Three guesses which two future high school seniors in the room are the hopeless romantics.
“Your boyfriend is ruining all my fun, PF,” JT grumbles, folding his arms across his chest. “How’s a guy supposed to pick on his sister with a hulking caveman”—he adds a snooty flair to the description of Mason’s pet name—“fighting her battles?”
“Puh-lease.” Kay waves him off with a flick of her wrist. “I’ve never needed E to help me ‘fight my battles’”—she adds exaggerated air quotes around the phrase—“and I sure as shit don’t need Mase.”
Mason growls, and Kay soothes him with a kiss to the underside of his jaw.
Folding my legs beneath me, I join my friends sitting on the floor. Tilting my head, I focus my attention on JT. “Did the washing machine ever get all the glitter out of your laundry?”
He rears back, hissing through his teeth. “Devil women.” His arms flail as he tries to point at four of us at once. Tessa, Savvy, and I may have had a hand in helping Kay glitter bomb his and Trav’s luggage before they left Hawaii.
“I much preferred when you likened my best friend to herpes than when you’re cursing me with the herpes of the craft world, Short Stack.” Trav pouts from his stretched-out lean, canting his head in Kay’s direction.
Mason shrugs, utterly unconcerned with the razzing.
“Don’t try to make me feel guilty for you getting the punishment you more than deserved.” Kay arches a brow and drops the octave of her voice. “You know what you did, QB1.”
Her deadpan delivery and the parent-level scold to her tone has our group whooping it up. Tessa and Mason’s siblings Livi and Olly whine about how they missed out on all the vacation fun. Finally, after Kay suggests maybe they take a page out of Savvy’s book and chill, she turns her attention back to me, squirrel moment officially over.
Welp, guess she didn’t forget about her original question.
“So…you wanna tell me what has you adding double whips and Arabian double fulls in your tumble passes?” She eyes me with a pinch between her brows. “You don’t typically throw stuff like that.”
When I first realized who Kay was, I couldn’t comprehend how one half of the best partner stunt pairings—JT being the other—wasn’t cheering collegiately. Sure, all-star cheerleading is kind of its own self-contained world, but the partner stunt duo of JT Taylor and PF Dennings was the most famous one in our circuit. I still remember when they burst onto the scene in high school. The tricks they attempted were some of the most challenging and creative seen in competition.
But…
Now that I know her better, I understand why she opted to step away from competing to coach. She has this instinct for knowing her athletes, for picking up on their strengths and weaknesses by observing them. It’s why she knows, without question, that was not a standard tumbling pass for me.
I shrug, shaking my hands out, then stretching my arms over my head. “I had some things to work out.” You’d be surprised how easy it is to up the level of difficulty of your skills when working through personal shit.
“Do those things have anything to do with a certain shy roommate of yours?” Tessa asks knowingly, a hint of singsong creeping into her tone.
Of course she knows.
Everyone knows.
Everyone except CK, that is.
I huff out a breath and flop backward onto the mat, staring up at the hundreds of banners displaying NJA’s accolades.
Wow, look at all those national and world titles they’ve won.
“If you think giving her the silent treatment will make her forget the question, you’re sorely mistaken.” Savvy sounds almost bored, as if her experience in their long friendship has desensitized her to Tessa’s extraness. “Tess is like a damn dog with a bone when she smells the possibility of a love story.”
I choke on my saliva, hope springing eternal inside me. “A love story?” I croak.
“Ooo, YASSS!” Tessa forward rolls, jumping to her feet and executing a textbook-perfect toe touch, complete with spirit finger waving hands thrown in the air when she’s done. “You do know roommates/forced proximity is one of my top favorite tropes to read.”
“Careful, Tess,” JT cautions with a smirk, “your love extraness is showing.”
“When is it not?” Savvy asks in the same tone as earlier.
“Do not hate on my love for romance novels, Jimmy.” Tessa wags her finger at her brother then props her hands on her hips. “I’m a freaking fount of untapped expertise.”
“You’re something alright,” JT mumbles, but not low enough to not be overheard if Tessa’s annoyed growl is any indication.
The bickering commences in earnest, but it’s nothing more than white noise as my mind whirls with the same thoughts that have been churning through it all day.
What’s it going to take to make CK notice me?
I flirt with him all the time.
I smile at him.
I play with my hair.
I touch him any chance I get—his forearm, his hair. I sit as close as I can so our bodies brush against each other.
Still…
Nothing.
The man doesn’t treat me any differently than he does Kay and Em.
No…
Wait…
Scratch that. He does.
Sure, he has these moments of shyness with my friends, but with me? With me, it’s like he withholds himself…more.
It wasn’t until everybody else was gone and I busted out my arsenal of trusty Post-its that things started to change.
They did change, right?
Covering my face with my hands, I let out a rebel yell, the sound not muffled nearly as much as I would have hoped.
Pushing up onto my elbows, I’m met with wide eyes and raised brows. “Don’t judge me.” I huff.
“We would never,” Kay is quick to say, zero hint of sarcasm in her words. “But…” She pulls a face that has me pushing to sit up fully. Curiosity has a surge of adrenaline pumping through my veins when she trains her gaze on Tessa, who breaks into a beaming smile. “Maybe T has a few tips you could employ.”
“OH MY GOD, YAAAAASSS QUEEN!” Tessa snaps and drag queen shimmies with her cheer, eyes shining brighter than all the overhead lights combined.
“Now you’ve done it,” JT mutters. “She’s sleeping at your place tonight, PF.”
Tessa proves how much she could be Kay’s sister and rolls her eyes. “Please, it’s Friday.” She holds a hand out to tack on the Duh missing from the statement. “I’m staying at Bitchy’s.”
Savvy nods in confirmation.
“Great, now I’m gonna owe King a case of beer.”
Again, Savvy nods, this time a sly grin tugging on the right side of her mouth. “If that’s how you pay back my brother for the shit we put him through, you’re better off investing and buying a brewery. But fear not”—she pats JT’s bent knee—“Carter isn’t the Royal we plan on torturing tonight.”
My gaze locks with Kay’s, and that rush that comes from when you telepathically communicate with your bestie flows between us.
At her nod, I suggest, “Well…if you change your mind, you could always tell him how I lost one of my crisis negotiators because of bodyguard”—I bounce my shoulders and waggle my eyebrows—“interference.”