Page 161 of Most Valuable Players
“Dirty talk? Maverick?” Dakota asks. “That surprises me for some reason.”
“Not dirty exactly. And I think he might be talking to himself.” I make a face. “He’s a weird dude.”
“Come on, give us something. Anything. We’re dying for details. You’ve barely said anything about this new hot thing between you and Heath.” Dakota pulls her red hair over one shoulder.
I look between my friend’s eager faces. “There’s not much to tell.”
“I don’t buy it,” Reagan says. “You two looked like you were gonna rip each other’s clothes off playing video games last night.”
“Some clothes have been ripped off, but we haven’t had sex yet.”
“Interesting.”
She says it like “interesting” means bad or weird. Is it? We’re making out every chance we get. He’s given me more orgasms fully clothed than I would have thought possible. Technically we haven’t slept together yet, but it’s been fun and hot. None of it seemed odd before, but now I’m nervous that maybe he thinks it’s weird too.
“Is that bad? Should I be worried?”
“Sounds sweet,” Reagan says.
Dakota takes a sip of her wine. “Sounds very unlike Heath.”
“Dakota,” Reagan says in a shrill voice.
“What?” She looks to me. “You know he’s not some innocent guy, right? I mean, I wouldn’t call Heath a slut because I’m not into label shaming, buuut… he’s not been shy about hooking up with chicks. And by hooking up, I mean sex.”
“No, I know.”
Reagan places a hand on my knee and squeezes. “But he hasn’t dated anyone else as far as I know.”
“When did dating become more romantic than sex?” I ask and then, “If I tell you guys something, will you promise not to laugh?”
“Yes,” Reagan says at the same time Dakota says, “No way.”
“Kota,” Reagan admonishes.
“What? If it’s funny, I won’t be able to hold back. I will try.”
“Good enough, I guess.” I take a drink of the wine. “My last boyfriend, Bryan, broke up with me after.”
“After?”
“After we’d had sex. Like still inside of me.”
“Oh shit.” Dakota’s eyes widen.
I hide behind my hands stretched out over my face. “Now I wished you’d just laughed.”
“Wait, wait, wait. We need the full story,” Reagan says.
So, I tell them. How Bryan and I had planned to go to Valley U together, but then he’d received an offer to play football in Boise and how he’d broken the news to me after we’d had sex for the first time.
“What an asshole.”
“He really isn’t though. It was my idea. I was ready, and I thought it would bring us closer before we headed off on this great adventure together. After, he told me he wasn’t going to Valley and that he thought it would be better if we broke up instead of trying to make it work.”
I’ve gone over that day a million times looking for cues I missed, but I was ready and excited, and I think he could have shown me a million red flags and I would have ignored them.
“Sorry, babe.” Dakota rubs my arm. “For what it’s worth, even Heath’s not that cold.”
