(14) I'm Lovin' It

It was Friday night football.

And Cassandra was missing.

Any other time, Makennah wouldn't have even paid attention. But it was an away game at a school two hours away. In order to get a good seat and claim the end zone, the entire school left almost after school ended.

Especially the Sinclair's obviously.

So Makennah, Grace, Meredith, and Meredith's lab partner Penny all waited in the stadium near the concessions stand but close enough to the field to watch everyone prepare for the game. It was a particularly warm Friday, so Makennah wore shorts with her jersey. Yes, her jersey.

She didn't refer to it as her jersey. Theo did. He asked her on Thursday if she wanted his jersey again and she said no. Then Matt chimed in and agreed she should wear it and referred to the item as her jersey.

She wasn't stupid. She knew wearing the same guy's jersey two consecutive fridays in a row meant something. The same amount of students took notice. Except now, they started to whisper, asking questions, trying to figure out who she was and how she got his jersey. Most importantly they wanted to know if Makennah and Theo were a "thing."

Grace hammered her with questions about Theo - asking for the details. Meredith sat down beside her in her usual spot and joined in, a double whammy. The two proved to be pretty impressive with their interrogation skills.

A couple scenarios ran through her head at their insistence of talking about Theo - the first time they met, the sexual innuendos, trespassing and crushing their bodies together behind a tree, flirtatiously touching her knee under the dinner table at the Sinclair's - but she kept all of those things to herself. Theo was the type of guy that probably flirted with a whole bunch of girls and did things to make them flustered. Or was she the only one who got flustered? She couldn't think about that.

"Gotta go," Makennah told her friends and sprinted away from them without explanation.

She was determined to find Cassandra. The football team had just arrived in the school buses so that meant the coaches would be there too.

Makennah whipped out her phone and pretended to be taking a call. She walked around, mouthing words into the receiver, searching for a cute pixie cheerleader who managed to disappear from the rest of her squad. Her search for the cheerleader proved to be more difficult than intended because more and more citizens and supporters started to file into the stadium, clogging her view.

Since she couldn't find Cassandra, Makennah lingered around the bus as the boys unloaded so that she could try to find the offensive coach and keep an eye on him. If she could watch the coach, she could be sure that she would see Cassandra if they planned a secret meeting.

Risky. Very risky.

Truly the odds of Cassandra and the coach secretly meeting were slim but she didn't want to put anything past them. Theo and Makennah failed thus far to gain any ground or record any evidence on their phones to show Matt. It was starting to piss them both off. They were going on two weeks with no evidence. Long term, it wasn't that long. Short term, Makennah was tired of waiting and watching Matt die in his doubt induced misery.

The boys weren't supposed to be bothered before the game. The parents and friends knew to just wave from afar. So Makennah waited until Theo exited the bus with his duffle bag hung over his shoulder.

Theo saw her instantly and nodded his head at her. She pointed to her phone, conveying the message that he should check his phone.

Theo shook his head and mouthed the words "not allowed."

Makennah shot him a look.

Theo rolled his eyes and nodded his head as if he would check.

M- Cassandra is missing. Keep an eye on the coach? Let me know if he leaves

T- I'll try

M- 👍

Without further ado, Makennah went back to her seat with the girls. Now that she had eyes on the inside, her job became infinitely easier.

For this game, Grace supplied a plethora of blankets for them to lay on for the game instead of chairs. It was easier to pack up and leave at the end of the game. Makennah flopped on the ground between Grace and Meredith and that's where she stayed amidst the cheers and applause as the Wolverines made their way onto the opposing team's field.

"It's Go, fight, win not go, fight, go," Grace instructed her during a cheer that the student section created to go along with the beat of their school's band.

"Ugh. So simple!" Makennah smacked herself on the forehead.

"You'll get it!" Penny encouraged. "Go, fight, win!" She cheered with her fist raised, pumping to the beat.

Meredith sighed. "Man I sure do love this view," she mentioned wistfully.

Makennah laughed and shook her head. Since the girls got there so early, they stationed themselves in the very front row in the end zone so no one obstructed their view of the players on the field. Currently, it was the Wolverines crouching with their backs to the end zone, playing defense to the Hawks. Their hind ends stuck up in the air in their tight white pants which hugged every curve and accented every thick braided muscle on their legs.

