Stadium of Lights: A Second Chance Sports Romance by Tia Lewis Page B

was the belle of the ball. I could tell she felt overwhelmed but happy. It was nice to see her smile the way she was.
    I stood two spots behind her in line for the buffet to make sure she got enough food. She had to soak up that liquor. My heart sank a little when one of the servers poured her a glass of white wine as soon as she sat. I sat a little further down on her side of the table, listening to the conversation. Trey sat across from her, Randy to her right. The two of them kept her laughing through the meal, competing for her attention. I wondered if she knew what they were doing, or if she was just enjoying herself.
    I thought back to all the times she had stood by and watched me with my many girlfriends and hookups. Whenever I had a problem with any of them, I’d ask her what to do since she was a girl. I never once thought of her the way I thought of them, not once. And when I met her again, that same old image was in my head. The dorky, geeky girl with glasses who always bumped into things and knocked them over, who didn’t have any friends except for me. When the other kids would ask why I was friends with her, I could never explain why. It was probably because of that early friendship, back when we were little kids. I couldn’t just drop her because she wasn’t cool. She was my little sis.
    My little sis had grown up, but I made her cry when I reminded her of the girl she used to be. How stupid! I finally understood why she had cried the day before. I kept thinking of her as the old girl, who she obviously hated. I wouldn’t let her be the new person she’d become. I was so blind.
    It was actually sort of funny, watching the guys trade places just so they could sit with her. When Trey got up for another plate, Joe took his place. Brett took Randy’s place. On and on, and Abby just kept drinking her wine and laughing and having fun. I just kept watching to see who would ask to take her home.
    The time came around nine o’clock when we’d all stuffed ourselves. Abby stood up from the table, a little wobbly. I swooped in, waiting for her to decide it was time to go.
    “Come on. I’ll take you home,” I murmured, taking her by the elbow. She looked up at me.
    “No,” she murmured.
    “What?”
    “No. I don’t want you to take me home. Now will you move?”
    “Wait. Slow down.”
    “I want somebody else, Max. Now move.”
    “Who?”
    “Anybody. It doesn’t matter. Just not you.” She shook me off—thank God we’d both been whispering, or practically, because it didn’t seem like anybody else noticed. I followed her out the door to the restaurant’s entrance.
    “You can’t drive in this condition,” I warned her.
    “Then I’ll get a cab. You can leave now.” She glared at me, her cheeks flushed.
    “What?”
    “You ruined it. You always ruin it.”
    “How the hell did I ruin anything?”
    She looked back into the restaurant, frowning. “I was having fun. People were talking to me, seeing me, liking me. And you had to take over like you always do.”
    My car pulled up in front of us, and I took the keys from the valet. “Come on. I’ll drive you home, and we can talk about it on the way.” I practically threw her into the car before she could curse me out, then got in myself. Once I locked the doors from my side, she couldn’t open them.
    “What the fuck Max!” She slapped the dashboard, then sank into her seat with a groan. “I was having fun. I was about to get laid, damn it!”
    I bit my tongue until I calmed down. “By whom?”
    “I don’t know! What did it matter? I was gonna get some for me, for once. And you won’t let me. I have to always be there for you, but you can never be there for me. You couldn’t just let me enjoy myself. No, you probably wanted to tell me all about your stupid fucking cheerleader girlfriend and ask me what you should do about her!” There was so much venom in her voice. She hated me.
    I pulled over to the shoulder of the road. “What are