Sweat drips down my face in rivulets as I sprint across the field. Since half-time finished and the second period of the game started, our opponents have managed to turn everything around with their second wind and have been running us ragged trying to keep the one-goal lead that I can feel slipping away with every adjustment on the countdown clock.

I can see it the second it happens, a break in our defense that leaves only Reed in goal to protect the ball, but she's worked as hard as any of us even without running the field, and there's no one that can blame her when the ball hits her fingertips and is caught by the white net behind her.

Bending over, I brace my hands on my knees and breathe heavily, glancing up and sending an apologetic smile at Reed, though she knows I never could have gotten there in time to help. I exhale quickly, standing up to my full height and clapping my hands together loudly just after the whistle is blown. "Alright let's hustle hard and get this over with before we go into overtime!" I yell to my team and get nods from everyone as we get into our positions and catch our breath.

Maddison and I take our places for the kickoff and I pass to her, taunting the other team by spinning around a player when she passes it back to me. We work fast, but when I pass the ball to her for the last time, her shot hits the crossbar and the goalie is right there to catch it. I mouth the words "next time" to her and we get back as fast as we can.

We end up scoring a buzzer-beater with a direct assist from Reed in an effort to prevent us from going into overtime and I sink to my knees in relief. It was too risky to take our starting line-up off the field, and we all silently agreed to push through until we couldn't anymore. Overtime wouldn't have ended well.

I'm embraced by my teammates and I hug them back, my eyes glancing up at the stands for a brief moment, but long enough to catch on to something that has my eyes lighting up. Reed sees me and follows my eyes to where my little brother sits in the stands, somewhere that I haven't seen him in a long time.

Waiting impatiently until we're done our 'good games', I seem to have just enough energy to burst off of the field and make my way up towards the section of the bleachers where I spotted his golden hair that we inherited from our mother.

"Hey, you! Didn't think to send me a text?" I shout when I'm close enough and stop in my tracks when not only my brother's but also Alexander's, head snaps up in recognition of my voice. Steeling my nerves and suffocating the butterflies in my stomach by holding my breath, I continue walking in their direction.

"Good game," Alexander says with a smile so handsome that when my eyes meet his I forget about my brother for a second, unable to tear mine away.

"Thought it would be a nice surprise. Although if you hadn't spotted me, I might have missed you altogether." He smiles and wraps his arms around me despite how sweaty I must be.

"Where have you been? When's your next performance?" I ask, planting my chin on his chest and looking up at him. "Oh look at that, you do have unflattering angles," I say with a laugh as he squeezes me tighter than is comfortable, and then let's go. I turn to Alexander. "I make jokes to feel better about the fact that my baby brother is prettier than me," I whisper loudly and get pinched on the arm.

Alexander presses his lips together to hide a grin and I realize what I must look like right now and turn to face my brother more, using the hem of my jersey to wipe the sweat off of my face and neck. When I drop it, Alexander's eyes dart up and meet mine before looking at my brother quickly, but I caught him. The corners of my mouth stretch up unbidden and I look between the two.

"Since when are you two mates?"

"Since the beginning of the game. Found your number one fan right here and thought he looked familiar." Aaron says, and I see a faint blush coat Alexander's cheeks, giving me a wicked rush of confidence.

"Would my biggest fan fancy joining my brother and I for dinner?" I ask sweetly, the incessant throbbing heat surrounding my body starting to wane the longer I spend not running back and forth on the field. Aaron passes me a bottle of water and I send him an appreciative glance. "No rush, I'm gonna go shower so stick around if you feel up to it." I leave my offer open, walking backward to look at him a little longer before I make my way to the showers to cool off and clean up.

One shower later, I'm finishing up tying my wet hair into a braid when I emerge from the locker rooms, unable to help my smile when I see Alexander waiting for me, hands in his pockets and a content expression on his face, making his dark features look slightly less intimidating.

"Where's—"

"Your brother had something come up last minute and wanted me to tell you that he'd meet us at the diner when he can. I'm still in if you are." He says and I swear I see a hint of vulnerability in his brown eyes.

"All in."

"To the diner, then?" Alexander asks.

"To the diner. I'll call an Uber." I pull my phone out but a light touch stops me and I look up at Alexander who has gotten closer in a matter of moments. He holds up his index finger with a set of keys hanging off of it and I smile appreciatively up at him.

"No Uber then. I'll pay for gas." I tell him as he begins to lead us towards the parking lot. Alexander looks over at me with furrowed eyebrows and a smile on his face.

"Not a chance. The diner's practically walking distance and you invited me, it's the least I can do." He says politely and I try to pout but can't help the smile that takes over my face. When we walk, our arms brush against each other's and my breath catches every time at the feeling of his bare skin on mine.

When we get to his car, I jokingly put my fist in my mouth and bite down at the sight of the classic Corvette Stingray. "LeMans Blue? Sixty-eight?" I ask and his eyebrows fly up as he spins to look at me in shock. My eyes roll. "You know what they say about assumptions..." I trail off with a smile and he shakes his head.

"Well, now I gotta know." He says, walking over to the passenger side and squeezing beside me to open the car door, being careful of the car parked too close beside us. How did we get from him not wanting anything to do with me to the two of us getting dinner together and him opening car doors for me?

"You sure you want my life story? It's not very interesting." I run my hands over the dash and keep them there as I watch him put the key in the ignition and start it up, feeling the rumble of the engine beneath my hands and listening to it purr, my eyes wide and bright as I do.

