First and Goal (Moving the Chains #1) (26 page)

Jeremy jumps. He hadn’t seen her coming, too busy inhaling his food. “Yeah, we’re good Evie. You doing okay?”

Real smooth, Jeremy. Don’t make it obvious we were talking about her or anything.

“Yeah….” She turns to me with a raised eyebrow, silently asking me why Jeremy is acting so weird. It strikes me as odd that she would communicate with me this way. Like she’s finally comfortable with the fact that we’re friends, and I should understand her silent question. Which I do.

I take another bite of my cheeseburger and shrug at her. I’m not about to tell her why he’s acting bizarre; either because of the current topic of conversation or because of his state of depression in the library. A guy doesn’t need that kind of information working its way around his social circle.

“Okay,” she draws out. “You guys want anything else? Refills or dessert?”

I must look at her like she could be my dessert because suddenly Jeremy laughs, then chokes on his food. Evie and I both gape at him as he struggles to breathe. My face burns. She looks thoroughly confused.

“So, Evie…” Jeremy wipes his mouth once he regains control. “You and Rob have been spending a lot of time together lately.”

Immediately, she tenses and postures herself defensively. “Yeah…?”

Jeremy’s about to make my life a living hell. I can smell it, see it in his beady brown eyes. “He tell you yet about the crush he’s had since ninth grade?”

Oh. My. Fucking. God.

I feel Evie’s eyes trained on me, but I’m too busy trying to burn holes through Jeremy’s head with the laser vision I’ve hoped for years to develop. It still doesn’t work.

Evie slides into the booth beside me. “No, Jeremy. No, he has not. Our big, bad quarterback has a secret crush?”

I refuse to look at Evie, who’s practically vibrating against me in excitement.

“I’m going to fucking kill you,” I hiss to Jeremy.

The asshole just laughs at me.

Evie nudges me until I tear my eyes away from my so-called friend to look down at her. “So…who is she?”

Oh, like I’m just going to up and tell her. Hell no. That’s not part of the play. If I thought for a second that would work, I’d have done it already. Maybe. Probably not.

“Let’s play a little guessing game, shall we?” Jeremy angles for position of enemy number one.

Evie claps her hands and bounces up and down in the seat beside me. “I love games!”

She’s doing her cheerleader impression again.

Like a fucking five year old with a blankie, I hide my face in my hands. My life's one big joke after another. “Please…let’s not and say we did.”

Evie stills beside me, her voice dead serious. “Wait. This isn’t a joke? Superjock really does have a secret crush?”

“Superjock?” Jeremy howls. “Christ, I love it. I’m not shitting you, babe. He really does.”

I don’t know what pisses me off more. The fact that he’s toying with me, or that he called her “babe”.

“Here’s how it’s gonna go down, Evie. You get twenty questions. Go.”

Jeremy really does want to die. He’s baiting me into murder. Suicide by sexually frustrated jock.

“Oh my God,” Evie breathes. Her voice is laced with epiphany.

I guess she finally understands everything I’ve told her since the beginning of the year. Figures she’d believe Jeremy over me.

“I don’t even know where to begin. I feel so unprepared.”

“Come on,” Jeremy coaxes. “You’ve gotta have some idea.”

“Is it Rachel?”

Well…maybe she doesn’t believe everything I’ve said.

“Nope. Nineteen to go.”

“Is it Kerri? Please tell me that rumor isn’t true.”

“No.” Jeremy bites out. “Let me just stop you right there. All the things you think you know are wrong. Eighteen left.”

“Okay, okay…” Evie trails off. “Gimme a minute, here.”

I should shut this down right now. No good can come of it. Jeremy doesn’t get how Evie operates. No problem, buddy. I’ll just tell her that she’s the girl I’ve been pining after for three years, who sent me into a total tail spin when she dated someone else last year, who’s driven me crazy the past few weeks, and who I’ve been fantasizing about every night for approximately one thousand one hundred and seventeen days. But who’s counting?

Oh my God.
I’m
the creepy guy in the booth. Yeah, no. Can’t do it.

“I feel like I need to take a different approach, here.” Evie muses. “Is she a cheerleader?”

I scoff from my hiding position. “I told you I’m not into cheerleaders.”

“It’s true,” Jeremy responds. “Most of them irritate the hell out of him. Seventeen.”

“Okay. Dance team?”

“You’re still believing the damn rumors. Think outside the box, Evie. Sixteen.”

“Guard?”

“Getting warmer, but no. Fifteen.”

This isn’t happening. This isn’t happening. This isn’t happening.

I lean my head back against the booth and close my eyes, trying to ignore the torture that plays out around me. I’m pretty much sitting here, waiting for the end.

“She’s in
band
?” My attention snaps to Evie with her loud screech.

My eyes fly open, fixing on Jeremy’s smug grin. “Yep. You’ve still got ten.”

“Wait.” Evie rubs her forehead in frustration. “What kind of lousy ass friend are you? If Rob’s secret love is in band, then why don’t you help him out? I mean, isn’t being a wingman part of the bro code?”

Jeremy’s head hits the table, narrowly missing his plate. His entire body shakes with hysterical laughter. How ironic is it that Evie’s first kiss is sitting here in this booth, having this conversation, right in front of me?

