Beside me, Jenna perks up. “You should come to the HoCo parade with me and the girls this weekend. I’ll bet Brady would love to have you there cheering him on.”
Yes, he would. And damn if I don’t want it, too.
The yearning in my gut is so strong, it’s almost painful. I want to be there. To see Brady in his game-day uniform. To cheer him on alongside the rest of Wildcat Nation, but… I don’t want to lead him on or give him false hope. We agreed to one date and one date only. Brady will keep his word and withdraw from pole class. I need to be strong enough to do the same, even if it’s a promise I made only to myself.
“Come on,” Jenna says, nudging me. “It’ll be fun.”
Yeah, right. As much as I want to see Brady, spending time with Jenna’s roommates is a big hell no for me. I still haven’t recovered from our trip to the Wildcat’s Den.
“I can’t. Sorry.” I offer her an apologetic smile. “I’m way behind on my reading assignments and I have a test in Intro to ASD that’s going to be brutal.”
All of which is true.
What I don’t tell her is that I’ve also scheduled two live streams for Saturday and I need the money to make rent. I’ve scraped together a decent nest egg to help me get on my feet after graduation, but I can’t afford to dip into it for everyday expenses.
“But it’s homecoming!”
“I know. I suck. We’ll hang out soon,” I promise. “Just you and me.”
“You work too much.” Jenna sighs. “You keep this up and one day you’re going to wake up to realize you missed out on the best things in life.”
A smiling image of Brady flashes through my mind, and I can’t help but wonder if I already have.
14
BRADY
I stareat the string of unanswered texts on my phone, debating whether I should send another.
Because seven is the magic number and Piper will finally answer.
Fuck. Why isn’t she responding? Did I do something wrong? Come on too strong?
Maybe the flowers were too much. Or worse, maybe she hated them.
“Last time I saw someone stare that intently at their phone, they were battling a porn addiction.” Parker stretches his legs, luxuriating in the extra space our front row seats provide. “Just saying.”
It’s Friday afternoon, and even though we’ve got a bye this week, Coach is holding a team meeting. The entire team is gathered in the media room, waiting for the old man to show.
“I don’t have a porn addiction, asshole.”
He smirks. “The first step to overcoming addiction is admitting you have a problem.”
“Did someone say porn?” Coop leans forward, craning to see around Parker. “Because I’ve got recs.”
“Jesus Christ, DeLaurentis. Nobody wants your porn recs.”
“Speak for yourself.” Coop scoffs. “My shit is gold. Just ask the freshman.”
Reid groans. “Please tell me you aren’t actually sending porn links to the underclassman.”
“Only the ones who ask,” Coop says with mock sincerity. “Can’t have them embarrassing themselves when they hit Greek Row to blow off steam.”
Parker snickers, but Reid is unimpressed. “I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that,” he says, eyeing the clock. “And if you end up in trouble with Coach, leave my name out of it.”
“Aye aye, Captain, but mark my words, you’re going to thank me when our guys roll into bowl season loose and totally stress free.”
“Let’s just get through the regular season and then we’ll talk,” Reid shoots back.