"Oh honey you're tellin' me," Grace coincided with Meredith.

"I've been fanning myself this whole game. Haven't you seen?" Penny mentioned dramatically.

Makennah just giggled quietly. There was no way she was joining in on that conversation no matter how much she agreed.

"My favorite part of football," Grace announced, clapping her hands as the boys defended the end zone without letting the Hawks get another down.

"Their butts?" Makennah asked.

"Heck yes!" Meredith and Grace yelled at the same time.

"You're lying if you don't agree," Penny insisted, crouching on the blanket with her full body facing the field, openly eyeing every rear end that was practically at eye level.

"Football is a great sport and..."

Makennah was cut off by Grace. "...And blah blah blah! You're literally the worst. Want to know why? Because I've seen you with my own two eyeballs undress number six starting with this tight pants. And girl, you can't even deny it because you oogled him for a solid ten seconds which is a long time."

"You could paint his ass from memory," Meredith insisted without looking at her.

"Stop it!" Her cheeks flushed with heat, and she stopped herself from covering her cheeks with her hands.

"You're not denying it!" Penny pointed out.

"Yes I am. I did not do that!" Makennah screeched. Just as she was getting the image out of her head, Theo and Matt walked past each other and high fived before setting up for another play. Theo paused while Matt called the play.

His strong legs flexed as he jogged in place. He rolled his ankles and his calf muscles curved and defined themselves. Theo flexed his fingers and squeezed his fists, causing the veins in his forearms to jump and wiggle underneath the surface of his skin. His toned forearms led her eyes to his bulging biceps, pumping and moving from an intense close game.

Her gaze avoided his butt but it unavoidably found its way there. She couldn't take a lie detector test if someone paid her one million dollars. Undeniably, she would fail and fail miserably. Because that butt was a nice butt. Rounded and muscular, the perfect size for a man. Who said females can't like rear ends as much as men? Because right now, she was beyond likin'. She was lovin' it.

If Theo even got a taste of the dirty thoughts plaguing her mind, she would never hear the end of it. Before today, she had never even checked out his back end in jeans, but gosh they deserved it in the future. As soon as possible, Makennah would let her eyes wander over his tushie in jeans whenever Theo presented the opportunity.

"You're thinking about it right now!"

Makennah didn't know who said that because she was so lost in thought. "What?"

Meredith burst out laughing. "Girl, where were you?"

"Tuning all of you out!" She yelled defensively.

"And tuning in that ass," Penny joked.

Grace elbowed Makennah and giggled. "That was a good one."

"No it wasn't," Makennah bit out. She didn't like being the butt of everyone's jokes. No pun intended.

"Just admit it!"

"I was not looking at his butt!" Makennah screamed a little louder than intended out of frustration. She slapped a hand over her mouth when several people turned to look at her.

At that exact moment, Theo turned around and trained his eyes on the end zone, and Makennah just about died. The girls dissolved into laughter, falling into one another. Makennah could only stare at Theo and hope he didn't hear her.

However, his gaze finally found her, spotting her in the crowd. He lifted his finger and pointed at her as if he knew - he just knew - that they were talking about him and the butt declaration was predicated on his very own ass.

"I could die," Makennah wailed.

"He definitely heard you."

"We could have been talking about anyone," she said.

"You're wearing his jersey. What other butt would you be referring to?" Grace pointed out.

"There's a field full of players."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night," Penny snickered.

Popping in his mouth guard, Theo sauntered back to his position in those mouth watering pants and took his stance for the play. Before he crouched down, Makennah sword he glanced over his shoulder at her one more time. She would bet money that he winked underneath that helmet.

"We're done talking about this," she said in finality. She didn't want to be the center or attention anymore. She was definitely tired of blushing. On top of that, she was trying to think of Theo less not more.

"Wait, one more question!" Grace raised her hand as if in class.

"It had better be a legitimate question!" Makennah yelled, crossing her arms over her chest defensively.

"Aren't all questions legitimate?" Meredith snickered.

