Page 88 of Scoring the Player
“Yeah. Of course.”
Her smile is wobbly. “Good.”
I head for the door, casting one last look at her. “See you later, hot stuff.”
30
FELIX
Friday night,also known as two days without kissing Dahlia, I go to the basketball game with Lucas. We meet up with some of the other guys. Our game is tomorrow afternoon, so curfew is early. We have enough time to watch maybe half before we have to duck out.
The stands are packed. It being parents’ weekend means a lot of students have family in town.
“Hey,” Brogan says as he juts his chin in our direction. He and Archer move down a seat to make room for us. “Dahlia coming too?”
“No.” I focus way too hard on the court where the guys are still warming up.
“Where’s she been?” Archer asks. “She wasn’t at breakfast the last two mornings either.”
“She had a golf tournament today, and her dad is in town, so she’s probably hanging with him tonight.”
“Probably?” Archer and Brogan ask in unison.
“They broke up,” Lucas answers for me.
I shoot him a side glance. We haven’t talked about Dahlia at all. In fact, he hasn’t asked once where she’s been, unlike Brogan, Archer, Teddy, and my sisters. The latter are pissed at me. I knew they liked Dahlia, but I didn’t expect they’d take the news so hard. They’re the only ones I’ve told, plus Teddy. And I guess now these three.
“I heard it from a girl in University Hall today, who heard it from some girl who has a class with Dahlia,” he clarifies.
Geez. The rumor mill is even faster than I thought. “You knew and you didn’t say anything?”
He shrugs. “Figured if you weren’t telling anyone, then you didn’t want to talk about it.”
I nod. It’s been weirder than I expected. I knew I’d miss hanging with her, but I didn’t expect it to feel so…fuck, I don’t even know. It’s like nothing I’ve ever felt before.
“I also heard you were getting back together with Bethany,” Lucas adds, and then waits for my reaction.
“Definitely false.”
He looks relieved, but says, “That’s not what she’s telling everyone.”
I shake my head. “Zero chance.”
“You and Dahlia broke up?” Brogan stares at me, slack-jawed.
“Yeah. Yesterday.”
“Why would you break up with Dahlia? She’s great. Or did she break up with your dumb ass?”
“It was mutual. We’re both busy and…” I trail off, letting him fill in the rest.
He seems super unimpressed by my lackluster response. “Sounds stupid, but what the hell do I know?”
“Is that a trick question?” I smirk as I deliver the playful jab, hoping to move on from this conversation.
He elbows me in the side, then he lowers his voice, tone sincere as he says, “I’m sorry, man.”
Well, fuck. I didn’t expect to be getting sympathy from him.
