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I knew, underneath the righteous annoyance, that I was using his little white lies to create distance after the night I spent with him. Gavin had proven more than once he wasn’t trustworthy, despite the stupid little flutters in my stomach every time I got a glimpse of him walking around the house without a shirt.
With a last disgusting glug, the vending machine spit my lukewarm coffee into a paper cup. It didn’t smell too bad, but the acrid taste wasn’t entirely masked by the massive amount of added sugar. I tried not to breathe through my nose while I chugged it on my way to the practice field. At this point, I’d take a caffeine hit straight to a vein.
Once my bed and other furniture was delivered, I’d been sleeping fine… except for the random middle of the night glimpses when I wanted water or needed to use the bathroom—the shared bathroom Gavin hadn’t warned me about.
At least he usually kept the door on his side closed, but twice he’d forgotten and I had to dig Henry out of a pile of clothes on Gavin’s bedroom floor while he slept. The silly duck thought she was nesting, but I couldn’t blame her. That first morning, I’d wrapped myself in blankets that smelled like him and curled up in the middle of his bed.
Hence the need for distance and perspective. I’d clearly lost mine.
The squad was already on the field stretching by the time I rolled up, and there was Juliet, front and center like she owned the place. Her long brunette hair sported a soft curl as it cascaded down the back of her sundress, and I badly wanted to roll my eyes. She couldn’t practice her own stunting in a dress. Twice now I’d had to remind her we were leaders by example, meaning we had to do the work too. Looked like I’d be upping the count to three.
Several gazes looked past her as I dropped my bag at the edge of the grass and chucked the last of the sad coffee in the trash can. Juliet turned with her hands on her hips, and I sent her a wide, friendly smile even though I wanted to point out her full face of makeup was wasted since the football players were at the stadium working on endurance.
She gave me a wan smile in return. “Glad you could make it today, Eva. We’ve already started, but there’s room in the back.”
I laughed and plopped down next to her in front of the group. “I’m fine here. Thanks.”
Behind the cheerleaders, Coach Kat pursed her lips to hide a smile. After my illustrious return, Kat had set me and Juliet up as co-captains this year. I didn’t mind sharing the leadership duties, but Juliet tested my last nerve at every practice.
She lowered herself to the grass next to me, and we managed to get through warmups with no verbal bloodshed. Our squad met three times a week for stunt practice and twice more for weight training and endurance. Since cheerleading wasn’t considered a sport at the college level, no one cared how often we practiced—and we practiced our asses off.
We were a co-ed group that competed at the highest level, and we’d won Nationals all three years I’d been at TU. I planned to make it a perfect four out of four. If Juliet would get out of my way and let me choreograph a mind-blowing fucking routine.
On cue, Juliet pulled me aside to start picking apart the decisions we’d made last week about the stunt list. “Eva, I need to talk to you about the transition between the second and third stunts.”
We performed some of the most difficult stunting legally allowed in competitive cheerleading, but Juliet would prefer stunts that were easier to perfect. I held up a hand, stopping her before she could launch into her reasons why my transitions weren’t good enough.
“I’m happy to discuss the choreo, but not right now. I need to practice my stunts like everyone else. Text me after practice and we’ll find a time to talk.”
I didn’t give her a chance to argue before I walked away to join the bases in my first configuration. Juliet left me alone to work on her own stunts, but I could hear her lecturing the other members of her group. Unfortunately, she wasn’t wrong. Juliet was a talented cheerleader, and she knew her stuff. If only she dedicated that knowledge to making our whole squad better instead of using her co-captain position to boost her standing with the football players.
Practice ended as it always did, with Kat going over a list of pointers to work on for next time. Juliet practically preened when Kat mentioned the transitions, but no one else seemed to notice. I had a few things to add to her list, but I didn’t have time to stay and talk since I had an appointment to get to in the Anderson Business College, or the ABC as we all called it.
I was meeting with Carl Bennington, my consumer behavior professor. Professor Bennington was only a few years older than me, but he’d been fast tracked through business school and given a position here based on his firm’s impressive achievements—and probably their hefty support of the business school.
He only taught one class a semester, an upper-level business lecture, and once a year he took on an assistant to help him with a project at his firm. I’d applied over the summer, blatantly using my dad’s name to get my foot in the door. Since the final student was chosen by a committee, I didn’t consider it cheating when I won the assistantship.
Normally, I’d have introduced myself after our first class last week, but I’d been wearing clothes from the day before thanks to the moving snafu. Not a big deal considering we weren’t supposed to officially start until October. Instead, I’d emailedabout the assistantship. After several days, he’d given me a date and time to show up at his office on campus. The whole exchange felt a little like a lord speaking to a peon, but I’d been reading a lot of historical romance lately.
His office was large and bright, probably more than he needed to teach one class a semester, but I wasn’t going to argue the politics of office assignments in a posh college. It was also meticulously organized with only a single small picture frame on display. Carl Bennington matched his office perfectly. Bland and forgettable despite the well-tailored suit he wore.
I knocked on the open door, and his eyes flicked toward me.
“Come in.”
“Professor Bennington, it’s nice to officially meet you.” I held out my hand, but after a brief glance at my shorts and tank top, he returned his attention to the tablet in front of him. Not a great beginning. I dropped my arm and waited for him to finish whatever he was doing.
Except he didn’t. He nodded at the chairs in front of his desk without looking up again.
“Ms. Adams, I understand you’re eager to begin the assistantship, so have a seat.”
“Thank you.” I didn’t like the vibe I was getting, but polite was my default to business associates. “I’d like to discuss my responsibilities this semester so I can plan the rest of my time accordingly.”
He hummed absently. “You’ll have five to ten hours a week of work assigned by me through email. You’ll also accompany me to several meetings with clients over the course of the semester, to be determined at a later date. We’ll, of course, work around your school schedule, but you may have to miss extracurriculars if you’re needed elsewhere.”
I fought to keep the frown off my face. “I’ll try my best to attend any necessary meetings.”
His mouth tightened a smidge, though he still didn’t address me directly. “You must be excited to get some real-world experience before leaving college. I’d advise you to make this assistantship a priority.”
