Music filled the stadium once more, along with the content chatter of fans after the thumping we'd just handed Grimsby Town. I stood alongside Mason and Abby cheering for my teammates as they left the pitch, smiles on the faces of every one of them. Despite the smiles we also wore, I knew the sting of disappointment at being uninvolved in a six-nil win must have been rife in Mason and Abby, too.
"Look how stoked Kyle is," Abby teased, motioning to the striker.
He stood in front of a journalist, a smug smile on his face as he puffed out his chest. A tap in, fantastic volley, and a pen in the last minutes meant the match ball was his. Whether it was Grimsby Town or Liverpool, a hattrick was a hattrick, and I had a feeling he'd be wearing a silent smirk for the next weeks.
"He's lucky Fran had gone off already when we got the pen," Mason added. "Imagine the scenes if she'd taken it away from him."
"And she definitely would have," I said.
"I even would have if I was playing," Abby said. "Just to see how upset he'd get."
Mason laughed at my side. I turned to catch his chuckle and an involuntary grin spread across my face. For the first time that night, though, nerves clutched at my stomach. The end of the game left me without a real excuse to keep hanging out with Mason. And I wanted to keep hanging out with him â desperately. For the last quarter of the game I'd wracked my brain trying to think of an innocent way to bring it up, but nothing had come to mind. Now, the idea of us going our separate ways sent a strange panic to my chest.
"I need the toilet before we go," Pippa said from the other side of Mason.
"Okay, I'll wait here," Mason replied.
Pippa squeezed past us and, as Abby pulled out her phone and sat back down, my nerves hung in the air between me and Mason. I faced him, arms crossed over my chest.
"So, Pippa have anything more planned for you tonight?" I asked.
"God, I hope not." Mason grinned and shook his head. "But knowing her, I wouldn't rule it out."
"I heard Piccadilly Circus at night is something special."
"Don't even joke about it," Mason laughed. "My parents made me promise she'd do some work while she's here, so maybe I'll force her to do that."
"I would pay to see you try and discipline Pippa," I teased.
"It's all about a reward system." I raised an eyebrow as he nodded once. "No brownies for her until she does an hour of work."
"Well, you seem to have it all worked out." Mason's lips flickered with the hint of a grin and I smiled up at him, my stomach doing flips. "They better be damn good brownies."
"Oh, trust me, they are." His face lit up as he raised a hand to fix his hair. "Lauren made some for us yesterday. Best brownies you'll ever have."
My heart fluttered in my chest. Was that some kind of hint? Was this my chance at an in? A flush hit my cheeks. I uncrossed my arms and jammed my hands in my jacket pockets.
"I'll have to try them some day," I said quietly.
Something flashed across Mason's eyes. He rolled his lips into his mouth for a second before nodding.
"Yeah, I'll save you one."
"Let's hope Pippa doesn't do too much work then."
"I doubt we have to worry about that."
My heart sunk. How much clearer did I need to make my hint? Although, maybe he had gotten it and decided he didn't want to spend any more time with me. I swallowed as we lapsed into silence. Awkwardness stiffened my shoulders. After a few seconds, Mason cleared his throat.
"Uh, you got any big plans for the night?"
Hope rose in my chest once more. I blinked as Mason's eyes widened.
"Nothing as exciting as Lauren's brownies," I joked. A nervous chuckle escaped Mason. The blush inched down my neck, heating it more than Mason's scarf already did. "I'll probably just watch some series and go to bed."
"Isn't it past your bedtime already?"
I shook my head at his dig. "Hey, save that energy for you sister."
We grinned at each other as silence fell around us once more. Words hung on the edge of my lips, threatening to slip out if he stayed quiet. But something held me back. Fear of rejection? Embarrassment? Shyness? Mason even seemed less at ease than usual. Maybe the same train of thought looped through his mind. Maybe the sting of my recent rejection hung over him, stopping him from trying anything again.
"Ready to go, Masey?"
Before I could say anything else, Pippa appeared behind me. Mason's eyes shifted over my shoulder and he nodded at his sister. I swallowed back disappointment as I turned around to give her a hug goodbye. When I faced Mason, the same regret was mirrored in his eyes.
"See you tomorrow, Hart," he said. Stiff arms pulled me in for a hug. I willed him to say something more, to just ask me to come with them, but that was all he said.
"Yeah, see you, Mitchell."
I stood in shocked silence as the siblings climbed the stairs. Before they reached the top, Mason threw a last glance over his shoulder, but then they vanished into the stadium, and that was that.
