Staley laughs at me.
“It’s not funny! He said his dick is the reason he hasn’t talked to me. What does that even mean?”
“That he thinks you’re hot?”
“What the fuck am I going to do? You told him I would go!”
“Well, opening your mouth to talk would be a good start. I’ve never seen you tongue tied around a guy before. Especially one who dared us to eat a worm once. Go out with him. You’ve been ogling him for like two years and he’s obviously into you.”
“Three, but who’s counting. And we’re graduating soon. Why would I start something now?”
“Maybe because it could be life changing?” she says sincerely. “Are you going to keep coming up with lame excuses or are you going to enjoy whatever time you have with him?”
Staley and I split so she can head to the art room and I’m going to the anatomy lab.
I zone out during lab and think about what Staley said. She has a point. This is something I’ve wanted since freshman year. Why not go for it? Even if it lasts a week or a month or one dinner date. We haven’t been friends for a year, what do I have lose? His friendship again? Fuck it. I’m going to do it. I’ve got nothing to lose and I’ve missed him.
The morning drags on until it’s finally time for lunch. I enter the cafeteria which is an expansive open space with large windows that allow the sun to shine through. There are several round tables scattered throughout and I see my friends sitting near the windows at our usual table.
Filling my plate in the taco bar line, I pay for my food and join Staley, Mary Lou, Britta, Jacey, Faith and Meg at our table.
“Dish,” Mary Lou commands, pointing a carrot at me as I sit down.
“Rhodes asked her on a date,” Staley replies before I can.
“Sort of,” I retort and shoot Staley glare.
“He asked you to go out to dinner. That’s a date.”
The girls nod in agreement with Staley.
“Those football boys,” Faith says with a sigh and I can practically see her eyes filling with hearts.
“We were friends once. It could be a friend thing. Reconnecting,” I say and dump some salsa on my soft shell chicken taco.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Mary Lou shakes her carrot at me again. “He… he…” she says and pauses.
“He what?” I ask skeptically.
“He totally wants you have his babies,” she says with a giggle.
“I’d let Gaines impregnate me,” Faith chirps as she rolls a taco on her plate.
“You’re fucking insane. You know that right?” I half ask, half tell her.
“What? We’d have super cute babies.” She shrugs and bites her taco.
I shake my head and turn my attention back to Mary Lou. “First, I’m seventeen and I’d like to wait until I’m done with school to have babies. Second, we haven’t said more than a ‘hello’ or ‘good game’ to each other in a year.”
“Exactly,” she confirms, “he’s finally making his move. Imagine how beautiful your babies would be! Way cuter than anything Gaines is going to produce.”
“Hey!” Faith shouts self-defense.
I shake my head again. I have no words for her right now.
“Jessup has never danced with anyone, at least not that I’ve seen, and after Saturday I can see why. There wasn’t a dry seat in the house,” Jacey says as she fans herself with her hand.
“No shit. That was steamy,” Britta agrees. “He can move those hips, can you imagine what he’ll be like bed? I mean we’ve heard the rumors, but to see it in action. Sweet Mary I need to go to confession and cleanse my dirty thoughts.”
“And he’s like the nicest guy too. Remember when Fiona locked her keys in her car last year? I heard he called her a locksmith and hung out with her until she got in. Just to make sure she was safe. I mean, come on. It’s not fair to be that hot and that kind. I kind of need him to be an asshole,” Jacey says with a nod, agreeing with Britta too.
“Where are you going?” Mary Lou asks, thankfully changing the subject. Thinking about Jessup’s hands on me and his hips grinding into me is making me squirm in my seat. I need to figure out how to get this under control. And Jacey is right too. He’s a genuinely nice guy. I’m so fucked.
“No idea. Staley shoved me out of the room before I could ask.”
“You went mute, bitch. I saved your ass,” she says with a flippant wave of her hand. “Sleeping with your eyes open? Give me a fucking break. You owe me, Drool Princess.”
“I would have drooled too. He should be dipped in bronze so we can admire his male form for eternity,” Jacey says as she bites a tortilla chip with a loud crack.
