Single, Available, and Completely Attached (9 page)

BOOK: Single, Available, and Completely Attached
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The show was over, but he and his partner were still sitting at the table, a line of people in front of them as they waited for pictures and autographs.
 
She held back for several minutes once she located him so that she could observe Drew in his element—and it was impossible to miss the way some of the women threw themselves at him.
 
More than once, she saw him take a piece of paper she could only assume had a phone number written on it.

Finally, Drew noticed her—and his smile widened as he waved.
 
She watched as he leaned over and said something to Dave, his partner, before backing away from the table.
 
As he made his way toward her, he stopped for a picture, rolling his eyes exaggeratedly as he grinned at her.

“You made it!”
 
She shrugged her shoulders as she smiled back at him.

“I didn’t mean to interrupt—”

“Nah, I was ready to go anyway.
 
Dave can handle the rest.”

“Are you sure?
 
There are a few more ladies over there just dying to meet you.”
 
Drew laughed then—a real laugh.

“Is that jealousy I hear?”

“More like pity.”

 
“For
them,
or for me?”
 
She tilted her head as she looked up at him, pursing her lips.

“I haven’t quite decided yet.”
 

“Well, let’s make it easier then.”
 
He reached into his pocket and pulled out more than the few scraps of paper she’d seen him receive.
 
He’d been busy.

And then he opened his hand, letting the wind carry them all away.

“You’re going to regret that later on.
 
Some of those girls—”

“Boring.”
 
He waved his hand in the air.
 
“They’re no more interested in me than I am in them, either.”

Anna was surprised.
 
She’d always been under the impression that Drew had very few standards.

So what did that mean for her, then?
 
She remembered with a burning shame how she’d thrown herself at him—and he’d turned her down, hadn’t he?
 
She imagined herself as one of those pieces of paper he’d let go, fluttering away in the wind.

“Hey, where’d you go?”

“Oh, sorry—I was stunned to silence by the fact that you would throw away the opportunity for so many meaningless encounters with cute girls in football jerseys.”
 
Anna told him, referring to a comment he’d made during the show he’d been doing while she made the trek to Cincinnati.
 
Drew nudged her with his shoulder as they walked on, his hands in his pockets.
 

“I’m not that bad, Annabelle.”

“I’m starting to see that.”
 
She told him, looking up so that she could meet his eyes briefly.
 
“Now, is it going to be this cold the
entire
game?”
 
Anna clapped her gloved hands together and rubbed them ferociously.
 

“That’s what the beer is for.”
 
It was her turn to roll her eyes and Drew laughed again, reaching out and lacing his arm around her back so that he could guide her through the crowd.
 
It took quite awhile to make their way to their seats—which, from what Anna could tell, were pretty good.
 
They were close to the field, and almost directly in the middle.

“We missed the anthem?”
 
Anna asked as they settled in.
 
The players were already scurrying around on the field.

“I knew the show was going to run over anyway.”
 

Though she had absolutely zero interest in football, Anna couldn’t exactly ignore what was happening in front of her.
 
She watched quietly for a long while, and soon, she found she was trying to understand everything that was happening while the crowd roared around her.
 

Finally, she couldn’t stand it.

“How do they know when to give the ball to the other team?
 
I get the whole interception thing—that’s obvious.
 
But why don’t they just keep going until someone steals it?
 
Or until they score or whatever?”
 
She dreaded looking up at Drew, knowing before she did that smug expression would be written all over his face.
 

“I thought you didn’t
want
to learn.”
 
Anna rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, yeah.
 
You know you’re dying to tell me everything you know.
 
Just answer my question.”

“They have four chances to make it ten yards.
 
If they can’t do it, they turn the ball over.
 
If they
do
, then they get another four chances.”

“Well, that’s dumb.
 
They should just keep going until someone steals the ball.
 
Isn’t that how it is in every other sport?”
 
Drew laughed beside her, dropping his head as he shook it.
 
She watched his shoulders shake for several moments and when he looked up, his eyes were shining even brighter than they normally did.
 

“Oh, Annabelle.
 
I’m so glad you came with me.”
 
Though she feigned annoyance—rolling her eyes and shaking her head at him—she was beginning to share the sentiment.
 
When she had agreed to join him tonight, she had done it mostly out of a combination of guilt and spite.
 
Deep down, she couldn’t help but feel that she may have been the reason Jeff had canceled on Drew.
 
And then when he’d basically told her she was boring…she couldn’t let him be right.

But now that she was here, surrounded by the cheering crowd, there was something electric in the air.
 
It was impossible not to get swept up in it—even though, logically, she knew that football was a barbaric sport and something she would never be able to understand.

Drew wasn’t bad company, either.
 
She enjoyed the way he encouraged her to cheer along with him, or how he would tell her quick little stories about the players or previous games, or how, after she had opened the door and asked her first question, he would tell her what was happening so that she didn’t have to ask.
 

Anna was enjoying herself in a way she hadn’t in quite some time.

“So I have another question.”
 
She admitted sometime near the end of the game.
 
She knew it was a stupid question, and she knew he was going to laugh at her—which was half the reason she had decided to ask it.
 

“By the time we get home tonight, you’re going to know everything you need to know to be a professional fan.”

