Connor
CONNOR Not the kiss cam.
The second I saw the bit show up on the screen, I just knew it was going to land on us.
The crowd watched and waited for the young couple on the screen to notice they’d been chosen, but
my brain was already in strategy mode for when we popped up.
Because of course we would. The cameras had already panned to us multiple times since the game
started, though I wasn’t sure if Duffy had noticed or not. She got very into the game, so her eyes were
almost always fixated on the puck (while her mouth was always moving).
I fucking loved it. But I didn’t want our first kiss to be on the big screen with the world watching.
With her kissing me because the camera was telling us to. I didn’t know if I was ever going to get
the opportunity to kiss Duffy Distefano for real because I still hadn’t figured out if I even had a shot
with her, but I had zero interest in participating in a jumbotron-pressured version of what that could
possibly look like.
But I also didn’t want to leave her hanging.
Everyone fucking hated the assholes who refused to kiss on the kiss cam.
Duffy didn’t need the hate, and she definitely didn’t need the public to think I didn’t want to kiss
her.
Just as I was working through all the bullshit buzzing around in my brain, it happened.
We popped up on the screen. Duffy and Connor on the kiss cam. After her initial shock, she
glanced over at me, her smile fake and nervous, and she swallowed.
I didn’t know what she’d want—hell, I didn’t really know her at all in the overall scheme of
things—but I knew I needed to do something.
So I reached out my arm, pulled her close into more of a headlock than any sort of embrace, where
she was trapped in the crook of my elbow, and I speed-planted kisses all over the top of her head in a
manner that was more playful than anything.
It wasn’t romantic, but technically I was kissing her. And the way she immediately started cackling
and squirming made me feel like I’d done the right thing. I breathed a sigh of relief as the camera
switched over to another couple.
“You,” she said as she giggled and pulled back to look at me, “are ridiculous.”
“I know,” I said, raising my hands helplessly. “And I’m sorry if I was out of line with—”
“No, I get it,” she said, giving me a smile that made me feel some fucking way. Warm, maybe? It
made me want to do all the good things, just to get her to smile at me like that again. “And it was
perfect.”
I just gazed at her for a second like an absolute buffoon, no words at the ready because I got tripped
up in her sparkling brown eyes squinted in joy.
What were words when eyes smiled that way? I cleared my throat. What the fuck is wrong with
me?
“Do you need another beer?” I asked, thinking a trip to the concession stand was probably a good
idea right about now.
She glanced down at her can, lifting it a little to judge its weight. “I will soon, so yes, please.”
“Be right back.” I tried clearing my head as I left to fetch beer, but getting away was impossible
because for starters, people wanted to joke about what just happened on-screen. I walked by no less
than ten people who teasingly said things like “Nice work on the kiss cam, Cunningham,” which just
k ept my mind on her pink cheeks and laughing eyes.
I couldn’t es cape my irrationally romantic thoughts of her. Which was ridiculous when she’d
already told me that she didn’t want to go out with me.
Then I got a text from Brian.
I don’t know why the hell you were walking around the city with Duffy Distefano this morning and
hugging a cat, but you are BRILLIANT, my friend. People are eating that shit up.
My stomach dropped. There it was again, another reminder of what I was doing. I appreciated his
job and the fact that he was looking out for me and what he knew I wanted for my career, but his
comment made me feel like a user.
Like I was using her for “clout.” But the truth was that I’d been dying to see her again and I’d
wanted to fucking jump for joy when I found her earbuds. Hell, I would’ve given Dale Earnhardt
Junior a fucking paw massage with my own two hands if that’d been what convinced her to meet me at
the coffee shop.
But by the time I had our beers in hand and was on my way back to our seats, I had it together. I
reminded myself that she’d happily volunteered to come with me for the sole purpose of good media,
and in turn, I was going to use the night to convince her to actually go out with me.
It didn’t matter that I’d gone all lovesick at the sight of her, because nothing had changed.
She was along for the ride as my “friend,” and I was here to make her want more.
Challenge fucking acc epted.