Page 74 of Escape Velocity
Callum clenches his fist. He wants to sock Joel right now. He wants to pick him up by his shirt and throw him out of the dorm, but he knows if he does, all hell will break loose.
His coach can sniff out player animosity like a pro, and if he gets any sense that Callum has any beef with anyone on the team, it’s certainly going to make things worse.
Callum coughs out the best fake laugh he can give. “Yeah, you’re right. I’ll keep a look out.”
Joel waves at Callum before he turns and closes the door behind him.
Callum leans his head on the door.
This is bad. He’s just trying to understand how he feels about Mason, and now he has to make sure he doesn’t tell Joel about how he feels. As far as Joel knows, they used tobe friends, so it’s not the worst thing in the world, but if Joel finds out about them… it could be disastrous.
He grunts and trudges down the dorm’s hallway and out back to the library. He isn’t going to let Joel get under his skin, and he certainly isn’t going to let Joel get in between him and Mason.
22
MASON
The restof the evening at the library goes on with Callum and Mason shooting playful and not-so-subtle glances at each other but still managing to keep their focus on their work.
They are top students and at one of the best colleges in the nation for a reason, and they don’t let much get in their way of accomplishing things.
Callum brought Mason a coffee on his way back from his dorm, something that Mason still can’t stop thinking about.
It’s simple, but that’s his love language.
He still can’t believe that Callum is sitting in the chair across from him, in a big black sweater and gray sweatpants, like he was just leaving practice or the gym and decided to run after Mason, which he probably did.
He finishes a problem, crossing it off his list and moves on to the next one. He grins as he reads it.
A football is kicked with an initial velocity of 30 m/s at an angle of 45-degrees with the horizontal. Determine thetime of flight, the horizontal distance, and the peak height of the football.
Mason gently kicks Callum’s leg.
Callum raises his eyes from his book at Mason and Mason spins his textbook to show him.
He points to the problem.
Callum squints his eyes at the problem. A slow smile creeps onto his face.
Mason wants to bottle that look forever.
“I think we should get your help for the team. Steinbeck could use some help with his kicks sometimes. He misses the goalpost a lot.”
Mason snorts as he brings his textbook back to him. “Funnily enough, Craig has said something to that affect.”
Callum smiles. “Craig’s the best.”
Mason smiles. “I really like him too. He said I was ‘the man’ after he read my article about you. Guess he thinks highly of me.”
Callum stares at Mason. “You’re a lot more liked than you know, Mase.”
Mason swallows hard and tries to hide his smile as he goes back to his problem sets.
Just as Mason starts a new problem, Callum’s leg brushes against his own and stays there.
Mason’s breath catches in his throat and his cheeks flush at the incandescent heat flowing through where their knees were touching. Mason’s gaze flickers up to Callum, but his expression is unreadable, having gone back to reading his book. Maybe it was accidental, but knowing Callum, it likely wasn’t.
Mason opens his mouth to say something but is interrupted by the sound of a voice he didn’t want to hear just yet.
