Page 78 of The Penalty

I shrug. “I dunno. I just dig for shit.”

“But why? Folding it would make it so much easier.”

“Because folding shit sucks? And this works.”

I find my Summerset Olympians joggers and pull them on.

“Free balling? Really?”

It’s my turn to smile at him. “Trust me, if this bothers you, you don’t want to see my underwear drawer.”

He gives me a look that makes me laugh, and I push my way between his knees to kiss him. “I like having you in my space. Gives me caterpillars and shit.”

“I give you bugs?” Rhys looks confused.

“Fluffy bugs, and if the hair pokes you, it’s hot or whatever.” What isn’t he getting here? This is a thing people say all the time.

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“You give me hot fluffies.”

Rhys cocks his head, and his eyebrows pull together like he’s thinking really hard. “Warm fuzzies?”

“Same thing.”

“It absolutely is not the same thing. One is an infestation of venomous insects, and one is the release of oxytocin in your brain.”

“Tomato potato.” I wave it away and move to sit next to him.

“That’s not the saying! Are you gaslighting me right now?”

“I don’t smell gas?”

Rhys sucks in a big breath and holds it then turns to face me, so I readjust to face him too. I like looking at him. His face is so even and just pretty. His nose isn’t off center either. Kinda weird that his nose is fine, but mine isn’t. My helmet has the metal cage to protect my face, and he doesn’t. Though when I broke my nose, it wasn’t an official game, so I didn’t have my helmet on.

“Earth to Teddy.” Rhys snaps his fingers in my face.

“I’m here, I’m here.” I grab his hand, but he pulls mine into his lap instead.

“We need to figure out what we’re doing. Colin invited us to New Years with them.” He looks me in the eye and there’s something there that makes me want to comfort him.

“Okay, we’ll go.” Easy peasy, right?

“And keep pretending to be dating?”

“Does pretend dating have orgasms cause I’m good with it, if it does.” Wait. Then what’s the difference between fake dating and real dating?

“I don’t think it does.”

“Well, that’s stupid. It should have orgasms. It would make everyone happier.”

“Or…” Rhys takes a deep breath, almost like he’s bracing himself. “We can try dating for real and just keeping it quiet. For now.”

I watch his face. Not sure what I’m looking for, but I search anyway. “How would that work? We’re at rival schools.” I start listing issues out on my fingers. “Tobi was pissed when we were pretending. He’s going to be even more angry about this. Oh yeah, and you’re the enemy!”

“Maybe you’re the enemy. Did you ever think of that?”

I glare because no, I didn’t. “Listen, stop with your logic. It makes my brain hurt.”

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