Alley-Oops I Think I'm Falling in Love (With the Wrong Guy)

I quite literally looked like a drowned rat.

I'd rolled out of bed and hustled straight to practice, barely stopping to pull my long blonde hair into a hasty ponytail. Most of my hair had escaped the elastic by now. I'd endured four hours of hard conditioning and finished it up by chasing down a thief in the middle of a downpour.

I understood very little about feminine wiles, but even I knew that when you ran into your crush for the first time in months, you didn't want to look like this. Nevermind the whole partially see-through, clingy, clothes bit.

Groaning inside, I contemplated darting into the nearest checkout line. Instead, I ducked behind Roscoe's gigantic form, hoping I'd go unnoticed.

Roscoe crinkled his nose and rolled his shoulders, like I had violated his personal space. To my chagrin, Taylor's brown eyes skipped curiously from his friend to the lurpy girl cowering behind him. Then they widened in recognition.

"Aria? What are you doing here?" He exclaimed, a genuine smile spreading across his sun-tanned face. Warmth danced across my skin at the sight of that smile, at the kindly reception.

I tried to smile back, but I was immediately bombarded with all the swoon-worthy, and entirely inappropriate, fantasies I'd concocted since our last meeting. He was close enough to touch now, close enough that I caught a whiff of that same minty scent I'd smelled on his breath at our last reunion. It took all my concentration not to drool all over him, or stare like a lunatic.

A raging tinge of pink bloomed across my cheeks and I ripped my eyes off him and shoved them to the floor. I cleared my throat, cursing myself inwardly.

What was going on with me? I needed to get a grip!

Roscoe arched a brow at me, his jaw tightening. The last thing I needed was for Roscoe to pick up on my inability to function around Taylor. He'd use it against me in the most humiliating way possible. I could not let him catch wind of whatever this was.

Taylor's chin bounced between us, "Bro, you remember Aria, right? She went to elementary school with us...?" He asked, as if making an introduction and in fact, he did place a hand on each of our shoulders, like he were a literal bridge. "She's still a baller. You guys are both playing for Pepperwood this year, this is like a reunion."

Confusion flickered momentarily across my face, but not Roscoe's. He gave a curt little nod and a twitch of his lips, as though this were the dullest news ever. Taylor didn't skip a beat.

Oh...

And then it dawned on me.

Taylor didn't think we were here together. I mean, I guess... why would he? He thought I'd also just happened to walk by at this exact moment.

Awkward.

Think Aria, how would a normal person play this off?

Before I even had a chance to botch it, the girl with the blonde bob finally caught up to Taylor.

"Archie, or something, wasn't it?" She inquired, her tone deceptively kind. I wasn't fooled — she'd deliberately selected a masculine name to embarrass me, to remind every one of my undesirability.

"It's Aria." I croaked, my throat tightening around the correction. If she heard me, she made no motion of it.

Taylor grabbed Roscoe by the shoulders and shook him, excitedly regaling some tale. Whitney watched them with fondness, but her smile faltered when her eyes drifted over me.

She pursed her lips and a crease formed at her brow. She kept shooting me furtive glances, like I was an unwelcome salesman that had long overstayed their welcome.