A Wright Christmas

“Nothing.”

“Doesn’t seem like nothing, does it, Julian?” Hollin asked.

Julian glanced up with an amused look on his face. It had come as a shock to me to learn that Julian Wright, cousin to Jensen, was also Hollin’s cousin on his mom’s side. Small towns were weird. But at least it meant we got another good player. Julian was built more like me with the same fair skin and clever footwork. He’d kicked ass on a rec team in Vancouver.

“Blaire does seem awfully smug,” Julian offered with his award-winning Wright smile.

“I am smug,” Blaire said. “I got his high school sweetheart to come watch him play.”

“Ohhh,” Hollin said. “Is she hot?”

“Can we not?” I asked.

Annie giggled from where she was warming up. “You had this one coming, bro.”

Thankfully, the ref blew the whistle for game time. I shook hands with the rest of our team who had just finished warming up and gave a quick pep talk before sending everyone out to their positions. Blaire played forward because girls’ goals counted as two. It was half the reason we were destroying the rest of the teams this season. Blaire ran circles around the competition. Julian and I played midfield, and Hollin, with his bulk, defended alongside Annie and Cézanne—a tall, quick-footed player with her signature box braids, who Annie knew from medical school. Our goalie, Gerome, was even taller than Hollin with locs for days and miracle hands. He’d only missed a handful of balls all season. I was confident that we could take the title this season.

It was a pretty fair spread, and I wasn’t confident in the win until Blaire landed the last goal. Hollin was a bit of a ball hog and liked to score even though he was supposed to be defending. He and Cézanne got into it a lot. Julian was sometimes too cautious, but overall, we were getting the hang of playing as a team.

We shook hands with our opponents after we beat them and then headed back to the bench.

“Great game, everyone,” I told them. “Keep this up, and we’re going to win the season.”

“Pizza?” Hollin asked the rest of the team.

I groaned. I couldn’t imagine eating a slice of pizza right now. “I’ll pass. I need to get home to Aly.”

The rest of the team agreed and arranged to meet at Capital Pizza since they were one of the few late-night pizza joints still open.

Annie nudged me. “I’m going to get pizza with Jennifer, Sutton, and Blaire.” She winked. “Don’t wait up.”

I shook my head at her. “Annie…”

She held her hands up. “Hey, I’m just saying. Mom and Dad have Aly. She’s probably already in bed. Doesn’t hurt a damn thing for you to have a little more time to yourself for once.”

She had a point. And she knew it. Because she just grinned wider and ran after Blaire. “Hey, wait up!”

After throwing my shin guards back into my bag and taking a long drink of water, I shouldered my bag and headed over to where Peyton sat.

“Hey, good game,” she said at my approach.

“Thanks. I was a little nervous there at the end.”

She laughed, and something skipped in my heart. I had missed that sound. “I know how competitive you are. There was no way you were going to let them beat you.”

I shrugged and dropped my bag. “Well, it doesn’t always work out.”

“No, I suppose not,” she agreed. “Jenny and Sutton said something about going to get pizza.” She tugged on a curly lock and let it bounce back up. “It feels a little weird, even saying those words. I haven’t seen some of these people in years, and they act like I just belong among them.”

“You do,” I said automatically.

She shrugged. “No, I don’t. But it’s nice of them to include me. Were you going to get pizza?”

“No, I can’t imagine eating a slice after all that. Not to mention, the beer consumption Hollin manages. Plus, I have to get home to Aly.”

Her face fell slightly at the words, and I kicked myself for saying them. Annie had just told me to live a little. That Aly was fine for the night. Maybe I was the one who didn’t belong in this world. I certainly wasn’t used to having a night to myself.

“But not quite yet,” I added quickly. “If you want to maybe get some ice cream?”

She hopped down off of the bleacher, a tentative smile coming to her face. “My kryptonite, Donoghue.”

I grinned. Didn’t I know it? “Is that a yes?”

“Yes.”6PeytonSince Blaire was heading out for pizza, Isaac drove us to Braum’s. He parked the truck out front in the already- full parking lot.

“What’s happening here tonight?” I asked, gracefully sliding out of the passenger side.

“Nothing. Just the normal high school crowd.”

I arched an eyebrow but followed him inside and immediately saw what he meant. The restaurant was packed with high school–aged kids sitting around with ice cream cones and gossiping like their life depended on it.