“Evie, we’ve been trying to help Rob for years. There’s only so much we can do for a pussy who’d rather hide in his shell than man up and make a move.”

“Hey, asshole!” she snaps. “Don’t talk like that about him! So what if he’s shy? The world could do with more gentlemen and less guys who think they can take whatever the fuck they want.”

Holy shit. Evie Papageorgiou just defended me.

Creepy Guy calls her from his booth. As much as I’m relieved that this means the end of the current conversation, an unsettled feeling grips my chest that he knows her name. Her uniform has never included a nametag. She rises to go tend to him, but I grab her hand before she can get too far, pulling her back beside me so that I can talk quietly. She turns to me with her eyebrow raised, but her face is open and trusting.

“Eva, does he bother you?” My gaze bounces between her and him. He’s clearly glaring at us, which makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

She looks at me with a good-natured smile and shakes her head. “He’s one of my best customers, and I need to go see what he wants before I lose tips and get fired.”

“If he ever makes you feel even the least bit uncomfortable, you let me know, and I’ll take care of it, all right?”

“Funny, CJ said the same thing about you.” With that, she gets up and goes about her work.

Who the fuck is CJ?

Jeremy snickers across from me. “Good thing I went to bat for you, man. Looks like you’ve got competition.”

“Shut up. I’ll deal with you in a minute.”

I’m too busy watching Evie’s interaction with one of her best customers to throttle Jeremy right now. She passes quickly by me on her way to the kitchen. The jerk sends me a death glare. As many times as I’ve sat in this very booth, I’ve never noticed him before. I return his scowl with a sneer of my own that hopefully conveys I mean business. He’d better not mess with my Evie.

“Jeremy, that guy give you the creeps at all?” I gesture with my chin to the asshole sitting two booths behind us. Maybe I’m just being a jealous idiot. Look what happened last year with Hinton. I’m still not convinced he didn’t rape her. Not about to let that happen twice.

Jeremy glances over his shoulder at the guy, then turns back around in his seat when his phone chirps. It’s some love song, so I assume it’s Alyssa calling. He answers, and they exchange syrupy sweet talk while Creepy Guy and I stare each other down. My attention diverts when Jeremy gets up to leave, mouthing that he’ll be back in a minute.

Evie passes beside me. I reach out and grab her hand again while looking directly at Creepy Guy. Hopefully, he’ll get the message.

“Hey Eva, don’t listen to Jeremy, all right? He’s full of it.” I tear my eyes away from the customer who’s shooting me daggers and look up into her face.

She gifts me the sweetest smile I’ve ever seen. “Don’t be embarrassed. I’m honestly happy that the old you I remember is still in there. I think your secret crush is cute.”

I feel punch drunk, suddenly forgetting there’s anyone else in the entire diner.

“You’re a good guy, Falls, and…I’m proud to call you a friend. So, you can call me Evie.”

Instead of feeling ecstatic, my gut gnaws with worry. “Um, thanks but seriously…just forget everything he said.”

She fixes me with a pointed expression. “I’m not going to say anything to anyone, don’t worry. I keep your secrets, remember?”

Jeremy’s really backed me into a corner.

Evie prattles on, unaware of my mounting anxiety. “If your stupid friends won’t help you, I will. Maybe you just need a girl’s perspective, ya know? I’m friends with everyone in band, so just tell me who she is, and I’ll help you. I’ll be your wing woman. It’s the least I can do for all the tutoring.”

I sigh and close my eyes. I can’t look at her anymore. She’ll never want me as anything more than a friend - that much is clear. But it’s better than nothing. “Don’t worry about it…Evie. I’ve pretty much given up hope, but thanks. If I ever decide to pursue her again, I’ll check in with you first, all right?”

“Fine. I’ll figure out who she is on my own then. And for the record, it will probably be the easiest matchmaking ever.” Her laugh is dry and humorless. “There isn’t a girl at school who doesn’t already want you.”

Oh, yes there is.

“Trust me, you’ll never figure it out in a million years, Evie.”

“Won’t I?” She gets that determined look in her eyes. Normally I respect it. Today it makes me want to puke.

“Please. I’m begging you. Just drop it.”

“Hey.” She puts a slender hand on my shoulder. “Are we friends or not?”

Damn. She’s got me right where she wants me. I have no will power when she voluntarily touches me and promises any type of relationship with her.

Jeremy saunters back up to our booth. I quickly rise and grab the bill from Evie before he can do any more damage. It’s not until we’re safely out of earshot in the parking lot that I confront him.

“What the fuck was that, dickwad?”

He opens the passenger door of my car and leans over the roof, a serious expression on his face. “Rob, we’ve all watched you want her in silence for the past three years. We all know how much it fucked you up when the shit hit the fan with Hinton last year. And even though Lys didn’t tell me anything about what really happened between Evie and Eddie, I think you might be right to be worried about it. Evie hasn’t been the same since she dumped Eddie’s sorry ass, so there’s gotta be more to it than just the rumors. I figure maybe leading her gently to the obvious conclusion while giving you a kick in the balls to do something is the way to go, here.”

“Why don’t you butt out and let me handle it?”

“Okay, so handle it.”

If only it was that easy.