“Aw, cutie, you’re still so innocent,” Olli coos at him, then turns his attention to me again before Nicko can complain. “I assume she wants you to take part in that?”
“Yeah, she does,” I confirm with another sigh.
“So? That’s not new to you, right? Everyone knows about how you and Davenport are double-timing girls left and right.” There’s a small glint in Olli’s eyes as he says that, like he’s challenging me to contradict him, but Nicko beats me to an answer.
“Wait, what?! You and Davenport are fucking?!”
“We’re not fucking!” I say quickly. “I mean, not together. Not Seb and I. We’re not…doing stuff with each other.” I grimace. That just made me sound like a huge ‘no homo’ douchebag. “Not that anything would be wrong with that! But it’s not true, and I don’t want any rumors to spread.”
Olli’s lips curl into a grin at that. He’s fucking enjoying this. “Okay, just a piece of advice here: if you tough football guys don’t want to feed the gossip mill, maybe stop swatting each other’s asses on the field all the time.”
“Hush, people who do unpopular sports don’t know how it is.” Nicko elbows him, and Olli promptly scowls back.
“You’re getting a little bit too sassy for my taste, Nicholas. That boyfriend of yours is a terrible influence!”
“Guys,shut up, this isn’t about you!” Sasha interrupts their bickering with a stern look before reaching out to squeeze my knee. “Seriously now, though. What’s the big deal?”
I squirm in my chair, turning the shaker around in my hands. “There’s this guy Mia knows…I can’t tell youwhoit is,” I say this with a pointed look at our two gossiping divas, “but he’s another athlete.”
“But can you tell us the first letter of his na—”
“No,” I groan when Olli tries to fish for clues. “I won’t tell you his name; c’mon, that’d be shitty. Anyway, he’s curious about guys, and Mia thinks it’d be hot if we three…you know. Get it on together. In all…uhm. Directions?”
“Ha,” Nicko snorts, but Sasha ignores him.
“Do you like that idea?”
“I don’t know. I honestly never thought about it. When Seb and I…met up with a girl? We never even considered getting involved with each other,” I admit. It’s the truth. I’ve never thought about another man in that way. Seb and I are close, but not like that. I don’t mind having a girl between us on the dance floor or sharing a bed with him when we crash out after a long night. But the thought of kissinghimmakes me recoil. Not because he’s a guy but because he’sSeb.
“But you're curious?”
“I’m not against it,” I hedge. I don’t know if I’m curious. I guess I wouldn’t mind trying if it didn’t come with consequences. Mia is right; college should be for experimenting. But I can’t afford to risk everything I’m working toward.
Sasha laughs at that, then shakes her head in amusement. “You know you can just tell herno, right? You don’t have to do that.”
“I…” I start, suddenly aware of how Olli fixates me skeptically. I detect the exact moment he catches on, his face lighting up with excitement.
“Oh my God, is she bribing you? What is it? Nudes? A sex tape? Expulsion?!”
“She’s notbribingme. Jesus, Olli, not everything is a dark romance novel!” I groan.
“Uhm, okay, but then I really don’t understand why you didn’t just tell her no? You don’t seem to be into the idea.”
I rub a hand over my face. Time to fess up. “She kind of hinted that the guy could introduce me to his father. Who’s like…huge in sports stuff. I mean, I’m graduating next year, and it would be a big help if someone like that knew my name before I enter the Combine.”
“Dude. Micah. Thatdoessound like bribery to me,” Nicko points out dryly.
“Really, Nicko? You think you should be the one to judge how far someone is willing to go for their career?” Sasha rolls her eyes, but Nicko shrugs, visibly unperturbed.
“If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck—” He doesn’t get very far before Olli reaches over to put a hand over his mouth.
“Shut up, I’m invested in this now!” he scolds him before putting his focus back on me. “Just let me sum this up real quick: a hot girl asked you if you would take part in a threesome with her and a friend of hers because she wants to tick it off her sex bucket list, and the guy wants to have his first gay experience with you. You, on the other hand, are not really interested—”
“But also not appalled!” I throw in. It feels important to say. I’m not making a sacrifice for Whitaker by offering myself up as his sexual guinea pig. Ilikesex. But picturing his soft teddy bear features and big grin doesn’t do much for me. Most I want is to put an arm around him and ruffle his hair—same as I feel about Seb.
Olli, however, waves me off as he continues. “You’re not interested, but you see the advantage for yourself, and now you have some kind of moral panic over it.”
I cringe at his dry conclusion. That’s certainly one way to phrase it.
