Page 31 of Campus Crush
EIGHTEEN
(UNSENT)
PeachyKeen:
Are you okay?
PeachyKeen:
I wish you had just come up to me at the coffee shop instead of making me feel unwanted.
PeachyKeen:
I miss you.
NINETEEN
“So walk us through this? You’re trying to woo this girl by bringing her coffee? No offense, man, but that’s kinda weak. I thought you had more game than that.”
“Monty, leave the guy alone. We all know he hasn’t gotten laid in ages. I’m pretty sure lack of sex causes deterioration of the brain which would explain his weak attempts at wooing,” Liam said to Drew as he passed me the puck. Born and raised in Montana, Liam still carried a trace of his mother’s thick Donegal accent.
I fought against an eye roll as I flicked the puck toward Gordy in the net.
Drew Dumontier, Liam Farrell, and Harrison “Gordy” Gordon were my housemates and best friends. While Drew and Liam were only sophomores this year, Gordy was a junior with me. Drew and Liam had spent most of the summer in their hometown just a little bit south of here in Meadowbrook, Montana, while Gordy had spent the summer at his grandfather’s ranch in Big Sky. But he’d come back a month before school started and Drew and Liam haddriven up so we could play some pickup hockey at the local rink.
“I’m not wooing her with coffee, you jackass. It’s a multi-phase process, okay? Bringing her coffee shows that I pay attention to what she likes. I have to play this carefully or I’ll lose my shot.”
Because if she figured out I was Bear before she was ready… I didn’t even want to think about how bad that would be for my chances at winning her over.
“Multi-phase?” Liam skated past me with a laugh. “Dude, are you trying to date her or launching a rocket to Mars?”
“It’s not like you couldn’t get any girl you wanted on campus though,” Drew said as he skated around the back of the net and passed the puck to Liam.
“I don’t want anyone else. I want Abby. And once…she wanted me. I just need to remind her of that without reminding her of what an epic fuckup I was back then.”
I hadn’t told them about our Discord chats. That felt too private.
Liam took a shot at the net, but Gordy blocked it and then passed the puck back to me.
“So, what’s phase two?” Gordy asked.
I hesitated, stick tapping the ice, then said, “Get her to actually enjoy being around me.”
“Yeah, that’s usually a good starting point,” Liam deadpanned.
“I’m not joking. This isn’t just some girl. She’s”—I paused—”different. She doesn’t fall for charm or flash. She’s guarded. Smart as hell. Way out of my league.”
I hadn’t been kidding when I’d told her that as Bear. Whether she believed it or not was another issue, but as far as I was concerned, Abby was so far out of my league Imight as well have been trying to plan a rocket launch to Mars like Liam had teased me about.
That earned a round of groans and dramatic eye rolls.
“Jesus,” Gordy muttered. “You’re one sad playlist away from becoming the plot of a CW drama.”
“She’s not out of your league,” Liam said. “You’re Foster Kane.”
“That’s exactly the problem,” I muttered.
They didn’t know the full story—just enough to give me shit when I needed it. But the truth was, Abby Walker didn’t give a damn about my reputation on campus. In fact, I was pretty sure it was one of the things she held against me.
