River groans before laughing again, the sound echoing out into the still empty locker room. “Hell no, that shit lived in my brain on repeat for fucking months.”
“‘Barbie Girl’, then?”
His grin is huge, and I have to admit, it’s a good look on him. Especially the dimples that pop in his cheeks I’m sure the girls have wet dreams about. “You always such a fucking dick?”
“Only on the days ending in y,” I reply dryly.
He shakes his head, but he’s still smiling. “Well if you decide you aren’t going to be such a douchewaffle, let me know. There’s an after party, post-game. We aren’t really supposed to go, but it’s still early enough in the season we can get away with it. You should come, get to know the guys a little more off the field.” He gives a nonchalant shrug. “Or not. It’s your call.”
I nod, thinking over his offer. It would be nice, spending time with the team. Making some actual connections with the guys instead of sitting at home in my apartment, always painting or drawing or doing homework.
I don’t think I’ve had actual friends since… high school. When I had Siena and Roman, the fraternal twins I grew up with from the age of eight. But the day they both left to move on with their lives after graduating, leaving me behind for another year at Foxcroft Hall, I was officially on my own.
And I’ve been that way ever since, never allowing anyone to get close enough.
It’s time to change that though. I’m sick of living my life without any semblance of human connection deeper than a one night stand or a teammate I only connect with on the football field. And River is a cool enough guy from what I can tell. Always happy and smiling, and he seems genuinely nice.
“I’m in,” I tell him, just as the door to the locker room opens and a few guys start pouring in.
It’ll be nice to have River as a friend after years of being so fucking alone.
“I know you seem like an introvert, man. But I promise you, these Tri Delta after parties are the ones you don’t want to miss,” River tells me as we pass through the threshold of one of the sorority’s off-campus party houses. As soon as we enter, I’m overwhelmed by the pounding base of A Day to Remember and Marshmello’s “Rescue Me”, which is surprising because I would never expect these sorority types to be down with ADTR.
River claps his hand on my shoulder, immediately causing me to stiffen at the contact, but it quickly subsides. He nods at a few people as he leads me over to the keg in the middle of the living room. The girl manning the keg, a thin little blonde with a rack most guys would die for, hands River a solo cup filled to the brim with the foamy liquid.
“Don’t you normally have to buy in for a cup at parties like this?” I shout in his ear after the girl hands me my own cup of beer.
He goes to respond but the music is actually shaking the entire house, so I can’t hear him.
“I can’t hear you,” I motion with my hands by tapping my ear.
His smiles—the fucker is always smiling—leaning into my space in order for me to catch what he says this time. “Football perks,” he yells, his lips practically brushing my ear, causing me to shudder.
I pull away quickly, taking a sip of my beer to hide my unease and simply nod as I swallow it down.
Honestly, it’s lukewarm and tastes like shit. And the music is already starting to cause my brain to throb behind my eyes.
Why did I come here again?
Oh, that’s right. I decided to make friends this year.
Sigh.
I’m already starting to regret my decision.
River leans over again and yells “I’ll be back,” before crossing the living room, weaving his way through the throng of dancing bodies and into the open kitchen where he wraps an arm around a pretty brunette. Curvy in all the places a woman should be.
I make my way away from the commotion, towards the stairs leading to the second floor, and find a spot to people-watch against the wall.
I’m not one for large crowds and lots of noise, so this is pretty much a goddamn nightmare, but at least I can watch a bunch of drunken idiots be…well, drunken idiots.
After a few minutes, one of our cornerbacks, Elliott Benson, slides up beside me. He’s got his own cup in hand and a brooding expression on his face as he leans back against the wall beside me.
Well. Wait.
If he’s brooding it might be his twin brother, Drew. You’d think I’d be able to tell them apart, seeing as I practice and work out with Drew every single day as the two starting wide receivers for the team.
But alas…
“Hey, man,” I say, and I’m grateful as hell the music has somehow toned down a bit. Either that or I’ve gained super-hearing.
Elliott slash Drew gives me a sup nod, taking a drink of his beer, his eyes searching the dance floor, as if he was looking for someone, which doesn’t help narrow down who is next to me.
He looks at me, his blue eyes piercing me, and he smirks. “You have no damn idea who I am, do you?”
I huff out a laugh. “That fucking obvious?”
He shakes his head and rubs the back of his neck. “It’s a blessing and a curse, that’s for sure. Caused plenty of issues between me and Drew though. We aren’t exactly on speaking terms currently because of it.”
Ah, so it is Elliott.
I suppose the VANS on his feet could have given him away, since Drew is always talking about his damn adidas Ultra Boosts like they are God’s gift to the fucking planet.
“You’re brothers, you’ll always figure it out,” I tell him, even though I have no damn clue if that’s the truth. You have to actually have a family in order to know shit about how they work.
The only twins I know are Siena and Roman and they were always at each other’s throats, but somehow, they always made up. They were exact opposites, but still consistently remained half of a greater whole, and they knew that. Time after time, they would throw shade at each other but then turn around and defend their sibling to anyone who dared to cross the other.
From what I’ve seen, the twin bond is the strongest thing in the fucking world. I swear, they could feel each other’s physical and mental pain as if it was their own. I’ve witnessed it. So if Si and Ro fought so bad they weren’t speaking?
Fuck. It would be like tearing their souls in half and expecting them to figure out how to survive.
I can’t imagine it would be much different for Elliott and Drew.
“I do know one thing, even if Drew would never say it aloud, much less to me these days, but he’s jealous as fuck you’re here.”
His words cause my brows to furrow in confusion. That doesn’t make sense. Drew and I both play at the same time, so it’s not like I took his starting position or anything.
Elliott must read my face because he laughs. “You just have such a good in with our QB,” he says, motioning towards River across the room. He’s got his arm slung around the shoulders of the little brunette from earlier, and she’s got hers curled around his waist. “Though it looks like you have some competition with Abbi over there.”
Competition?
I frown so hard I swear my face might get stuck in this position. “What are you talking about?”