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“Well, thank you,” I say.
He leans in and kisses my cheek. I hate that I love when he does that.
“You’re always welcome.” I’m about to say how thankful I am to have him here when my phone rings. Groaning, I walk over to my desk where it’s charging. My heart stops when I see the name that pops up.Nick.He’s been trying to get a hold of me for a month. I should probably talk to him.But should I?“Let me guess; the boyfriend.” Clearly, he’s good at reading my body language.
“Jake, I’m so sorry. I—we haven’t spoken in a month since I’ve been avoiding him.”
He gives me a sigh. “Well...this feeling sucks,” he laughs ruefully.
“Jake—”
“It’s okay, Allie. We can hang out another time. It looks like you guys need to figure some stuff out.” He stands up and gives me a hug.
“I’m so sorry,” I profess, my words squished against his chest. “Don’t be mad at me.”
He just laughs and kisses the top of my head. “I could never be mad at you, Allie. We can hang out another time. I have practice in a bit, anyway. I’ll text you.”
He leaves shortly after. I’m getting really annoyed with Nick disrupting my life. We haven’t spoken since that last time in his dorm. I’moverhim. He’s emotionally abusive and I’m tired of it. But he called...and Jake felt uncomfortable. Sigh. This is only going to get harder.
JAKE
She’s the first thought in my head as I lift.
And I don’t feel the least bit bad about it. I’m not going to lie, I was over the moon when we decided to spend time together as friends. Whatever opportunity I’m given to spend time with her, I’m taking it.
One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten…
Ten reps of ten. I’d been slacking on my lifting up until a month ago. I was stressing about her to the point that I wasn’t even focused on staying pumped in the gym. On the ice? I’m golden. She may have power over me, but the ice is where I show off. Whether it be at practice or during a game, I’m a focused guy.
“Hey, we getting beer tonight?” Brock drops the bar on the rack as he walks over to me. I don’t see myself going to a bar tonight. I need to watch videos from games.
“I don’t know. I’m behind on watching game tape.”
Brock wipes the sweat from his forehead and gives me a pointed look.
“Come on, dude. It’s Friday. You gotta let loose. Maybe you’re too busy entertaining a certainathlete.”
Somehow, this manages to get the entire gym’s attention. They all perk up at the sound of that.
“I’m not entertaining anyone, dude. She’s busy tonight, and I need to watch tapes.” What is so hard to understand? Normally, I’d say ‘You got me.’ But I’m giving her the space she needs tonight. We’ve been hanging out every day, and while I love that, she’s not my girlfriend. We don’t have to hang out all the time.
“Dude, just one drink. Maybe we’ll see some babes tonight,” he tries. “You never know.”
Sighing, I drop the dumbbells and face him. “If I say yes, will you stop bothering me while I’m pumping iron?”
He laughs and goes back to doing deadlifts. Thank fuck.
Now I can go back to fantasizing about the athlete in question.
It’s been forever since I’ve been to a bar. I already have tons of booze stashed in my room, so it’s not really necessary to go to a bar. Especially a bar off-campus. It’s beensolong that I’m actually surprised as hell to see it so crowded.
Brock and Hunter find a booth in the back, and I go to the bar. I don’t even know what the fuck to drink. I drink beer often, but I’m thinking adrinkdrink tonight. After I decide on a Moscow mule, I just take a minute to look around the bar.
Single girls, single guys, couples, all of them having the time of their lives, line the dance floor. My guys are sitting in the booth, laughing about something raunchy no doubt. This is college. This is part two of the glory days. Soon, it’s draft season. I’ll be meeting with teams again. I already have two that want to offer me a contract. While that’s great, I take a minute to acknowledge how soon all of this will end.
I can’t lead the bachelor life anymore. Real life will hit, and how many girls I’ve slept with won’t matter anymore. Leia soon comes to mind. Nine months...and I’ll be leaving her. I’ll be leaving her to deal with the craziness thatiscollege. Not to say that she can’t handle herself, but I just have this odd urge to protect her. I quickly pull out my phone and click on her name under contacts. She answers on the third ring.
“Hey, stranger. What’s up?” her sultry voice says, warming my insides.
