Page 8 of The Love Duet
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Royce~
Normally, I took my time after a game, basking in the locker room banter, joining in on the high of a win.However, that was before Roxanne Rafferty was waiting for me after a game.My parents were used to the drill, so I wasn’t worried about them.They were probably on their way home right now, unless they had chosen to stay back and get to know Roxanne better, but I doubted it.When I’d told them about inviting her today, I’d made them promise not to overwhelm her.Of course, they’d known who she was because I hadn’t stopped talking about her since I’d first seen her, and then there were the ASL classes, but Roxanne didn’t know all that.
“Told you that we were going to kick ass,” Hudson smirked, our lockers next to one another.
“Two touchdowns is not kicking ass,” I argued, then swore under my breath when I realized that I’d just put my shirt on inside out.
Hudson laughed.“Dude, what’s got you so revved up?I’m pretty sure that the tag is supposed to go on theinside.”I flipped him off before hurrying to fix my shirt.“Dude, seriously?What’s up?”
With my shirt finally put to rights, I looked over at my closest friend here, then told him the truth.“I invited Roxanne Rafferty to the game, and she came.I left her and Pepper talking with my parents before hitting the showers.”
Hudson’s head reared back, shock etched all over his face.“What?”
“You heard me,” I muttered before going back to getting dressed.All I had left were my socks and shoes to attend to.
“Dude, since when are you interested in Roxanne Rafferty?”he asked, then added, “Hell, since when are you interested in anyone?”When I stopped putting my socks on, then looked up at him, his entire expression changed.“Ohhhhhhh...”
“Yeah, oh,” I retorted before I went to put my shoes on, a ball of anxiousness forming in the pit of my stomach.If he said one bad thing about Roxanne, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do.
“So, she’s the reason that you’ve been fending off all these girls left and right?”he asked.
I stood up, done putting my shoes back on.“Yeah,” I finally confessed.“I’ve had a thing for her since last year, but I didn’t want to start something until I learned more about her.”I straightened to my full height in case this got ugly.“I also wanted to have a few ASL classes under my belt before I asked her out.If she agrees to date me, I want to make it easy for her, not hard.”
“If she does agree to date you, you’ll be the first,” he said, grinning fully.“A lot of guys have asked her out, but she’s never given any of them the time of day.”
“Maybe because they were too stupid to put in the effort,” I drawled out.
“Maybe,” he agreed, still grinning.
Letting out a deep breath, I said, “Okay, let’s have it.”
Hudson just grinned wider.“Oh, hey, I’m good,” he chuckled.“I think Roxanne Rafferty is sexy as fuck-”
“Watch it,” I warned.
He just laughed.“I’m just saying that...”Hudson shrugged one massive shoulder.“She’s a good girl.She’s good people.A lot of guys are going to be jealous.”
“Like I care,” I scoffed.
All teasing gone, he added, “And so are some of the girls.”Eyeing me, he said, “Maybe keep an eye on that part of it, okay?”
I nodded, understanding exactly what he meant.“Got it.”After gathering my shit, I grinned up at him.“I better head out.”
“Good luck, man,” he offered, back to smiling.
Leaving Hudson in the locker room, I said my goodbyes to some of my other teammates, then headed back towards the stadium.Normally, my parents would be gone by now, but my mother had started taking some ASL classes after I’d told her about my obsession with Roxanne, so she might be trying her hand at speaking with her right now.
However, when I got to the stadium, it was empty, and the hit felt worse than any that I’d ever taken on the field.I had really gotten my hopes up when Roxanne had shown up.I had introduced her to my parents, for fuck’s sake.I mean...sure, she couldn’t have known that introducing her to my parents had meant something to me, but...fuck.
Making my way towards the front of the stadium, I almost tripped over myself when I saw Roxanne and Pepper standing near the entrance.My heart started beating like crazy in my chest, and I quickly realized that I was not cool enough to do this.I’d dated girls before, but this was something different, and it felt like I was discovering girls all over again.
Doing my best to smile like the confident, charming, winning quarterback that I was and not some lunatic psychopath, I looked between both girls as soon as I reached them.“Hey.”
They both signed it back, but Pepper kept on signing.Only she voiced her words, too.“It was kind of spooky in there with everyone gone.”
I chuckled a bit.“I can see that,” I signed and spoke.
