Page 26 of Scoring the Player
“Maybe,” he says in a tone that tells me he doesn’t believe that to be true. “Either way, it seems like she might have finally got the memo that I’m not interested.” He looks at me with that heated gaze from earlier—the one before I told him I’d never kissed anyone. “She thinks I’m taking my new girlfriend home tonight.”
I shrug one shoulder as butterflies swoop low in my stomach. I can’t even entertain that thought because I will turn to a pile of goo right here. “I don’t mind if she thinks that. It isn’t like we’re friends.”
She didn’t even remember me from class. I sat five feet away from her for three months.
He nods, then kicks one leg out so it rests against mine. “Tell me your story, Dahlia Brady. How have you never been kissed?”
“Now I kind of wish I had a drink.” I run my palms along my thighs.
Felix leans forward and hands me his, then calls to someone nearby and asks for a beer. The guy hands him two cans from a cooler at his feet, without even blinking an eye. Felix opens one and sets the other between his legs.
“First of all, just know I am horrified that I told you all that, but since I did, the only way I can think to make it better is to tell you everything, so you know I’m not some sad girl you need to feel sorry for.”
“I don’t feel sorry for you,” he says, without missing a beat. “I feel sorry for all the guys that fucked it up.”
Damn he’s good with the one-liners. How much he actually means? No idea.
“All of high school I had this huge crush on a guy in my grade. We were friends and I thought maybe we could be more, but it never happened.”
“And nobody else tried to get your attention in all those years?” He shakes his head, disbelieving.
“They did…at first. I even went out with a few of them, but I wasn’t into it. I had one of those crushes that you can’t see out of, you know?”
“No, not really.”
“Surprise, surprise, Felix Walters has never had an unrequited crush,” I tease him.
His lips twitch with amusement.
“Well, anyway, the longer I went without dating anyone, the less people were interested. I sort of became this person that people didn’t even consider.”
“They just knew you’d say no.”
“Maybe.” I shrug again. “When I got to Valley, I thought it would be different. And at first, it was. I met a guy the second week of freshman year and we went out a few times.”
“And he didn’t try to kiss you?”
“He did try.” I bite my lip. “We went to a party and then back to his house.”
He’s hanging on my every word.
“I was so nervous. I drank way too much and when he went to kiss me, I puked.”
Felix laughs.
“Not on him or anything, I managed to run to the bathroom, but it definitely killed the mood.”
“It happens.”
“Does it? You’ve had a girl vomit when you went to kiss her?”
He’s holding back a laugh and his blue eyes twinkle. “No, but I’m sure you’re not the only one.”
I hum my uncertainty. “And another time, I was hanging at this guy’s dorm, and we were watching a movie and cuddling, and then he looked at me and I knew it was finally going to happen…until his long-distance girlfriend showed up at his dorm to surprise him.”
“Oh shit.” Felix covers his mouth with a fist.
“Yeah, I didn’t know he had a girlfriend, but that was the end of that.” I sigh and then laugh. “I even tried playing spin the bottle last year and the bottle never landed on me. I sat there foran hour, watching other people make out. It’s a freaking comedy of errors at this point.”
