He sat up and showed me what looked like a shirt in his hand. “I came over to bring you this.”
I had been so distracted with Harper and then the sex conversation with Slate that I hadn’t even noticed he’d been holding something in his hand.
He unfolded the shirt and held it up with two hands. The navy fabric shone with the gold number thirteen, and his name DONAHUE was written above it.
“Your jersey?”
“I have a game this coming weekend, and all the girlfriends come wearing their boyfriends’ jerseys, so I came to bring you mine.”
Standing, I stepped in front of him as he still sat on my bed, more eye to eye with him than when he was standing. Reaching out, I touched the smooth fabric.
He looked me up and down. “It’s going to drown you, but a lot of girls tie a knot on the side.”
I took the jersey from him, holding it up against me. He’d been right when he’d said it would drown me. It came down to my knees. “Um, I’m just not sure if a knot is going to be enough.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, maybe not. I’ll go to the campus store tomorrow and see if they have a smaller size with my number and name on it.”
I draped his jersey on the back of my chair. “You don’t need to buy it for me. I can go get one.”
“I know, but I want to.” He moved to lay back against my pillows, and seeing his large body laid out on my queen size bed made it look more like a twin. He raised his arms and put his hands behind his head, his shirt lifting to show a sliver of his abs. I hurried to avert my eyes so he wouldn’t catch me staring.
“You want to?” I asked.
He wanted to?It obviously didn’t mean anything since we were just friends, but I still couldn’t help the warm feeling his words sent through me.
“Yeah.” He patted the open space next to him on the bed, waiting to say more until I joined him.
My gaze went back and forth between him and the open spot on the bed. Were we really going to lie next to each other on my bed? That seemed way too personal for me. At least with my attraction level to Slate.
“I’m not going to bite,” he said with a smirk.
My eyes narrowed. “If you add the word hard to that sentence, I’m kicking you out.”
He laughed. “Fine, but knowing you knew I was going to say it is all the satisfaction I need.”
I shook my head at him and smiled, joining him on the bed. “You’re insufferable.”
I lay on my side, propping my head up with my left arm, looking at Slate, who was still on his back but had moved his arms to rest on his stomach.
He was slightly propped up on my pillows and was looking straight ahead at my closet doors, his mood suddenly changing. “I want to buy you a jersey because I haven’t had someone come to watch me play in a very long time.”
Oh. That surprised me. He was one of the most popular guys on the team.
“So,” he said, turning to look at me. “It will be nice to have you there.”
“But what about all the thousands of fans who come to watch your games?” I asked. “I thought that would be more exciting.”
He returned his gaze to my closet. “It’s not the same. Having a family member or a friend come to specifically watch you play is different.” He paused before adding quietly, “Or at least it used to feel different than it does playing now with no one watching me in the stands.”
He’d turned somber, going somewhere else in his mind, and I wished I could go with him. I assumed this had something to do with the family he said he didn’t have, but I couldn’t be sure.
I placed a hand on his arm, hoping he might trust me enough in this moment to talk to me. “Who used to come watch you?” I asked in a soft, gentle voice.
He turned to look at me, his eyes open and vulnerable, a sadness seeping out of him. But before I could discern anything else in his eyes, he blinked, and in that one swift motion, his wall was right back up.
“I don’t talk about it. Ever. I barely even talk to Wilder about it on the rare occasion it comes up.”
I nodded, keeping my eyes connected with his, hoping I could convey to him that he could trust me, that I was here for him whenever he needed to talk, even if now wasn’t the time. We hadn’t known each other long, and there was no way I could compete with the kind of relationship he had with Wilder, but it didn’t stop me from wanting to be someone he could open up to.
