Page 51 of Off Sides

I head toward the dorms with Johnson and Oiler, but I’m not really paying attention to what they’re talking about. Oiler seems to be in a chatty mood today, so he’s probably changed topics five times since he saw me.

But I have a smile on my face that doesn’t feel forced when I get to the dorms and see Nick pushing out the door, only to stop when he sees me with my teammates.

“Nope. I’m not dying today, fish boy!” Nick yells from the door.

“Fish boy! ’Cause we call him Carp! Like the fish! Why didn’t I ever think of that? That’s genius!” Oiler slaps his own forehead and Johnson shakes his head.

“You better hope he forgets about that or it’s going to be everywhere.” Johnson pats my shoulder and follows his redheaded cohort.

They wander off and I wait for Nick. With a smile on his handsome face, he approaches but stops far enough away that I hate it. I want him to touch me.

“You look…happy.” He looks me over and his shoulders drop a little like he’s relaxed knowing that.

“Well, my roommate kicked me out of our room for the day and I haven’t had a free day to do whatever I wanted in a long time, so I was hoping you could help me find something.” I bite on the inside of my cheek before speaking again. “We can be friends, right? You said we could do that?”

“Yeah, friends is good.” Nick nods as a huge grin splits his face. I haven’t seen a smile like that since before classes started and as much as it hurts, it lights up a part of me I didn’t realize was dark.

“Friends that sometimes cuddle, though, right?” My voice is quiet and I can feel my cheeks heat.

“I don’t have friends I don’t cuddle with.” He steps a little closer.

I narrow my eyes and think about it for a minute. “Are you a cuddle whore? Cuddling people all willy-nilly?”

Willy-nilly? Seriously? Ugh.

“I am a cuddle whore who is lacking work.”

I snort and reach for his hand, but stop myself and look around before clearing my throat and step back. I turn toward the parking lot and motion for him to follow me. He clearly saw what I was going to do if the look on his face is anything to go by.

Do I really care what people will think if they see me holding hands with him? No. Yes? I don’t know. I don’t want to care but there’s a part of me that’s scared. Which is stupid. It’s not like I couldn’t take on someone in a fight if they got in my face or ran their mouth. I know I can take a hit and stay standing.

But I don’t want to deal with it. I have enough on my plate.

I’m tired of having to deal with everyone else’s shit.

We climb in the car, and I have to adjust the seat since my legs are longer than Johnson’s. Nick smirks at me as I get it adjusted and start the car. Since it’s winter, it’s cold as fuck and the engine doesn’t want to turn over, but with some coaxing it comes to life. The heat is turned high so it feels like an industrial fan is blowing cold air at my face.

“What the fuck?” I find the knob and turn it off. Nick has his hands on the vents, closing them so they stop blowing at him as well.

“So, what’s your plan?” he asks as I pull out of the parking lot to head toward downtown.

“I’m hungry, so food.”

“I know of a mom-and-pop diner that makes amazing biscuits and gravy.”

My stomach grumbles and I send Nick a quick smile. “Sounds good.”

He gives me directions and we get lucky to find a parking spot up close. Most of them are taken, so it must be a good place if there’s this many customers.

“Nick!” a happy male voice booms as soon as we enter, and I turn to see a man through the kitchen window with a big smile on his face looking at us. He’s an older man, probably in his sixties with smile lines by his mouth and at the corners of his eyes. From what I can see, this is a happy man. I like him already.

“Jim! How’s it going?” Nick waves to him.

“It’s been a while. You good, kid?” He looks genuinely concerned about Nick and a pang hits my chest. How does Nick know this man? Why has it been a while since they saw each other?

“I’m good.”

“Seat for two?” I turn to find a young woman with a nice smile but a no-nonsense energy and blue hair pulled back in a French braid. I nod and she leads us to a booth in the back, drops our menus on the table, and tells us our server will be with us shortly.

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