Her hand pulls back like my chest sparked a flame, and yeah, okay, maybe that was a little gross, but it was also effective. I force a tight-lipped smile, shrug, and drop my glass on the nearest table.
I take the steps up to my room two at a time and a welcome silence greets me as I drop my head back on the closed door. The cool air whips through the cracked sliding door. I lucked out winning the primary bedroom in a game of air hockey last year. While everyone else wanted this room because it’s the only one with an en suite, I wanted it for the access to the covered balcony. I bypass the green LCU hoodie draped over my desk chair, open the slider, and I’m immediately hit with the freezing winter air.
Sometimes fresh air is good for thinking, and other times, the bite is cold enough to completely halt every thought.
I brace my forearms against the wooden balcony railing. It’s too dark to see anyone but soft voices trail up from the yard below. During the summer months, our house is the place to be. I guess any month of the year people want to be here, considering it’s filled with three of Linden Creek’s top hockey players, but especially during the summer because we throw non-stop lake parties. Now, we’re in the dead of winter and the lake is completely frozen over. I don’t mind, I almost prefer it.
I squint just enough to make out two figures sneaking off beyond the dock into the tree-lined parameter, likely being careful to avoid the spotlight that the moon is providing where the dock meets the lake. The wood squeaks beneath me as I move towards the steps to see if I can get a better look, but it’s pointless. It’s too dark and they’re too far.
A creak sounds behind me and I spin around—too quickly for the amount of alcohol I consumed in such a short period. “What the hell?”
“Didn’t mean to startle you.” A soft voice echoes from the dark corner. “Go back to being a peeping Tom, I won’t judge.”
What?
“I wasn’t—” I scramble to my door, reach an arm inside and flick the switch for the single dim light outside. A girl I’ve never met sits on one of the two lawn chairs, her kneeswrapped under her sweatshirt and the hood up over her head. “What are you doing out here?”
“You go first,” she challenges, as if she isn’t an intruder out on my balcony. But even though I can only see her deep coffee brown eyes and her little button nose, she’s gorgeous, so I’ll bite.
“I’m hiding.”
“From a girl?” Her tone is teasing and I debate if I want to answer that one. I can’t stop the corners of my mouth from lifting though, so I drop my head, attempting to hide that too. “Aren’t you supposed to be some big, tough, hockey player?”
Good. She knows who I am.
“Only when I’m on the ice.” I lift my arms to the sides and make a show of looking down at my jeans. “Hmmm, looks like I’m just Noah now.” Her lips form a slightly turned-down smile. When she doesn’t say anything, I continue. “Your turn.” I slide my hands into my pockets, nodding to her. “What are you doing out here?”
“Hiding.”
“From a girl?” I mock and that gets a small huff of laughter out of her.
“Fora girl,” she corrects me.
Now I’m confused. She drops her head back on the chair, letting out a soft groan, and I move to sit on the empty chair beside her. “So you came to a party to?—”
“Against my will!” she interjects.
“You know you aren’t bound by any laws to stay, right?” The second the words leave my mouth I regret it because she’s cute as hell and I don’t want to put the idea of her leaving in her head.
She pulls her hood back from her head and I catch the slight flicker of an eye roll. “My roommate is inside, and she somehow found a cute guy to talk to.”
“Are you jealous?”
“Hardly.” She scoffs and seems genuinely offended. “No,contrary to what all you hockey players have made up in your minds, not everyone wants to date you.”
“Sure, some just want to fuck us.” I smile sweetly.
“Gag.”
My head falls forward and I laugh at both her bored delivery and her bluntness. “Okay, so if you aren’t jealous, then why are you out here?”
“If I were inside, she would see how annoyed I am to be here and would want to go home. She’s a hopeless romantic but she’s in a situation-ship with a major loser, and her flirting or even talking to someone who isn’thimis a win. So I came outside, and it was either sit down there next to that couple who are staying warm by rubbing their bodies together, or take my chances up the creepy stairs.”
“How brave of you.”
She twists her lips, biting the insides of her cheeks, trying to hide her smile from me again.
“Yeah, well.” She shudders against a slight gust of wind and raises a single eyebrow at me. “I wasn’t expecting anyone to crash my party.”