“We’re not going until Saturday. I’ll figure it out before then.”
“Hey, ladies,” Jessup’s voice penetrates our ears.
“It’s like angels singing,” Mary Lou whispers and everyone giggles except me. I shoot her a glare that screams don’t embarrass me and she stops laughing.
“Jessup, looking good,” Meg says with a Cheshire cat-like smile. Oh, sure, now she speaks.
Meg is a mature kind of sexy for high school. Skimpy clothes, tons of makeup, high heels. She would be the slut of our group to, not that her appearance is correlated to her sexual habits. She claims she lost her virginity at twelve and she needs to have sex at least three times a week or she’ll go crazy. The boys at this school don’t have trouble keeping her sane.
“Thanks,” he replies coolly and turns his attention to me. “So, you left before we could finish planning our date. Can I get your number? I gotta run to the locker room before class, but I can text you.”
“Yeah, of course,” I reply and spout off my cellphone number to him. Doing so makes me realize how long it’s been since Jessup and I have really talked. It was before he even had a cellphone. His dad finally allowed him to have one junior year. I know this because he opened an Instagram account the same day.
My phone buzzes on the table.
“And now you have mine,” he smiles and I swear there is a collective sigh from our table. “I’ll see you around.”
We all watch as his granite ass strolls out of the cafeteria stretching his khaki shorts to the limit, waving and smiling to people who speak to him along the way.
“He is delicious,” Meg hums. “You should share that number. He doesn’t give it out.”
“He’s off limits.” Mary Lou raises an eyebrow to Meg.
She raises her hands in defense. “Okay, okay. I was just making an observation. I won’t try to steal him from our little Stanzy.”
“Little? I’m five-nine and could crush you like a bug. Back off, Meg,” I say and you can hear the disdain in my voice.
Staley claps. She hates Meg and she is loving this exchange.
*Buzz*
“Hey, I couldn’t wait. What kinda food do you like??”
“It’s Jess,” I tell the group.
“He can’t wait to take you out,” Mary Lou declares and starts clapping. “This is fucking amazing. He doesn’t date.”
“He doesn’t need to,” Britta jumps in.
“Yeah, he gets enough cookie without having to buy the milk,” Faith adds.
“That’s not how that saying goes,” Staley says and rolls her eyes.
“Whatever,” Faith quips. “What else do you dunk in milk?”
“I just can’t.” Mary Lou shakes her head at Faith and focuses back on me. “I bet he will ask you to homecoming.”
“Let’s pump the brakes, Nostradamus, it’s one date with my former best friend. Maybe he just wants to apologize for being MIA last year,” I reply, trying not to get my hopes up too high.
“Da, da, da-daa, da, da, da-daaaaaa,” Staley starts humming.
“Stop humming, Here Comes the Bride.” I pin Staley with a glare and pick up my tray to leave. “I’m going to class early.” All this pressure is making me nervous. He was my friend, now he isn’t, but there’s a possibility for… more?
&nbs
p; I text Jessup as I make my way to my locker. My heart is racing and my stomach is doing cartwheels. He’s just a boy I grew up with. He’s just Jess in the body of a bronze statue. I bounce on my toes, bending my head side to side, like I’m a boxer preparing for a fight. Just do it.
“Anything that’s not too spicy.” I reply to his earlier text.
“I’m spicy.”
“Well that’s different. I’m not eating you.” I send the text and then realize the connotation behind it. Shit, shit, shit. Well, I guess we will see where his head goes with that one. I can’t take it back now.
Chapter 7: Rhodes
Whoa. This took a turn. Knowing Stanzy, I don’t think she meant that the way it came out, but she opened the door, might as well walk through. Sitting in Economics I hide my phone in my desk so I can text her back. The bell is going to ring soon, but I need to see where this goes.
“As long as you’re not allergic to chocolate, you can eat me whenever you want.”
“Melts in your mouth. Not in your hand.”
Holy fucking shit. She’s definitely flirting and I can feel my pants tighten around my semi. My former best friend is flirting with me. Sexually. I’m running hot right now.
