Nothing that day went right. They told me I’d just missed her at the hospital when I tried to track her down and make sure she was okay, and when I went to her place, she slammed the door in my face.
She doesn’t see him yet, but Jason leans in to whisper in her ear.
She arches away, clearly uncomfortable, and I realize I’ve made a fist. He’d better not be fucking with her. If this is what she wants, cool. I don’t have to like it, but making the moves on a woman who’s not interested is another thing.
It’s been at least a month since I saw him ask her out. Have they been dating all this time?
“Kingston, you look ready to kill someone.” Tank tosses his meaty arm over my shoulder and squints at the crowd until he finds his target. “Ah. Our lovely neighbor.” He coughs dramatically. “That’s Ben’ssister. In case you need a reminder. Bro code and all.”
“I’m not making a move on Gabby.” I’ll never make a move on her. Just being near her makes me want to toss her over my shoulder and carry her back to my place caveman-style. That’s reason enough to avoid her like the plague. My reaction to her has always been too strong, and I don’t need to test my control when I have too much on the line this year.
I can face three-hundred-pound linemen and not bat an eye, but something about this woman makes me want to run before I do anything stupid. It’s baffling.
Needing to change the subject, I motion to our new roommate, who’s busy wooing a table of sorority girls. “Ever wonder why Ben rarely talks about Gabby? They live across the street, and I’ve only seen them talk once. I don’t think they ever hang out. They’re ten feet apart now, and I doubt they’ve acknowledged each other.”
Ben and I have never been close, but I always thought he seemed like a good guy. When we had an opening for another roommate, Olly suggested him, and so far he’s been working out, gelling with the other guys even though he tends to keep to himself when he’s at the house. At the end of the day, we’re clicking on the field now that he’s getting more game time, and that’s the only thing that matters.
“Ben’s a strange cat. A damn good tight end, but he’s not exactly in touch with his emotions.”
“Shut the fuck up. ‘In touch with his emotions…’ Imma start calling you Dr. Phil.” I chuckle. “Kinda afraid what you’d say about me.”
“Nothing I wouldn’t say about myself. We all got daddy issues, brother.”
Guess I asked for that. Tank knows me better than anyone at this school. We were roommates our first year, and while we never really talk about my home life, he always seemed to understand I had crap I couldn’t deal with.
“You’d be a damn good shrink.” I pretend to cry. “Please help me with my daddy issues.”
“Fuck off.”
We laugh and drink our beer.
I try to relax, but it’s pointless. My awareness of Gabby persists. Everything else feels like noise. It’s annoying as hell.
Why now? Why is this girl in my head all the fucking time now years after we stopped hanging out?
After a minute, he nods toward the bar. “Bree says she’s cool as fuck. Gabby helped her with some essay the other day. I think they have a class together.”
“Bree hates everyone.”
“Bree loves Gabby.”
“I thought you were trying to talk meoutof being interested,” I say. “Not that I am.” He gives me a look. “What? I’m not.”
“I’m conflicted.” He sighs. “Bree is an excellent judge of character. And as we both know, she does, in fact, hate Miranda. It adds a kind of drama you and I both dislike.”
“Miranda and I aren’t an item. We pass the time together.”
Although lately, I’ve been wondering if we’ve reached our expiration date.
“Naked time. Yeah, I get that. We all need our outlets. I’m just wondering if you might benefit from someone who’s interested in more than your signing bonus.”
I tsk. “That seems awfully judgy.”
“Miranda’s a party girl, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but I’vedefinitelyheard her asking around about what kind of dough we’d get for signing at the draft. And she’sdefinitelyeyeballing the WAGs club.”
I lurch back like someone slugged me. “She doesnotwant to get married.”
“So she claims. But like I said, nothing wrong with her game play. To each her own. Except what happens if you got her pregnant?”
