Page 44 of Jace
I choke on my water and spit half of it out. “Wha–”I cough and sputter. “Why would I need to comfort him?”My voice sounds shrill even to my own ears.
Lamar just looks at me funny, offering his disgusting sweaty buff to dry myself off with, which I, of course, swat away. “Because you’re his friend? Why else? Tuck’s the one who brokethings off, right? Maybe Jace is sad as well. We could go to Yetties later and get him drunk.”
I give a very uncharming snort. If I'm even the tiniest bit correct, then Jace isn't sad at all. He barely gave the guy his time of day. I don't even know why Tuck said he called it off; they didn't even begin dating anyway.
The only thing they did was kiss that one time. Although I do still have a hard time getting that image out of my head, it doesn't even come near dating; hell, it's not even in the same zip code.
“Ah, but you can't come with me to Yetties tonight, it's Friday, right?”He blabbers on, not waiting for me to answer in the first place. “You have date night? But lately you guys come anyway? So could you? Missy's playing, so you have to entertain me again.”
I nod at that with a chuckle. “Yeah, I guess we could come over. Knowing Kaylee, she wants to anyway, but I don't think we're staying long. She actually called me yesterday, saying that she couldn't come with us this weekend to the away game. Something to do with her sorority.”
“Ah, that sucks. Well, not for me since I have to share a room with you. The last time she sneakily stayed with us in our hotel, I had to pull out my noise-canceling headphones.”
I splutter at that and smack the laughing bastard in the arm. “You did not! We never had sex when you were in the bed next to us.”
“Never said it was for sex noises. She snores worse than my damn grandpa. Whenever I stayed the night when I was a kid, my mom had to pick me up in the middle of the night because I was crying that I couldn't sleep.”
I laugh out loud at that. “You're such a momma's boy.”Which he totally is, but it makes sense, with just him and his mom living alone together his entire youth.
“And don't I know it.”He joins my laughter as he gets up, offering me a hand to haul my ass up straight as well. “Come on, we have a scrimmage to finish. Let's show those newbies how we old folks do it.”
With a bounce in my step, I trot after him, nodding an apology Tuck's way when I walk past him, giving him a short tap on the shoulder as well. He just gives me a small sad smile in return, like he sees right through me, and damn it if that doesn't confuse me further.
“Who are you texting? You're smiling hard over there.”
I look up from where I'm lying on my bed after a quick dinner following practice, and it's Kaylee, frowning at me, leaning against the door jamb. “Oh, hey, it's nothing. Just Jace.”I type a response and can't help but grin again.
“You’re hanging out with him a lot, right?”
“What?” My heart stutters at that, and that’s stupid because he’s just a friend. “Yeah, he’s fun…”
“More fun than the guys from your team?”When my phone goes off again, she leans over and plucks it out of my hand.
“Hey!”
Her eyebrows rise as she reads the message, and a nervous flutter settles in my stomach. I can only imagine what kind of nonsense he would've sent because most of it is.
“So does he ask you every day if you're going to help him massage the pulled muscles in his back?”
I will my cheeks not to heat. “He said he had a brutal practice. It's just some harmless flirting on his part. He does it all thetime, with everyone, with you as well. You know that,”I hastily add.
“Oh, don't I know it all right.”She gives my phone back to me, and I turn the screen off quickly, putting it back in my jeans pocket. I don't know, I keep telling myself it's just some harmless banter, but it feels private, and now I sort of feel like a douche, really.
“What's that supposed to mean?”I grab her and pull her on top of me, just needing to hold her for a bit, to remind me that I love her, which I still do, I just need those stupid thoughts after the stupid party to stop already.
I’m resting my hands on her thighs just below her skirt and she sighs.
“Nothing, I guess.” She loops her arms around my neck, presses her lips on mine for a fleeting moment and lifts her head. “So is he in Yetties tonight?”
“I think so.” I shrug. “It’s Friday, so they’re usually performing.”
“Want to go?”
I stare at her, feeling like this is some sort of a test or that she's up to something, but her baby blues are just looking at me tenderly. “Why? Do you want to? Again?”
She smiles. “I always enjoy watching him perform, as do most people here. He's hot.”
I chuckle, making her shake on top of me. “Why does everybody keep telling me he’s hot?”
