Page 59 of Courting Clemson

Clemson

Grace appeared at the foot of my bed. My heart launched from its secure place between my lungs.

“Fuck!” I yelled and clutched my throat. She just scared about five years off my life.

“I called your name twice,” she said with an expression so guilty I instantly felt bad for my reaction. How ridiculous was that? She was the one who just frightened me right out of my skin, yet I was the one apologizing.

“Sorry, I didn’t hear you. Shit, you scared me.” I flopped back down into the pillow pile on my bed.

An enormous smile spread across my face when I remembered my night with Luke.

“I’m guessing that smile has a story behind it? You want some coffee?” she called over her shoulder as she left my room.

Why did she wake me?

“Grace? Why did you wake me? I was finally sleeping well,” I shouted, not ready to leave my little nest.

“Because…” She peeked her head back in through my open door. “It’s almost noon. Don’t you have practice or weight training or something? You always do. I didn’t want you to oversleep.”

She was being a good friend. A good roommate. Little did she know, I texted my coaches this morning and told them I was under the weather and needed a recovery day. I never missed practice. Ever. So they were understanding and told me to listen to my body.

“I called off today.”

She rushed back into my room. “You what? What’s wrong? Why didn’t you say something was wrong?”

“Calm down. Nothing’s wrong. I just needed a day to myself. I’ve been so damn tired lately.”

She relaxed. Marginally.

She sat on the edge of my bed and gave me a long stare. “Really, Clem. What’s up?”

“Seriously, I’m fine. Just wasn’t feeling it today. Buuuuttt…” I dragged the word out a few extra beats to build the anticipation. “Luke spent the night last night.”

“Oh my God! I knew that smile had sex written all over it!”

She clapped her hands, and I chuckled.

“I don’t even have to ask how it was. I think you might actually be glowing.”

There was no hiding the smile on my face.

“So what was it like being with an older man? And aren’t you seeing Brian tonight? Are you going to tell Luke about Brian? And vice-versa?”

I didn’t have time to answer either of those questions.

As I made a cup of tea in our little single-cup brewer, I eyed her suspiciously. “Girl, how much caffeine have you had? I thought we talked about this?”

It was only a partial tease. Caffeine seemed to hit differently with Grace than most other people.

“I haven’t seen you in close to a week! I’m just making up for lost time.”

“Yes, but we spoke on the phone almost every day,” I said and poked her ribs.

She laughed and squirmed out of reach.

I stirred some oat milk creamer into my cup. “Nothing has changed. I’m still confused and worried about how to handle all that. I’m mostly leaning toward not telling them about each other, simply because it’s the easiest way out of the situation I guess.”

“Aren’t you worried that’s going to blow up in your face, though?”

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