“Yes.” I answer all of the above questions with a single word.
“So when are you inviting me over?” Jake smirks.
“Never.” I shake my head.
“Oh, he likes this one,” Jake remarks to Colton.
“You think?” Colt asks, pausing for a minute to reassess the weights.
“Yeah, man. You haven’t been here long enough to know Ben’s habits, but he is notoriously unattached and unimpressed. The opposite of you.”
“You guys going to give me shit for having a girlfriend all year, or when does that get old?” Colton asks gruffly.
“Just saying you’re wasting precious time you could be out there experimenting with all different flavors of pussy. That’s all.” Jake shakes his head.
“I’m good with one.” Colton lifts again and huffs out a breath when he lets the weight drop.
“That where you’re headed now too?” Jake glances up at me.
“I wish.”
“What?” Jake stops his motion and stares up at me. “I was fucking joking.”
“This one’s different, but don’t get too worried. She still thinks I’m a fucking kid and she’s the babysitter.”
“I mean, could make that work…” Jake tilts his head as if he’s considering it.
“Older than you huh?” Colton looks up at me.
“By a few years, yeah.”
“You have a plan?” Jake asks.
“I don’t think there is a plan with her. I wouldn’t know where to start.”
“Better figure it out. Not gonna get a better chance than being her roommate.” Colton states the obvious.
“Yeah, true, but easier said than done.”
“We’ll figure it out.” Jake winks at me, and I don’t even want to ask what he means by that.
“When are you gonna settle down?” I ask him.
“Hopefully just before I clock out of the NFL due to old age. Get me a nice young model, do the kids and the picket fence thing, not a minute sooner. Commitment gives me the fuckin’ hives.”
“You don’t know what you’re missing,” Colton says.
“Yeah, why don’t you tell me all about it then?” Jake smirks.
“Fuck off.” Colton bats back.
“All right. Less talk, more get this fucking work out done.” I nod at the weights, and Colton does another rep.
* * *
As I’m leavingthe gym, I get the email I’ve been dreading. The athletic department has no alternative housing options for me, and I’m on my own at least for the rest of the semester. I grimace at the idea of having to be dependent on Violet’s ongoing charity for the rest of the year. But I’d looked into short term stay places and they were all well outside my budget. All my friends had full houses, and while they could offer me a couch it wasn’t a place where I could keep my stuff and half of them were party houses where exactly zero studying ever got done. None of which I could afford. Getting off suspension required my good behavior and good grades.
I stop at the little bakery around the corner from the apartment, hoping something sweet will help give me a buffer when I have to ask Violet for more time than I was expecting. They’re just getting ready to close and the girl behind the counter grumpily tells me so until she looks up and sees me. Then she smiles.
