Page 61 of Shutout
“You two,” I say, my voice changing drastically. “One more word out of your yaps, and I’ll feed you your own teeth.”
Jamie covers his mouth but his eyes are all shiny like he wants to laugh.
Meanwhile, Liv gives me a deadpan look over her shoulder. “Wow, they’re just like you.”
“Excuse me, I’m their captain and therefore so much more mature.”
“He’s lying to you. It takes the whole team to gather a single braincell.” Dane pushes off from the counter while blowing a raspberry. He offers his hand to Liv, saying, “I’m Dane Bloom, alternate captain.”
“Olivia Rodriguez. If you say one single joke about my name I will make you eat your own teeth.” She smiles as she shakes Dane’s hand. My chest squeezes with something I have no right feeling. Liv’s free to smile at whomever.
“Oh.” Dane turns raised eyebrows to me. “So this is the infamous childhood best friend?”
“You talked about me?” She lifts an eyebrow at me.
I stuff my hands in my joggers’ pockets and produce my car key. “We should go. It’s pretty late.”
“Wait, I’m Jamie Schwarz, the other alternate.” He also shakes Liv’s hand. “Glad to know you’re real. I thought blondie was making you up every time he talked about you.”
Liv snorts.
I grab his wrist hard and yank his hold on her loose. With one last glare, I steer Liv away by her shoulder. There are snickers behind us as we walk out of the Bolt House and I’m surprised Liv’s not giving me heaps of shit for that little interaction.
The temperature outside has dipped a lot since earlier. Liv shivers on our way to where she parked my Gladiator, and I put my jacket on her shoulders. She snuggles into it the whole way over to her apartment.
Either because it’s late, or because she’s tired, we don’t talk much until I leave her at her front door.
“Thanks.” She yawns as she slides my jacket off and returns it.
“Buenas noches,” I say with my heavy gringo accent, but it garners a small smile from her. “See you in Spanish on Monday?”
Liv nods. “Yep. Drive safe.”
I wait until she opens her apartment door and slips inside to put on my jacket. It smells a little like her now. Which means my pillow must also carry her scent.
There’s no way I can sleep now. My body’s still burning with all sorts of things, but I’ll focus on the safest of the red hot ones for now.
When I barge back into the house, I find my two alternates still lounging in the kitchen while they tuck into heaping sandwich plates. My stomach gurgles, but before that I have a different mission.
“Hey, assholes,” I say as a greeting. “Let’s be a hundred percent clear about something.”
“Wha?” Dane asks with his mouth full.
I point at the door as if Liv was there. “That I have no idea what I’m doing but I’m really, desperately into my best friend, and your teasing doesn’t help me at all.” My anger deflates at admitting the truth, and I sit on a barstool to prop my elbows on the massive kitchen island, putting my forehead on my hands.
“Wait, do you have a crush on me?” Dane gasps in an exaggerated manner. He gets his karma when he starts choking on his food.
“What should I do?” I ask with a groan.
“Here, bro.” Jamie passes Dane a glass of milk. To me, he asks, “What do you mean?”
“I can’t just spring up feelings on her.”
“Feelings?” Dane lowers the borrowed glass of milk. “So like, not lust.Feelings.”
“Feelings,” I repeat in a dark tone of voice. “And everything else too.”
“As in, you want to change her status from friend to girlfriend?”