"Tell me on the way."

"I lied when I said it wasn't that interesting, we've got quite the dynamic going. Mum's a vintage car mechanic, that's how I know the cars, I spent half my time at the shop and half on a field. Dad's a nurse and he works nights so that he could see us in the days." I smile at the thought of my parents, missing them terribly. "Then there's me, the soccer star," I say dramatically with some ironic jazz hands thrown in to let him know that I'm joking and not completely full of myself. "Then there's my baby brother, who's basically a ballet prodigy. You have got to see him perform, it takes my breath away every single time." I breathe out, smiling proudly, and can feel Alexander glance at me.

"Your family sounds great." He says, sounding wistful and I nod emphatically.

"I'm so glad to have him here with me. My brother." I add. "We were never extremely close, but last year was awful without him."

"I can't imagine." I look over at Alexander when I hear the tightness in his voice. Just before I get a chance to ask him about his family, he steals my attention.

"Wanna play something?" He asks, handing me an aux cord that most definitely doesn't belong in this car originally, but I don't make a comment, accepting it to plug into my phone. I shuffle my main playlist and lay my phone on top of my jean-covered legs and stretch my arms over my head.

I let out a quick, close-mouthed shriek as the car jerks a bit and look at Alexander with wide, questioning eyes. "I'm so sorry." He breathes deeply, his eyes glancing towards me for a second when realization sets in.

I look down at my shirt with pursed lips, realizing that from the side, with how my arms were above my head, he probably got quite a good look at my breasts from the cutout in my muscle shirt and the lack of bra. "Oh my god, you did not just freak out over a little side-boob," I say, my mouth dropping in disbelief as I giggle. His jaw clenches and I cover my mouth to stop myself from laughing any more and pissing him off or embarrassing him further.

He grumbles and I pat his thigh twice, taking just a little too long to remove my hand. Whether I do it on purpose or not is a mystery to even me. My hand clenches into a fist and I put it in my own lap, hoping that I didn't just make him retreat into his shell where he tends to hide only from me.

"Sorry." We both say at the exact same time and it turns out to be the perfect way to break the tension that spread between us so quickly and we spend the rest of the short drive to the diner talking about random, but light topics, and although the car no longer swerves, I can still feel his eyes on me.

When we pull into the parking lot, I see that some of the other girls on my team had the same idea, and I spot Reed looking between the two of us with wide eyes. Maddison is busy looking at her phone with furrowed brows, and the other girls are all giggling and walking ahead to get a table.

I scramble out of the car before Alexander can round the front and open my door for me and I widen my eyes as a warning to Reed to not say a word and ruin this chance for me, to which I receive a cute smirk and the sight of her back as she walks ahead to join the rest of the group.

Turning back to look at Alexander, I smile up at him and he gestures for me to walk ahead, so I throw the door open wide enough for him to grab and we seat ourselves because there is no host waiting to help us. He slides across me in the booth and I have a perfect view of the doors for when Aaron shows up, but also Reed who has the cheekiest smile on her face that makes a blush rise to my cheeks.

"Know what you're going to eat?" Alexander looks up from his menu.

"Protein. Lots of it. I'm starving." I admit and he nods.

"Same. I had practice earlier and my coach kicked my ass. I'm surprised I was able to drive here with how sore my arms already are. I'm not looking forward to waking up tomorrow." He says and I chuckle, looking between his eyes and the menu.

"You gonna invite me to any? You won't have a game in forever." I smile with one eyebrow arched in question.

"Maybe I could sneak you into a practice sometime." He says offhandedly and my cheeks flush at the thought of him and me sneaking anywhere together, but Aaron entering the diner is the perfectly timed distraction that I needed. He pauses as he passes the table of my teammates, his eyes going wide and his cheeks blushing at the sight of someone but he looks away quickly enough and keeps walking, sliding into my side of the booth.

Studying him with narrowed eyes, I then look towards the other booth and see Maddison looking just to my left, focusing on Aaron as much as he seems to be focusing on the menu. I open my mouth to say something but a waitress interrupts.

"Hey there, what can I get for you—oh heya Aaron. Nice to see you out of your uniform." She flirts sweetly and I bite my lips and look at Alexander who seems to notice the interaction as well.

"Hello, Hannah," Aaron says without any shyness, obviously comfortable with her since they work together. That alone tells me that he's not interested in her. We all place our orders and thank Hannah.

"So your sister tells me you do ballet? What's that like?" Alexander asks Aaron and he tenses beside me, making me frown.

"What's up?" I ask him quietly and he shrugs.

"Well, I think that's really cool. If you ever have any tickets lying around I'd love to come watch sometime." Alexander says and Aaron perks up a bit. So do I.

"Really?" He asks, his eyes searching Alexander's face for what I assume to be any insincerity.

"Oh yeah. I grew up in the theatre. Not performing, but I love plays and ballets and stuff." Alexander says, making me smile.

"Not every guy would openly admit that." I tease and he shrugs, his expression confident.

"Hey, I happen to be very secure. But I play a female-dominated sport too and we gotta stick together." He holds out his fist for Aaron to bump, he does so with a growing smile. Leaning into my brother, I continue looking at Alexander, not trying or able to hide my adoration for him and the way that he treats my brother as a friend despite having just met him. How am I supposed to be friends with a guy like this when all I want to do is crawl over this table and into his lap?