The noise started to die down as people began to leave. I sat back down in my seat. I figured it would probably be easier for him to find me if I stayed here. I hoped he wouldn’t mind.
“Are you going to tell him?” Ally asked.
I looked at her, “Tell him what? How annoying my sister is?”
“Ha. Ha. You know what I mean. That you have a thing for him,” she said.
I elbowed her. “Stop. Please.” I would have hated for him to hear her say that. I’d probably have to close my practice and leave town out of embarrassment.
Fifteen minutes later, almost everyone was gone. The arena was close to empty when I heard someone whistle and yell, “There he is! Justin, the man!”
I looked over to where he had disappeared after the fight and watched as he walked out of the hallway. I noticed he changed out of the shorts he had been wearing and into a t-shirt and jeans. I couldn’t tear my eyes away. He looked so good. I preferred him with his shirt off, but I didn’t mind this either.
He paused to talk to the guy who whistled at him, and he signed the guy's ticket stub. He already had quite the fan base, and it was really cool to see. I liked that he stopped to acknowledge his fans, but I noticed my heart started to beat faster as he made his way through the rest of the people and over to me.
“Hey, I was hoping you would stick around,” he said with a smile.
My heart felt like it was going to beat out of my chest. It was pounding so hard. I quickly realized I had been staring. I cleared my throat and stood up.
“I figured it would be rude if I just left without at least saying congratulations. So, congratulations!” I said. I hated how nervous I sounded. My voice was shaking, and I hoped he didn’t notice.
“Thanks. Did you have fun?” he asked.
I crinkled my nose. “To be honest, I was a little scared the whole time.” I felt silly for admitting this. Especially after the way Ally teased me for it.
Justin laughed, and I felt a little better. “Oh really? Why’s that?” There was a playfulness in his voice. I thought he might be flirting, but I didn’t want to read too much into it.
I shrugged and said, “I didn’t know how it was going to turn out.”
I turned to Ally, who was patiently waiting for me to introduce her and felt a little rude for not doing it sooner.
“Oh! Justin, this is my sister, Ally,” I said, pointing to her. “Ally, this is Justin.”
“Nice fight. Congrats on your win,” Ally said as she held her hand out to him. I kept my fingers crossed that she wasn’t going to say anything to him about her suspicions.
Justin shook her hand and said, “Thanks. Nice to meet you, Ally.”
“You too,” she said. “Sorry about my sister’s nerves. She was sheltered as a child.”
I elbowed Ally in the ribs. I didn’t know why she felt compelled to embarrass me every chance she got. That should have been my job since I was her older sister.
Justin winked at me, and I had to fight the urge to bite my lip. It was hot. A wink, a wink was hot. It was weird that I thought that, but it was true. Almost anything Justin did was hot to me. I wished I could control my libido around him.
“I’m glad you enjoyed yourself,” he sai
d.
“It was fun,” I said, trying my best to be somewhat normal. “I hope I can come to another one some time.”
“That would be great,” he said, pausing like he was about to say something he might regret. When he spoke again, though, all he said was, “I’m sorry I can’t stay and chat longer, but I have to head home.”
“That’s okay. We need to get home too. Have a good night,” I said.
“You too,” he said. For a moment, I thought he might hug me. Then, he turned his attention to Ally. “It was nice to meet you.”
“You too,” she said. I was relieved when she didn’t add anything else.
“Drive safe,” I said as he started to walk away.