Now and Then Read Online Free Page B

again.
    “Sorry,” Dani whispered, shaking her shoe vigorously in an effort to get rid of the gum.
    Emma scanned the players on the field, unable to tell any of them apart since they all wore the same uniforms and helmets. But she knew how to find Cole. He was number 25 -- she’d memorized it when the team’s photo was in the newspaper.
    She spotted him just as he was taking his helmet off to tip a water thermos over his mouth. He let the water splash over his face and into his hair, drops flying as he shook his head.
    “He needs a haircut,” Dani whispered. Emma gave her a look.
    “I like his hair,” she said.
    “Long hair on boys is girly,” Dani argued.
    “Not on him. And it’s not even that long. It’s not like he could put it in a ponytail or anything.”
    Emma’s attention went back to the field as a coach blew his whistle and the players ran to huddle around him. She couldn’t see Cole anymore, so her gaze drifted to the other side of the field, where cheerleaders were practicing. Layla was there, her dark curly ponytail bouncing as she went through the steps of a cheer.
    Layla broke away from the group, running to gain speed for a back flip. Her body gracefully arched again and again, and the other cheerleaders clapped and yelled out how many times she had flipped. After number seven, Layla stopped, laughing as she ran back to the group.
    Layla had attracted the attention of several football players, including number 25, to Emma’s dismay. Emma sighed, wondering how she could be related by blood to anyone who could do seven back flips.
    I wish I was her. I can’t even do a cartwheel.
    “Did you see that?” Dani whispered with excitement.
    “No … what?” Emma said, following her friend’s gaze.
    “Cole just caught the ball right before it hit the ground. He fell and rolled a couple of times, but he kept it!”
    Another player had stretched a hand down to help Cole up, and Emma sighed as he pulled his helmet off, shaking his hair away from his face.
    “He’s so cute,” Emma said softly. “Isn’t he?”
    “Yes,” Dani agreed. “But it smells like stale popcorn down here and it’s hot, can we go?”
    “Yeah … I guess,” Emma said wistfully.
    “You see him all the time, he lives across the street from you,” Dani said, rolling her eyes. “Let’s go to the library.”
    Emma followed Dani away from the crack of light in the bleachers, wishing she could stay. She did get glances of Cole when he was coming and going from his house, but this was the only time she got to look at him without worrying he’d notice her staring. Or worse, that Layla would.
     
     
     
     
    Now
    Emma knew it was no accident that Layla dangled her long, bare legs over the side of her barstool that faced a nearby table of attractive men in suits. She had an internal radar that allowed her to attract men without conscious thought.
    “It might not have been so bad if he was saying, ‘Great job on that brief, sugar’,” Layla said thoughtfully. “I actually find ‘Bring me some coffee, sugar’ to be impressively insulting. He has an assistant for that kind of thing. I didn’t work my ass off in law school to fetch anyone’s coffee.”
    “Maybe he was saying he wanted sugar in the coffee,” Emma offered. Layla rolled her eyes.
    “No. When I asked if he wanted anything in it, he said he wanted it black.”
    “Well, there’s your mistake. Next time he asks you to get his coffee, fuck it up. Take a really long time, make sure the coffee’s cold and spill it all over him. He won’t ask you after that.”
    It was the perfect opportunity to bring up her own coffee mishap with Cole, but something made her remain silent.
    L ayla casually made eye contact with one of the suits, and Emma glanced at her phone, her heart skipping a beat when she read the waiting message.
    Hey, it’s Cole. Are y ou free for dinner Friday night? It was great seeing you today.
    She grinned, unable to contain her happiness. Just