My eyes immediately find Troy in the group, still wearing the sling. Andreas is sitting next to him, laughing at something someone said. Danny, the freshman who’s temporarily replaced Troy as the quarterback, is on Troy’s other side. He doesn’t seem to be into whatever it is that sent the entire table into a fit of roaring laughter.
I can’t keep my eyes off Troy. He’s so fucking beautiful and sexy, more so now that I know what he’s capable of in the sack. Suddenly, he turns his head in my direction, and our gazes connect. The amusement vanishes from his face, replaced by pure heat.
Fuck me. Even with the distance, I’m falling prey to his come-hither look.
Someone taps me on the shoulder. “Hello? Do you mind moving along?”
I realize then that the line has moved, and I’ve just been standing there like a moron, drooling over the quarterback like a football groupie.
“Sorry,” I mumble.
It’s my turn to pay, so I do so as quickly as possible, then hurry out of the cafeteria. I purposely avoid looking in Troy’s direction even if it’s hard. I’m glad he didn’t come talk to me. We haven’t discussed how we should behave in public. We agreed to date, but is he my boyfriend? Shit. Why didn’t we talk about that beforehand?
I stop under a tree to finally take the painkillers, hoping they’ll start to work right away before I have to suffer through the next class. After that, I have to stop by the newspaper and then ho—
A strong arm wraps around my waist, interrupting my train of thought and scaring the crap out of me. I shout, but a second later, Troy’s aftershave scent reaches my nose.
“Troy, what the hell!”
He laughs but doesn’t let go. “Sorry. I couldn’t resist. You looked pretty distracted.”
“I was.” I turn in his hold so I can properly glare at him. “What are you doing?”
“You left the cafeteria so quickly. You didn’t even give me the chance to say hi.”
“I have class in five minutes.”
His eyes take on a mischievous gleam. “Good. Plenty of time for a proper greeting.”
He pins me against the tree and then kisses me long and deep, melting me on the spot. His entire body presses against mine as his right leg nudges mine apart. We would be melded together if the sling wasn’t in the way. I should put a stop to it. We’re pretty much engaging in foreplay in front of everyone, and my panties are already soaked through. But I’m too weak to stop. I want more. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to win our bet after all.
“Get a room!” a random guy yells.
Troy chuckles against my lips and then steps back, leaving me breathless. At least my headache is gone, and I don’t think it was the painkillers’ doing.
“Why are you laughing?” I ask, caught between arousal and embarrassment.
“Because your face is redder than a tomato.”
“Of course it is. You were dry-humping me against a tree!”
He places a hand over his heart and makes a phony expression of indignation. “I was not. My, my, Charlie. You have one dirty mind. I guess you should declare defeat now because it’s clear to me who is going to lose the challenge.”
I narrow my eyes to slits. “Aha! I see what you’re doing. You might have gotten me hot and bothered, Troy, but I’m not the one who has to return to my friends sporting a major boner.”
The mirth vanishes from his face in an instant. He glances down, then puts his hand on his hip. “Shit. I guess I didn’t really think things through.” He looks up again. “That’s what I get for having such a sexy girlfriend.” He rewards me with a toothy grin. “You’d better hurry up or you’ll be late for your next class.”
Crap. I lost track of time.
I run across the quad, forgetting to give Troy a smartass retort for making me late. It’s okay. I can give him grief later at home. Maybe. Right now, I’m still processing the fact that he called me his girlfriend like it was the most obvious thing. Never mind that I had been agonizing about it not too long ago. How can he make everything so easy?
Because he’s not overthinking everything like you, Charlie.
A necessity because I’m traveling in uncharted territory. I like adventure and quests in fiction. In real life, I’m content to remain in my safe zone. And Troy is the opposite of that. In fact, I should probably program “Danger Zone” by Kenny Loggins as the ringtone for him.
Troy is my boyfriend.
A smile blossoms on my lips despite the fact that I hate being late.
When I finally arrive to class—breathless and sporting a sheen of sweat on my forehead thanks to running here—I don’t care. Not even when Professor Ross glowers at me and calls me out for my tardiness in front of the entire lecture hall. I quickly take my usual seat and pretend to give a damn about the class, but I’ve already accepted the fact that I’m getting nothing done today.
It was easy to blow off my classes, but newspaper time is a different matter. Blake will never allow me to skate by and not do actual work.
On my way to the office, Fred finds me, which is good because I do need to ask him for a favor.
“Hey, Charlie. What’s the crack?”
I snort. “What’s the crack? Are you Irish now?”
“Ha, sorry. We have a new hire at the shop straight from Ireland. I’ve picked up a few things from him.”
“That explains it. What did he have to say about your green hair? I bet he dug it, huh?”
Fred quirks a brow. “Why? Because he’s Irish? Gee, Charlie, that was weak. You’re losing your mojo. That doesn’t have anything to do with a certain jock you were spotted sucking face with earlier, does it?”
I stop in my tracks. “What? Where did you hear that?”
“Through the grapevine. You’re trending on Twitter. Someone shot a video. Wanna see?”
“No, I don’t want to see.”
I turn around and continue toward the office. My face is in flames now. Curse Troy for kissing me like that in public.
“So, you and Troy, huh? When did that happen? I thought you hated his guts.”
“I never hated his guts. I had an intense dislike for the guy.”
“You have clearly moved on from that.” He chuckles.
“Clearly.”
The newspaper office finally looms closer. I was hoping Fred would just go on his way and leave me alone, but the pest follows me in. I should have known. He’s a dog with a bone and he won’t stop teasing me until something else catches his attention.
Blake is already at his desk, typing away with determination, but he stops to glance at us. I can’t tell if he knows about my faux pas or not. He’s pretty good at keeping his expression guarded.
“Are you two dating now?” Fred asks loudly in front of him.
Great.
“Who is Charlie dating?” Blake asks.
I groan, rolling my eyes as I take my seat. “Why are you two being such busybodies today?”
“If you didn’t want anyone butting in your business, you should have kept your affairs private,” Fred retorts with a smirk.
The last thing I want is to tell Blake I’m dating Troy, but keeping it secret will be impossible considering the biggest gossiper in our group already knows. Besides, if it’s on Twitter, it’s only a matter of time until Blake stumbles across that.