The Jock's Blackmail

#28: Time of My Life

"So all this time?"

I nodded.

"And I hit you with a football..."

Again, I nodded.

Leo groaned and dropped his head down on the table separating us, making me cringe at the loud thud. All around us, excited voices talked over each other, and a cheer went up when one of the Ragtag Boys (Brendon, I think) did some insane dance move. Words of my newfound friends, not mine.

I won the talent show, but I didn't take all the credit. I called the Ragtag Boys, Cello the drummer, Mia and Trent my fellow singers up on the stage as well, claiming it was their victory as well. Which was true. They made my performance epic. After that, we all went to Sweet Ice (the ice cream shop Charlie and I work at) with Leo and his little group of close friends. Jeremy was among them and expressed his shock over my face reveal.

So that was how Leo and I found ourselves in a corner booth, not quite away from our friends, but wanting privacy.

He finally looked back up to me, his chin taking the place of his forehead on the table. A forehead that now had a red spot on it. "I'm still a bit in shock."

I smiled a bit at him. "Me too, to be honest."

Leo pulled a face. "Why are you shocked? You knew me all along."

"Well, I didn't know how you would react, so..." I trailed off with a shrug.

With an overly dramatic look of offense that told me he was playing around, he sat straight up from being hunched over then slapped a hand to his chest. "Don't you dare compare your shock to mine. How can you possibly know how I feel right now?"

I snorted. "Nice. Maybe you should join the drama club after all..."

He grinned as he dropped his act then leaned his arms on the table as he sat forward. "Right? I mean, it's not like I have anything else to do with football season over with for our team."

"How are feeling about that, by the way?" I leaned forward as well and watched his expression.

Leo twisted his mouth to the side with a shrug. "I'm still a bit salty about it, but hey, we lost. Nothing else I could do about that. I still have my scholarship, so I get to play some more in college."

I smiled. "That's good. If you don't mind me asking, what got you into football?"

And so, we got into a lengthy conversation that went all over the place. We laughed, teased, and cringed. We all completely lost track of the time and had to get kicked out of the store by Ashton who was working that night. The wink he sent me when he delivered our cold treat told me he was going to give me shit next time I see him.

"I might've told you earlier, but nice ride by the way," Leo said, nodding to my car, twirling the keys to his own car on a finger. It was a white 2006 Chevy Corvette.

I gave a short laugh, playing with the lanyard I kept my set of keys on. "Yeah, you did." Then I nodded to his parked right next to mine. "It's nothing compared to yours though."

Leo grinned and patted the Chevy's top. "She's been good to me the past couple of years."

I nodded then asked, "It's a stick shift, right?"

"Yep."

"Man, I wish I knew how to drive stick shift."

"I could teach you."

My brows raised. "For real?"

His smile was soft and...dare I say, fond? "For real."

"That...would be awesome." The grin that dominated my face hurt just a bit, but it was worth it when he grinned back. And for a second, we just stood there, grinning like a pair of idiots while our friends continued to excitedly talk to each other. They were gathered around someone's car, but I couldn't care less. Not when Leo suddenly held his arms out to me then tilted his head to the side with an adorable smile that really made his dimples prominent.

"Come on. Gimme a hug." He wiggled his fingers at me.

A giggle bubbled out of my throat as I stepped closed the distance between us and felt those arms wrap around me in a tight embrace as I shyly gripped the sides of his jacket. He was a good hugger.

"I feel like this is an overdue hug." He says above my head because the guy's freakishly tall. Okay, not really, because I'm not exactly on the tall side.

All I could do was nod in reply and pray to whatever deity was listening that he couldn't feel the way my heart was pounding against my chest. Though I wouldn't be surprised if he hears it. When he stepped back, everyone else was already saying their goodbyes, and Charlie has suspiciously turned away from Leo and me as she rocked back and forth on her feet. I was her ride for the night.

Leo let out a quiet laugh when he saw my best friend. "I can take a hint. Just let me know when you wanna take those stick shift lessons."

"I will. Thanks."

He had his car's door open when he looked back at me. He grinned again. "It was great to finally meet you, Justine."

The blush was back. "You too...Leo."

Then he was off, but not without giving a quick wave. As I watched his taillights disappear into the night, Charlie skipped over to me with a shit-eating grin on her face. She wiggled her brows suggestively. "Stick shift lessons?"

My face was burning, but the stupid grin was back. I pushed her shoulder. "Shut up!"

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