Page 56 of The Wrong Quarterback

I yawned. It was a freaking Wednesday. I didn’t know if I had it in me to party on a Wednesday.

Especially after how little sleep I’d gotten last night.

Nat dropped to her knees, clasping her hands in front of her. “Please, please, please,” she begged. “We need some bonding time. Don’t make me go with the weirdos down the hall. They smell like cheese.”

I snorted and shook my head in mock exasperation. I was positive that the girls down the hall—who were cheerleaders—did not smell like cheese. But it did make me feel like she really wanted me to go.

Natalie must have smelled victory because she leapt to her feet and started frantically rifling through her makeup bag, humming some pop song under her breath. Before I knew it, she’d pulled me in front of the tiny dorm mirror and was inspecting my face like it was a canvas.

“Okay, first things first. Close your eyes.”

I obeyed, feeling the light dusting of a brush sweep across my eyes. Natalie’s chatter filled the silence, a constant stream of comments and stories that were all incredibly amusing.

“How did you hear about this party again?” I interjected, as she started on my eyeliner.

“I’ll never forget it until the day I die,” she swooned dramatically. I popped open an eye, and she bopped me on the nose. “Keep your eyes closed.”

“Yes, ma’am," I sighed.

“Anyways…as I wassaying. I was eating some pizza in the dining hall, when all of a sudden, Jace Thatcher, the star running back from the Tigers, sits down across from me and starts talking.”

My eyes flew open at that, and she almost stabbed me with the eyeliner stick. Jace Thatcher had been that guy in the library that was friends with Parker. There’s no way Parker had asked him to invite my roommate so I would come…right?

I snorted as Nat freaked out about almost blinding me for life. There’s no way that was what happened.

“Sorry, continue,” I told her.

She humphed as she finished my eyeliner a little aggressively.

“You have no idea how lucky you are, Casey,” she said, leaning in closer as she added eyeliner with a steady hand. “These cheekbones, this skin—fuck, if I didn’t love you already, I’d be jealous.”

I blinked at her reflection, surprised. Compliments weren’t something I was used to. “Thanks,” I mumbled, my voice coming out shy and awkward.

“Okay, but you were saying, about Jace,” I prodded, pretending I didn’t see her knowing grin.

“He just talked to me for like ten minutes about how school was going and where I was from…and then he invited me to theparty he and his teammate are throwing tonight and told me to bring a friend.” She clapped her hands together, powder flying off her brush.

“Who’s his friend?” I asked.

“Matty Adler, the Tiger’s star tight end.”

I nodded, pretending that I knew who she was talking about.

“I’m going to point out all these guys tonight, or at the next game if some of them aren’t there,” she told me, grinning as she stepped back to admire her work before tilting her head thoughtfully. “Oh, you’re going to break hearts tonight,” she declared, swiping on a last touch of lip gloss. “Trust me, by the end of the night, you’re going to havelotsof names to remember.”

A nervous laugh bubbled up out of me. I’d never done this before—never sat with a girlfriend and shared makeup, never had someone fuss over my appearance with that kind of affection. It felt…nice. It had been something I’d hoped I’d experience someday, but I hadn’t thought it would happen.

Natalie turned to grab her own lipstick, chattering on about who would probably be at the party and who to avoid. “Parker Davis will probably be there,” she added, raising an eyebrow at me with a teasing, knowing smirk.

My stomach flipped at the mention of him, and I felt my cheeks heat up. “Gray and his friends are also going to be there,” I said, pretending that Parker’s name didn’t do anything for me.

I was half-convinced Parker wasn’t real.

There was no way that someone existed that hot…and that sweet. There was no way how he’d been acting was real. Or at least that’s what I was telling myself.

“Casey, please,” she said, rolling her eyes dramatically. “I say this as your new best friend and the girl you’re going to be stuck with for the rest of your life. Are you sure that Gray’s what you want?”

I blinked at her, surprised she would come out and say it like that. “Gray’s just been busy with the pledge term,” I told her. “You’ll like him when you see what he’s really like.”

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