She handed over a pen and a bright-yellow sticky note. “Sheesh. Patient much?”

I took off across the field without responding. “Simon!”

He turned. I paused in front of him and scribbled my number on the note. “Give this to Jamie for me?” Had Simon not had a girlfriend, I never would have asked him to play middle man, but seeing as how he was attached and his brother wasn’t, I hoped he’d be willing to forgive my lack of social etiquette.

He took the sticky note from my hand and studied it for a moment before looking up and meeting my gaze. “Just like that, huh?”

I shrugged and smiled. “I’m going with my gut on this one. After the sting of defeat wears off, I’m pretty sure he’ll want to call me.”

He shook his head with a laugh. “I’m sure he will.”

I jogged back across the field and handed Chloe her pen. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to be rude. I just wanted to catch him before he was gone.”

Chloe eyed me, her expression wary. “No problem. What did you do?”

“You remember Simon has a girlfriend, right?” Melanie said, sounding all territorial. “We told you that.”

“I didn’t give my number to him,” I said. “It’s for Jamie. I asked Simon to pass it along.”

Chloe’s jaw dropped. “You barely even spoke to Jamie.”

“What more do I need to know? He’s gorgeous, loves soccer, and loves to win. Sounds good enough to me.”

“But you don’t . . . How can you even . . . What if he doesn’t call?”

“What if he doesn’t? It took me four seconds to give my number to his brother. That’s hardly a serious investment.” I waved a farewell to the few members of my team who were still around.

“So you won’t care if he doesn’t call?” Melanie asked. “You’ll just be fine with that?”

“Why not? No love lost, right?”

“Can I please be like you when I grow up?” Chloe said.

Emily shook her head. “Seriously. I had to swallow rocks back there just to ask Simon about Cooper’s mission. I can’t talk to guys. No way I’d have the courage to jump into their soccer game. Or even just give one my phone number.”

“Honestly, it probably won’t matter anyway, right? You said it yourself. Jamie is untouchable.” I said the words out loud, but in my head, I already knew differently.

Untouchable? Yeah. Not anymore.

Simon: Lane’s number: 828-555-3687

Jamie: Seriously? She gave you her number? Does this mean you actually SPOKE to a woman?

Simon: Shut up. She gave it to ME so I could give it to YOU.

Jamie: Sweet. Thanks for passing it along.

Simon: You should have talked to her after the game. It was poor sportsmanship to stalk off like that.

Jamie: Whatever. I had somewhere to be.

Dave: You know he won’t lick his wounds in public, Simon. He’s too proud for that.