I’m holding back a smile as he pushes his hair out of his face.
“She was on her knees in front of me, and I was sprawled back on my bed…” He lifts his legs dangling over the edge and waves his hand between them.
“Oh my god! You fell asleep during a blow job?!”
He glances around like someone might be hanging around eavesdropping.
“Sorry.” I lower my voice. “But seriously?”
“If I’d known it was going to happen, I would have better prepared. Maybe taken a cold shower first or, fuck, I don’t know.”
“What do you mean if you’d known it was going to happen? Doesn’t that sort of thing happen a lot—girls following you around and dropping to their knees?” My face is lava hot. “And I mean, okay, prepared or not, I don’t think falling asleep is the appropriate reaction to sex.”
“No. I mean, yeah, I guess. It’s sort of a new thing, and I haven’t quite gotten used to it.”
“Well, it’s the opposite for me. I used to have boys following me around, and now they don’t. It’s better in your shoes, trust me.”
“Guys don’t hit on you?” His expression says he doesn’t believe me.
“Girls hitting on you is a new thing?” I give him the same look back.
We’re smiling at one another, and there’s this electricity in the air between us. Rhett’s different than I imagined. Easier to talk to. Nice. Funny.
Suddenly we’re not alone. A couple of hockey guys come out at the same time Josie arrives.
“Guess it’s time,” I say and jump down onto the ice.
“Hey.” He follows. “What are you doing tonight? Would you want to hang out maybe? A bunch of my teammates are going to this party at the basketball house. You know it?”
“I do.”
“So, you want to go?”
“With you?” I ask, a little confused.
He looks around. “Yeah?”
“Sorry, it’s just… I don’t think I’m your type.”
“Okay.” His brows scrunch together. “Why aren’t you my type? Or better yet, what do you think my type is exactly?”
“Look, I am cool with an occasional casual hookup, but based on the number of girls you’ve been entangled with this week alone… I’m sorry.” It turns out there is really no good way to tell a guy you aren’t into being his next slam piece.
“Right.” Rhett skates backward. “Got it. Well, I guess I’ll see you around.”
I’m in the library studying when Elias calls. I prop my phone up against my backpack on the table and accept the video call.
“Hi.” I keep my voice low.
“Why have you not called me back? And where are you?” His eyes scan the background, and I can tell the second he realizes my location. “Unless you’re planning to make a fashionably late appearance at this party, you’re going to need to get a serious move on. It’s already after eight.”
“I’m not going.”
I knew I never should have told Elias about Rhett asking me out.
“Why not? Ronnie sounds like a fun guy. Go have fun.” Even if I couldn’t see his big smile, I could tell how excited he is by his tone.
“You know that isn’t his name.”
“He gave my girl a black eye. He doesn’t deserve real first name usage yet. Plus, hockey boys are stupid. One too many hits.” He raps his knuckles on his head.
“And still, you want me to go out with him.”
“Not with him exactly. There are only two months of college left. Go out, drink a little too much, make bad decisions, let me live vicariously through you.” He sticks his bottom lip out in a pout.
I hum a noncommittal response. “What are you doing?”
He’s holding the phone close to his face, so I can’t make out the background, but it’s dark. Elias is from Massachusetts but lives with a host family in Toronto while he trains with his pairs partner, Taylor. They have a shot at going to the Olympics. They’re really freaking good.
“I’m in bed. I have AcroYoga at five o’clock tomorrow morning.” The shade of his dark brown eyes is hard to see in the dim lighting, but it’s impossible to miss the giant eye roll he sends my way. “We could do all the yoga in the world, and it’s not going to make a lick of difference unless Taylor decides to trust me.”
“You did drop her.”
“It was one time. My wrist was fractured. I was holding her with a broken wrist!” He gets heated, waving one hand around as if he’s holding up an imaginary partner.
“Until you weren’t.” I grin at his playful jaw drop as if he’s really shocked by my words. We always tell it to each other like it is. No bullshit. “All I’m saying is maybe doing AcroYoga together will help rebuild some of that trust. You have to start somewhere.”
“And I’m just saying no one is bonding that early in the morning. Also, you’re one to talk. What about you?” That’s the thing about having a best friend that’s a guy—a guy not at all interested in sleeping with you—they don’t tiptoe over your feelings.
“What about me?” I play it off like I don’t know where this is going.
“You need to enjoy what’s left of college. If work is anything like what I’m doing, it’s a real snooze fest centered around a continual lack of sleep and caffeine. I hate to think of you sitting in the library tonight. Eeeeew. Plus, I think you want to go.”
“What gave you that idea?”
He tilts his head and studies me. “Are you wearing makeup? Hmmm. And is that a new shirt?”
I bat my fake lashes. “Point made.”
He laughs, smiling at me. “My dating life makes yours look pathetic, and I’m training or sleeping twenty-two hours a day. If you won’t do it for yourself, do it for me. I need some excitement in my life.”
“You have plenty of excitement without even trying. What about the girl you met at the coffeehouse last week?”
“Well, we’ve been texting…”
And as quick as that, I’ve turned the topic of conversation back to Elias. He very much enjoys talking about himself, and I’m happy to think about anything but Rhett and the party he invited me to.
I had fun with him today. I felt something, and it seemed like he did too, but maybe I imagined it? I don’t want to be a dumb girl who’s reading more into the situation than what’s there. But I also know that the indescribable chemistry and connection I had with him is something I haven’t felt in a long time.
It was only an hour and I had to basically force him to talk to me. But once he did, I felt it. There was something else accelerating my heart rate and giving me butterflies deep in my belly. I don’t put myself out there very often, and it will really sting if I put myself out there and I’m wrong.
I close my laptop as Elias chats my ear off and give up on getting any more schoolwork done tonight. I really came here to convince myself I didn’t want to be at the basketball party.
Elias yawns as he finishes telling me every detail of the text exchange he’s been having with the girl he picked up while grabbing coffee. He’s handsome and charming, and even though I haven’t met him in person, I can tell he’s one of those people that are impossible to resist. But he’s also super picky.