Being back in my apartment is a breath of fresh air. My father's not breathing down my neck, and as much as I love my mother's home-cooked meals, sometimes I just want to watch highlights on the couch with some takeout. The only downside that crosses my mind is Sloan.
As I lay in bed, I replay Delezar's words:
"Not even if you were the last person on earth, but bottom."
I'm not sure if it's the lack of female attention I'm currently denying myself or the sultry tone that was dripping from her lips, but I can't shake the blasphemous idea of what she'd look like under me.
Well played, Delezar.
Well fucking played.
+++
The erotic sound from my alarm clock wakes me out of my short-lived slumber. I groggily look to the left to see the lack of sunlight from behind the blinds, no surprise being it's five am.
Back to the routine. I drag myself out of bed, head to the kitchen to put on a coffee, and prepare breakfast, and although the thought of eating this early makes me feel sick, I'm not oblivious to the consequences that will fuck me over if I don't.
My day is starting to look back to normal: hit the gym, a couple of classes, practice, and then back to my apartment, where I am currently icing my knees while Tommy flips through movie options.
"Alix came asking for you at her sorority party," Tommy hums, his eyes glued to the screen.
"I told her I wasn't interested in hanging out."
"Really?" Tommy looks at me in shock before looking back at the TV. "You sure her ego will handle that?"
"I'm not concerned about her ego." I shrug, earning an accusatory look.
"So you're still hanging with that soccer girl?" Tommy asks, finally clicking on a movieâ"Shrek the Broadway Musical," to be exactâgreat.
"Yeah."I respond.
"There's a game tonight," he states casually.
"How do you know that?" My eyebrows raise.
"First of all, they're fucking phenomenal; secondly, they're hot; and third, they get the band to play during halftime, and I like eye-fucking the trumpet, dude."
"Jesus Christ." I shake my head, but I'll admit I missed his outrageous comments.
"Come on, Steph, you know you wanna see her," he says in a low, sing-song voice, slowly looking at me and holding eye contact with a plastered smirk.
We sit there in a moment of silence before I respond. "No." It's not a good idea, not with the thoughts I'm having.
"No, you don't want to see her, or no, you don't want to go?"
"What I would like to do is sit in the apartment I was denied for the last two weeks."
"Fine." He gets up, heading for the door. "I'll be back." I don't miss the conniving tone of voice. Yeah, he's up to something.
+++
Tommy didn't come back; it's been four hours, to be exact, and I'm ready to head to bed. I get up from the couch when I notice muffled noises outside the door. I walk closer in an attempt to make out the noise.
"Why are we even here." I can recognize that voice and the irritation in the tone anywhere and swing the door open.
"That's a great question, Delezar." My eyes narrow at Tommy, whose arms are now stretching over the two girls still in uniform.
"We were promised free foodâJordan, by the way." The girl beside Delezar beams, and I can see Del's reluctance.
"And a shower," Sofia mumbles, and Jordan's eyebrows furrow dramatically.
"Plus, he's your man or whatever." Right.
Jordan and Tommy walk past me, and Delezar stands with her arms crossed. We share a brief moment of eye contact before she gives in, walking past me as I hold the door.
"Back again, huh?" I mutter, and she rolls her eyes. I then hear whispering from the couch, where Jordan and Tommy are now seated.
"Again?" Jordan whispers to Tommy, and he shrugs dramatically in oblivion.
"So a shower; any other requests?" My voice comes across lower than I anticipated, making my words sound like I'm asking for something else.
"Just the shower's fine." Her brown eyes stare up at me, maintaining a soft, stoic expression.
I lead her to my room, where the shower is, and she shuts the door behind us.
"So you do have other requests?"
She peeks out of the room momentarily and shuts the door again. "Just so you know, this whole ambush was not part of my schedule."
"I was made aware when you looked like you'd rather be elsewhere." She laughs at my response.
"Yeah, well, you don't want me here either." She pulls out her scrunchy, letting her long brown waves frame her face. She then flings the scrunchy at my chest, and I step forward, catching it.
"I didn't say that." Again, my voice comes off low, and I place the hair tie on my wrist with a dramatic snap.
"Yeah, well, you groaned at the door when you saw me." Her arms are now crossed, and her eyes looking deep into mine.
"Did I?" I take one more step forward, her forearms now hitting my chest.
