“With someone. And everyone was so traumatized by it that I know for a fact it will never happen again. In fact, I’m surprised they even showed up without— Oh.” It all fell into place when I looked at my phone. “Yeah, they texted a few times that they’d be dropping off some groceries and stuff. I put my phone on silent when we came up here.”
“That’s sweet they got you groceries.”
I wasn’t sure whether it was sweet or more of an excuse to come to the house and take a look around. I’d flown out by myself for my sophomore year, so they hadn’t gotten a chance to see the house the boys and I were renting. They’d been to my dorm room a few times last year. They’d come for our first home series. And one other.
And then they came to get J when it was obvious he needed to go home for treatment.
“Sort of,” I said. “My mom’s probably dying to see where I’m living this year.”
“Sounds like a mom,” Megan said. She had discarded the blankets, sat up, and swung her legs off the other side of the bed, her back to me. I could tell her thoughts drifted to her own mom from the way her shoulders shifted, and I reached out and ran a hand down her back. Without turning, she nodded, acknowledging my acknowledgment. Then she got up from the bed and started to retrieve her discarded clothing.
“I’m sure Philly’s here. So it’s not like you’d be the only girl,” I said.
“Yeah, but Philly’s Dex’s girlfriend.” She didn’t need to say the unspoken. That she was notmygirlfriend.
Yet.
“Who knows what—or who—Veeti and Gabe got up to last night. Could be a bunch of girls waiting for my mom’s French toast.”
She waved her hand at the mention of random girls in the house, then my words sank in. “French toast?”
“Yep. One of her specialties,” I answered. I didn’t point out that she didn’t seem to align herself with whomever Gabe or Veeti might have hooked up with, any more than she did Philly. For now, we were somewhere in between random hookup and couple.
For now.
“So. Walk of shame in front of your parents with a side of French toast, or hide in your closet until they leave?”
“That about sums it up,” I said. “But no shame. At least not from them. They’re cool with shit like that. Probably doesn’t hurt that they went through that stuff with J already before they got to me. And they really liked you last night.”
I didn’t go into detail about how much my mom had grilled me about Megan once we went back to their room at the Claremont last night. Once my mom figured out what I was getting at during dinner—that Megan wasThe Girl—she couldn’t wait to pump me for details.
“It was odd to hear him called James at the game. You mainly use J, right?” Megan asked.
I nodded. “From early on. I guess I gave him that nickname when I saw his name on the fridge in those letter magnet things. I just kept saying ‘J, J,’ and it stuck. He was James with, like, schools and stuff, but family and close friends all called him J.”
“Connor called him Mrs., which I thought was clever.” She was putting her clothes on, and I tried to match her movements and get rolling, but I just watched her instead.
“Clever. Stupid. Fine line,” I said.
“Did he hate it? The nickname?”
She had her panties and bra back on, and it was enough coverage to bring me back to my senses, so I got out of bed and went to my dresser for a clean pair of briefs. “He loved it. He’d buy boxes of the cookies and leave them around the locker room after practice.”
“Are you doing that with strawberries?” she asked as she grabbed her sweater off the floor and held it out. Even I clocked how wrinkled it was. I hadn’t given a lot of thought to the morning after when trying to get her naked last night.
“No. But maybe I’ll start this year. Hey, do you want a different shirt? I mean, I think your sweater is fine, but if you want—”
“That’d be great. Thanks. Just a tee would be great. Not only is this wrinkled, but somebody spilled beer on it at the party I went to. It reeks.”
I wanted to ask about the party. Who’d she see? Talk to? Did she flirt with anyone? But I didn’t. It didn’t really matter, and I didn’t want to seem like the guy who asked those kinds of questions. Even though I was totally thinking them. But I’d never been that guy before with a girl, and it was probably not a good idea to start with Megan.
Small moves, nothing big and sudden. Sound no alarms.
Besides, she’d contacted me last night without prompting, and had ended up in my bed.
Who cared about the other shit?
I handed her the smallest tee that I had and also a Bribury Hockey fleece. It was just chilly enough that she might want both. She tucked the tee in the front of her jeans, letting it hang out over her ass (sadly) the way girls sometimes wore their tops. She was a tall girl, but she still swam in my shirt, which turned me on in a way. She put the fleece on over her head and went to the bathroom while I finished dressing. I used the other bathroom, and we met in the hallway when we were both as refreshed as we were going to be.