Aliana's laughter is ringing echoing through the deserted street. After asking her to get some ice cream with me, I decided to take her to my favourite ice cream shop just at the end of the road. On the way, we had ended up sharing childhood stories, and for some reason, she seems to like my last one. No clue why.

"So you're telling me," she stops to take a breath, evidently breathless after her laughing spree, "...that your imaginary friend Bo always told you to leave your house in the middle of the night and climb on trees?"

"Yep," I answer simply.

"And you're sure Bo wasn't Annabell's long lost brother?" she asks. Her face is flushed and there are small droplets of tears in her eyes as she tries to control her laughter.

She's enjoying this way too much. And weirdly, I don't seem to mind.

I decide to tease her a bit, leaning in close to whisper to her, "You shouldn't laugh. Bo is feeling bad."

Her lips turn up in a small smirk and I feel myself falter.

"Where is he? Is he walking beside me?" she cocks her eyebrow at me.

I quickly change my game plan and smirk at her. "Behind you actually."

Her smirk widens, and she leans in even closer, hovering her mouth next to my ear, "You wanted to get to know me, Wright? Well, guess what, my favourite genre is horror. Bo doesn't scare me," And with that, she moves back and winks.

Luckily, I don't have to say anything after that- I don't wanna prove it to her that she can transform me in a stuttering fool- as I push the door of the shop and gesture her to step in. She steps in and I follow, instantly being greeted by the cold air of the air conditioner and the telltale fragrance of ice cream.

"Well, care to tell me what your favourite flavour of ice cream is then?"

She looks at the assorted options and gestures to the plain dark ice cream one and orders two scoops and a cone for herself.

"I quite simply fall in the simple dark chocolate loving category," she says. "What about you?"

Mimicking her, I look at the assorted options myself and order two scoops of mint chocolate and a cone for myself. I notice her taking her wallet out of her purse which compels me to act fast, getting my wallet out, removing my card at a lightning speed and handing it over to the cashier even before she has the chance to argue.

She looks at me exasperatedly and glares once she realises what I've done. Slapping my arm, she says, "I was going to pay!"

I shrug, "I know."

She narrows her eyes at me when the guy working at the counter calls out for us to collect our ice creams. Finding my escape for her deadly glare, I quickly walk towards him and grab both our cones in my hands when I feel something sliding in my back pocket. Turning around I see Aliana giving me a smug and victorious smile and grabs her cone from my hand. I put my hand in my back pocket and retrieve a note which paid for her ice cream. Shaking my head I walk over to the booth Ali had chosen and sat down opposite her. I hold the note in front of her and stare at her accusingly.

"I can pay for my ice cream," she says with a smile.

"Guess I'll just have to ask you out on a proper date where you'll allow me to pay for you."

I'm instantly rewarded by the sight of her cheeks turning red.

"So we have a game tomorrow," I say after a minute of silence.

"All the best,"

"And you're gonna come and cheer me on,"

"Say what now?" she replies with her mouth full of ice cream.

"Remember your part of the deal?" I ask.

Frowning, she looks at me. "I have my shift till late."

"Leave early for a day. Tell Mrs Warren,"

She stares at me for a second and then continues biting her ice cream.

Who bites ice cream?

"So, will I see you there?" I ask hopefully.

"I guess you'll know tomorrow,"

⋈ ⋈ ⋈

We have a tradition here at ISU that before every game, the captain of the team needs to get a 'you-will-win-this' kiss from someone important and close to them. Today though, there's a slight problem. Now usually, me being the captain, always have had my mom give me a kiss before every game. It's something I secretly love and look forward to at every game. The problem today is, Mom isn't going to come to the game. And neither is Dad. Both of them have very important meetings which they cannot miss. She had called me today morning sounding really guilty and I had reassured her then, telling her it was fine. But ever since Eli broke the news 5 minutes ago that the tradition is about to break, there has been chaos in our locker room.

"Eli. Kiss Nathan," Jason urges him.

"No thanks, I'll pass," I cringe and look at Eli who is now making kissy faces towards me.

"Someone go find Amanda. She'll be more than happy to kiss Nathan here," Eli smirks at me.

"She's not important, man. Someone important and close," our striker Issac says while pacing around the room.

"I think I know who he needs then," Eli says, a mischievous smile growing on his face.

I catch his eyes and immediately know who he's talking about.

Grasshopper.

But given the fact that she isn't that close yet, I have my doubts.

"Just call her," he tells me.

I sigh, getting up from my seat and retrieving my phone out of my locker.

I guess something is better than nothing, right?

Walking towards the door, I stick my head back in and shout, "Just so you know, I'm only doing this for the team."

"Sure you are," I hear Eli sniggering and the rest of the boys joining in. I roll my eyes and dial Aliana's number, feeling nervous all of a sudden.

Get a hold of yourself, Nathan. It's not like you're gonna ask her to marry you.

"Hey, Nay. That rhymes haha. What did I do to deserve your call right before the game?" I practically hear her smirk through the phone, making me crack a smile despite the nerves.

Taking a deep breath, I replied quickly, "I need a kiss."

"You need what?" she asks, almost as if she thought her ears were deceiving her.

I let out a chuckle at her reaction before continuing, "Hear me out. You know about our tradition right?"

"About the captain getting a kiss before the game right? Yeah, I do. I don't know the reason behind it though,"

I sigh a quick sigh of relief. Since she doesn't know the reason, I can omit the most important part.

Someone close and important.

I quickly reply, "Yes, that. Usually, my mom completes the tradition, but today she can't make it and I really can't ask anyone else to lend me a kiss can I? Would you do this for me? One deal partner to another?"

There is a small beat of silence, making me almost give up hope.

"You owe me one, Nay."

I feel a surge of happiness pass through me. It isn't because my team's fate relies on this. No, this happiness is for a completely different reason. One which I'm not ready to accept yet.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you! Meet me near the locker room. You're the best!" I exclaim.

I hear her laugh on her side and her smooth voice comes through my speaker again, "Ya ya. One kiss coming right up. See you!"

She hangs up and for a while, I just stand there, thinking about what's coming.

I am in trouble.

⋈ ⋈ ⋈

HII! HELLO! How's everyone? It's a two-part chapter, which means there'll be a double update probably later tonight or tomorrow. Wattpad is acting up for me so I'm hoping it'll be a few hours. Fingers crossed. Anywayyy, the elephant in the room. WE HIT 1K!!!! HOWWW?? If ya'll follow me on Instagram, y'all know we also hit 4 in college romance this week which is INSANEEEE. So today I'm doing something different.

Technically, here I would say weekly question! But I'm doing a q&a on insta today(1k special!!), I'll do the same thing here.

Q. ASK ME ANYTHINGGG. It can be everything related to hobbies or passion or pet peeves. Anything related to the book or not related to the book. Love advice, life advice, ANYTHING. Bring them on!

I wanna say a huge huge thank you to all of you. It's because of you all that we're able to hit such milestones and it's you all who bring me so much joy. I will forever be grateful. Thank you. Seriously. So vote, comment, do anything you'd like to do and we'll talk next week! (or somewhere in the middle on my board or somewhere idk). Ciao! Look out for the second part sooooon.

Love,

Anushka <3