Page 24 of Tangled Rose

Chapter 15

About an hour later, I find Beau and Micah in the theater room, along with the cute brunette Micah had thrown over his shoulder at the party. I forget what Aria said her name was. And there’s another guy here, too, who I haven’t met yet.

Hesitantly, I give a little wave as I walk over to sit down on one of the couches—not the BJ couch, no one is sitting over there—and to my surprise, they smile when they see me.

Griffin pats the couch next to him before gesturing to the two at the far end of the other couch. “Daph, Max, this is Lyla.”

Beau and Micah are also on the other couch, and I take a deep breath and sit down next to Griffin. I give them what I hope is a confident grin. “Hi. What are we watching?”

Daphne speaks up. “We’re debating while we wait on the pizza to be delivered.” She presses her lips together eyeing the group of them. “I’m trying to convince them to watch The Force Awakens. I love a good female lead, and Daisy Ridley as Rey does a great job. She has great chemistry with Adam Driver, who plays Kylo Ren and—” She stops, her eyes widening. “I’m so sorry. We’ve only just met, and I unleashed my Star Wars nerd on you.”

Micah throws his arm around her and pulls her to his side. “Don’t apologize. You’re fine.”

“We love your sci-fi geek, Daph. No need to hide it.” Max pokes her in the side and winks at me. “I’m sure Lyla doesn’t care.”

“Nope. I like Star Wars movies, but I don’t think I’ve seen that one.” I haven’t watched a movie in forever. Definitely not in a theater, and Mom and I don’t have Netflix or any other streaming service. Mom couldn’t give two shits about stuff like that and, frankly, between school and my training, I seldom have time to sit down and watch something.

Daphne’s eyes light up. “Well, if she hasn’t seen it then we have to watch it.”

The doorbell rings and Beau, Griffin, and Max all get up to see about the pizza delivery. I stay behind, my hands sweating a little.

I grab the comic book sitting on the end table—no doubt left there by Beau—and thumb through it while I try to inconspicuously watch Micah and Daphne. My opinion of them hasn’t changed. They seem very sweet together, just like the other night. What I hadn’t caught, though, was the look Micah gets on his face when she doesn’t know he’s watching her. It’s complete and utter adoration. My brows draw together. I wonder how long the relationship will last. Will he cheat? Will she decide he’s not what she wants? Every relationship I’ve ever observed up close has had an expiration date—the question is what is theirs? It’s not obvious with these two the way it usually is.

And while she seems nice, Daphne’s definitely not the kind of girl I would have imagined Micah going after. She’s the one Micah left the harem for. She seems kind of shy, but also uber smart. Not that I think he’s dumb—he just comes across as kind of brooding and a little dark. In fact, I’m not sure what to make of the fact that she’s here with all these guys and doesn’t seem at all intimidated. Interesting.

“You like comic books, Lyla?” Daphne offers me a smile as she gestures at the one in my hands.

“Oh, um, sure. Really, I like reading anything. I don’t have much time for it, usually, but that might change. I have a feeling there’s going to be a big difference between competitive gymnastics with a gym and a high school team.” I carefully put the comic book back where I picked it up. Maybe Beau will let me borrow it later.

Micah kisses the top of her head. “You should tell her about your parents’ store.”

A slow smile creeps onto her face. “They own Davis Bookstore in town. They’ve got a whole section of comic books.”

“Nice. I’ll have to check it out sometime.”

“Let me know if you’re going to drop by. I’m there helping my parents a lot, and Micah is going to be working there part-time.”

“That’s cool.” Damn, I wish I could get a job, too.

Micah’s jaw twitches, but he doesn’t say anything. I don’t know him well enough to know what he could possibly be thinking, but I get the feeling there was something he was going to say.

Just then, Max, Beau, and Griffin reappear with pizza boxes stacked high, an armload of bottled waters, paper plates, and a whole roll of paper towels.

My eyes bug out. “Holy shit.” If I’m counting correctly, there are ten huge boxes of pizza for the five of them. And I can’t help it—the scent wafting from the boxes makes me want to drool. It smells so damn good I could cry. I haven’t eaten since Beau’s half omelet this morning. I wet my lip, secretly drooling over the pizza as the boxes are opened, my eyes still as round as saucers.

Daphne laughs when she sees my expression. “You wouldn’t believe how much food a football player can put away. Especially pizza from this particular place.”

I shake my head, speechless as they dig in with gusto, grabbing slices from different boxes and piling their plates high.

Max points at the pizza. “You’re welcome to have some. I don’t eat nearly as much as these guys and I’ll share.”

“Me too.” Daphne smiles. “If you divide it out among the five of us who ordered, that means two of these pizzas are mine, you guys.”

Griffin laughs at that. “Pretty sure when we ordered, we took into account that you can only eat like two pieces, Daph.” He winks at her. When I take another look, I realize she’s blushing, ever so slightly.

My eyes dart to Max, who is eyeing that whole exchange with a degree of what I could only call jealousy. Looking in from the outside, I don’t know what to make of any of it, especially considering Daphne’s obviously with Micah. And Micah? Big guy doesn’t seem fazed by any of it.

Awkward …It seems like all three are interested in Daphne. Gah. I hate being the new girl. I guess I’ll figure them out eventually.

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