Crossing Lines

Chapter 11 - Mila

"Later?" I ask.

His response is a simple but beautiful smirk before he disappears down the stairs, leaving me breathless and with even more questions than I had half an hour ago.

***

"Look what I got!" Mer squeals as she walks out of her room, a wide grin on her face while she holds up three white-and-green football jerseys.

"Oh, hell no," I groan.

"Come on, Mimi! If we're doing this, we're doing this right. Here!" Mer throws the jersey right in my face.

"Mimi," Jas suddenly chimes in with a smile. "Don't be such a wuss. You had a date yesterday. You should be in a good mood!"

"How did it go, by the way?" Mer asks.

"It was alright. It's not like we're going to meet again, anyway..." I pull the football jersey over my head, studying myself in the mirror once more. The number 7 with the name CROSS above it appears in bright green on my back.

"Ah, come on, don't beat yourself up about it. Who knows, maybe you will see him again." Mer shoots me a pitiful smile.

"He'd be stupid if he didn't want to get back to you, Mimi. You're a catch," Jas agrees, though her smile is more empathetic.

I look at the two of them, trying to build me up, and I can't help but sigh. Once again, I'm the weak link in the group. Once again, I'm the one they have to pity.

"Yeah, we'll just have to wait and see," I mutter when I grab my bag. I still have no idea what he meant by See you later—I mean, how much more cryptic can a man get?

But it's not like I can think about it too much—all worries about Hayden get washed away by the anxiety in my veins as we reach the stadium, the thousands of other football fans making my hands clammy.

God, I hate crowds.

"I have no idea how this works." I try to distract the thundering heart in my chest by asking Meredith about the game. She's a sports journalist—she should know the rules, right?

"I still can't believe you've never watched a football game. And I thought I knew you!" she exclaims as we take our seats, eliciting a laugh from Jas, who hands each of us a hotdog and a Coke.

"Okay, I'm gonna teach you as it goes." It's hard to hear Meredith's voice with the cheering fans around us. "So, there are four quarters with fifteen minutes each."

"Wait, the game only takes an hour?"

Mer and Jas both laugh at my question as they bite into their hotdogs, the signal for the first quarter blaring around us.

"No—well, yes," Jasmine replies after she swallows her bite. "There are breaks and timeouts in between, which drag the game on for hours. You'll figure it out by watching, I promise."

I glance back at the field, watching the first two quarters while Mer explains every move and position with care.

"See that guy? That's the tackle. He's the muscle..." She rambles on, and after the third quarter, I actually feel like I understand what she's talking about.

"So, this was an interception, right?" I point to the field, where one player of the L.A. Lions just caught the other team's ball.

"Exactly!"

Surprisingly, I enjoy myself as I watch the game; now that I understand how it works, it's quite fun to watch. That is, until the L.A. Lions score another touchdown, making everyone, even me, jump up from their seats and cheer them on.

"Another spectacular touchdown with the help of L.A. Lions' quarterback Hayden. Ice. Cross! What a throw!"

Wait...what?

"Did that guy just say Hayden Ice Cross?" I ask with wide eyes, but both Mer and Jas look at me in confusion.

"Yeah, he said that, like, seven times already. Ice is on fire today!" Mer yells against the volume of the surrounding cheers.

"Wait, the quarterback's name is Hayden Ice Cross?" I ask her again.

"Yeah, Ice is his nickname! He's a brilliant quarterback, and damn, he's hot too."

I feel my heart racing, my mind going at a hundred miles per hour as I try to connect the dots. That guy named Kill asked for Ice when he called me. Hayden said he's an athlete.

He can't be. Can he?

Of course. The more I think about it, the more it makes sense. Mer told me about the Lions' previous games, and they all line up with Hayden's itinerary. And the way he was so vague about his job...

"I think I went on a date with the L.A. Lions' quarterback," I whisper, more to myself than anyone else.

"What?" Jas yells against the noise.

"I..." I swallow, trying to understand what's happening. "I think I went on a date with Hayden Cross."

My best friend squeals before jumping into my arms. "What? How cool is that!"

"Uh, no offense, babe," Mer interjects when Jas pulls away from me, "but that's kind of impossible. Jas, look up a picture and show it to her! It's impossible."

And I know it is. I don't know what to say to her, because I have no idea what's happening right now.

"Is this the guy you went out with?" Jas holds up her phone, a picture of Hayden in his football gear on the screen.

"Yeah." I sigh.

"Damn, girl!" Jas throws one arm around my shoulder, her laugh overpowering everyone else.

"Wait, you're serious?" Mer seems irritated at the revelation, but then she suddenly starts laughing, her hand covering her lip as she giggles, bringing a next-level awkwardness to this situation with her behavior.

"Yeah, I'm serious."

"Girl, you must be joking. Because that's Hayden fucking Cross we're talking about here." Mer laughs again.

"Meredith!" Jasmine warns her, but right at that moment, a blaring horn echoes through the stadium, and people start jumping up and down, cheering on the L.A. Lions' victory.

"Yeah, I know. Because why would someone like him go out with someone like me, right?" I almost yell over the noise while I grab my purse and jacket.

"Mimi, you know I wasn't..."

"Weren't what, Mer?" I can already feel the tears glistening in my eyes when I look at her, crossing my arms in front of my chest.

"I'm just saying, he's him, and you're...well, you're you."

Her words slice through me like a samurai sword, painful and sharp. It becomes even harder to keep the tears at bay, but I don't want to cry now.

"Mer! I swear, shut up for once, will ya? Jesus Christ," Jas scolds.

"No, she's right..." I look down at the field, finding Hayden's name on a jersey in a matter of seconds. Like two magnets, our gazes instantly meet, this pair of strikingly beautiful green eyes hunting me down as if it's their sole purpose to exist. "I get it, Mer. I'm just Mimi, right?" I glance back at my friend, who has this apologizing look on her face, which honestly isn't worth much to me right now. I turn around to leave, but a hand on my wrist makes me turn around, and I can't help but flinch when I see Mer's pitiful glance.

"Let her go, Mer!"

Thank God for Jasmine, the voice of reason in this situation. I honestly can't tell what I would've done if they forced me to stay here for a second longer.

As soon as Mer releases my wrist, I storm out of the stadium, not looking back at my friends or the man who couldn't bother to tell me who he was.