Page 60 of Cheap Shot

“Me either. Let’s go off-campus.” He stood and offered me his hand.

I took it, and he held it for a moment too long before letting go. There was something in his eyes I couldn’t decipher. A flicker of heat? Wanting? Or was that my imagination? My own desires projecting.

Even the possibility was enough to make my heart race as I followed him through the door.

Chapter 20

Reid

Walking next to Haley as we crossed the street toward the block of restaurants and shops felt like a prison break. I kept glancing over my shoulders, waiting for Ethan to pop up and catch us.

We weren’t doing anything wrong. I was just taking her to dinner to give her a break and some space to think about what she wanted to do next with her friends. I was watching out for her. Just like Ethan asked me to do.

But wanting to reach out and take her hand? Not something I did with my friends.

“Is Italian okay?” I asked, breaking the silence.

“Sure.” She shot me a smile, and I led her under the red and white striped awning of the only Italian restaurant in the area. It was decent enough to satisfy the college crowd, but nothing to get too excited over.

“How many in your party?” the hostess asked as soon as we entered. She looked about our age and was dressed in all black like she could have also been a waiter.

“Just two,” I answered.

She pulled out menus. “Great, follow me.” She sat us in a booth toward the back of the room, granting us plenty of privacy. If this was a real date, I would have really appreciated it, but now I just felt awkward.

“Have you been here?” I asked as soon as we were seated.

Haley shook her head. “No, I’ve only been to the pizza place and got to-go from the Indian restaurant so far.”

“Well, I want to say you’re in for a treat, but honestly it’s pretty average.”

She laughed, sounding lighter than she had in my room. “It’s kind of hard to mess up spaghetti.”

“You would think that, but I’ve had some pretty bad attempts while traveling.” That was part of the adventure with away games, finding local restaurants and gambling on whether or not the meal would be edible.

“What was the worst?” she asked, not even looking at her menu.

“Not Italian, but we found a Mexican food restaurant in Maine that was pretty terrible. It was like they heard about it from someone whose cousin once tried a burrito. The ingredients were there, but the execution was just so far off.”

She laughed, letting her head drop back, and it was the most perfect sound in the world. I wanted to see her like this all the time.

“That sounds terrible.”

“It was.”

“Hi, can I get you guys something to drink?” The same girl who seated us stood next to our table with an order pad. I was right about her doubling up on duties.

“Just water please,” Haley said.

“Same.” I smiled, and she turned and headed to the back.

“So, what was the best place you ever went to?”

That one was harder to decide on. “It’s either New York pizza, which tasted like something sent from heaven after a double-overtime game, so I can’t say for certain if it was the pizza or if I was just desperate for food.”

She giggled. “Or?”

“Or this little hole in the wall, mom and pop run place in Michigan we found purely on accident. They had the best meatloaf I’ve ever had in my life. It’s really upsetting though because none of the guys I was with can remember what it was called or where it was, so we’ve never been able to go back. It’s turned into a legend on that team now.”