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“I’m up,” I finally piped out, hoping that the thick wood between us would drown out any uncertainty I had.
Ishouldgo, but Coach would tear me a new asshole in front of everyone if I did. I could see it now. His fat, sausage finger wiggling in my face as his cheeks bloomed with a distinct shade of red only reserved for me. I was dreading having the talk with him over the fact that I was almost certainly going to go to summer school, which would cut down on my practice hours.
But as I sat there, going through the conversation in my head, I realized I had the potential to change this. Sure, I’d exhausted all of my options, but I couldn’t just accept that I was failing, and that I’d have to leave the school. I needed to do something more than that.
I needed to do something different. I needed to convince Aster I was worth helping. Whether she liked it or not.
Pushing my laptop lid down, I grabbed my bag and yelled, “Matty,” as I headed to the door.
By the time I’d opened it, my floppy haired friend was standing on the other side with his usual dazed smile. “Woah, I don’t think you’ve ever been so happy to see me at six am before,” He joked. “What’s gotten into you?”
I pushed past him, shut and locked my door and said, “Nothing. I’m just-” I considered lying, but what was the point? Everyone knew I was failing. It was the worst kept secret on campus, mainly because not playing made it obvious.
“Oh, no. Please don’t tell me you’ve seen Aiden’s bare ass naked again?” He cringed, looking in the opposite direction. “I know he was going hot and heavy this morning, but I thought he at least kept that shit in the bedroom.”
“Thankfully, I saw nothing this morning.”
“Still, I have no idea how you handle it, night after night. At least when Devin had that room, Aiden was more inclined to take his conquests to the backyard so he could show them off. Now, he barely leaves that room.” He pointed to the door next to mine.
“You’ve got to ignore him.” I tapped my temple with my finger. “It’s a power play, and he’s doing it as a mind game. If you think about it too long, you’ll go crazy, so you’ve just got to block it out.”
Easier said than done when the guy was the loudest grunter I’d ever heard, but I’d managed.
“Thanks for the advice.” He shivered. “But I don’t think that’s the kind of memory I can block out without it coming back to haunt me when I’m eighty. Imagine dying over the shock of it coming back to you?”
“I won’t make it past this semester if I don’t get my grades up.”
“Wow, almost as dramatic as Aiden.”
“Matty, do you know a girl called Aster Paige?”
His ears prickled, and his smile grew to a smirk. I’d never once asked him about girls, and the only time the house thought I was interested in someone was earlier this year when I was helping Hayden get home.
They didn’t get it, though. Hayden was my friend. When I first met her, all I saw was a scared, broken girl that needed protecting and I wanted to help her. Would I have gone on a date with her if I thought she was interested? Yeah, sure, but after seeing her and Adam, my injured roommate, together, I knew that wasn’t going to happen.
“Aster Paige? Aster Paige? Aster Paige?” He said her name a few more times, and looked up to the ceiling as though it would help him remember. “Oh,” he howled in surprise. “Aster Paige, the library girl?”
“Library girl?” I was confused at the nickname because although, yes, she was always in the library, I didn’t think that was her defining characteristic. Her exceptional looks and fiery attitude were the things that always came to my mind.
“Yeah,” he waved his hand over his face. “You know,” he drawled out like he was telling me a joke. “She’s the girl that’s always in the library, and dresses like a super-hot librarian from Porn Hub. For months, when I was in there fixing some of the computers, I thought she was an employee, rebelling against the dress code. Had these little thoughts about her rolling up her skirt in the aisles and strutting out with a big ass smirk on her face.”
“You’ve been fantasizing about her?” I clenched my jaw.Don’t kill him. Or if you do kill him, at least get the full story first.
He blew out his breath. “I’m not sure I know many people that haven’t at least asked questions about the hot, quiet chick that’s only seen in the library. It’s like a cruel joke for the athletes who don’t spend all their time working.”
Matty smiled, reminding me just how different he was from the rest of my teammates. Being the kicker on the team meant he wasn’t on the field much, but when he was, he had the most pressure. It was all up to him to score points, and to do a job like that, you had to have nerves of steel. He was analytical, and a whizz with computers, which he said helped him to figure out the best angle to kick the ball.
In all honesty, his interpretation of how to play the game was a little too analytical for me, but I was glad it worked for him. Football was in my blood. I didn’t need science and analytics to tell me that. I just threw the ball when it felt right, and that seemed to work.
“Why are you asking about her?”
Yeah, Tanner. Why were you asking?
I knew exactly why, but I wasn’t sure I should divulge the entirety of my plan to Matty just in case I got nowhere with it.
“It’s nothing. Never mind.” I dismissed the conversation and headed to the stairs. Matty, however, had different plans. He grabbed the hook on my bag, forcing me back to look at him.
With a wide grin and a twinkle of mischief in his eyes, he said, “No. It’s not ‘never mind,’” he jiggled his head, singing the words back to me mockingly. “Clearly you had a question about her, and I’m more than willing to tell you everything I’ve got on her. If you need more, I’m also willing to do a full background check.”
