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“You were way less of a dick with her around.” Ryder chuckles, shoving my shoulder.
“I fucked up pretty bad.” I blow out a hard breath.
Again, something I knew the second I saw her face, but today it seems more real than it did before. Maybe it’s because I played my worst game—a sign in itself. But maybe it’s also because I’m starting to realize what everyone else seems to already know—Rory makes me better.
I’m better with her in my life. I’m a better friend. A better football player. A better man. I just wish I weren’t so busy getting in my own way that I didn’t see that earlier.
“You did,” Higgins agrees. “Now what the fuck are you going to do about it?”
“I have no fucking clue.” I snort out a laugh, the sound foreign to my ears. Hell, I’m pretty sure I haven’t even cracked a smile since Tuesday. Hard to smile when you feel like you just burnt your whole world to the ground voluntarily.
“Well, lucky for you, you have us to help you figure it out.” Enzo grins. “Now, how do you feel about public displays of affection?”
“Why?” I arch a brow, not sure I like where this is going.
“If you’re going to win her back, it has to be public. You have to show her you want the whole world to know that you’re in love with her.”
“Rory is more of a private person. I don’t know that she’d be too pleased to be put on the spot in front of tons of people,” I disagree.
“You leave that to me.”
“I don’t think I like where this is going,” I admit. Hell, I’m ready to run full speed to her dorm, drop down on my knees, and beg for her forgiveness this instant. The thought of planning something, of having to wait to make things right, I don’t like it.
“Let me talk to Alina. I promise we will come up with something good.”
“I tell you what, you let me talk to Rory. If she tells me to go fuck myself, we’ll try it your way. Agreed?”
“Agreed.”
“Now, if you gentlemen will excuse me, I’ve got a girl to win back.”
“Yeah, you do.” Higgins pats my back.
“Go get her.” Tyler grins.
And while normally I would recoil from this kind of interaction, right now, it feels good knowing that I can count on these guys to call me out when I’m being a fucking idiot.
Higgins has known about my sort of obsession with Rory for months. He’s watched me pine after her. Make excuses to be close to her. And he’s had a front row seat to the shit show of me falling for her. They all have. I think it’s about time I embrace that I’ve been brought to my knees by a woman. There’s no shame in it. Hell, I’m proud to love her.
Now, I just need to tell her as much.
I make quick work of showering and changing, hanging around only a few short moments after Coach gives us a bit of a pep talk/chews our asses out for nearly blowing the game before I finally seize my opportunity to get the fuck out of there.
It’s after six o’clock when I finally reach Rory’s dorm. My heart is beating harder than I think it ever has, and it has nothing to do with the fact that I ran all the way here, which is at least a couple of miles.
I didn’t want to wait for Higgins to give me a ride, nor did I feel like messing with ordering a car. Really, I was hoping the run would help me clear my head, but as I lift my hand to knock on her door, my head feels anything but clear. Clouded with fear and doubt, I almost change my mind.
Dropping my hand, I’m seconds away from booking it right the fuck out of here, when I turn and am met with a pair of angry green eyes.
“Rory.” Her name is off my lips before I can stop it.
My insides swell and contract at the sight of her, like my body itself recognizes its place in the world. Right here with her.
She looks more beautiful than I remember, despite the dark bags under her eyes or how half of her hair seems to have escaped her ponytail.
She’s holding two white plastic bags, having clearly just returned from the store and for a moment, I half expect her to swing one toward my head.
“What are you doing here, Archer?”
