Verdi’s

BROOKE

I stay quiet on the drive to the bar. My mind keeps flipping back and forth between relishing and shrinking away from the powerful sexual tension between Colin and me.

But as soon as I manage to push that aside, I remember how much I’m dreading meeting Ashton’s fiancée.

It was nice to see Ashton for a few minutes earlier today, but I haven’t spent much time with him since we broke up all those years ago. Does his fiancée even know about me?

Colin grabs my hand where I’ve unknowingly been picking at my nails, and intertwines his fingers with mine. “Are you nervous?”

“Did you know Ashton had a fiancée?” I look over at him, and he looks back at me.

Duh! They are friends! Of course he knew.

“Are you still hung up on him?” he asks. His tone is light, jokey, but I feel his hand tense in mine.

“No! I just…I’m finding out about it now, and…we have a history, which we haven’t even really talked about, and it just feels….awkward.

“What if this woman hates me because she knows I was with him? Or what if she doesn’t know, and I accidentally say something? Or—”

“Look, I’m not sure if she knows about you, but Katie’s really nice. She and Ashton are good together, so I don’t think it will be awkward.” He looks over at me with a small smile, but I can tell there’s something bothering him.

“How did it end between you two?” he finally asks, not making eye contact.

“When we both graduated from undergrad. He was noticed by scouts, and they offered him a contract with the Detroit Lions. He accepted before he even told me.

“I stayed behind to continue on with school, and we’ve kept in touch a little bit since then, but I barely see him.”

Colin listens quietly, shaking his head. “Remind me to kick his ass,” he grumbles, low from his chest.

“It’s all in the past now. I can’t blame him, either. He got a full ride to college with a football scholarship. I always knew it was what he wanted to do.

“It was a choice between me and football, and he made his choice,” I say with a sigh, remembering the heartbreak all those years ago.

Was Ashton the one that got away? Maybe… He was the only one who actually cared about me, and encouraged me to get to where I am today.

But maybe it just wasn’t meant to be.

We get to the bar, and Colin walks in with his arm glued to my lower back. I can’t help but laugh to myself: it feels like he wants everyone we’re seeing tonight to think we’re together.

But then again, maybe seeing me with someone else will stop Katie from feeling jealous or threatened by my past with Ashton. For now, I let Colin’s moves slide.

“Hey, you made it!” Ashton’s voice booms over the others in the energetic bar. Multiple TVs flicker on every wall, airing the variety of sports going on tonight. I’m almost immediately feeling overwhelmed.

“You can blame this guy,” I say, pointing over my shoulder to Colin.

“Guilty,” he says, slapping Ashton’s hand in a manly greeting.

“Well, I’m glad you could make it out together,” he says, looking behind him and pulling a petite woman to his side.

“Brooke, I’d like you to meet Katie, my fiancée. Katie, this is Brooke, an old friend from college.” Friend, I think. Oh, God! He hasn’t told her. Please let this night go smoothly.

“Hi, Brooke. Nice to meet you!” She extends her hand for a shake.

“You too!” I shake her hand. “Forgive me, I haven’t heard from Ashton in years so I’m not caught up, but congratulations on your engagement! Have you set a date yet?”

“Thank you. It’s four months from now! I can’t believe how fast time is going. I’ve been so wrapped up in all the planning; I had no idea how many decisions it involved. I’ve been all around the city today, trying on wedding dresses!”

“Oh, yeah, it’s extremely overwhelming,” I blurt out, in a nervous instinct to keep the conversation going.

“Oh, you’re married?”

“Umm, no, actually. I…was engaged, and we had everything planned, but it fell through…” I bite my lip and shut my rambling trap, feeling red with embarrassment.

“Oh, I’m sorry.” Cue the pity party. Dammit!

“You ladies want some drinks?” Colin chimes in, thankfully breaking the awkward moment.

“Sure, whatever wheat beer they have on tap is fine. Thank you,” I say, throwing him a subtle smile to thank him for having my back.