She shook her head as she rubbed her hands together, breathing into them.
 
Even through her gloves, she couldn’t seem to get warm.
 
“So why did they just kick the ball?
 
Aren’t they supposed to keep trying to get down to the touchdown zone?”

She was right.
 
Drew laughed—and he laughed, and he laughed a little more.

Then he was looking down at her with the most genuine smile on his face.
 

And Anna realized that this was the first time she could definitively say she’d seen Drew happy.
 
It was the first time he’d finally let go of the façade he wore so well.
 

She decided then that she could trust him—that he wasn’t playing games with her, and that they really could be friends.

It took everything she had not to reach up and touch her lips to his
cheek,
she was so overcome with joy.
 
“Well?”
 
She asked finally, cupping her hands together and breathing into them again just to keep herself busy.

“The touchdown zone?”

“Where they score.
 
And do their little dance.”
 
She did a silly little jig, feeling breathless and airy now.
 
Drew chuckled once more, this time a little breathless himself.

“Oh, Annabelle.
 
You might be the most adorable thing I’ve ever witnessed.”

“Yeah, yeah…you’re just trying to get out of answering my question because you don’t know the answer.”
 
She nudged him with her shoulder, still grinning.

The crowd erupted a moment later, a collective sound of anger and outrage as a call was made on the field that pretty much dashed any hope the Bengals had of coming back.
 
And though the mood of the crowd slowly faded out around them, Anna wasn’t affected.

And neither was Drew.

The mood carried them all the way to the car and most of the ride home.
 
Drew volunteered to drive, and Anna had spent half of the drive singing along with the worst songs she could find on the radio as loudly and terribly as she could while Drew chuckled along beside her.
 

Eventually, though, she rested her head against the window and the heat of the car enveloped her, lulling her into a sleep she struggled against.
 
By the time he pulled up into her driveway, she had opened her eyes.
 
“All partied out?”
 
he
questioned.

“I had fun.”

“And I actually believe you this time.”
 
He told her, resting his head against his seat.
 
Anna unbuckled and settled a little more comfortably into the corner of the vehicle.
 

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“The last few times you were supposed to be having fun, it didn’t really seem to work out for you.”
 
She knew he was talking about those nights at the club.

“I was almost having fun.”
 
She admitted.

“Almost doesn’t quite cut it.”
 
Drew didn’t take his eyes off her, and so she didn’t look away either.
 
Strange, she couldn’t help but
think,
that she didn’t feel even the slightest bit uncomfortable beneath his gaze.
 
“Can I ask you a question?”
 
he
asked.

“If you have to ask permission, I probably won’t like it.”
 
She sighed, giving in.
 
“Go on.”

“Why were you so mad at me, after I brought you home?”
 
The moment the words left his mouth, Anna felt her cheeks burning and she found she was very grateful for the darkness surrounding them.

“I’m pretty sure I wasn’t mad.”

“No, I mean—after that.”
 
She sighed loudly.
 
She wasn’t sure what she had expected him to ask—but this definitely wasn’t it.
 

“Honestly?”
 
Drew nodded, and Anna sighed again, more softly this time.
 
“I was…embarrassed.
 
And, I don’t know—hurt.”

“Why were you hurt?”
 
He raised his head from the headrest and she knew that he was really paying attention.
 
Unable to look him in the eye any longer, she shifted her gaze downward as she plucked at a string in the upholstery.
 

“It’s stupid.”

“I’m sure it’s not.”

“Because—because, I don’t know.
 
You rejected me.
 
I was so far
gone,
I was even below your standards.”
 
She felt tears welling in her eyes and she fought against them—but the moment she blinked, she felt them slip away.
 
She tried to laugh them off as she wiped them away, rolling her eyes and shaking her head.
 
“Stupid, like I said.”

“It’s not stupid.”
 
He reached over and brushed her cheek with the backs of his fingers.
 
“You have no idea how hard it was for me to walk away from you that night, Annabelle.
 
But if I would have stayed, I wouldn’t have been any better than those douche bags I was trying to keep you from.”

“Excuses, excuses…”
 
She told him, trying to lighten the mood with sarcasm as she waved her hand in the air.
 

“No excuses.
 
If anything, you’re way out of my league, Anna
Maloy
.”

“Well, that much is obvious,

 
she
agreed with a coy grin.
 
Drew rolled his eyes and nodded his head, as if to tell her he’d walked right into that one.
 
“Can I ask you a question?”
 
she
asked him.

“It’s only fair, I suppose.”
 
She hadn’t intended on continuing this conversation, and so when she found herself asking him a serious question in return, she was surprised.
 

“Why do you care?
 
And don’t say it’s because of Jeff, because you’ve been looking out for me since the day we met.”
 
Drew was very quiet for several long moments, and for the first time since they’d started the conversation, he looked away from her.

“I don’t know.
 
I just…I don’t like to see you sad.”
 
Anna felt her heart swell slightly within her chest as she stared at the man she’d thought she had known so well—all this time, she had assumed she’d had him pegged.

But as it turned out, she was wrong.
 

“So there’s actually a heart underneath
all of this
bad-boy exterior?”
 


It’s
hidden way down in there.
 
Sometimes I forget it exists at all.”
 

BOOK: Single, Available, and Completely Attached
10.42Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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