Maddy, and Aloha and her husband, Zander—wander over to the table to watch. And, suddenly, with my childhood idol, Aloha, watching me, I can’t return a ball to save my life.
When Fish’s victory is swiftly secured, I lay down my paddle, eager to sprint away from the famous people in our audience.
“Good game,” I murmur, fidgeting like crazy. I turn to the waiting foursome and motion to the table. “It’s all yours. I hope you have better luck than me.”
Fish laughs. “I’ll give you a rematch later.” He turns to his friends. “Guys, you remember my date, Alessandra, from the pool?”
And there it is again. My date. The boy is most definitely making himself clear.
The group makes small talk for a moment as the foursome picks up their paddles. And then, Fish and I, with our hands firmly clasped, stand to the side to watch their game.
Fish leans down to me. “You okay? You seem a little stressed.”
“I grew up watching Aloha’s show. It’s just kind of mind blowing to me to be here with her.”
“She’s a sweetheart. No need to stress.”
“I’m not trying to stress. It just . . . happens. It’s outside my control.”
He squeezes my hand. “I’ve got you.” His phone buzzes and he pulls it out. “Oh, hey, guys. Dax is summoning us to the basketball court for a game of HORSE. You guys in?”
The foursome playing ping-pong confirms they’ll head over to the court after their current game.
Fish looks at me. “Are you down to play a friendly game of HORSE with my friends?”
His friends. I can’t believe this is my life. But, somehow, looking into his earnest green eyes, I forget about the collective fame and glamour of his friend group, and manage to reply, “Only if you don’t mind me kicking your ass, sucker.”
He hoots with laughter. “God, I love it when you talk smack.”
I blush. “Just so you know, I can’t back it up at all. I’m even worse at basketball than ping-pong.”
He winks. “Who knows? Maybe today will be your lucky day.”
My heart skips a beat. It already is, I think.
Hand in hand, we head to the basketball court, where we find not only Dax and Colin and their beautiful dates . . . but the one and only Laila Fitzgerald, too.
I freeze at the edge of the court, incapable of commanding my limbs. “Oh, God,” I whisper. “Fish.”
“You’ll be fine,” he says. He grips my hand and pulls me forward. “She’s super chill. She’s gonna love you.”
I stand my ground. Refusing to move. “Please, Fish, don’t let me embarrass myself. Be my wingman.”
“Dude, I told you. I’ve got you.”
He pulls on me again, and, this time, I let him lead me onto the court. When we reach the group, he reminds his bandmates of my name, since we met only briefly earlier at the pool. And then, Fish turns to Laila. “This is my date, Alessandra,” he says. “She’s a student at Berklee in Boston. A kickass singer-songwriter.”
“Oh, wow. Impressive.” Laila extends her hand. “Hi, Alessandra. Nice to meet you.”
My heart is clanging wildly. But I manage to take her hand in perfect mimicry of what a sane human would do. “Hi, Laila. I’m a huge fan.”
“Thank you so much.”
“I . . . I’m so happy to meet you,” I babble. “I love you.”
Fuck.
Fish chuckles. “She’s a big fan.” He slides his hand in mine again. “Don’t get a false sense of security around her, though. I promise, this one’s about to wipe the floor with you in HORSE.”
“Is that so?” Laila says playfully.
“No,” I say. “Not at all. I’m terrible at basketball. And I’m sure I’ll be especially useless around you.”
“Aw, no need to feel nervous around me,” Laila says. “We’re all friends here.”
“Speak for yourself,” Fish taunts. “You’re all my mortal enemies until this game is over.” He squeezes my hand again. “Come on. Let’s show ‘em how it’s done, Little Lioness.”
As Fish is speaking the foursome from the ping-pong table arrives, and, quickly, our game begins. Unfortunately, for the first few rounds, I’m too starstruck to throw the ball anywhere near the basket. Like, seriously, I’m flailing so badly, you’d think I was making a joke. But, after a bit, I calm down, thanks to Fish’s smiles and little whispers, until, soon, I’m able to sink a few shots. At which point, I slowly begin laughing and smack-talking with Fish and his friends, the same way I did when it was just Fish and me at the