He looked at me a little surprised. “Um, I’m liking them well enough. Some of the seniors and juniors aren’t a huge fan of me, since I’m younger and their biggest competition.”
I could imagine one junior in particular who probably hated Maverick’s guts. Maverick had been offered a full scholarship and was already one of the best players on the team. He definitely had a future in soccer.
I nodded, attempting to be friendly instead of trying to get information. “If the older guys worked harder and had more talent, they wouldn’t have to dislike you. That’s on them, not you.”
Maverick grabbed Ellie’s hand, giving her a smile before turning back to me. “Yeah, the best way to deal with them is to show them up on the field.”
“Are there any guys giving you trouble?” I asked, both because I didn’t want him being bullied and because I was sure a certain guy wasn’t above such childish antics.
“Nah, not really,” he answered. “There’s just this one junior, Josh, who likes to take cheap shots at me any time he can get away with it, but it’s nothing I can’t handle.”
Josh. That was his name. I hadn’t remembered it, but once Maverick said it, I knew that was him. The jerk who had somehow gotten Isla to be his girlfriend. Not that I should care, and really it didn’t have anything to do with Isla specifically, it had more to do with how some girls would get into relationships with shitty guys when they’d actually be better off single.
See? More evidence that remaining single was the better way to go.
“If you ever need us to step in,” Wilder said, “just let us know.”
“Thanks, man,” Maverick said.
I wanted to ask more questions about Josh, but I knew it would look weird, and my friends might ask me why I cared to know so much about this guy. And if I told them it had to do with a girl, they would freak out and assume I had feelings for her. Yeah, right. I’d hardly talked to the girl and besides that, my heart was made of stone. Never once had I felt a flutter, no butterflies. But that wouldn’t keep my friends from jumping on the Slate-finally-likes-a-girl bandwagon, and I’d never get them to shut up about it.
The same girl who had caught my eye with her singing passed by our table, heading toward the bar. I could either stay here surrounded by nauseatingly happy couples, or I could head to get a drink by myself and strike up a conversation with a pretty blonde.
I was already pushing my seat back and standing up before I had finished my thought. A pretty blonde girl was going to win every time. Especially since spending the evening with a woman sounded a whole lot better than listening to Ellie and Maverick tell their story about how they’d been best friends when they were kids, then blah blah blah, they’d miraculously gotten together their senior year of high school. Yeah, hard pass.
I walked toward the bar, and the blonde looked over her shoulder for someone but her eyes landed on me. I gave her my sigh-inducing smile, which had her smiling back, the rise and fall of her chest speeding up as I continued to get closer.
Sometimes it was all a little too easy.
* * *
I walked up the flight of stairs that led to my apartment ready to take a shower and go to bed. It had been a decent night hanging out with my friends at the Wolf’s Den and then ending the night with Blondie. I just hoped that Wilder and Olivia were already asleep. I didn’t mind sharing an apartment with them, but they could get loud sometimes, and then there were other times when they acted like my parents wanting to know where I’d been and what time I’d be home. They meant well, but like I said, if they were asleep, I could get ready for bed in peace.
Rounding the flight of stairs, I stopped at the sight of a girl sitting on the floor in the hallway next to her apartment door.
Isla looked over at me, and I took in her tan legs in cut-off jean shorts, her hair down around her shoulders in loose waves, thinking she made beautiful seem effortless.
I walked up the remaining steps. “What are you doing sitting out here alone at night?”
“My code won’t work.” She pointed up at the lock pad on the door. “I’ve tried putting it in a million times, but no luck. I’m hoping my roommate comes home soon and has a key.”
“You never got a key?” I asked in surprise.
“Nope. Harper just gave me the code, and that’s it. I didn’t figure I’d need a key. I thought that was the whole point of the number keypad.”
I chuckled. “True, but having a key as a backup is a good idea.”
“I can see that now,” she said, gesturing around herself.
“I’m assuming you’ve already tried to get ahold of Harper?” I asked.
She let out a breath. “I’ve called her three times and texted her also. No response.”
“How long have you been locked out?”
“I left to go eat dinner at the dining hall and got back around nine.”
I glanced at my watch. It was getting close to one in the morning. “You’ve been out here for four hours?” I asked in disbelief.