“I’m way more than a mouthful.” I shoot a text reply quickly and wait. Watching those three little dots appear and disappear for ten minutes. Nothing ever comes back though.
By the time school is over and she hasn’t responded I’m starting to think I epically screwed this up.
I shoot her an apology text.
“Hey, I’m sorry about that comment. I was just joking. Still on for Saturday?”
“It’s fine. Lou had a period emergency.”
Lie. And a terrible one at that. She was avoiding me. Offering my tootsie roll to Stanzy was a terrible idea. She’s not that type of girl. Now she’s avoiding my question.
“So Saturday?”
“Sure.”
Oh thank God. We’re still on.
“How about Bubby’s Steak Shack?”
“I love that place.”
Who doesn’t? It’s the best steakhouse in Peachberry Park, and expensive, but she’s worth spending my savings on.
“It’s a date. I’ll pick you up at 6.”
Forget fluttering butterflies. I have a million butterfly rave going on in my gut right now. I was nervous as shit. Palms sweating, heart racing, and all that goes with it.
I don’t date, so I have no idea how this is supposed to go. Sure, girls slip into my DMs regularly or shove paper notes in my locker, but hooking up is not my style contrary to my reputation.
I have zero desire to sleep around like my brothers or my teammates. Which is why I never quell the rumors that I’ve fucked half the chicks in this school. It eases the immense amount of pressure guys put on each other in the locker room.
I don’t even know how these rumors get started, but I never confirm nor deny. I can’t wait to see what the guys will say about this though. I’m sure they’ll react to this news with grace and acceptance.
I really don’t give a shit though. This could finally be my chance for more with Stanzy, but if she isn’t interested, if I read this wrong and I’m still friend-zoned, well then at least I’ll have my friend back… and a permanent hard-on.
✽✽✽
After a grueling practice during which Coach Greene proceeded to tell each of us that we’re worthless bags of pig shit, I was ready to break the news to Clay and Rollie that my balls grew three sizes and I asked Stanzy out.
Then, I’ll need to convince Rollie that I need the truck Saturday and he can’t take it back to campus with him. That little task is going to be more painful than Coach Greene’s practice.
I walk out of the shower, wrapping a towel around my waist when I’m immediately whipped with a dozen or so towels. The guys all twist them up and snap them again.
“That fucking hurts! What the fuck?” I yelp as another towel snaps and grazes the tip of my dick. “Knock it off!”
“We’re just so proud of you, Rhodesy,” Randall, one of my teammates, laughs and flings the tip of his towel at me again, catching my arm with a sharp sting.
“Well if you’re proud of me, quit fucking snapping me!”
“We heard about Stanzy,” Big Easy smirks and snaps his towel at me. “All that dancin’ really did her in.”
“Ow! Great. Now let me get through,” I yell as I try to run through the gauntlet of snapping white towels.
“Nope, can’t do that,” Darrell says and snaps his towel at my thigh, but catches the tip of my dick again instead.
“Motherfucker! That’s my dick. That fucking hurts!”
“For real? Down there? Let me see it,” Darrell says and reaches for my towel.
“Get the fuck off of me,” I slap his hand away before he can unravel the towel wrapped around my waist.
“All right, all right, enough,” Rollie’s voice echoes through the locker room.
“Thank you, but what the fuck are you doing here?”
“Coach Greene invited me to watch practice.”
“Of course he did. But then you felt like hanging out with a bunch of naked dudes?” I ask and raise my eyebrow.
“Shut the fuck up and tell us what happened.” Rollie commands, sitting on the bench in front of my locker, crossing his legs in a mocking feminine manner.
“Yeah, are you gonna be the one to finally crack little Sutton’s armor or hymen or whatever?” Talon Smith, a tight end, asks. “She ain’t nothing like her sister, bro. Stone cold.”
“Talk about her like that again, T, and I swear to God I’ll feed you your tongue.”
“Whoa,” he says and holds up his hands in submission. “Sorry, bro. Chill out. I was just saying Staley is –“ He[NP1] stops midsentence as I glare at him. “Never mind.”
