Rewind to You by Laura Johnston

University of Georgia fraternity T-shirt, and ritzy sunglasses, and I’m bugged at the idea that maybe this wealthy frat boy fits into Sienna’s world better than I do.
    Sienna flashes a smile that’s hiding something. “So, you’re never going to believe this.”
    “What?”
    “That T-shirt you let me borrow . . .”
    Brian continues to glance back and forth between us, like some spectator at a tennis match tiebreak who’s about to blow a gasket.
    “It says ‘Property of Meadowbrook Monarchs’ on it,” she finishes.
    Well, I knew that. “Yeah?”
    “I went to Deep Run High. I grew up in Virginia, too, in the West End! In Twin Hickory.”
    Ritzy Hickory, my mind inserts. At least that’s what my friends and I from the South Side called it. The fact that I hated playing Deep Run High in the play-offs my junior year doesn’t help either. World’s sorest losers.
    “You’re kidding,” is all I say. Meeting Sienna felt like that stupid thing called fate that I never gave a second thought to until Friday night. If so, fate is mean. We lived so close and might have crossed paths without realizing it. “How about that.”
    Sienna’s smile dwindles, like she expected a bigger reaction.
    Brian claps his hands together. “Yeah, how about that. Well, should we hit the beach?”
    As I ring up the flip-flops at the register, Brian talks and talks. Won’t shut up. I tune him out, wondering how it took a summer in Savannah for Sienna and me to meet. It’s all I can think about, besides her red, blushing cheeks and pink-frosted lips. So much for getting Sienna off my mind.
    “Um, dude,” Brian mutters after I hand him the bag. I look up. He’s holding a twenty-dollar bill.
    “What?” I ask, irritated.
    “I’m cool and all, if these are free, but I’m pretty sure you meant to hand me the receipt.”
    Chagrinned, I snatch the twenty-dollar bill from him, the one he handed me in the first place. I yank the receipt from the register and shove it across the counter with the right change. Sienna tries to hide a smile as they turn for the door.
    “Hey, dude,” Brian says like an afterthought. “You play any football?”
    “Yeah, some,” I reply.
    “You play football?” Sienna asks, cocking an eyebrow as if the mere idea of me holding a football is hard to picture. Maybe I’m reading her wrong. Maybe not. Either way, I’m suddenly ready to prove myself.
    Brian lights up. “Great! A bunch of us guys are meeting by the pier around noon to play touch football. We could use an extra guy.”
    Sienna wears her shock, looking anywhere but at me. Maybe she wouldn’t like it if I came. It might put her in an awkward position. So, I do the only gentlemanly thing.
    “I’m all over it,” I say.
    Brian smiles. “Sweet!”
    I can’t figure this guy out. I took his girlfriend out for ice cream, and now he wants to play ball? Reality sinks in, though, and I remember my full day ahead. “I get off work at noon, but I got something to do at four. I’ll swing by in between if I get a chance.”
    Like that’s going to happen. Even though my shift is up at noon, why would I submit myself to torture? Sienna has a boyfriend, and although I’d like to think she and frat boy are all wrong for each other, my opinion isn’t worth crap. Still, as I watch Sienna walk toward the pier with Brian, I wonder if I just let a golden opportunity walk out the door.
    I throw myself into autopilot. Finish my busy morning shift. Decide to ditch touch football altogether. At last I turn around to head out, and the sight of Sienna standing near the door pulls me to a stop. I’m momentarily paralyzed, feeling pretty good about my day all of a sudden. She came back.
    “Hey,” she says. She’s leaning against the glass wall, blending in behind a line of customers. How long she’s been there, watching me, I have no idea.
    I smile.
    She tosses something from behind her back, and I catch it instinctively. I glance at the football in my