Page 41 of Spin The Bottle
Once again. This is all on me. I’m team captain. I should have a hold on my team, and instead, I let everyone down. I shake my head. “I messed up.”
15
So much fun
I feel a nudge on my shoulder, and Grayson nods towards the tv. “Go that way,” he tells me.
I press the controller, moving to the left, squatting down until I can get a clear target. “There’s no space.”
“Right there,” he tells me, gesturing to the guy coming around the corner. “Shoot.”
I shake my head, moving more to the right. “You’re blocking me.”
In the next breath, Grayson’s character gets shot, giving my location away. We both die, and Grayson curses, letting the controller fall to the side. “You had a clear shot.”
“You’re kidding, right? You were covering him.”
He shakes his head, running a hand through his hair, and Rosie walks in, glancing at the tv. “Hey, what are you guys doing?”
“He’s ruining my street cred,” I tell her, laughing when Grayson flips me off. “My stats are going to suck.”
“We were playing a game, angel,” he tells her. “Want to join?”
She shakes her head. “I don’t think I’d be very good.”
“Easy fix,” I tell her, shuffling so she can sit next to her boyfriend. “Sit.”
She sits between us, and Grayson passes the controller to her, she stares at the buttons, clicking away, and I laugh. “See. You’re already better than your boyfriend.”
“Cocky son of a bitch.” Grayson lets out a laugh, teaching Rosie the controls and starts a new game. Poor girl dies instantly, moving around in a circle. I press my fist to my mouth, stifling any laughter when Grayson scowls at me.
“I suck,” she says.
“You don’t,” I tell her, starting up a new game. “That was pretty good for the first time.”
“You did well, Rosie,” Grayson tells her, smiling at her. “You’re always so good at everything you do. Such a quick learner.”
She blushes and his cocky grin makes me blink. “Are you guys dirty talking right in front of me?”
Grayson glances up at me but doesn’t reply. He doesn’t have to, by the way Rosie giggles, shuffling closer to him makes me think that whatever just happened was some sort of weird dirty-talking foreplay. I groan, standing up from the couch. “That’s my cue. I’m out of here.”
“Finally,” Grayson breathes out, grabbing Rosie and bringing their mouths together.
I shake my head, leaving them alone to do whatever it is they’re about to do and head upstairs.
I strip off my t-shirt as soon as I get inside, turning on the shower and letting the hot water drip down my body, engulfing me. It’s so good. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to hot water whenever I want. When I first got here, I must have raised the water bill by a fuck ton because I couldn’t stop taking showers.
I had never felt so… clean. We barely had hot water growing up, and when we did, the water was cut off for lack of paying the bills. I would sneak into school earlier than everyone else and take a shower at the gym, but then some guys from the team caught me, and I wasn’t allowed to shower there anymore. It sucked having to be the school’s reject, having to put up with the shit-talking and people thinking I was gum on the bottom of their shoe.
Which is why I will always be grateful to Grayson for taking the heat off of me freshman year. I don’t know how they found out, or who it was but rumor was one of the freshmen lived in a trailer park and had a junkie mom. I was terrified that people would find out it was me, that the few weeks I had in college being treated like an actual human being was all going to come to an end, but then Grayson stepped in and let everyone think it was him.
I love that motherfucker. I owe him so much but as much as I try to pay my way, give some money towards rent or some bills, he won’t accept it. He knows the shit I have to deal with back home and doesn’t let me spend a penny. So the least I can do is buy groceries and cook us a decent meal that doesn’t come in a box.
I turn off the shower after what feels like an hour and pick up the towel, running it over my hair. Fuck, I need a haircut. I hate the long strands. Hate feeling it under my fingertips.
I throw the towel onto the bed when I notice something on my nightstand that I’m not quite sure why it’s still there.
Leila’s hair clip she left here the night we… the night she dismissed so easily.
