My insides were buzzing, like there was a live wire coursing through my veins.

None other than the Virginia Bruins was singing the national anthem at the All Star game. It couldn't have been a coincidence. I believed way too much in the supernatural meddling in the affairs of the living, and this had 'pushy ghost' written all over it, but I wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth.

The All Star game was my way of getting to New York to see her without it seeming creepy and stalker-ish, not to mention the fact that I wanted to keep it quiet at least until I was at the short term rental I was supposed to be sharing with Matthew.

The plan with him was to catch him off guard and unbalanced, get the truth as quickly as possible and if I didn't like what I heard, maybe land a punch to his jawline for the betrayal and call it a day.

With V, though? If she really wanted to be with Matthew, I could walk away, but not without a fight. I'd say what I needed to say, and she could decide from there who she wanted to be with.

But if she chose me?

I closed my eyes in the town car and imagined the feel of her skin beneath my fingertips, smooth and silky and warm, a promise of tomorrow wrapped up in her beautiful smile and sexy dark eyes hiding secrets and mysteries that I couldn't wait to peel back, layer by layer by layer.

She was a puzzle I would gladly spend the rest of my life trying to solve, unfolding her wants, her desires and her goals and dreams.

Eyes fully and always on her, I would take her hair in my hands, sweeping it up off her slender neck and to the side, and tilt her gaze upwards to meet mine.

Her pink lush lips parted in surprise, I would tell her that I was hers, and that I wanted her to be all mine, because I couldn't stand the thought of her wanting another man like I wanted her, how I had always wanted her since the moment I laid eyes upon her in the basketball gym.

The car lurched and suddenly we were there, in front of the two story rental that housed my 'best friend'. I was going to hear it from him what really went down.

Feet firmly planted on the asphalt outside of the car, the door to the brownstone swung open and out poured Matthew Thornberry, a shit eating grin splitting his face in two, but I was not in the mood to joke around.

My feet barely touched the steps as I flew up to meet him at the top of the stairs, one hand fisted in the front of his shirt while the other was pulled back and ready to slam into his face, the face that I wondered if V had inspected waking up next to him one morning like she had done with me.

Did she trace the line of his stubble like she'd done with me? Did she cover his neck with kisses that smelled of peppermint and vanilla? The thought had my right hand itching and curling into an even deeper fist, ready to sink itself into Matthew's smirking face.

"Whoa whoa man, calm down! I didn't do anything with your girl, we literally just sat together on the plane! We ran into each other, it was a coincidence! I would never do that to you! Call her right now and ask her."

Son of a bitch.

His smirk grew three sizes, and I finally understood what he never even had to say.

I lowered my right hand slowly and inched back, taking in the horde of people on the sidewalk who had stopped to witness our almost fight.

Well, I would've fought him. I doubted he would've put up much of a fight with me, knowing that I was angry under false pretenses, it seemed.

"Why wouldn't you just text me and tell me that when all the articles came out, then? Why drag it out?"

"You're here, aren't you? You want her, right? I just made you realize you couldn't live without her. Or at least, you couldn't live with her being with anyone else."

"You're a real asshole, you know that, right?"

"Eli! Eli Shepherd! Are you here to sign with the Knicks before the draft?! Are you going to the All Star game to see your ex Virginia Bruins sing?"

It was one guy yelling all those questions over and over, a lone photographer in a sea of regular people eavesdropping.

"Come on, let's get inside. We've got some things we need to talk about."

You could say that again.

"So, you guys talk about me on the plane?"

Matthew chuckled, grabbing a beer from the fridge and tossing me one as well. I accepted gratefully and, after popping the top with my teeth, downed half the bottle in one go.

My no alcohol rule was starting to take a nosedive even before V moved away. Without her there? Completely non-existent.

I had tried hard to keep up the rest of my regimens though, and would never drink before a game or practice, only indulging at night or on the weekends to drown out the ghosts that my memories created in my mind, echoing in the form of her sleepy sighs on my pillow and wispy touches across my cheek while I was half asleep, my mind tricking me into believing that she was actually there.

"What didn't we talk about on the plane? You know, I think you might have come up once or twice..."

