Page 7 of Teach’s Hayride with the Baller

"I don't eat during a game. Ending up as the Puke Duke on the court is never a good look."

The guy on the other side of him shook his head, then turned away.

I snorted. "Smooth, Zack. Smooth."

He scratched the back of his neck. "Not my best line?"

I wrinkled my nose. “Could've been better, I agreed. "Why aren't you over there with your team?”

He turned to me, his face serious. “Because I couldn't resist doing this." Two fingers caught my chin and turned me completely toward him. A raw sort of hunger flicked across his eyes a second before he pressed soft, warm lips against mine.

The kiss was chaste, and brief, little more than skin contacting skin. But just like when he touched me earlier in the week at the night fair, a jolt passed between us. I gasped, my lips parting. Somewhere in the background, as though from a distance, a roar rolled across the crowd, muting the satisfied sound that rumbled through Zack’s chest in response.

A hand steadied the snacks on my lap. Warm bloomed over my limbs, and then he shifted. No grin spread across his face this time when he pulled back. A serious Zack stared down at me, need unchecked in his eyes.

"Sorry about that," he hummed. Fingers flickered across the back of my hand, the gesture almost apologetic.

"About what?" I asked, dazed. The cheers went on. “Did the game restart?" Should he be down there, already?

The look in his eyes said no, but warned me of something else. I frowned, and twisted away from him.

And found myself face to giant face with our own likeness spread across the giant screen dangling above the center of the court where I'd been watching players close up for the last half an hour.

"You didn't," I whispered, squeezing my popcorn bucket too tightly.

His arm tensed across my back. “I might have.”

Did that count as an apology?

He nudged my shoulder. “Your sister gave up her seat for five minutes. I gotta go before she beats my butt. How’s your class going?”

I blinked at the change of subject, still staring at my blown up face on the… “What’s this thing called?”

“The Jumbotron,” Zack supplied.

“Mhmm. My class is good,” I hedged.

“Great. So, I can take you on a tour of the town tomorrow then, right? There’s Friday night fair on, just like last week, only the town has sort of revved it up for the end of the month. You game to walk the spooky side with me, Teah?”

“Don’t do that.” I shivered. “It’s like you’re fetishizing it.”

His lips twitched. “I really gotta go. I’ll come by your class after… class?” His eyebrows rose.

I closed my eyes. “I should not go on a date with you after this,” I said out of the corner of my mouth as the cheering settled and thankfully the big screen chose to pick out someone else from the crowd, and everyone instantly forgot about us.

He tweaked my nose cutely. “After class,” he murmured, and slid out from the row with more grace than a giant jock should possess.

Right as the cheerleaders launched into their next war cry. The crowd lifted their foam gloves and support paraphernalia. Within seconds I lost Zack in the crowd.

And pom-poms, of course.

So much for saying no.

“Bering kissed on the Jumbotron is considered romantic,” the fan next to me said, unasked, as everyone settled for the opening of the third quarter.

"Or cheesy as fuck," my sister's caustic voice announced her presence. Aurora planted her ass and relieved me of my snacks.

With nothing left to do with my hands, I twisted salt-encrusted fingers into a knot, searching the crowd for Zack’s tall figure. He strode the length of the court down at ground level, but looked up and caught my eye, sending me a wink. Somebody whistled loudly from the row behind.