Makennah shot her a look which made her laugh harder.

"I've put off asking this because I know the entire junior and senior class has been asking about it, but are you and Theo a thing?" Grace leaned in to whisper so that other students wouldn't overhear. "I mean this is the second week you're wearing his jersey and you two always seem to be talking about something important."

That important thing was Cassandra's disloyal habits. But they didn't need to know that.

"I promise that there is absolutely nothing going on between us," Makennah pledged with her hand over her chest.

"You're positive?" Meredith asked.

"Are you in denial?" Penny teased.

"Yes I'm positive. No I am not in denial. He was helping me find a job, and that's what we were talking about." Not totally a lie but also definitely not the truth. Indeed, he did help her find a job.

"Oh well that's sweet. Why did he do that?" Meredith inquired as if there were more to the story.

She shrugged her shoulders and focused on the game. She could feel the heat fading from her cheeks and neck the longer they stopped conniving about number six's buttocks. "He knew of a few openings. He and Matt are best friends ya know. So he's at the house all the time. He overheard me saying I wanted a job, and he was helping me out with the search."

"So he's at the house a lot? You see him outside of school a lot?" Penny asked.

Makennah noticed that Grace was being a little more quiet and keeping to herself about all of the nitty gritty details she knew about Theo and her. She was thankful she had a friend that respected her privacy. Later on, Makennah would text her and thank her as well as explain what she was really talking about with Theo. It's not that she didn't trust Meredith or Penny, it's just that she didn't know them as well as Grace and didn't know if they would spread gossip about her.

"I mean I see him but we don't necessarily interact. He's not there for me. He's there for Matt." Except when he visited to plan stuff for sneaking around and spying on Cassandra. Or when he sat beside her at the dinner table and touched her unnecessarily under the table. Or when he dropped her off after spying on Cassandra at someone's house.

Yeah those things didn't count.

"Alright I'll believe you for now," Grace said.

"I think you like him. You just won't say it." Meredith wiggled her eyebrows jokingly.

"I don't have any reason to lie," Makennah told them.

Penny shrugged. "Well you kind of do. He's Matt's best friend. I don't know how Matt would take it if you two were a thing. I'm sure you've thought of that."

Obviously, Makennah had thought of that factor a long time ago. These girls didn't even understand that Makennah was a foster child and she couldn't go above and beyond to piss off anyone in the family. Dating or even liking Matt's best friend might be the very thing to send him over the edge considering she already pushed him away by accusing his girlfriend of cheating on him. "I've known him for all of two weeks. I don't like him." That was the only other thing she could say.

"Maybe not yet. But you will," Meredith stated matter of factly.

"We see you flirting in the hallways. If you're not into him, he's at least into you," said Grace as she flipped her hair over her shoulder.

All four of them paused to cheer for the Wolverines as the third quarter ended.

"Oh he's totally into you," Meredith exclaimed.

"You probably don't even notice the way he looks at you," Penny pointed out.

The flush in her cheeks returned almost instantly. This was the first time she had even thought of this or heard about it. Theo into her? Obviously, she picked up on the flirting but she figured it was just his nature.

"By the look on your face, I'd say you didn't see it," Penny added.

"You didn't think he liked you?" Grace asked with her eyebrows raised.

"Um...no." That was the only word her mind could piece together and her mouth would produce. She sealed her lips tightly together to stop herself from smiling. Why was she even smiling at this news? Like she said, they only knew each other for two weeks. This was nonsense.

"Girlfriend, you're blind as a bat," Meredith joked without looking at her. It was probably a little serious actually. Not entirely a joke.

"He doesn't...." she started, but her mouth couldn't finish the sentence.

"You keep telling yourself that, Mack. But Theodore Alexander Rose III 100% without a doubt no question in my mind has the hots for you," Penny states before everyone rose to their feet to visit the concession stands.

Makennah remained sitting on the blanket, mulling over all of this new information. Her brain felt like it was about to explode. A guy like Theo liked Makennah?

Not possible.

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Thank you all for giving this book a chance! I appreciate each and every reader who has given it a chance!

How was your week, everybody? 😊

Xoxo

W. Carolina