I grabbed a throw pillow from the grey suede couch and threw it at him, catching him in his beer-holding arm and forcing him to spill some of his drink on the spotless shining marble tile flooring.

"Seriously? I knew you were in love with her, but I didn't realize you had it this bad."

"Shut the fuck up and tell me what she said about me. I flew all this way just to see her, I want to make sure she's not with someone else, not like I won't try to steal her from him anyway, but I at least want to know what I'm walking into."

"So you're all in?"

He pinned me with a gaze that showed skepticism, because I was never one to commit when we knew each other so long ago, and especially not recently, but there had been no one else since her, no one I had ever even given a second glance. It would always be her, and I had no idea what I would do if she turned me down. Again.

"I've been all in since we started whatever we were doing, she just bailed after the whole Maddie thing, but I know it was more than that. It was her parents, her cousin and her aunt and probably even her ex and just everything else piling on her, and I think she just couldn't handle it. There's still something there for her, there has to be."

Because if there wasn't anything there, then that would have meant that everything I had been agonizing over for the past nine months was all for nothing.

I'd never had my heart broken before V, but if she said no to me again? It would be the second time in less than a year that the stupid thing in my chest would be in tatters, forcing me to feel like shit day in and day out because the one person I wanted more than anything didn't want me, too.

"So, she's had all this time to get over it then? She didn't say she had a boyfriend, or anyone at all since you it didn't seem like. She wasn't hitting on me, either, just kept wanting to know more about you and how you were doing..."

If Matthew was playing games with me, I'd strangle him in his sleep, but for the most part he seemed sincere with what he was saying.

"So, you think she still has feelings for me?"

"Man, if she didn't then I'd be surprised. I'll bet you a hundred bucks that she'll try to find you at the game this week."

"Fuck. I'd gladly give you a hundred bucks if she comes to find me instead of me having to go and find her."

"Damn. Should've asked for a thousand."

"A thousand? Bro, do you think I have any kind of sign on bonus yet? The draft hasn't even started, dumbass."

"Yeah, yeah. Not like you won't be the number one. You meeting with the Knicks this week?"

"Yeah, tonight, actually. Dinner."

"Nice. Alright well I'll let you get settled. I actually have a date, and no, it's not with your girl. I'll make sure to post all about it online so everyone backs off on the idea of me with V."

"Virginia. You can call her Virginia."

He chuckled as he siphoned off the rest of his beer and chucked the glass bottle into the garbage.

"Possessive asshole."

I only waved him off and set to getting ready and grabbing my clothes from the rental car parked outside, dodging the lone photographer still camped out, probably hired from one specific news outlet as I wasn't anything special. It was V that was the big name being thrown around on the media sites, everyone excited to see what a newcomer to the music scene was going to do with her version of the national anthem at the All Star game.

After hearing her voice for the first time, though, she could have sang numbers from the phone book and I still would have been mesmerized.

It would only be a matter of time, though, and the whole world would be, too.

The week flew by in a haze of shaking hands, corporate lunches and dinners and kissing ass so often my lips were getting chaffed.

Suit jacket and matching dress pants finally smoothed down on my body, I ran a brush through my hair one last time and was satisfied with the more dressed up look I was tasked with pulling off considering the press box I'd be set up in for watching the game that my manager told me was my 'destiny' to play in for years to come.

My legs descended the stairs from the room and I cocked my arm at Matthew, letting him know it was time to go, otherwise we'd be late.

Key in the ignition, my heart suddenly began a different rhythm in my chest, something akin to panic sweeping through my chest and reaching up my throat.

"You good?"

"Yeah, yeah. I just don't know if I can drive. You okay to drive instead?"

"Yeah, of course man. You nervous?"

I didn't answer Matthew, clambering out of the front seat and making my way to the passenger side.

Was that what was going on with me? I didn't even feel that way before a game, mostly because I knew I was fully capable of performing well, but in this instance, I had no idea what the outcome would be and could only rely on my words and not my actions.

Matthew hit the accelerator as my heart ramped up to the speed of the car, images of V floating through my mind and gripping me so tight I could barely breathe.

We were just past the first stoplight on the main road, but something wasn't right. The lights from the oncoming car were too close, too bright, and I could've sworn they were in the wrong lane, but maybe I was-