I sunk into my seat and let out a sigh. Abby, who I'd almost forgotten was still there, sat next to me and chuckled.
"God, that was painful," she said. I stared at the black sky beyond the stadium lights.
"You heard all of that?" I mumbled.
"Yeah, but I just meant the night in general." I frowned. "Seriously, you two were all over each other."
"Doesn't matter now, does it?"
Abby nudged me in the arm and I turned to face her. She tilted her eyebrows in sympathy, but amusement shone in her eyes.
"What's your deal? Are you pouting because he didn't invite you home?"
My face warmed up again. "Maybe."
"Beck, come on." She let out a laugh. "He might not have asked you directly, but there's no way he didn't want you to go with him."
Then why didn't he just ask?
"If I was you I'd just show up at his house anyway," Abby carried on. I smiled at her expression. "For real! I bet he'd love that."
"I can't just show up." Abby's enthusiasm lifted my mood, and I laughed with her.
"Why not? You've hooked up once already, right?"
"Well, yeah, butâ"
"Then you literally have nothing to lose," she insisted, eyes wide. "Just do it, come on."
The idea played at my mind for a moment. I pictured myself standing outside, ringing the bell, Mason answering the door in his sweatpants. I thought about pulling him in for a kiss, no explanation given, and him dragging me up to his room. My chest swelled with anticipation.
But then another image filled my head. Ringing the bell, Pippa answering, her uncomfortably telling me Mason was asleep, and having to retreat back home. Or ringing the bell and Mason answering with an awkward confusion, only to turn me away with my tail between my legs. My stomach dropped.
"No, I can't do that," I eventually sighed.
"Beck," Abby moaned. I shook my head at her and stood up.
"There's just too much that could go wrong," I said, waving my head over my shoulder. "I justâ" I shook my head. "I'll see him tomorrow anyway."
"Yeah, but you can't hook up with him at Cobham," Abby murmured.
"Oh, God." I laughed as Abby wrapped me up in a hug.
"Well, I'm sorry it didn't work out," she said, squeezing me tightly.
"It's okay."
She pulled away and stared at me for a second. "I'm going to say congrats to the team. Want to come with?"
I paused, but shook my head. "Nah, I'm going to go."
"Okay," she said, nodding. "Get home safe, yeah?"
She climbed the stairs and disappeared a moment later, leaving me basically alone in our section of seats. I picked my bag up from the floor and dragged my legs to the underground parking and my car. The heavy regret in my chest felt stupid, and as I navigated the busy streets on my way home, I tried to shake it off. But it still weighed me down as I fell onto my bed and pulled out my phone.
What was Mason doing that moment? Was he downstairs at his house, playing Fifa or COD, or watching series? Was he in his kitchen, eating one of Lauren's brownies and drinking a cup of tea? Was he lying in his bed in the same position as me? Whatever he was doing, was he thinking of me the same way I thought of him?
I opened social media and immediately went to his profile. It was the same profile I'd seen earlier in the day. Maybe he and Pippa had ended up on a late-night adventure. But even if they had, I couldn't imagine him posting it on his story. Pippa would, though.
I opened Pippa's profile and watched the stories I hadn't seen yet. A video of Stamford Bridge; a picture with Kyle and Fran; a video of Mason juggling a ball on the sideline; a picture of the two of them I'd taken. When the picture of me and Mason took over my screen, I held my finger down to keep it there.
God, this is adorable. Mason's face was scrunched up in a genuine smile. I stared at his profile, my expression filled with excitement and, it was hard to deny, adoration. My heart ached staring at the image. Eventually I clicked on, through a video of the teams lining up, a selfie of Pippa and Mason, and finally a picture of the pitch, the scoreboard displaying six nil in the background.
Locking my phone, I let it fall out of my hand onto the bed next to me. My legs itched with a strange restlessness. My belly burned with a longing to be with Mason.
You're being pathetic,I scolded myself. Either do something about this or go to sleep.
I settled for a cup of tea and switched on my TV. I managed to get through the first ten minutes of a New Girl episode, but I just found myself back on Mason's profile after that. Then I found myself staring at Pippa's picture of us again. Then I found myself staring at our chat, thinking of a message I could type out to him.
Hey Mase, it was good to see you and Pippa.
Hey Mase, how were the brownies?
Hey Mase, what you up to?
