Page 11 of Refusing Kendall

He rolls his eyes as another smile blooms across his face.

“Ok,” I tell them, “If I stay in here any longer, I fear this wrinkle thing might become permanent. I need to get out.”

“Go for it,” Teagan says winking at me.

I laugh again, and Mav throws an elbow at him.

“We’ll see you tomorrow, baby girl,” he says.

I blow them a kiss before the phone gets handed back to Lucas.

His eyes are crinkled around the edges with his smile, “Goodnight, baby. See you tomorrow.”

“Goodnight,” I say blowing him a kiss as well before he ends the call.

Stepping out of the tub, I dry my body and hair before rushing into my room to hop into bed. The quicker I get to sleep, the sooner I’ll see my quad. Tomorrow can’t come fast enough.

Away Game

“I can’t believe that we have to writeanotherpaper next week,” Jacie complains beside me.

I shrug at her, “It’s to be expected in an English class, and it can always be worse.”

“Oh yeah?” she asks, “How so?”

Before I get a chance to respond, the professor answers for me, “I’ll be expecting an outline for your new papers tomorrow.”

Tilting my head at Jacie, I pull up my eyebrows in anI told you somanner.She groans as we pack our stuff up to leave, “I swear to God. It’s like these teachers forgot what it’s like to be young. I’ll be trapped in my dorm doing homework until graduation. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Bye,” I call to her sympathetically.

Jacie is the only friend that I’ve really made since I got here, and I think that was more out of convenience than anything else. We just so happened to sit next to each other the first day of class and haven’t moved. She’s sort of one of those spoiled only child types, but she’s also kind. She reminds me a lot of Ryleigh.

I take my time gathering the last of my things up. My next class doesn’t start for another hour, so there’s no rush to get anywhere. Rounding the corner out of the room, I run straight into a hard body leaning against the wall.

“Oh Jesus, I’m sorry,” I stumble over my words.

The laugh and scent hit me at the same time. Looking up, I find Goose dressed in his away game jersey standing in front of me. His left hand is held out to the side. Thankfully too, because he’s holding a Styrofoam cup branded with the campus coffee shop, and its steam is still rising up through the drink hole.

“Well, hey there, pretty lady,” he smiles down at me.

“Hi,” I say a little breathless. “What are you doing here?”

He fakes a frown, “Not happy to see me? I brought coffee and everything.”

I go up on my tiptoes to throw my arms around his neck, “Don’t be silly. Of course I’m happy to see you, caffeine or not. I’m just surprised is all. Don’t you have another class today?”

“We’re supposed to,” he admits, “But the professor had some emergency he had to get to, so class got canceled. That means I’m free for the rest of the day.”

My brain goes straight to the gutter imagining what we can do with the free time, and judging by the look on his face, Goose is thinking the same exact thing.

Placing a brief kiss against his lips, I say, “I can always skip my next class.”

His smile widens, but Mav’s voice dashes all hope of that happening, “Not a chance, baby girl.”

Goose turns us so that I can see Mav walking up the hall towards us.

“So, what is this?” I ask him. “You just drop by to brag and tease me?”

---