5 | Tight-Pants Posse
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"YOU LITERALLY HAVE your own coffee. Why must you drink mine?" I asked Reva as she lifted my cup to her lips and sipped. She nodded in approval, then set it back down where it belonged in front of me.
"Yours tastes better," she said.
"Is that so?" Laughter reverberated from me, and she nodded.
We had art history soon but stopped for our usual drink before heading to class. Despite getting a good night's rest, my head pounded like someone had whacked it with a hammer and I figured it was because of midterms rapidly approaching. Our teachers didn't let us forget we had copious assignments due in such little time. My mind and body yearned for the weekend.
Reva's phone pinged with a text, and she hastily picked it up.
"Who's that?"
I swore I saw nervousness flicker in her eyes. "Remember that girl's number I got from the beach bonfire?" I told her, yes, and she continued. "We've been texting every day since. She asked if I wanted to go to dinner on Friday."
My eyes widened and a squeal mixed with giggling escaped my lips, but I quickly reeled in my excitement. "No way!"
"Yes, way. I haven't been on an actual date in so long, not since Logan and—"
I grabbed her arm, silently letting her know I understood how she was feeling and that she didn't have to go on. Her last relationship didn't end on great terms, and we rarely revisited those memories because of how much havoc they wreaked on her life.
It took many late nights, tear-filled conversations, and Ben they looked very different from on the baseball field.
"Sadie, this is Aiden, Brant, and Jayce, my teammates. Also my roommates, unfortunately," Elijah introduced me.
Jayce, the blond one with muscles as big as Texas, punched him in the shoulder, then held his hand out toward me. "I'm Jayce. It's great to meet you." His grip was firm. "My God, you have beautiful eyes."
I laughed uneasily. "Uh, thank you. It's nice to meet you too." Before I turned to introduce myself to the other roommates, I saw Elijah narrow his eyes and Jayce mouth ' what?'
"You're the art girl, aren't you?" Another guy chimed in. "I came into the art building when Elijah hit that home run."
"Oh, yes I remember you," I said. "Yes, I am the art girl."
"Nice to meet you, art girl. I'm Aiden."
"And she's also the pong champion, don't forget that," the last guy said, "Brant."
I stared at the four guys before me with my bottles of wine and snacks in hand, wondering what the hell I was supposed to say now. "Well, it was great to meet you all," I said collectively. "I have to get home before the ice cream melts."
"Did a breakup happen or something? Does your roommate need a distraction?" Jayce asked. Can people only eat ice cream at 10 p.m. when they've had a breakup? I guess ice cream paired with two bottles of wine and Taki's could indicate a broken heart.
"Oh, no. She needs girl time, that's all." Humor laced my voice.
"Jayce, leave the poor girl alone," Aiden added.
"Well, if either of you ever needs company." Jayce plucked my phone from my arm, ignoring Aiden. "I'll put my number in here."
"We're leaving."
Instead of listening to his friends, Jayce held my phone in front of my face so face recognition could unlock it, and then I watched his thumbs furiously type his number into an empty contact slot.
When he finished, he wedged it back between my arm and body (since my hands were full) and winked. I hadn't blinked since he took my phone. This entire encounter stunned me to where my eyebrows raised nearly two inches on my forehead.
Aiden grabbed Jayce's arm and dragged him out of the store and they simultaneously shouted goodbye. But Elijah stayed a second behind to say, "See you around, Van Gogh."
"See you," I replied, but my voice fell short when Elijah prematurely turned his back toward me and walked away.
The entire car ride back to my apartment, I wondered what the hell occurred.
I knew of Jayce, everyone did. He was—no doubt—the schmoozer of the team, or as the majority might call him, the man whore. I felt that title was too harsh, so I resorted to the flirt.
He could look at a girl and smile, and she would waltz over, unzip his pants, and suck his dick without him asking. I could see why. He carried himself with immense confidence and wasn't afraid of making small talk; or in my case complimenting my eyes and stealing my phone to put his number in it. It was attractive.
The weird thing was, regardless of his reputation, he wasn't an asshole.
I dragged the groceries to our front door and stumbled inside. Reva's neck practically broken to look at me. "Did you read every wine bottle or something?"
I huffed. "No, I ran into the fucking tight-pants posse."
"The baseball boys were at the grocery store?"
Setting the bags on the coffee table with a thud, I corrected her while unpacking the goods. She already had two spoons and wine glasses ready for us. "Not just any baseball player, no. It was Elijah, Jayce, Aiden, and Brant, and guess who's number I got?"
"Elijah?"
"Jayce."
I told her everything that transpired, and at the end, when I was out of breath, Reva threw her head back and released one curt laugh. "Sadie Lane Garner, soon to have every Trumbullen baseball boy wrapped around her finger," she said in an announcer's voice. I covered her mouth with my hand but she said, "Maybe you can get us into a party and baseball games."
"Stop it," I groaned.
She dunked her spoon into the ice cream, gathering a hearty scoop, and brought it to her mouth. "Maybe you won't die alone after all."