Page 5 of Necessary Roughness
It was a nice contrast to stepping onto the football field and having eighty thousand fans cheering for me—orbooingme.
Jamie, one of the jocks on the baseball team, spotted us as soon as we walked into the entrance hall. He shoved two plastic cups of beer at us, chatted for a couple of seconds, then disappeared deeper into the party.
“Just one beer?” Logan asked.
“Just one beer,” I confirmed. “That’s it.”
It was crowded here in the hallway, so I picked a direction and started walking. Logan and I immediately drew stares. A few people called out to us by name, even though they didn’t know us.
That was the problem with being a campus celebrity. Everyone knewofyou, and mistook that for actually being your friend.
That was the main reason I had no interest in trying to hook up tonight: we attracted women who already had anideaof us before we had ever exchanged pleasantries, or women who were only attracted to what we represented. I’d had enoughrelationships like that to learn my lesson. There was only so much meaningless sex a guy could have before he wanted somethingmore.
I chuckled to myself. If I could go back in time and tell a younger version of myself that I would get sick of meaningless sex, I would’ve called myself crazy.
“You’re right. This party sucks,” Logan said. “It’s definitely ass-half-empty.”
“You’re going to milk that phrase, aren’t you?”
“Damn right I am,” he replied, gazing around. “I really might have to stop at the Delta party on the way home.”
“You don’t want to go back to lying on the couch?”
“Hey, I’m already out,” Logan replied with a grin. “Might as well make the most of it.”
Suddenly, someone was tugging on my shirt sleeve. “Hey. You’re that guy, aren’t you?”
I groaned, preparing to launch into the same speech I gave whenever someone recognized me on campus.
But when I turned, the rest of the room dropped away.
She had tousled blonde hair that caught the light like it had been spun from gold, and eyes so bright they made the cheap party lights look dull. Her smile wasn’t rehearsed—it hit me like a dare—and for a second, all I could do was stare, caught between the bass thumping in my chest and the sudden, sharp pull of wanting someone I’d never seen before.
“I… uh… hi,” I said. “I am that guy, yeah.”
“I knew it! Chemistry lab, spring semester. In the Ford building.” She grinned up at me. “I knew I recognized you.”
Logan threw his arm over my shoulder. “He’s a lot more than that. This man right here is—”
“I’m Knox,” I said, giving my friend a pointed look. “I think I remember you, too. You sat in the back left corner?”
“By the trash can,” she said with a groan. “That one guy always ate a tuna fish sandwich before class and threw the leftovers away. Worst semester of my life.”
“Ouch,” I said, grinning inwardly. Did this girl really only recognize me from freaking chemistry class? Was I just another student to her?
I exchanged a look with Logan. Holy shit. She had no idea.
For the first time since I could remember, my smile was genuine.
3
Sloane
For the first time since I could remember, I was hitting on a guy!
I had never been so forward before. Walking right up to him, tugging on his sleeve, and saying hi. The old me would have stood in the corner far too long trying to think of something witty to say.
But I had a superpower tonight: I didn’t care. I was newly single and unburdened by worries about striking out or being embarrassed.
