Page 92 of Scoring the Player
I don’t have a lot of experience in the making-out department, but I don’t think two guys in one week is how I roll.
An hour later, some people decide to go to the Prickly Pear. It’s a dive bar. We rarely go since none of us are twenty-one yet, but my friends are drunk enough that they don’t care, and I just want to have fun with them. A night of fun with my friends so I don’t think about how weird it is being out without Felix.
We go straight to the little dance floor in the back, while the guys go to the bar to get drinks.
“He’s so cute,” Violet says, looking over my shoulder.
I steal a glance behind me to find Steven with the guys at the bar, sipping a beer and meeting my gaze for just a second.
My pulse speeds up and I whip my head back around.
“He’s really nice, too,” Daisy adds.
“Dating history?” Jane prompts.
Daisy thinks for a second. “He was hooking up with a girl on the volleyball team for a while last year, but that’s it as far as I know.”
“Hooking up or dating?” Jane scoffs. “No more guys with commitment issues.”
“I could ask Jordan,” Daisy offers.
“No,” I say at the same time Jane nods aggressively.
“No,” I repeat, and grab hold of Daisy’s arm before she can go dig up dirt on Steven. “I’m not even sure what I’m looking for, so it doesn’t matter if he wants to hook up with me or date me or whatever.”
“That’s the spirit.” Vi bumps her hip against mine. “Have fun, get to know him, then decide what’s what.”
The guys push a bunch of tables together. More people than I thought came with us. Lots of Jordan’s teammates. Gavin’s, too. And where the hockey and basketball guys go, the girls flock.
After a few songs, Daisy and Vi take a break and leave me and Jane on the dance floor.
Jane takes my hands, and we keep moving to the beat. We’re soon joined by a flock of others looking to shout the lyrics of the song and shake their hips. I step back and collide with a hard chest. When I turn, Steven reaches out and steadies me.
“Hey,” I say, but I doubt he can hear me over the music. I turn back to Jane, and she gives me a look, silently asking if I want her to intervene. I love that about her. She always has my back. I give my head the smallest shake to let her know I’m okay, then turn back around to dance with Steven. Out of my peripheral I see her move to Liam and force him to dance with her. He gives in, though he looks a little shy about it. Jane is very convincing when she wants to be.
Steven’s a good dancer, and as more and more people walk out to the little dance floor, we’re pushed closer together. Eventually his hands find my waist, and I rest mine on his forearms. And I don’t hate the way it feels.
Maybe I can do this. I can move on, kiss lots of boys, and forget about how much I miss my fake ex-boyfriend.
32
FELIX
The parking lotof the Prickly Pear is packed when Lucas and I arrive sometime after eleven. It’s been one of those weird nights where we’ve bounced from party to party, none of them all that exciting, until Gavin texted and said he was at the Prickly Pear. I guess he wasn’t the only one with that idea.
I spot Gavin’s car as Lucas and I hop out of the sober ride and walk up to the front of the bar. That’s clue number one that Dahlia’s already inside.
Clue two is the calm that washes over me the second I walk through the doors of the small bar. That anxious thrum I’ve felt all day eases knowing I’m going to finally have a chance to talk to her. I see Violet first. She and Gavin are at the bar just inside the door. He’s sitting on one of the bar stools and she’s standing between his legs.
The bar at the Prickly Pear is shaped in a horseshoe. On one side there are pool tables and dart boards, and the other has tables and a dance floor.
“I’m gonna see if I can grab us next on one of the pool tables,” Lucas says and heads in that direction.
Without looking at him, I nod and scan the right side where I recognize lots of Valley U students sitting at tables and congregating on the dance floor.
That’s where I find her, dancing with some guy in the middle of a big group. Blonde hair hanging down her back, sexy green dress showing off a whole lot of leg. Her profile is to me, but she turns ever so slightly so I can see her face. She’s smiling, and that hits me funny for reasons I don’t quite understand. She’s here and having a good time. Why the hell does that feel like a punch to the gut?
I step up to the bar next to Gavin.