"You did." Her eyes flicker away, breaking the contact, and she walks past me. "Tommy insisted we should all hang out, and normally Jordan would side with me, but she thinks we have stuff to figure out."
"What kinda stuff?" I turn.
"Us kind of stuff," she pauses. "So, are you going to keep toying around, or can I get that shower?" Her eyes narrow at me.
"Depends." I hum. "You gonna go through my things this time?" I ask, heading to the washroom to grab a fresh towel. I hear her steps approach closer, and I turn to see her now standing at the door of the bathroom.
"Thought they weren't yours." She retorts, grabbing the towel from my hands.
"I'll put a change of clothes on the bed." I say, walking past her before shutting the bedroom door to see Jordan sprawled on one end of the couch and Tommy on the floor leaning on the same side.
+++
I sit on the couch, enduring the rest of this never-ending film, when Tommy launches a pillow at me.
"We're hungry," he groans.
"So what do you want to eat?" I ask, tilting my head on the back of the couch.
"A 10 oz steak with mashed potatoes." Tommy smiles, making Jordan laugh.
"Pizza it is, asshole." I get up, heading to the kitchen and picking up my phone, dialing the closest shop.
"Hi, what can I get for ya?" The muffled voice of the middle-aged woman speaks.
"Can I get an extra-large pizza?" I pause, looking at the two on the couch. "What do you want on it?"
"Pepperoni." Both Tommy and Jordan say in unison.
"With pepperoni,"
"Okay, anything else?" She chimes.
"A small pineapple."
"Pineapple?" Tommy exclaims in disgust, and I choose to ignore Jordan's knowing glare.
"Would you like any beverages or our homemade garlic sauce?"
"Do you guys want garlic sauce?" I question, now exhausted from this back-and-forth pizza bullshit.
"Yeah," they say again in unison.
"Does Sofia like garlic sauce?" I ask, and Jordan shrugs before yelling.
"Sof, do you like garlic sauce?"
"Sir?" The lady on the phone speaks.
"Uh-" I trail when I'm cut off by the bedroom door opening.
"Yeah, I like garlic sauce." She stands, damp wavy hair falling over her shoulders, skin glistening from the water, bare-legged, with my black shirt falling to her mid-thigh.
"Jesus Christ." I mutter.
"What was that, sir?"
"Uh- Yeah, garlic sauce."
I finish the order, peeling my eyes from Sofia, and sit on the couch where I was originally seated. I keep my head forward as she makes her way to the couch but it's hard to ignore her when she scoots past smelling like me.
"So, how are you two friends?" Sofia asks, curious, looking between me and Tommy.
"We played football together, first year," Tommy responds, another familiar party trick he tends to pull out for the ladies.
"You played football?" Jordan states in disbelief.
"Kicker," he clarifies.
"Why'd you quit?" Sofia asks, curious.
"Bi guy on the football team? Let's just say the comments made were holistic, and I didn't give a fuck about the sport enough to stay."
"Football players are such assholes," Jordan states, and then her eyes shoot to me. "No offense."
"None taken." I'm not oblivious to the assholes on that team or the never-ending "jokes" that weren't really jokes said to Tommy.
"Yeah, well, Steph was the only one who had my back," Tommy continues, a bit more somber now. "Guy threw more punches for me than anyone else."
"Also got a shitton more suspensions and office time than anyone else."I now feel Delezar's gaze on the side of my face, and as I briefly look back, the expression on her face is unreadable. I get up when I hear a knock at the door.
+++
The night finally comes to an end, and I walk Delezar and Jordan to the door. "Thanks for the pizza and hosting," Jordan says, and I nod in response, then look at Delezar.
"And the shower," she adds with a short smile, enhancing her smile lines, as she holds onto her soccer gear.
"See you tomorrow," I say, eyeing her as she slowly turns and they head towards the elevator. I shut the door and turn to see Tommy looking at me in disbelief.
"Are you fucking kidding? I get us a given two-man, the girl you're interested in, in your room, alone with you, to take a shower then she comes out wearing nothing but your t-shirt on, and all you do is buy her a pizza? "
"God, you're whipped." He adds a smile, stretching across his face.
More like not interested in mixing business with pleasure, no matter how tempting it may be.
A/N Thanks for the reads and votes!
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Just because... if your a real one and already read "see you Sunday" go back and take a peek at Peter Marcusð
Tommy Cameron
Jordan Alo