The school's stadium was already overflowing with students by the time Kong and I walked in holding packs of popcorn and a bottle of water each. Kong chomped away on his popcorn, indifferent about the situation we currently were in.

"We don't have anywhere to sit, Kong," I complained, pushing the handle of my backpack back up my shoulder.

Kong paused mid-chew and pouted. "We could always stand."

"I am not spending ninety minutes standing for a game that I didn't even want to be at." I narrowed my eyes at him, staring daggers into his forehead while he just stood there. Kong shrugged and went back to eating his popcorn.

I wanted to hit him into oblivion. I opened my mouth to rain curses and fire but was interrupted by my ringtone going off. With a grunt of frustration, I pulled the phone out of my back pocket and stared at the screen. In the seconds that followed, I simply gaped and blinked at the blaring screen, ringtone almost swallowed by all the noise around us.

"You should probably pick it up before it goes to voicemail," suggested Kong, pushing his bangs out of his eyes and crumpling the popcorn packet in his left hand.

I scowled at him. "Yeah I know that." Then I picked up the call and slapped the phone to my ear. "How do you have my number?"

"Never lost it," replied James in a flat tone. "Where are you? I've been trying to reach you for the past hour. I thought we were going to the game together?"

I bit down on my lip, stumbling over excuses and lies in my brain. "I decided to drop Kong off. His car's engine knocked so it's getting fixed."

It was only half a lie. I knew James would not have a problem dropping Kong and I. But I needed to be away from him for some time. To reset. And being in a car with him wasn't going to do me any good.

"You're at the stadium already?"

"Yeah, we just got here. The place is packed."

In front of me, Kong mouthed, "who's that?" mimicking my position with a hand to his ear and the other pointing to my phone. I ignored him.

In the background through my phone, I heard the car door shut and footsteps sound. "I just got here. Where are you?"

"Er." My gaze flickered around in search of a landmark. I paused when I spotted one. "By the left of the school's banner. We're standing next to the doors."

"Don't go anywhere, I'm coming to find you." Before I could even bring my head to wrap itself around what he was saying, James had already hung up. I slowly brought the phone down and took a deep breath.

I could do this. I could survive James. When he got here, I was going to ask him how long our fake dating was going to last so I could mentally prepare for everything he could possibly throw at me. Hopefully.

"From the look on your face, I'm guessing it's James that just called." I blinked out of my daze and nodded at Kong. He snorted. "You still kept his number?"

I bit down on my lip and averted my gaze to the cemented floor of the stadium. That wasn't the real question. James hadn't deleted my number. That, was the real wonder.

However, I didn't want to answer Kong's question.

"James is coming here."

Kong drew his eyebrows into a line and gave me a look. Apparently, my trick didn't work. "I was right here when you took the call Avery, I know he is. If you don't want to tell me, you could have just said so." His tone was sharp and dismissive. And even when I tried apologizing, he just gave me a cold shoulder and turned the other way.

The thing was, telling Kong that I didn't delete James's number after the breakup would mean admitting that I never really got over James and I wanted him back. In turn, that would mean disloyalty to Kong and after all he'd done for me, he didn't deserve it. He didn't deserve me lying to him either but it was too complicated to start explaining here.

To say the least, I was slightly happy when James showed up.

His hair stood in a mess on his head but asides that, there was nothing else that was frazzled about him. He had a plain white tee and black jeans on, complete with a pair of black Timberlands. One of his hands clutched a water bottle while the other ran through his hair, slightly taming it.

He stood a few meters away, scanning the area to find me through squinted eyes. The moment his gaze locked on mine, he began walking towards me without breaking eye contact. My breath caught in my throat as I memorized the words in my brain.

I could do this. I could be careful around this man. Whatever I was feeling, it was just a phase that would eventually pass.

I swallowed all my thoughts as soon as he reached me. With my hands pressed to my sides, I bit down on my lip under his intense stare and swallowed a lump in my throat.

"Hey," James said to me, his gaze darting to Kong for a second before returning to mine.

"Hey," I breathed back.

He looked around, searching for something I wasn't quite sure of. "How long have you been standing here for?"

I shrugged, trying to come off as cool. "Not that long, really."

James pinched his lips together and nodded then tilted his head at Kong in greeting. Kong did the head-tilt thing back then James turned to me. "Come on, I had some seats reserved with the officials. They're last row seats." A smile suddenly bloomed on his face, taking me by surprise. What was even more surprising was him taking my hand. "You've always wanted to sit there, right?"

My breaths came in heavy and my mind was boggled. Just with those words and a smile, James had managed to put my heart in a frenzy. It had to be some kind of voodoo. And all these little details he kept bringing up.

Kong cleared his throat, making James and I snap our attentions to him. A corner of his lip twitched as his gaze travelled between the both of us. "The game's about to start."

"Sure," said James tugging on my hand. Urging us to follow him. "This way."

Just like he'd said, there were three seats with "reserved" signs on them and they were at the top row of the officials' corner. For the umpteenth time, my brain stuttered trying to understand what James was doing.

Kong pushed past us with both hands in his pockets, settling into the last reserved seat. James motioned for me to take the one in the middle while he sat on my other side.

Momentarily, the players emerged from the locker rooms. Adam was easy to spot. Asides the fact that his name and number were slapped onto the back of his jersey, his signature dreads peeked out over his eyes from his helmet. The red fabric of the rugby uniform clung to every inch of him and he had the ball under one arm. He paused on his way into the pitch, eyes scanning the crowd until they came to stop on James and I.

Even though most of his head was covered, I saw his cheekbones lift into a smile. James smiled back and gave him a thumbs up while I just pressed my thighs together an offered a small wave.

Adam turned away from us and handed the ball to another player-probably the new quarterback. After collecting the ball, the guy's gaze lingered on me, flicking to James for a moment before settling on Adam. The two exchanged incoherent words for a moment and went into their positions after a friendly pat on the shoulder.

My palms were sweating so I swiped them against my trousers, leaning back into my seat to let off some of the tension. The view from here was insane, and so was the game. Barely minutes after it kicked off, the quarterback from our team had already gotten the ball past the other teams side, scoring us a goal.

The entire arena burst into cheers and applause. A few students even took it a step further by yelling and chanting Adam's name, even though he'd only handed the pass that led to the goal.

Adam, in the middle of the field, hit his chest twice, locking gazes with me, and then pointed. Right at me. I went red in the face while Kong who had been on his phone, raised a questioning brow at me. I shrugged and looked to James only to get stuck in another staring contest with him.

"The team's better than before," he commented.

I nodded. "I was here for the last game. They sucked."

James laughed and took his water bottle, finishing up what was inside. "They'd do better if Adam was still quarterback. He might be a douche but he's better than this Titus guy."

It was no longer news on campus that the school's rugby golden boy wasn't quarterback anymore. So it was understandable that James knew.

I needed to stop trying to find faults in what James was doing. As long as I stayed in my lane, I wouldn't have to worry about his games. Plus, as soon as this fake charade was over, we'd go our separate ways. Speaking of which...

"Um, James?" Around us, a round of 'boo's erupted from the crowd when the other team almost scored. James hummed in response, turning his attention away from the game to face me. "I want to ask you something."

His eyebrows pulled together and he bit down on his lip. "Me too." He cleared his throat. "I have something to ask you too." For a moment there, he looked... nervous? James was nervous?

I blinked but was unable to leave my daze. "Sure, ask away."

James exhaled deeply and rushed the words out. "Would you go out with me?"