“How do ya’ll even know about this?”
“You asked her out in front of Meg and Britta. That shit was spread around school faster than Big Easy’s VD,” Darrell says with a laugh while slapping Big Easy on the back. Big Easy scowls at him like he’s about to eat him for lunch.
“That’s not how it happened.”
“Well, then enlighten us, Baby Bro.” Rollie smirks at me. Motherfucker knows the truth about how I feel about Stanzy and he’s baiting me right now.
Can I get my clothes on?” I’m standing in front of Rollie in nothing but a towel. “You’re blocking my locker.”
“Uh, no. Tell us or walk home naked.”
“Fine!” I snap. Rollie stares, blinking slowly. He’s my ride home so I have no choice but to tell him. “I still don’t know why you get the truck. Asshat.”
I sigh and rake my hands down my face. I don’t know why this is so hard to say out loud. Too many emotions involved maybe. “I asked her out to dinner, she said yes, we’re going this weekend. That’s it. And speaking of, I need the truck Saturday,” I blurt out all in one breath.
“Like hell you do. I’ll drive you and you can pay for my dinner.”
“Fuck. That.” I annunciate. “You’re not coming on my date.”
“Then fuck your date… or I guess you won’t be fucking your date if you don’t have a ride.” Rollie smirks again.
“Why do you get to decide who drives the truck when you don’t even live at home anymore? I’ll bring you dinner, but I drive myself. Final offer.”
“Deal. Where you taking her?”
“Bubby’s.”
“Oooo,” the guys all coo in high pitched voices and bat their eyelashes at me. Fuckers. I knew I would get razzed for this. It’s not as bad as it could be, I guess. Except for Talon. That dude is on my shit list. I wish he played defense so I could run his ass over next practice. Maybe I’ll miss a block and let Darrell get a free pass at him.
“I’ll take the thirty-two ounce prime rib.”
“That’s like fifty dollars!”
“Better mow some more lawns.”
“Ass.”
“Hee-haw,” Rollie imitate
s a donkey with a laugh as he walks out of the locker room. “I’m leaving in ten. Better shove that log in your drawers and get out here.”
“But let me measure it first,” Darrell quips and reaches for my towel again.
“Get the fuck away from my junk, D.”
I get dressed in the bathroom stall because the guys can’t stop eyeing my dick.
Making it out of the locker room in record time, I run to the parking lot just as Rollie is backing out of the parking spot. I toss my backpack and gym bag in the truck bed and hurdle the tailgate. I land with a thud.
“Dick,” I murmur and pound the back window with my fist.
I take a seat for the drive the home and the let the hot Georgia air rush against my face as I think about my impending date. My first real date with the first girl I ever loved.
Chapter 8: Stanzy
“You are not seriously wearing that?” Mary Lou gestures toward my body and ridicules what feels like outfit number nine million. Okay, that’s an exaggeration, but we’ve been digging through my closet for hours.
Mary Lou and Staley are sitting on my bed watching me parade in and out of my closet, judging my selections harshly. I’m going to be too worn out to even eat dinner.
“I’m getting tired of you two and I’m exhausted from trying on everything in my fucking closet.”
“Well buy better clothes,” Staley says with a disgusted look on her face. It’s like she’s smelled rotten eggs. She scoots off my bed and walks into my closet “This is hideous.” She holds up a sunflower print spaghetti strap sundress and crinkles her nose again.
“That was from eighth grade.”
“You need new shit,” she retorts.
“I could just wear your shit,” I respond and shrug one shoulder.
“You can wear my dresses, just not my pants. They’d drag on the ground, Shorty.”
“Okay, you’re not that much taller than me. Get over yourself.”
“Three inches and that’s why you’re our libero,” she mocks knowing that I was initially pissed off when Coach Boxen moved me to the libero. I was a dominant outside hitter when I was younger, but then I stopped growing at five-nine and even though I could still hit, I wasn’t DI material anymore at that spot.
Completion (Cambria University Series Book 3) Page 6
