The corner of her mouth lifted. “Totally. That would be a good chance for us to get to know each other better. What did you have in mind?” She leaned in close and I went through a few things off the top of my head.
Direct Jules for the win! I’d been upfront with Alexis. Talked to her and look at us now, practically best friends planning a surprise for Berk’s birthday. Well, maybe not best friends, but at least she wasn’t staring at me like she was auditioning for a Mean Girls remake.
31
Berk
“We can store the booze out on the deck to keep it cold.” LJ took the lead up the steps.
“We’ve got a game in two days; this is not the time to get blitzed.”
He turned at the top of the steps and spread his arms out wide. “Not like I’ll be in for more than a play. What does it matter?”
“If you don’t ask Marisa to talk to her dad, you’re never going to get enough time on the field.”
“I’m not going to put that on her. She’s been at my side through some screwed up shit. I can do the same for her.”
“At the expense of your future?”
“What’s at the expense of your future?” Marisa walked out of the kitchen with a pitcher filled with brightly-colored booze.
Keyton shook his head. “Is no one else going to say it? Really? Fine, LJ’s been sidelined by your dad for ninety percent of our games… because of you.” Keyton threw it out there and it landed on the floor like an undetonated grenade.
“I told you to shut the hell up.” LJ lunged at Keyton. I grabbed him, my arm coming up around his neck as he went for Keyton’s.
“Because of me.” Marisa’s gaze ricocheted between Keyton and LJ.
LJ stopped his struggle and spun around. “It’s not because of you. It’s because he’s being an unreasonable asshole.”
“Because of me.” She stared at him with hurt brimming in her eyes. “Because I’m making you come to his dinners.”
He stepped forward reaching for her arm. “It’s not a big deal.”
“It’s a big deal if it’s keeping you from playing.” She jerked back, crossing her arms over her chest.
“And you’ve done way more than that for me.” He let his hand drop, but moved closer.
“This is your future we’re talking about. This is all you’ve ever talked about. What you’ve wanted since we were ten years old.” Flinging her arms out to her side, she shook her head like none of this made sense. I’d learned that a hell of a long time ago.
“And it’ll happen.”
“Not if you’re not playing most of the games. You said it was because you’d slacked off in the pre-season, but he’s stopping you from starting this season because I’ve dragged you to his house every week.”
“So what? The time I’m on the field, I make it count. It’s my turn to be there for you. After everything you’ve done for me and for my family, of course I’d do that for you.”
“How many times have I told you, you don’t owe me anything? There’s nothing left for you to repay. There’s no ledger with your debts tallied up.”
“I don’t give a shit. My dad wouldn’t be alive if it weren’t for you. I’ll freaking follow you wherever you want me to go.”
His dad wouldn’t be alive? We all knew their relationship went beyond friends, but it looked like there were way more serious things they’d been keeping quiet.
“I’m not… I don’t want you following me around doing whatever I want because you feel indebted to me. We’re supposed to be friends—I don’t want you feeling like I’m lording something over you that I’d have done no matter what to help Charlie.”
She shoved the pitcher at me, the contents sloshing over the side and pouring down my chest.
Her footsteps shook the house as she charged upstairs and slammed her door.
“What the fuck?” LJ stared at the empty steps. “What did I say wrong?”
We all stared at each other in stunned silence, and at him with questions.
He sunk his fingers into his hair and yanked at the roots. “She was a bone marrow donor to my dad. Our senior year of high school. He had cancer and a rare bone marrow type. My family was tested and none of us were a match. Marisa helped me put together a big drive and she got tested. She was a match. Missed walking at graduation to do it. He literally wouldn’t be alive without her.”
“Maybe she’s afraid that’s the only reason you’re still hanging around. Or like she’s an insurance policy in case your dad gets sick again.” I held onto his shoulder.
“Girls don’t like feeling like you’re not with them for them,” Jules threw out from the living room. She was sitting next to Alexis and they looked like they were getting along. Maybe Jules could butter her up on the college angle some more. Them getting along would be a bow on all the madness going on right now, even if Alexis made me want to strangle her sometimes. She was slow to trust, but if anyone could win her over, it was Jules. Who couldn’t love every sweet thing about her?
“We’re not even dating.” LJ banged his head against the wall.
“Never? It’s really never crossed your mind?” Keyton lobbed that out there. He was on a roll today.
The awkward silence crept in and he scrubbed his hands down his face. “We did try. For, like, a split second senior year and then everything hit the fan once my dad got sick and it was easier being friends. If I’d lost her then… I don’t think I’d have made it, bone marrow or not.”
“Maybe you need to show her that you’re not just keeping her around or indebted to her because of what happened with your dad. Maybe show her you’d like things to change between you, if that’s what you want.”
I headed upstairs and peeled my shirt off in my room. The sticky mixed-drink concoction had soaked through to my skin.
Jules slipped into the room. “It smells like a sorority house in here.”
“There must have been half a bottle of grenadine in whatever Marisa was mixing.”
“It did have the added benefit of me getting to see you with your shirt off.” She pushed off from the door and walked over to me. Extending one finger, she ran it down my stomach and sucked it into her mouth.
Her lips wrapped around it and I wrapped my arm around her waist, tugging her tight against me. She was the sexiest woman in the world, and she was all freaking mine.
“I’m about to start a snow dance to get a few more inches to fall and keep classes cancelled.”
She walked her fingers along my chest. “Alexis said your birthday was coming up.”
My sexy feelings shrank. I fucking hated my birthday. I didn’t even think the guys knew when my birthday was. It was the worst day of my life. The day my mom had dumped me at my dad’s. The day I’d stood in the doorway watching her fade away in the back seat of a taxi. She’d left me with a birthday present, a carry-on suitcase and more crushing pain than a kid should ever know.
“It’s not a big deal.” I shrugged, trying to play it cool.