Faking It

Chapter 13: Playing with Fire, Round 1

"Can we talk about this later?" I lunged for the ball.

He danced away with it, keeping it just out of my reach. "Nope. Now or never."

I gritted my teeth and lunged again. He moved away and planted his hands on his hips, head cocked in warning.

"Fine," I managed through my teeth. "Just...don't be a creep."

The smile that bloomed on his face was dazzling. So dazzling that I almost missed the shift in his weight as he feinted left, sweeping his foot over the ball rather than into it, trying to juke around me.

Our bodies collided when I guessed correctly and moved right. The ball rolled away from his feet, past me and into empty space. I turned to chase it, prepared to throw myself in his way if he tried to outrun me, until the warm weight of Theo's arm hooked around my waist.

"What the—" I began, then went airborne. He lifted me, spun me, and set me back down, putting himself between me and the ball. He was off towards the net as Audra screamed profanities and Coach Farley's whistle sliced through the air.

Theo just laughed, firing off a shot that Audra punched away with vengeance.

"Ellerby!" roared Coach Farley, jogging over. "Cut it out or you're benched. And apologize. Now."

"All right, all right," Theo chuckled and ran a hand through his hair with a charmingly rueful grin. "I'm sorry, Emdubs. I got carried away."

"Are we good?" Coach Farley asked, looking between the two of us.

I glared at Theo's cocked eyebrow. "Yeah, we're good."

"Good." Coach Farley turned away, then paused to point a finger into Theo's chest. "I mean it, Ellerby. Cut it out." He blew his whistle and set me up for a free kick from the spot of Theo's foul.

Exhaling my anger, I took a few steps back and scanned the field for where to best play the ball. But my attention snagged on the tennis courts and a head of blond hair, turned towards me.

William's arms were folded as he leaned against the chain link fence between the courts and the soccer pitch. Madeleine was talking to him, but he was staring straight at me and only looked away when she tapped his shoulder with her racket.

"Any day now," Audra called from the net.

I kicked the ball so hard that it sailed most of the way to the other 18-yard line. One of our mids caught it on her stomach, and the others arranged themselves into the keep-away set play we'd practiced earlier that morning.

When I jogged past her, Coach Patel said, "Focus, Ellie." Her eyes were sharp before they dropped back to her clipboard.

Mortified, I followed the rest of the defensive line towards the center. She was right. I might be a starter now, but keeping that position wasn't a guarantee.

"You're a terrible actress," Theo said, hovering on his side of the line, watching as his defender chased down a weak pass from one of our mids to a striker.

"Yeah, well, we're going to have a nice long chat when—"

Theo slung an arm across my shoulders. "C'mon, Emdubs. This is supposed to be fun. Just relax. Play along. Stop overthinking—"

"I'm not the one who has to relax," I snapped. "You're the one lifting me up and flirting with me like I'm some vapid girl who cares more about boys than soccer. I just made starter, and I have to prove—"

His arm abruptly left my shoulder when his defender stole the ball away. The moment it left the turf to sail towards us, Theo was off, sprinting towards Audra with nothing but empty field in front of him. Deanna, noticing his move too late, turned and sprinted. But she was slower than I was, and a heck of a lot slower than Theo.

With a curse, I gave chase, churning my legs as fast as I could. My thighs burned, and somehow, I was gaining on him. Triumph flooded through me at the fact I'd been able to catch him, until I realized that he wasn't sprinting anymore. When I caught up to him right after he played the ball down to his feet, he said, "Take it. Just make it look legit."

He dribbled it forward, a little farther than he should've if he'd wanted to keep control. I lunged in front of him, getting a foot on the ball and cutting hard to the sideline. Theo was right at my back, pressuring me but making no move to steal the ball away. Audra whooped encouragement from the net when I finally broke away from him and passed it up to one of the mids.

"See? I can help you," Theo said, when he caught up to me as the rest of his team fell back into the neutral zone. "Now you look like a defender who knows what she's doing. So help me by pretending you're at least a little bit into this." He winked before he jogged away, back towards the center line.

Reluctantly, I followed him, hating that he was right. But a part of me didn't mind. Because if Theo was right about this, he was probably also right about William.

~*~

"So what's the deal?" Audra asked, as we shucked our cleats and shin pads after practice. I was slicked in sweat and exhausted from chasing Theo all over the field. The boys were better than us—not just faster, but more in-sync as a team—and it had hit us all like a slap in the face. I wasn't the only one frustrated by our loss. But at least we'd held them to only 3 goals. Thankfully, Theo hadn't made me look too bad and had only scored one of them, with a header off a corner kick.

"What's the deal with what?" I asked.

"With Theo Ellerby," Audra said, shoving her gloves into her bag.

I downed a swig of water to buy myself time. "I dunno. I guess he's into me."

Audra blew a sigh through her nose and paused. "Okay. I'm tired of sounding like some bitter spinster aunt, so this'll be my final warning. Theo Ellerby is trouble. You might think he's exciting and dangerous and fun, but he has the attention span of a gnat when it comes to girls. He'll be feeling up someone new in a week, so don't think that this is something special. If you want to play along and have your fun, fine. But don't you dare fall for him."

I bit back the laugh that bubbled up. As if I'd ever fall for someone like Theo Ellerby. Especially when his brother was an option. "I appreciate the warning. You don't have to worry about me, though. I'm not going to fall for him."

Audra studied me before she nodded. "Just know that you're playing with fire. Don't get burned."

**A/N: I mean, who wouldn't want to play with fire when it comes in the form of Theo Ellerby?! 😉 How do you think Will's going to react to this new development? 🤔

As always, if you liked it, please take a moment to vote and comment!**