Page 74 of Most Valuable Players
“Yeah, well, let’s hope others think so.”
“Good to see you, Joel.”
She faces off with me. “Wes.”
She takes a step, and I grab her arm. The heat and spark between us surprises me, not because my feelings have changed but because I haven’t felt anything in weeks. How does this girl break through my walls without even trying?
“It was good to see you, Blair.”
“Take care of that foot. And maybe give your mom a pass this once. She’s crying because of your loss—not hers. It is a hopeless feeling to watch the people you love go through tough times with nothing to do but hope they’ll accept whatever support you offer.”
She breezes past me like she didn’t just cut me down at the knees.
And the fuck . . . she didn’t say it was good to see me too.
29
BLAIR
“It’s gonna be incredible, V. I have my own little cubicle at the tutor center, and I bought this letter board so I can post inspirational sayings or quotes so everyone that comes in can get a little bit of positivity added in their day.”
She chuckles but throws her arm around me. “I’m proud of you. Tossing inspiration around like confetti while your boyfriend is being an ass.”
“He isn’t my boyfriend,” I grumble. “We were a casual thing, and now it’s over I guess.”
“Mm-hmm. Spin it however you want, but I saw the way he looked at you the other night.”
“Well, regardless, it’s been a week, and I haven’t heard a peep from him.”
Vanessa gives me a reassuring smile.
“It’s fine.” I shake off the sting of rejection. “On a happier note, Gabby is coming up next week to meet with an advisor and scope out the campus. Fingers crossed it goes well and that senior year the three of us can get an apartment off campus together.”
“Now you’re talking.”
Her phone beeps, and she gets that look on her face that tells me it’s Mario, which is confirmed when she says, “Mario says the guys are having a party tonight. What do you say we go celebrate surviving the first day of a new semester and your awesome new job?”
“I dunno.”
“Come on. The basketball guys are at an away game, so you don’t have to worry about running into them, and I’ll tell Mario I’m spending the party hours with my best girl. I promise I will not leave your side.” She sticks out her bottom lip, pouting and looking ridiculous.
“All right, all right. It’s better than sitting around here feeling sorry for myself.”
* * *
There are morepeople than I’ve ever seen crowded into the small space. Looks like everyone is looking for a way to celebrate the beginning of a new semester. “This is insane.”
“I know, right?” Vanessa says as she pushes through the living room. “Mario is probably downstairs. Let’s get a drink and say hello.”
With plastic cups filled with vodka and Sprite, we move toward the music pumping downstairs. Unlike the last time I was here, the basement is so packed that I can’t even tell it’s a dilapidated shithole.
We skirt the edges of the dance floor, holding hands so we don’t lose each other. “I see Clark and some of the other guys on the other side, maybe Mario is with them.”
I sip my drink and sway to the music, following V. It feels good to be out and not to be obsessing over if or when Wes might call.
A row of couches are pushed back against the far wall and people are smushed on them, girls on laps of guys I recognize. Clark is holding on tight to a busty redhead, and another guy I recognize as one of Mario’s roommates is leaning back, letting a petite blonde rape his face. She’s using so much tongue that I cringe and look away.
But what I see next stops me in my tracks. His lap is currently playing host to a beautiful brunette who has her hand affectionately resting on his chest. He’s drunk, that much would have been clear even if he didn’t have a tequila bottle in his hand.
