaws at my gut, something uncomfortable and foreign. Drawn by a force I don’t understand, I slowly turn, and even though she’s at a distance, I can almost feel Ella’s camera pointed my way, capturing my every movement. But that’s ridiculous, right? I’m nothing to her. Sure, we all have big egos, but I’d be giving myself credit if I thought I was on Ella’s mind the way she’s on mine. I’ve never met anyone more disinterested, which totally fucking sucks. She’s the kind of girl I could have real conversations with.
Ivy slides down my back and spins me to face her. She goes up on her toes, puts her palm on my cheek and forces me to look at her. “Hey, what’s the matter with you? We just won the game. We should be celebrating.”
“Yeah, celebrating. Tonight.” She gives me a wide smile and wets her bottom lip. She looks like she has something to say but I speak first. “How come you never told me you had a sister?”
Her eyes narrow, turn venomous, then, as if catching herself, she gives a dismissive wave and chuckles. “Ella. Oh, come on. She’s head movie nerd and has nothing in common with us. Why on earth would I mention her?”
“I don’t know. I just thought you might have…” And Ella and I both like movies, so we do have something in common. Not that Ivy would know or care about what I liked. I’m a footballer, and I’m not naïve. I know people see me as a dumb jock. My goal is to make it to the NFL, but it’s good to have a backup plan just in case, and when I retire, I’d like to write a screenplay about a horrific incident that happened to Brady and me when we were fourteen. Putting that incident down on paper might sound ridiculous to some—especially since I’m having a hard time passing English—which is why I’ve never told anyone I wanted to document that day. Not even my best friend.
“Well, she’s hardly your type,” she says, and sidles up to me. Her hands go to my chest and her fingers spread. “No sense in bringing her up.”
“Landon, come on for Fuck sake,” Caleb says. “Let’s get this meeting over and get a cold one.”
I put my hands on Ivy’s and remove them from my chest. “Gotta go. Team meeting. See you later.”
Disappointment moves over her face. “Sure, and you can count on seeing me later.”
I pause for a brief second. What is all this attention suddenly about? Sure, she’s gorgeous, but she goes for the pretty boys. Why the sudden change? I have no time to think about that when our infamous quarterback, Brady—my best friend and roommate—grabs me by the collar and hauls me backward.
“Dude,” I say and he lets me go and throws his arm around me. He punches me in the gut.
“Hey, Ivy, huh?”
I look over my shoulder in time to see Ivy turn, her gaze zeroed in on her sister, who is packing up her equipment. I can’t see Ivy’s face, but her stance is tight, her palms fisted at her sides. Something tells me the twin sisters don’t get along. Here I thought twins were tight.
“That girl is tight.”
“Yeah…tight. I was just thinking about that.”
“That’s my boy,” Brady says, and squeezes his arm around my neck. Of course we’re both talking about something entirely different. I laugh it off, and he says, “You getting with her tonight?”
“Is that all you think about?” I ask.
“Of course not.” He plasters on a mostly serious face. “You know I think about football too.”
I laugh at that. “If I don’t start thinking about English…” I stop and make a slicing motion across my neck. “Benched.”
Brady goes completely serious, and that’s one of the things I love most about him.