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Instead of giving in to my desire to let the past escape from my lips, I chuckled. “Nah, we went to school in Zachary together.”
Digging my phone from my pocket, I pulled out my text messages from Coach about practice. “Coach called for practice at six,” I said, sliding the ancient phone into my pocket.
Jordan watched me walk to the kitchen and open a bottle of water that I downed. I needed something to cool me down after that encounter with Josie. Knowing she’d grace the halls at LSU felt bittersweet to me.
I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand.
“That’s all I’m going to get?” he asked. “You went to school together? Because it looks like you slept with her mom, or killed her puppy.”
“Not much to tell,” I lied.
Jordan cocked an eyebrow, not believing me for a second, but knowing I wouldn’t indulge him any further. “Right, well, this should be an interesting semester.”
Interesting … we’ll go with that.
***
The steam of my morning shower rolled over my sore muscles from a summer full of football Hell. I knew it’d be brutal, especially compared to football at Zachary. It’d lived up to my imagination.
Jordan’s alarm clock went off as I pulled my practice jersey over my head and stared at myself in the bathroom mirror. It was surreal to stand there in the colors that I once thought I would avoid.
Getting far away from Louisianawasthe plan, especially when I accepted Alabama’s full-ride scholarship. Then I thought of Frankie—my little brother. I couldn’t leave him with my mother—being the shell of the person she used to be—I decided to stay close to home.
Bang. Bang.“Hurry up!”
Jordan grumbled something when I opened the door. To say he wasn’t a morning person was an understatement.
I made myself a protein shake and grabbed a banana before heading toward my room. Being early was a requirement for freshmen, which I didn’t mind. There was something nice and surreal about an early sunrise.
The silence of the world before everyone woke, when vehicles littered the roads, and people screwed it up. I slung my practice bag over my shoulder and took the stairs two at a time to get to the parking lot.
The humid Louisiana morning greeted me with instant sweat and a slap of moisture in the air. The parking lot looked empty along with the streets adjacent to us that would take me to the Huey P. Long Field House for morning drills.
I slung my bag into the back of my pickup and stalled.
I took three steps backward and stared at the bare foot sticking out from the cracked backseat window of a familiar Honda Civic. Her toes wiggled in the growing wind as I approached.
Josie lay in the uncomfortable stained backseat of her vehicle, one leg stretched up with her foot hanging out and the other bent at the knee. Something hit my chest at the sight of her sleeping in her hot car, sweat built around her upper lip and hairline while she breathed heavily.
It was August in Louisiana.This is what she’d rather do than be my roommate.I understood—but it pissed me off. I debated on what to do, seeing her door was unlocked—which was stupid—I jerked the car door open, and her leg fell with a plop.
“Ouch!” she screamed, sitting up straight, she searched through heavy-lidded eyes at me. “What in the crap,” she said.
I bit back every slew of curse words I wanted to call her and glared, my jaw hurting from clutching my teeth together tightly. “What are you doing?” I finally managed to bite out.
She curled her foot inside and rubbed her eyes with her fist. “I was sleeping. What time is it—,” she searched her floorboard for her cell phone and sighed when she turned it on. “I’m not late—,”
“Get up.”
Josie glared at me with confused eyes. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”
I felt my anger rising. As much as I hated her, and wanted her to understand why, I felt pissed that she’d sleep out here with the door unlocked. Anyone could have robbed or better yet raped her.
“You’re an idiot,” I said, grabbing her wrist and hauling her out of the backseat.
She stumbled out, her bare feet hitting the asphalt and her arms wailing to steady herself on someone’s van parked beside her.
I slammed her door, feeling adrenaline soar through me. My eyes dropped to her peaked nipples against her thin white t-shirt and I felt my blood rush wildly.
