An Unexpected Connection

I really looked at Nathan Cross for the first time. The coffee shop lights made me notice things. His green eyes had little gold spots in them. He had this tiny scar above his left eyebrow—probably got hit with a puck or something. When he smiled, which he was doing right then, the left side of his mouth went up more than the right.

"Why are you being nice to me?" I asked. "You don't even know me."

Nathan leaned back in the booth. "Maybe because I know what it's like when people think you're one thing but you're really not. Or maybe I just hate watching jerks hurt nice people. Or..." he stopped for a second, "maybe I've been wanting to talk to you in bio for like two semesters but couldn't figure out how."

"You wanted to talk to me?" I almost choked on my hot chocolate. "But you're... you. You could talk to anybody."

"Yeah, that's kinda the problem. Everyone thinks they know me already. Hockey star. Going to the NHL. The guy who's too busy for girlfriends. But that's just what people see."

"So what don't they see?"

He played with his coffee cup. "A guy who actually likes his business classes because hockey won't last forever. Someone who calls his mom every Sunday. Who helps his little sister with her math homework over FaceTime. Someone who'd rather read than go to another party where people just talk about the same stupid plays over and over."

"You read?" It came out wrong. "Sorry, that was rude."

Nathan laughed. Not a fake laugh either. "No, it's fine. Everyone's shocked. I actually really like mystery books. I've read every single Agatha Christie book. Twice."

"Shut up!" I almost yelled. "I love mysteries! Did you read 'And Then There Were None'?"

"Like five times. It's so good how she puts all the clues there but you still don't figure it out."

We talked about books for an hour. Just books. I forgot about Jamie and Madison and everyone at that party. We argued about whether Poirot or Miss Marple was better. We talked about plot twists that actually surprised us. Nathan told me he reads on the bus to games. I told him mysteries help me chill out after hard classes.

"This is so weird," I said. "I'm talking about books with the hockey captain."

"And I'm sitting with the girl who asked Martinez that question about mitochondrial DNA and evolution that made him stop and think for like a whole minute," Nathan said back.

"You remember that?"

"I remember a lot of stuff about you." He made a face. "Okay that came out stalker-ish."

I actually laughed. After everything tonight, I was laughing. "Little bit stalker-ish. But also kinda nice."

The owner came over. She was this older lady with gray hair. "Sorry kids, I'm closing in ten."

I checked my phone. Midnight. We'd been sitting there for two hours?

"I should go," I said. But I didn't really want to.

"I'll walk with you," Nathan said, getting up.

"You don't need to—"

"I know. But I want to." He put his hand out.

I looked at his hand for a second. Then I took it. It was warm and rough from hockey, but he held mine really carefully.

We walked back toward school really slow. Neither of us wanted to hurry.

"Can I tell you something?" Nathan asked while we walked.

"Yeah."

"I was at your party. Earlier. Just for like a minute. Tyler dragged me but parties aren't really my thing. I saw you in that blue dress. You looked really pretty but also like you wanted to be somewhere else. I was trying to get brave enough to come talk to you when Jamie showed up."

I stopped. "You were gonna talk to me?"

He nodded and looked kinda embarrassed. "I had this whole thing planned. Ask you about the bio homework, then turn it into real talking. But then I saw Jamie go over to you and the way you looked at him... some guys said he had a secret girlfriend. I figured it out."

"So you just left?"

"Yeah. Wasn't my business." We started walking again. "I'm sorry about what happened to you. But I gotta be honest—I'm kinda glad it means I finally got to talk to you."

We got to the edge of campus. My building was one way, his was the other. We just stood there.

"Thanks," I said. "For the coffee and talking and just... everything. You made the worst night ever into something that didn't totally suck."

"Just didn't suck?" He pretended to be hurt.

"Okay fine. Into something actually good."

Nathan moved closer. My heart started going crazy. He reached over and pushed some hair behind my ear. His fingers barely touched my face.

"Sophie," he said really quiet. "I know this is like the worst timing ever. You just got your heart stomped on. But... would you maybe want to get coffee again? When it's not midnight and you're not crying?"

I should've said no. I just got cheated on. I needed to focus on school. Dating another hockey player was so stupid. But looking at Nathan's eyes, seeing that he actually meant it, I nodded.

"Yeah. I'd like that."

Nathan smiled that crooked smile. "Tomorrow? Same place, same booth, but maybe at like three instead of ten?"

"Don't you have practice?"

"Not till five. And even if I did, I'd skip."

"The captain would skip? What would your team think?"

"That she must be pretty special."

My face got hot. "Three o'clock."

Nathan walked me to my building. At the door, he leaned down and kissed my cheek. Just barely. Super gentle. But my legs felt like jello.

"Night, Sophie. Happy birthday."

"Night, Nathan."

I watched him leave then basically floated upstairs. Emma was on the couch with red cups and trash everywhere around her.

"Where were you? I was freaking out!" She jumped up, then saw my face. "Hold on. Why do you look happy?"

"I just had coffee with Nathan Cross."

"WHAT?" Emma screamed so loud. "Nathan Cross? THE Nathan Cross? Captain of the team, super hot, never dates anyone Nathan Cross?"

"Yep," I said and fell onto the couch.

"Tell me everything. Every single thing. Right now!"

I started telling her about the coffee shop, but then my phone went off. Unknown number:

"Stay away from Nathan. You don't know what you're getting into. -A friend"

My whole body went cold.