Beer?
“I need another one too.” Jaxon follows behind her, and I want to strangle him. “But what I’m looking for is in the cooler outside, which is where I’ll be going now.”
It’s like he read my fucking mind, thank goodness.
“He’s acting weirder than usual.” She jumps up onto the counter.
“Or maybe you haven’t been spending enough time with them recently,” I respond, grabbing her a beer from the fridge, which is typically off-limits during parties.
“Oh, I get one of the special beers.” She grins, taking it from me. “And I miss them. It’s not every day you beat actual hockey players at a virtual hockey game.”
She places the cap between her teeth and pops it off. I thought the beer part made her a girl after my own heart, but that? That was the hottest thing I’ve ever seen.
But also drew my attention to her lips… and—
“What?” She laughs, wrapping her lips around the top of the bottle and taking a long swig. Never mind, that might be the hottest thing I’ve ever seen.
“That was the greatest thing I’ve ever seen,” I respond. “Where did you learn to do that?”
“Somethings are best kept secret.”
“Not that,” I say, handing her my beer. “Can you do it again?”
She easily snaps my bottle's cap off before handing it back to me.
“It’s not that cool.” She waves me off before taking another drink.
“Yes, yes, it is,” I argue. “When the guys find out, they’re gonna go insane.”
“Boys are amused by the simplest things.”
“That’s far from simple.”
She laughs again, but this time I really take it in.
“I’ve missed this,” I say before I have time to stop myself. She stops drinking and looks at me. “Things not being weird between us.”
“I’ve missed it too,” she sighs. “If I’m honest, Zeke’s invited me over a couple times to playNHL 17while you were in class, but I was worried I’d lose track of time—”
“And I’d come home.”
“Yeah.”
“How do I fix this?” I question.
“Fix what?”
“This.” I motion between us.
“There’s nothing to fix.” She shrugs. “We both just admitted we missed this.”
“Yeah, and then you admitted to avoiding me.”
“Declan, there’s nothing to fix,” she repeats. “We just need to work on this econ project and not complicate it. DO our own things, okay?”
“Not okay,” I shake my head, setting my beer down on the counter. “I don’t want to do our own things.”
“It’s not like we’re gonna stay in touch after this project ends.”
