Relatable

15

I blew out a deep breath as I adjusted my hair. Looking at myself in the mirror, I seemed prepared for the game and ready to have a good time tonight, but on the inside I was not so sure.

There was a lot riding on tonight but I could barely remember why. It was just a football game. I'm not sure if anything will happen afterwards or if I'll even get to see or talk to Dylan.

In some weird turn of events, I ended up hitching a ride with Danny to the high school. Layla was with her family tonight and I did not want to sit at the bleachers all by myself tonight. Fortunately, Danny's cousin was on the football team and he was there to watch him play.

As Danny and I took a seat on the cold, uncomfortable bleachers, he asked, "So, Dylan, huh?"

I turned to him, "Did Cameron tell you?!"

He shrugged, playing innocent.

"Or is it just painfully obvious that I have a big, stupid crush on the guy?" I asked, looking toward the field where the team was getting ready to start playing. If Cameron found my crush blatantly obvious, then maybe Danny had too.

"Nah, Cameron mentioned it when I told him to make a pass at you," he smirked.

I turned back to Danny, confusion written all over my face. "Wait, what?"

"I mean, I just thought you guys were into each other. So I encouraged Cameron a little, but he cut me off and said you were into Dylan."

The team ran onto the field and the whole crowd cheered, but I sat frozen.

"Why'd you think we were into each other?" I asked cautiously.

"Come on, Ellie," he said, tilting his head at me. "At Layla's birthday, you couldn't take your eyes off each other, for one. But he also seems really comfortable around you."

I silently watched the game. I took in what Danny said and let it play in my mind over and over again. The team had just celebrated a touchdown; when had that happened? My eyes were on Dylan the entire night, but my mind was on someone else entirely.

At one point, I had wished Cameron was there. Even though Danny said Cameron feels comfortable around me, I realized I had gotten used to having him around as well.

When Dylan's team won the game, they celebrated in the middle of the field. Danny said, "Hey, I'm going to go down to my cousin, if that's cool. Just text me if you need me to drive you back."

I nodded, as he walked towards the crowd. We had discussed me possibly leaving with Dylan if things went well, but I didn't know how likely that would be.

Once the crowd dispersed a bit, I went down to the field when Dylan finally had a free moment.

"Hey, nice game," I shot him a small smile.

"Oh, hey El! You made it," Dylan said, taking a large sip from his sports drink. "Told you we'd win."

"Yep, you did," I shyly smiled towards the ground. He didn't need to know that I was barely paying attention to the game.

"I think the guys just want to do a small get-together at Milo's house, otherwise I'd totally ask you to hang," Dylan said.

I nodded, realizing I'd need to text Danny for a ride. "Oh, that's fine. No worries. Have fun tonight," I started stepping back.

"Thanks for coming tonight," he surprised me by taking a step forward and kissing my cheek again. "I'll see you."

I watched him run towards the other members of the team. I couldn't tell if Dylan really liked me, but a kiss on the cheek seemed like a little much for 'just a friend.'

I sent Danny a quick text and we met up back at the parking lot. "So I take it Dylan didn't invite you to Milo's?" Danny asked.

I shook my head. "It's a small get-together."

He snorted. "Yeah, okay," Danny said, sarcastically. "I just saw like half the football groupies get into Tyrone's van."

"He told me he wanted to hang out with me," I said randomly.

"I'm sure he does, El. Maybe he just thought it wasn't your scene."

Suddenly, I felt very angry. I didn't know if it was rational or not but I felt like an idiot. Why was I wasting my
time on this guy? He shouldn't assume I wouldn't want to go to a party with the football team, anyway. I'm always left confused by his sweet words and general kindness, but beyond that what else is there?

When Danny pulled into my street, I kept my
fingers on the handle, ready to leave. "Thanks for the ride, see you at school."

I hopped out and stormed towards the front door. Once inside, my mom asked from the couch, "Hi, hon. Did you enjoy the game?"

I smiled at her quickly and nodded, while hurrying past her to hide out in my room. I couldn't hide the annoyance on my face and didn't want to have to talk to my mom about it while I was still trying to wrap my mind around how I'm feeling.

Regardless of my thoughts about Dylan, I still couldn't get Cameron out of my head. As far as I knew, Cameron didn't seem to have any sort of feelings for me, but I also know I'm not imagining the connection we have. Like Danny said, we're pretty comfortable around each other and I really like having him around.

Do I like Cameron?

Racking my brain for all our past interactions, I realized I had been denying the butterflies in my stomach when he's around. It just didn't make sense to me. The plan wasn't to fall for the guy helping me land a date with someone else.

I couldn't handle the spiral of my thoughts. It was getting late and I was grateful I had the weekend to be alone and away from any guy drama. But I had no idea what I would do on Monday.