Playing to Win

Which didn’t help my attitude. At all.

Finally, Friday rolled around again. One more day of practice before the weekend. The next day both Natalie and Kelly had sports in town and I planned to spend the day watching my friends compete, while trying to forget all about Asher, his song, and how much I didn’t want to like him.

Once school ended, I hurried out to my car and shoved the key into the ignition.

Nothing.

“What?” I murmured and tried again. No dice.

Crap. Now what was I going to do? I could call Joe, but he lived on the other side of town. Mom should be at home, but who knew. She could be out running errands. Dad would already be at the rink by now.

I pulled my phone from my pocket and scrolled through my favorites folder until Joe’s name popped up. My thumb hovered over the call button when a knock sounded on my window.

Asher.

Of course.

I gave him a what do you want? face. He lifted his brow as if to say isn’t it obvious. I waved for him to open the door.

“What are you doing? Is something wrong?” he asked as soon as he opened the door.

“My car won’t start.”

He sat down in the passenger side seat and frowned. “Try to start it.”

I turned the key in the ignition. “See? Nothing.”

“Want to jump it? We can use my car, but I don’t have any cables.”

Ugh. “I don’t, either. I think they’re in Joe’s car.” He’d gotten himself a used car before he moved out. A couple of months ago, his battery kept dying so he’d held onto the jumper cables. I’d never had an issue with this car, so I hadn’t been worried about it.

Asher checked the time on his phone. “We’re going to be late if we don’t hurry. I’ll give you a ride and you can let your dad know about your car.”

Without waiting to see what I’d say, he got out of my car. He paused before closing the door to glance back at me.

“Coming?”

Practice started in just a few minutes. Chances were Joe had already arrived at the rink. Asher had to be at the same place as me. Refusing the ride would be silly.

But that didn’t mean I wanted to get into his car. At. All.

“Jordan, come on. We’re going to the same place.” His dark eyes held mine. “What are you afraid of?”

Nothing. I wasn’t afraid of anything.

I grabbed my bag and marched to his car. Before I could sit down, our eyes met over the roof.

“What?” I asked with more irritation than he deserved considering he’d saved me from having to call Joe or wait for my mom.

One side of his mouth curved up. “Nothing. Let’s go.”

I plopped down on the soft leather covering the front seat, my head falling back against the headrest. His car still had a new car smell and it was so clean my cheeks heated thinking of him sitting in our junker with fast food wrappers and dirty socks on the floor, even if it had only been for a moment.

His long fingers pushed a button to start the car. Fancy. He pulled out of the parking lot and turned in the direction of the rink.

“So…” He shifted in his seat. “How’s it going?”

I rolled my head to the side and glared at him. “Fine. And you?”

His lips twitched. “Fine.” He glanced away from the road to look at me for a split second. “Heard any good music lately?”

“No. Not really.”

He laughed. “Fair enough.” He turned down a side street to avoid the stop lights on the main road. “How are your friends? Where are their names?” His eyes squinted. “Natalie and Kelly?”

“They’re fine.”

Asher stopped at a stop sign. “Good talk. We should do this again sometime.”

I rolled my head again, this time to look out the window while I pondered a witty comeback. Instead, I saw-

“Wait! Stop the car!” If I hadn’t been so determined to avoid Asher’s gaze I might have missed it, missed him.

“What? What are you talking about?”

Too afraid to turn away from the window, I blindly reached for his forearm and squeezed. “Please. Just pull over.” I pointed to an empty spot on the curb. “Right there. Hurry!”

To his credit, Asher didn’t ask any more questions as he maneuvered his car to the side of the road and parked.