Hey Mase, why the hell didn't you just invite me to come back to your house when I made it so obvious that I wanted to come?
I threw my head back and massaged the space between my eyes. An uncharacteristic impulsivity took over me and, with a courageous sip of tea, I pressed call on his contact before I could think over my decision.
The phone rang once, twice. My heart raced in my chest. Three times. I debated hanging up, but thenâ
"Hart, hey."
Oh, God, what are you doing, Beck? This is so stupid. You should have just gone to bed.
"Hi," I replied, cringing at the tone of my voice, the eagerness in it, the whole situation.
"What's up? Everything okay?" He sounded confused. Or was it enjoyment?
"Uh, yeah, everything's fine," I replied. I clutched my phone tighter in my hands. "Just wanted to check in. Make sure you kept me a brownie."
Mason chuckled on the other end. "I managed to wrangle the last one away from Pip, don't you worry."
"So I take it the reward system was a success?"
"Oh, no, definitely not." I smiled in my phone. "She told me she was going to watch a movie and went to her room with, like, three brownies."
"Crisis," I laughed.
"My first test as a disciplinarian and I failed," Mason chuckled.
"There's always tomorrow night."
"Yeah, but then we'll have no brownies." He paused for a moment as my giggle settled. "I thought you'd already be in bed, Hart. Why are you still up?"
"We have late training tomorrow, remember?" I reminded him. "So I can sleep in."
"Oh, yeah, right." Mason paused and I squeezed my eyes shut, shrinking again. He took a breath in and, before I could interrupt with another pointless comment, he spoke. "Why are you really calling, Beck?"
My head spun as adrenalin spiked through my veins. I bit down on my lip and cleared my throat.
"Uh, what do you mean?" I stammered.
"Well, it's almost eleven and I saw you, like, an hour ago," he said. I could practically hear his smile. "And I'm going to see you again tomorrow."
"Can't I just call to have a chat?" I asked. If I'd felt any confidence earlier, it had long since drained out of me.
"You can, but I don't think you are."
Oh no oh no oh no. Does he know?
"Yeah? What is this, then?" I tried to match his cocky tone, but it sounded feeble even to my own ears.
"If I had to guess, I'd say this is a booty call."
He said the words so casually that it took me a second to process them. Realisation washed over my body and sent it into a deep blush. I blinked in shock: shock at my obviousness, shock at Mason's call-out, and shock at my naivety in thinking he wouldn't have found me out.
"Iâ" I scrunched my eyes shut and tried to hold back my mortified giggle. "That's notâ no."
Now, Mason laughed. "You could have just sent me a you up? message like everyone else does, you know."
I chuckled, mostly in relief at his amusement. "If I ever decide to actually booty call you, I'll do that."
"Hey, it's nothing to be embarrassed about," he replied. "It's actually quite flattering."
"Who said I have anything to be embarrassed about?" I questioned, grateful that my voice stayed steady. "I told you, this is just an innocent phone call."
"If you say so." I smiled goofily.
"You know, you are the one that brought it up." Daring burned in my stomach. "If anything, you're actually booty calling me."
Mason let out a low chuckle. "Except you're the one that called me."
"Did I?" I asked with sarcastic innocence. "I could have sworn you called me."
"Okay, Hart," Mason said. The cheek in his tone sent my heart racing. "Let's say hypothetically that this is a booty call." Again, hope blossomed in my chest. "What would you say?"
"Hypothetically?"
"Yeah, of course."
I grinned and lifted a hand to twirl my hair around my fingers. "Then I'd say I can be at you in thirty minutes."
Mason stayed silent for a second. Anticipation at his reply forced my stomach into knots. Would he turn me down like he had earlier? Take the bait? Laugh this whole conversation off? He cleared his throat on the other end of the call, and the simple sound gave me my answer before his next words.
"Okay, so if this is a booty call for real," he started, his voice was soft and unsure, "what would you say then?"
My breath caught in my throat. "I'd say I could probably make it twenty minutes."
"For real?" he breathed out. I imaged Mason's face twisted into a beam, his eyes bright with eagerness.
"Yeah, for real."
"Okay." My cheeks ached from the size of my grin and the heat of my face. "I'll see you in twenty, then."
"See you in twenty, Mitchell."
***
A/N
Hi everyone!
Just wanted to say thank you so so much for all the support - the book has reached over 20K which was a huge goal of mine! Â Sorry for the suuuuper long waits for updates but like I've said before, the end is close and it's coming (hopefully asap).
Abby