Chapter 6 - Losing My Focus

Noah's Pov

I should've been thinking about football.

Coach gave me a workout plan for the summer, and I swore I'd stick to it. I should've been focused on footwork, conditioning, anything other than-

Ava almost running into me. Ava in my hands. Ava looking up at me like she felt it too.

I shoved the memory down and tightened the laces on my cleats.

Didn't help. Nothing helped.

Tyler jogged over, tossing me a water bottle. "Dude, you good? You look spaced."

"I'm fine," I muttered.

"You sure? You've been acting weird since we got here. Kinds...tense."

If only he knew.

I tried running drills with Jace, but halfway through a sprint, my mind went right back to her stepping into the doorway-eyes wide, breath catching, those flushed cheeks. And the way she didn't move when I grabbed her.

I stopped short.

Jace whistled. "Uh... bro? You good?"

"I'm fine," I said again, more aggressively this time.

Tyler jogged up beside us. "No, he's not. He's thinking about a girl. I know that look."

I glared. "Drop it."

Tyler smirked. "Is it the girl next door? The one who called you 'good different' earlier?"

My jaw tightened. "I said drop it."

Jace raised his eyebrows. "So it is her."

I grabbed the football and spun it in my hands, trying to look unbothered when my pulse was doing its own workout routine.

"It doesn't matter," I said. "She's off-limits."

"Since when have you ever cared about rules?" Tyler shot back.

He wasn't wrong.

I blew out a breath and sat on the bleachers. The sun was dropping lower, painting the field orange. It should've calmed me.

Didn't.

All I could see was Ava's face when she stepped into me. All I could her was her voice-nervous, flustered, adorable as hell. All I could feel was her hands on my chest for half a second too long.

I scrubbed a hand through my hair and stared at the ground.

"Dude," Jace said, sitting beside me. "You like her."

I looked away. "It's complicated."

"No," Tyler laughed, "it's actually really simple. You like her, she likes you, but Big Brother Collins is gonna kill you."

I shot him a look. "Funny."

But the joke hit too close to the truth.

Because the problem wasn't that I liked her. The problem was how much.

I'd gone the whole day pretending I wasn't replaying that moment. Pretending I didn't notice how warm her skin was, or how good she smiled. or how she didn't step away right away.

None of it should matter. Football should matter. Keeping peace with Jacob should matter.

But Ava?

Ava was making it very, very hard to care about anything else.

I leaned forward, elbows on my knees, voice low. "I can't go there. Not with her."

"Can't," Jace said, "or won't?"

I didn't answer.

Because they both knew the truth.

I wasn't supposed to want her.

But that didn't stop me.

Nothing was stopping me.

And God help me...

I wasn't sure I wanted anything to.