“Excuse me,” a deep voice said from behind
me. “Did you guys mention something about a club?”
I turned my head to see an unfamiliar man tilting his chair backwards on two legs. His huge afro tickled my cheek and I shuffled sideways to escape his mop of hair. Whoever he was, he was cute. His skin was dark and smooth, and his chocolate brown eyes were the kind you could get lost in.
Sure Leah, because with all the drama with McCoy, what you need is another man on your mind.
“We sure did, buddy,” Will answered. “You wanna come?”
“That okay?” he asked looking at Freya and me in turn.
“Fine by me,” Freya said. “Leah?”
“Yeah, no problem,” I replied, trying hard not to trip over my own tongue.
“We’re meeting in the lobby at nine-thirty.”
“Cool. I’ll see you then.”
Before he returned the front two legs of his chair to the floor, he gave me a smile I had trouble returning. The corners of my mouth twitched as if I had some kind of unattractive tic, and heat rose in my cheeks.
Smooth.
Nobody said another word until we finished dinner, by which time, my face had – thankfully - returned to its normal colour.
“Okay, spill,” Will said as we stepped out of the elevator and into the corridor. “What was with the blushing? Do you like Miguel?”
I gave a casual shrug, betraying my interest. “He’s cute. Who is he?”
“Miguel Vega. He’s our goalkeeper coach. This is his first day back in two weeks. Not sure how you missed him when you first started though.”
My first week had been a blur of nerves, fake confidence and trying to memorise the names of the players. I ended every day so frazzled I barely remembered my own name so it wasn’t a big surprise that Miguel had passed me by.
“You could do a lot worse than Miguel,” Freya mused. “He’s a nice guy.”
“Plus, I think he was checking you out,” Will added.
“Okay slow down,” I said, holding up my hands in an attempt to stop them before they began planning the wedding. “I said he’s cute, I didn’t say I want to have his children.”
“Do you blush that way over every man you think is cute?” Freya asked with a grin.
“Well no, but that doesn’t mean I need to be forced on him!”
“I’ll introduce you later,” Will said, ignoring me.
I nodded, resigned to the fact that Will and Freya wouldn’t let it drop. In spite of my fake coolness, a little buzz of excitement zapped at my insides. Nine-thirty could not come quickly enough for me.
****
“Oh dear God.”
I spun around in circles, surveying myself in the bathroom mirror. I hadn’t tried on my ridiculously expensive dress since the day I dented my bank balance to make it mine.
Has it always been this short?
It couldn’t have been. I’d never have paid insane amounts of cash for something so tiny, not even on a shopping high. Can dresses shrink from being squashed in a suitcase among other clothes? Or maybe I’d grown an inch or two.
Ha. Not possible. I hadn’t grown so much as a millimetre since I was thirteen.