HOLD THE FOREVERS

3. Athens

3

Athens

April 5, 2008

The tailgate before the spring G-Day game looked like a stampede of elephants had trampled over North Campus. Josie wove drunkenly through the crowd of people, as if she went to Georgia, easily maneuvering us from one drink to the next.

To be fair, Josie had gone to an Atlanta high school that had sixty people out of their senior class come to the university. So, it was feasible that she knew more people here than I did.

“You have to sit with us,” Channing said, latching on to my arm.

“Definitely.”

My buzz was tipping into dangerous territory, but how could I deny the captain of the dance team? I couldn’t.

Georgia had two main dance teams. The one that marched with the band for football games and the varsity team that performed at all basketball games, volleyball games, and gymnastic meets. Channing and I were on the latter.

The lot of us pushed into Sanford Stadium, falling into place in the one hundred–student section in our array of red-black-and-white game day dresses. The good thing about being surrounded by other dancers was that we knew every cheer and doubled the volume in the stadium.

“Oh my God!” Josie screamed. “There’s Cole!”

Her words were lost in the uproar as the football players jogged out onto the football field for the annual scrimmage. Half of the team was in red and half in white. They’d play each other, including any new recruits who had signed to Georgia for next season. The coveted quarterback position was typically won at this game, and we had two promising quarterbacks this year. I couldn’t wait to see them both play.

Though I’d be lying if my eyes didn’t follow Cole in his red uniform. I’d told him last night where I’d be sitting with the rest of the dance team. And today, he looked up at the audience and pointed straight toward me.

The crowd went wild. No one, except Josie and me, knew that the gesture was pointed and not just a thank-you to the entire crowd. My face was on fire, and Josie bounced up and down with excitement.

“He is so hot,” Channing said next to me. “Not my type obviously, but I can appreciate a pretty face.”

“He really is,” I agreed easily.

“I heard that he’s back on the market. His last relationship went down in massive flames.”

I frowned. I didn’t want to know more about him than what he’d told me. If I wasn’t ready to discuss my relationship … maybe he wasn’t either.

“Lila went on a date with him last night,” Josie said gleefully.

Channing’s head snapped to me. “Excuse me? And no phone call? Are we even friends?”

I laughed and shot her an apologetic look. “It was kind of last minute. We have Kinesiology together, and he asked me out.”

“Holy s**t! How did it go? Tell me everything.”

So, as the two teams lined up for the game, I divulged to Channing what I’d already spent last night telling Josie. And by the end, Channing looked as if she were going to explode with excitement.

“So, he was pointing at you?” she gasped. She pulled her blonde hair up into a ponytail since the heat was out of this world today. It was like spring had come yesterday and full-blown summer hit today. Typical Georgia.

“Yes!” Josie squealed.

“Oh, I love this. Who knew our little Delilah would snag Cole Davis?”

“I mean, it was one date.”

“Whatever,” Channing said with a hand wave. “That was more than a first date.”

And I couldn’t deny that. Not one bit.

It was a brutally hot day. I was sticky and would have happily gone home to shower and chill in the air conditioning, but I couldn’t leave my seat. The dance team continued to cheer through the fourth quarter. When the red team scored the winning touchdown, the entire stadium went wild, even with the dwindling numbers. We made up for the empty seats.

Before the clock ticked down its final few seconds, I grabbed Josie’s hand and tugged her out of the bleachers. We raced down the stairs to field level. Sanford Stadium was set up with a ring of five-foot hedges surrounding the field and a path around the hedges that led to the seats. I wanted to be the first one down there to take pictures between the hedges.

Josie and I snapped pictures individually and then together when we could grab someone to take it for us. The person taking our picture gasped.

I was about to ask what was wrong when I heard the cheers of the football players behind us. Josie grabbed her phone back and swiveled to take shots of the football players in the hedges, chanting with the marching band and remaining fans.

A few players jumped the hedges and pulled themselves up into the stands in front of the marching band to dance and celebrate.

“Oh my God!” Josie cried, taking picture after picture after picture.

We were at the heart of it. I couldn’t have planned it better if I’d tried.

Then I heard my name behind me.

Josie and I both whipped back around to find Cole Davis standing on the other side of the hedges. His helmet was still on, but I could see the gleam in his eyes and the wide smile on his face.

“This is crazy!” I yelled over to him.

Whatever he said next disappeared as the marching band started up another song.

“What?” I called.

He shook his head in exasperation, and then with two purposeful steps, he jumped, vaulting the hedges and sliding over to the other side. My eyes widened in shock. I’d seen other players clambering over the hedges, but he’d made it look like he’d taken a hurdle. Precise and somehow effortless.

“I said,” he began, tugging his helmet off of his head and looking down at me, “I was looking for you throughout the game.”

“Oh,” I said. “You found me.”

“I guess I did.”

He took that final step forward, bridging the distance between us with ease. His hand pushed up into my hair. My head tilted up to look at him towering over me.

We hung there, suspended in space and time. Everything shifted. The world dropped away. The chanting buzzed into silence. All around us, people celebrated, and here, right now, it was just me and Cole.

Then his head dipped down, and his mouth touched mine. We melded together as if we were always meant to be. He tasted like sweat and the sweet tang of a sports drink and something inexplicably him. My fingers tangled into the front of his jersey, distorting the number eighty-eight. I reveled in the feel of his kiss. I’d been hesitant last night, but all that hesitancy had evaporated.

He hooked his other arm, still holding his helmet, around my back, crushing me against his chest. I’d never felt so small as I did against his muscular build. I stood on my tiptoes, throwing my arms around him as he deepened the kiss. His tongue sweeping in to claim mine. I groaned deep in the back of my throat.

Then to my surprise, he effortlessly lifted me off the ground. I gasped as he twirled me around and then stole another kiss.

My eyes were only for him as he gently set me back on my feet. That was when everything else rushed back in. And the cheers from the crowd had changed in volume, erupting into applause and catcalls and whistles. Which was the moment that I realized they were cheering for us.

My face turned beet red, and I buried it into his jersey. “Oh my God!”

He laughed. “That was quite a kiss.”

“You were on the big screen!” Josie cried, snapping a picture.

“We were not!” I gasped.

Josie winked. “I got it all on my phone.”

“Stop! You did not. How many pictures did you take?”

Josie shrugged. “How could I not take pictures?”

Cole chuckled softly. He put his finger under my chin and tilted it up until I was looking at him. Then he stole another kiss. “Don’t listen to anyone else. This was perfect.”

My eyes locked with his again. “It was.”

“You’re mine now,” he said with all the heat of our first kiss baking in the summer sun.

Still, I shivered at the proclamation. And how right it was.

“I already was.”

And that would never change.