“Okay, I’ll go.”
A pleased smile flashed across her face before she closed my curtain, and I relaxed under the water while enjoying the rest of my shower in blissful silence.
Sitting at my old table during breakfast, Zeke stared at me from one table down. Each time I took a bite of my food, he blinked, but the rest of his facial expression maintained transfixed. There was so much I wanted to tell him, and I couldn’t understand why I needed to pour everything out to the mute. Another bite and Zeke’s gaze burned a hole in me. Sighing, I said, “Alright, Zeke. You win.”
After lifting my tray, I walked one table down to sit across from him.
“Better?”
Zeke didn’t move, but a small grunt came from somewhere inside him.
“Okay, I won’t do that again. I’ll always sit with you. No matter what.”
As I told Zeke what had happened, the weight of Ollie’s eyes drifted through me, comforting me like a warm blanket. I turned my head slightly to my left to legitimize the peace washing over me. And there he was, his beanie flopped over his head as his hair stuck out from beneath in all directions. He held my gaze, trying to see which Mia he had today. Was it his Mia—the one he’d gone on about before we made love?
I didn’t know myself, but he always knew.
All he had to do was look into my eyes.
“Mia, you coming?” Bria asked from across the room, disrupting my thoughts.
Ollie stood, his eyes darting from Bria and back to me. He said something to her I couldn’t quite make out.
“We needed another person,” Bria replied to him with a shrug.
Leaving Zeke behind, I walked toward their table. “Need me for what?”
“Power,” Isaac said. “It’s better with at least five players.”
My brows rose. “Power?”
“I’ll explain on the way.” Bria stood with the rest of them. “Have fun in your dorm, Ollie.”
“No, I’m coming,” Ollie muttered under his breath.
His agreement to join should have been my cue to back out, but before I could, Bria already had me by the arm, dragging me toward the double doors.
Fresh air hit my face, and I hadn’t realized how much I’d missed it. Coming to a standstill, I lifted my face to the sun, appreciating the way it felt against my skin. The slight smell of tree bark and freshly cut grass mixed in the gust of cold wind as it brushed through my hair, making the hairs on my arms stand instantaneously. Even with the sun shining behind my closed lids, it didn’t help the sixty-something-degree temperature. When I opened my eyes, the rest of the group was already ten feet ahead, but Ollie stood beside me, mesmerized.
“Okay, so, we all write down an action, and we’ll use … Ollie’s beanie to place the actions. You have to perform that action, and the rest of us will judge based on a number one through three. No one can know the action until it’s complete. By the end of the game, whoever wins has the power, and they get to be in charge for a full hour. You have to do whatever they say,” Bria explained as we reached the woods.
“That’s the stupidest game I’ve ever heard,” I sighed.
“You can either play with us or have fun playing football over there with those wankers,” Bria said, pointing back to the kids kicking the ball around.
I let out a moan. “Fine.”
We walked through the sparsely scattered wooded forest until we reached the end of the lot, and sat in a sloppy circle near the tall brick wall. I sandwiched myself between Jake and Isaac while Ollie sat across from me with Bria to his left and Alicia to his right. He pulled his knees up and rested his long arms across them.
Tall trees hovered over us, and I looked up to see the sun above, coming through the branches. The brisk wind blew the weakest leaves off the branches as they fell around us.
I focused on one leaf, watching it wobble back and forth against the force of the wind until it dropped between Ollie and Alicia in its final resting place.
Alicia ripped a paper into six parts before passing a piece around. “No screwing around this time. I can’t lose because I refused sex with Jake,” Alicia said.
“Yeah, that was harsh,” Jake whined.
“You guys have sex in this game?”
“Not today, apparently,” Bria muttered.
“Actions have to be specific. If another person is needed, make sure to write their name,” Isaac explained. “What’s the level of nudity?”
“Knickers,” Ollie insisted.
“Full nudity,” I countered.
Bria put her hands together and agreed, “Full nudity it is,” then snatched Ollie’s Beanie off his head, and his thick brown mess bounced free.
Ollie ran his hand up his forehead and through his hair, but refused to look in my direction. When the pen was passed down to me, I wrote out an action, folded up my paper, and placed it in Ollie’s beanie in the center. “Who’s keeping score?”
Alicia held up a paper and pen. “I got it.”
Jake went first and withdrew an action from the hat. He giggled as his eyes scanned the words across the paper while his face flushed. “Alright, alright.” Jake stood and took in a deep breath as I watched him from below. He brought his hands over his face and shook his head, and when he dropped them to his side, a broad smile appeared. He giggled as his body moved to a beat only he could hear in his head.
And then he sang as his torso rolled in what I could only describe as Jake’s attempt at sexy dancing. The first verse of Ginuwine’s “Pony” came from his lips as he stripped his shirt and dropped it over my face. His fingers landed on his pants, and Alicia stifled a laugh with her hand over her mouth. Isaac covered his eyes and turned his head away from the view of Jake’s strip number.
“Someone help me out here,” Jake interjected between lyrics.
My fingers snapped, and I belted out the second verse with him.
Ollie shot his head in my direction, and Alicia squealed, “Ah, she’s brilliant!”
Alicia and Bria joined in on the chorus as Jake tried lifting Alicia off the ground. Alicia waved him away through uncontrollable laughter, and Jake turned to me with his palms and shoulders in the air.
After gathering to my feet, I danced and sang the chorus while Jake continued to strip.
Ollie sat amused with a bona fide smile and nirvana in his eyes. He wet his lips while flashes of our moments together sent a rush of heat through me. Everyone else around us laughed or sang, but Ollie mouthed “I want you” as he leaned back on his hands.
I shook my head. He made me feel so right—it was so wrong.