Page 40 of Dirty Roulette
“Right... Do your spanks give you wedgies? I swear to God, mine are too small,” Charlie complains and runs a finger along the outline of her spandex briefs to cover her thighs. I’m searching the tile floor and under the sink until I find it hidden in the corner.
“Hello, earth to Payton,” she says, and I suck in the lodge of emotions caught in my throat and clench my fingers around the cap. “Are we not talking or something?” She frowns at me through the mirror.
“I’m embarrassed about it... The whole thing.” I twist the cap back on the marker.
“I would be too.” Charlie snags the eyeliner from my makeup bag and touches up the corner of her eyes. “But the good thing is, everyone is saying Brody got his ass kicked by a girl. You’re totally cheerleading material. Have you seen the comments on the videos?”
I shrug. “No...” and I don’t care to.
She whips out her phone, finding one of the reels. The video is blurry, but she pulls up the comments and starts pointing at them. Reading them aloud, one by one. “Damn, I wonder what he did to piss her off that bad.” She starts off scrolling with a thumb. “I can barely stand the girls’ locker room. She’s got balls to break into the mens’.” Charlie’s words start to fade with my own brain, and I’m leaving my own body, everything meshing together and I don’t know what’s going on anymore. I’m drowning out everything she says, or it’s me getting high off the marker smelling worse than gasoline. When the phone disappears, I’m sucked back into my body.
“Okay, so are you going to tell me where you were last night?” Charlie asks with a hand on her hip.
“Umm... I...” I’m sinking to the bottom of the sea with the wordswe need to talkstuck in my throat, but the thought of mentioning the neck of the bottle and pointing at her brother puts me in a chokehold.I saw Ryder last night. Say it. It’s that easy.We spun around on a merry-go-round next to each other, looking into a sky infected with light pollution. He tangled my emotions up like branches in a flood.I could tell Charlie everything right now, but I’m terrified of how she would react. “I went for a walk...” I shrug and run a hand up my arm. “I guess I just needed to think.”
“Right... well, I have to tell you something!”
“Okay...” I say.
“I’m sure you’ll really like Noah’s music. His voice is sexy as hell,” Charlie bats her eyes in the mirror, leaning over the ceramic sink and applying a coat of mascara.
“Is he your boyfriend now?” I ask.
“Well... I dunno about that. But I do think it’s a good idea for us to meet new people. You’d love the band. I’m heading over there afterpractice. You should come.” She gushes with her shoulders pressed against her cheeks.
“I’ll think about it.” I lean against the metal between the stall doors and stare at all the graffiti scribbled on the peeling paint. I spot writing in red Sharpie I didn’t catch before. Ryder’s name is carved in cursive, and a thick ball of bricks lands right in my stomach. “Payton is sleeping with Crab,” I mutter out loud. “Oh my god...” My heart caves in.
“What?” Charlie scrunches her brows together.
Grabbing the black marker off the counter, I race over to the writing. Charlie struts behind me and chews on the inside of her cheek.
A smug smile molds on her lips. “Brittni is such a bitch. Get over yourself!” Charlie chuckles like it’s the funniest thing in the world. “This girl is out of her mind. Give me that marker!” she snags it from my fingertips and crosses out the remark.
“Over my dead body, bitch!” she snarls as she writes it down in a fit of rage. She emphasizes the exclamation mark before snapping the cap on and handing the marker back. “I’m so over her saying Ryder cheated on her with you. She’s a jealous bitch!”
“It’s whatever. She’ll get over it eventually,” I say.
“Now, let’s fix your hair.”
I huff, with my head tilting back with a groan. “I put it up.”
“No messy buns!”
I follow Charlie over to the counter and plop myself up as she works her magic. She partly braids my hair in pigtail buns, leaving a layer of my natural curls to flow down my back. She adds two green bows to match the university’s colors. Styling hair comes naturally to Charlie. Half the time, my buns look like an abandoned bird’s nest.
We shove our stuff into a locker beside a small duffle bag with water and protein snacks. We link arms, leaving the locker room. Charlie’sringlets sway behind her back, staying intact without the frizz that always dominates my hair when it’s humid and rainy.
We reach our spot on the football field for practice and prop ourselves on the bottom seats on the bleachers. Ryder and the team are running laps. He’s wearing his jersey, the same as the other players, but somehow he still stands out. Charlie chats with the squad sitting next to us, talking about our professors and hating on them with passion while I try not to think about her brother.
I glance again at Ryder, getting tugged away from his run as Brittni stops him. His hands rest on his hips, and he dips his head back, breathing heavily. Beads of sweat glisten and carve out the muscles of his biceps. Even his thighs are bulging with power. When he moves the right way, his...oh boy...his... it pokes out of the fabric of his shorts, and I can’t stop staring.
Brittni twirls her hair around a finger, biting her lip with her two front teeth. I want to hurl. She flips her blonde locks and wraps her arms around his neck. The pit of my stomach twists into tight coils, gawking as she kisses him on the cheek with red lipstick. The color is too bright for her skin tone. He gently pushes her off, wiping his cheek of the residue.
She’s too close, breathing in his sweat, and it’s unnerving becauseIwant to breathe it in. The horror swallows me up. He’ll be escorting her down an altar and for whatever reason, the feeling makes me want to put a gun to her head. A sour aftertaste builds in my mouth. My chest is raw and clawing at me to go over there to divert his attention.
“Aww, how cute.” Charlie gags herself with a middle finger and nudges me on the shoulder. “Not.”
“I hate how he’s not over her,” I mutter.
