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Three years of "I love you," and then one public kiss you have to watch from across the room, and it is not yours. Kasey Pargeter was the boy next door before he became the name the bleachers chant. He said he felt the same back then and asked you to wait until he was established at university; tonight a matchmaking game at a victory party put his name beside a cheer captain's, while your phone still glowed with his last message.
The treehouse stood between two gardens, near enough that either mother could call from a back door when dinner was ready. Its doorway had never been straight. Kasey Pargeter had insisted the tree was leaning, not their measuring, and the crooked shelf inside still held the evidence. That was where he had kissed you before university. All broad shoulders and nervous laughter, his thick black fringe falling over the pale scar through his left eyebrow, he had said, "I feel the same. I thought that was obvious." Later came the request to wait. Just until he found his footing on campus. Just until there was less attention on the freshman starting quarterback. Three years on, neither mother knew. On campus, you were still his childhood friend: the person with a water bottle at practice, a towel after drills, ice when he pretended an injury did not hurt. The person his teammates laughed at for caring so obviously. Kasey would tell them to ease up, smiling as though everyone was in on the joke, and his name would light up your phone afterward. "You know I love you." Then Cassia Brancaster arrived. She could steal his towel and get a grin for it. Tell him his footwork looked terrible and make him laugh while he rubbed the back of his neck. When she brought him water, she called it a cheer captain's duty; when his teammates said they looked like a married couple, he put an arm around her shoulders. There was always another message afterward. Another explanation small enough to fit on a screen. Tonight, the Herons had won the game that kept their championship hopes alive, and Quincy Harkaway's rental was packed shoulder to shoulder. Music rattled the kitchen cabinets. Somebody had draped a team flag over a lampshade. Kasey stood near the living-room couch in a dark green shirt, his hair still slightly damp from his postgame shower. Two hours into the party, Quincy climbed onto the bottom stair with a bowl under one arm and two smartwatches dangling from his fingers. "All right. Matchmaking. Names in the bowl. Two people, two watches. If you both set the pulse alarms off, you kiss, and you're out of the bowl. If you don't, names go back in." Nicky Hobart looked up from the armchair. "That's your entire scientific process?" Quincy shook the watches at him. "My scientific process is shut up and find me a pen." The first rounds dissolved into laughter, exaggerated eye contact, and a kiss between two students who had been flirting beside the speakers all evening. Quincy folded names back into the bowl whenever a pair failed his test. Then he read your name. And Kasey's. Kasey's crooked smile appeared before he stepped into the space the others cleared. For a moment, his eyes settled on you with the same familiar ease they had in the treehouse. The watches were fastened. Yours began beeping almost immediately. Kasey's stayed quiet. Quincy gave a delighted shout. "Oh, come on. We could've told you that without the watches." Someone near the couch laughed into a plastic cup. "Three years on the sidelines with his water bottle. That's commitment." Quincy gestured between the two watches. "See? Told you it was a crush. Told you he wasn't interested." Kasey glanced down at his wrist. Then he looked toward his teammates, that crooked smile still in place. "Come on, guys. Leave my childhood friend alone." Childhood friend. You unfastened the watch and stepped back, trying to hide the tears already falling. Quincy took it without noticing; he was busy announcing that both names went back into the bowl. A phone vibrated. Kasey stood a few feet away, one hand tucked around his own phone. On your screen, his message appeared. "Don't listen to them. You know I love you. I'll see you after the party in the treehouse." He caught your eye briefly, as though that settled it. The game continued. In the kitchen, Marta Kettlewell was arguing with someone about which half-empty bottles belonged in the recycling. Nicky shifted forward in his chair as Quincy shook the bowl again, spilling a folded slip onto his shoe. "Kasey. You're up again." Kasey gave an easy laugh. "Apparently the bowl's obsessed with me." Quincy unfolded the second name. His grin widened. "Cassia." The room reacted before she did. "There it is." "Finally." "Just date already!" Cassia rolled her eyes, but she was smiling as she set her cup on the mantel. Her copper curls brushed her shoulders when she turned toward Kasey. "Try not to make this embarrassing, Pargeter." Kasey rubbed the back of his neck. "You've already got Quincy announcing it. Bit late." The same tell. The same small break in the confidence that carried him through interviews, packed stadiums, and almost every room he entered. Quincy handed over the watches. Cassia's sounded first. Kasey's answered almost immediately. The cheering swelled. Nicky let out a low whistle. Cassia glanced at Kasey's wrist, then up at his face, and the teasing expression on hers softened into something expectant. Kasey looked past her. Toward you. His phone was still in his hand. His thumb moved across the screen. Another vibration. "This means nothing." He locked his phone and slipped it into his pocket. There was room to laugh it off. Room to say no. Nobody was holding him there. Instead, Kasey stepped closer to Cassia. His hand settled at her waist. Hers rose to his shoulder, fingers gathering the green fabric of his shirt, and he bent his head and kissed her. It lasted beyond the first burst of cheering. He drew her closer. Tilted his head. Kissed her again before there was enough distance between them to call the first one finished. Cassia's hand slid to the back of his neck, and he stayed there with her, kissing her with an open hunger he had never shown you. Quincy whooped beside the stairs. When Kasey finally lifted his head, his hand remained at Cassia's waist. On your phone, the last message was still lit. "This means nothing."