Page 177 of Call the Shots
Nick choked on his beer. “Okay, Coach Vernon.”
“This isn’t some Vernon power trip, this is us deciding to do this,” Denali insisted. “If we want the Gulf Coast Cup, it’ll take sacrifice. We need to agree as a team. No more crazy shit for the rest of the summer.”
“Did I hear boring?” Elijah asked.
“Yes,” Denali said, ignoring the sarcasm. “We’ll have a boring rest of the summer.”
June’s phone rang and she caught sight of the name, flashing the screen to me—King. “I’ll be back,” she promised, slipping out of the booth.
“I was thinking of ordering a jersey for June,” Cleo said, sipping her espresso martini. “I’m putting together a goodbye box of Gladiator memorabilia for her.”
“Goodbye?” Pickles repeated. “What do you mean goodbye?”
“June has…uh…” Fridge drummed his fingers on the table. “Three weeks?”
Sully frowned. “Until what?”
My good mood disappeared. “June’s leaving RV, she’s moving back in with her parents.”
“What?” Elijah blinked. “I thought that was a joke.”
More mutters erupted from the table, teammates asking if she was actually leaving or if we were kidding, until everyone fell silent.
A beat passed before Cleo cleared her throat. “We could have a goodbye party? If we do it on a Sunday, Miles can come.”
The thought of a goodbye party hurt more than I was willing to admit but I knew June would like it. “Yeah, let’s do it.”
“It can’t be a party-party,” Denali warned. “We’re not jeopardizing?—”
“Thelastparty,” Nick interjected. “Final chance for us to have some fun before we buckle down into training. Come on, Captain.”
The table was a chorus of guys hitting their fists and empty glasses against the table, trying to convince Denali before he put his head in his hands. “Fine,” he relented. “A lowkey party. Just us.”
“When I think of lowkey, I think of us,” Elijah chortled.
“Don’t,Elijah.” Denali grinned. “You’re such an asshole.”
The guys debated what kind of liquor we’d buy, who’d handle the playlist, if a beer pong tournament constituted a ‘lowkey party’ but this was going to beJune’snight.
I knew the perfect way to make it hers.
I typed the address on my phone. “I know where we should throw the party.”
Our dorm feltdifferent when we called it a night. I threw on a t-shirt and boxers, listening to the sounds of June finishing her night routine before I pushed her door open.
“Where are you sleeping tonight?”
She turned away from me, pulling on a shirt. “Um, I think it’d set the wrong precedent if we slept in each other’s bed. This would be a good—um—boundary to have.”
“Hm.”
“We should talk about the timeline. We can do a friends with benefits for the rest of the summer…and I’ll help you with the dating profiles in, like, preparation.”
Awesome, the girl I wanted was eager to push me to somebody else. I grunted. “Hm.”
“Can you turn around? You’re making me self-conscious.”
“Nothing I haven’t seen before.”