“Baby?” Ashton asks his fiancée.

“A chardonnay, please.”

“Of course. We’ll leave you girls to chat. We’ll be back,” Ashton says, slinging his arm around Colin as they both take off toward the bar.

Katie and I grab a couple of seats at a high-top table. “So, Katie, how did you and Ashton meet?” I ask, trying to keep the conversation on her and not me.

“Oh my god, it was one for the movie screens!” she says, sounding giddy. “I was going to my usual coffee shop to grab a coffee before work. It seemed busier than normal, but I had no idea why.

“So I opened the door, turned around to hold it for the person coming in behind me, and when I turned around again it felt like I crashed into a brick wall!”

I laugh at her exaggeration, but I’m sure that’s an accurate description of what it feels like to run into Ashton. All football players are built like cement boards.

She continues, “Ashton came bombing out of the coffee shop. I realized later he was trying to get away from his crazed fans, and he crashed right into me, spilling his hot coffee all down my shirt.

“He felt so sorry and embarrassed, he frantically grabbed piles of napkins and started wiping me down, not realizing he looked like he was feeling me up in front of everybody!” We both laugh, and I shake my head at the thought of that humiliation.

“Anyways, he felt so bad, he made me give him my number—he said it was just so he could buy me another coffee and get my shirt dry-cleaned. I agreed. But silly me, he just wanted my number.

“He called me an hour later while I was at work, asking me to dinner that night! I said yes, and the rest is history,” she concludes.

“Wow!” I shake my head, laughing again at Ashton and his adorable giant teddy bear-ness. “Sounds just like him.”

I glance over at the guys at the bar and do a double take when I see that Colin and Ashton look like they’re in a heated argument. Oof. Hopefully Colin isn’t drilling into Ashton about what I told him in the car.

It really doesn’t matter to me anymore what happened all those years ago between Ashton and me. He was just one of the many guys in my life who let me down, but that’s all in the past now, and I have definitely moved on from Ashton.

“So, you and Colin, huh?” Katie says, turning the subject to me.

I don’t really know what to say. If I don’t want to talk about Colin, I’m sure Katie’s next question will be about how Ashton and I knew each other all those years ago. I really wouldn’t know how to answer that! So instead, I just go with it. “Yeah…”

“I’m happy for him. He’s a really great guy. I hated his other girlfriend, that model, what was her name? Natali! Ugh, she was such a bitch, she barely even looked at me the one time we double dated. But you and him…definitely look right for each other.”

Oh, lord! Why did I decide to go along with this? Why? “Oh, I don’t know…it’s still very, very, very new!” I stress, like this really means nothing.

Katie laughs like she knows better. “Girl, I already saw it in his eyes when you guys walked in. The way he looks at you, he is totally in love with you!”

“What?!”

“It’s clear as day! And the way you look at him, too! You can deny it all you want, but I know. I have a knack for these things.” She winks at me with a bubbly smile on her face.

Yes, Colin has made it clear he likes me, and he claims that he’ll wait, which is probably the romantic thing guys say nowadays to get in someone’s pants. But love…sorry, Katie, I think you’re dead wrong!

I look over to the bar again. Colin and Ashton’s fight, whatever it was, seems to have calmed down, and Colin’s eyes meet mine.

I give him a look across the room, hoping to convey that he better not be doing what I think he’s doing. Ashton doesn’t deserve to get the third degree over ancient history.

Then Ashton turns from the bar holding our drinks, and they both make their way over to our table.

“So, what are you ladies talking about?” Ashton tries to pry. I immediately bring the beer glass to my mouth so I don’t have to answer and look at Katie, hoping she doesn’t say anything either.

“Oh, nothing,” she says with a smirk, bringing her wine glass to her sealed red lips. Thank God!

Ashton looks confused for a second but drops it. “Fair enough. So, what did we all think of the Steelers game last Sunday?” I launch into a diatribe about their defense, happy to let the conversation turn toward football.