Chapter 10
Bennett
“Nope.” I shake my head.
“Pleeeeeeease.” Aria pouts. “Come on. It will be fun.”
“Since when did I ever think football is fun?” I raise a brow.
“It’s one game, it’s not going to kill you,” she pleads. “You’re not going to make me go alone, are you?”
“I thought you were meeting up with Taylor?”
At the mention of her name, Aria’s face flushes. Huh.
“I am. But come on. Your boyfriend is playing, don’t you want to go and support him?”
“Roland isn’t my boyfriend.” I sigh.
“Not yet.” She wiggles her brows.
“We’ve gone on one date. That's it.”
“And you’ve studied together a few times. Hung out at parties.”
“He's a nice guy, I like hanging out with him, but I’m not ready for another relationship. Especially not while Liam is sniffing around. They might not be friends, but they’re on the same team, and I don’t want to cause issues between them.”
“Who cares about Liam’s feelings? He didn’t care about yours when he was cheating on you.”
“Ouch,” I mutter.
“Sorry.” Her face shifts to guilt. “But I’m not wrong.”
“We’re just having fun, seeing where things go.”
I like Roland. He’s a nice guy, fun to be around. And I can’t deny that we had a good time the other night on our date.
But as soon as I saw Easton, my attention was taken from the nice, attractive guy sitting across from me and solely on my broody roommate.
“Still. As a friend, come support.”
“Fine, fine.” I raise my hands. “I’ll go. To just this one game.”
“Yay!” She cheers. “Thank you.”
I walk Aria back to her dorm and head home to shower and change. I’m not a big fan of football, but because my dad has been the coach for SVU for years, I’d often come to his games or hang out with him during practice.
Hockey is my sport. But if Aria wants me there, I guess I’ll go.
And, she is right. It wouldn't hurt to be there to cheer on Roland.
“Ready?” Aria asks, standing in my doorway an hour later.
“Yeah. I guess.”
“Gee, don’t sound too happy about it.” She chuckles.
“I mean. Yay! I can’t wait.” I put on a fake, cheery smile.
“That’s more like it.”
We head downstairs, and I’m surprised to find Taylor waiting there. “Hey.”
She smiles. “Hey.”
We’ve seen one another a few times in passing since the night she spent over here, but this is the first time we’re hanging out.
“So, have you locked a naked Easton out of the room again?” Taylor asks, catching me by surprise.
We’re walking down the path through campus over to the football field. There’s no point in driving if you don’t have to, parking would just be a nightmare.
“Nope.” But I did see your boyfriend in the shower and then later had a jerk off stand off with him.
A spark of guilt flickers. Taylor is a nice girl. She doesn’t deserve to have her boyfriend doing inappropriate things with another person.
Is what we did considered cheating? My stomach sinks. I hope not. I know what it feels like to be cheated on, I don’t want to do that to someone else.
Whatever Easton is going through regarding his sexuality, he shouldn’t use Taylor in the process. It’s not fair to her.
Maybe he’s bi and not gay. Either way, he’s not completely straight, that much I know.
The thought has emotions fluttering forward.
If Easton really is into men, is that something he’s always felt, or is it new?
Am I bringing this side out of him?
No. I’m thinking way too much into it.
“So... you play sports,” Taylor says randomly.
“I do.” I chuckle.
“Do you have any silly little superstitions?” she asks.
“Oh yeah,” Aria speaks for me. “As soon as they win a game, Bennett wears the same boxers. Thankfully, he washes them because, ew.” Aria shudders. “But he still wears them to every game. The things are four years old and have holes in them. But he keeps wearing them.”
“Hey.” I chuckle. “As long as they hold everything in, and our team wins, there’s nothing wrong with them.”
“Easton has one too.” Taylor laughs. That has my ears perking up. “He has these old, holey socks. I swear all his toes stick out. Sadly, he doesn’t wash them. At least not until after the season is over. Thankfully, it’s only on game days. But god, his feet stink afterward.” She laughs.
Wait... she can’t be talking about the socks I threw out last night?
My stomach sinks. Fuck. I thought they were just old, gross socks Easton hasn’t gotten around to throwing away.
I was pissed off to find them sitting on his bed last night when I got back.
I asked him to wash them because they really did stink.
I thought he was just leaving them out to be an asshole.
I didn’t think about what the socks meant to him.
“I forgot something back at the house. You two go ahead, and I’ll meet you there.”
Turning around, I take off, heading back towards the house.
“Bennett!” Aria calls after me, but I keep going.
Jogging up the stairs to my room, I rush inside and to the trash can near my bed. “No.” I groan when I realize I took the trash out this morning. “Fuck!” I run my hands through my hair and over my face, scrubbing hard.
“What’s wrong?” Danny asks when he finds me searching through the bigger trash in the kitchen. I shoved the bag in there to fill it up before it was taken out.
“I think I accidentally threw something out this morning.”
“Well, it wouldn’t be in that bag. Tyson took out the trash a few hours ago. And the garbage man came already.”
I close my eyes and sigh. Fuck.
“Was it important?"
“Nah.” I wave him off, going to wash my hands. At least not to me.
I can’t believe I just dug through the trash for a pair of stinky socks. For a man I hate?
What the hell is wrong with me?
“Where are you going?” he asks as I head for the exit.
“Going to the football game with Aria.”
“You and football?” Danny asks.
“I know, I know.” I chuckle.
“Wait up!” He follows after. “I’ll come too.”
“You don’t like football.” I give him a questioning glance as we head out of the house.
“Nope. But I’ve gotten to know some of the guys. They seem pretty cool. I'll come and support them.”
We start walking toward the football stadium. I’m in my own head, that guilty feeling remaining. They’re just socks, Bennett. You didn’t know. They looked like they belonged in the trash, and that's where they ended up.
Still. It really wasn’t my place to make that decision.
“So, you and Roland...” Danny asks, pulling me out of my inner thoughts.
“What about us?” I ask.
“You two together or something?”
“I mean, we’ve been on some dates. But I wouldn’t call us together.”
“Cool, cool.”
“Why are you acting weird?”
“No reason,” Danny says. “He seems like a cool guy. But not your type.”
“No?” I chuckle. “And what's my type? Liam?”
“God no,” he scoffs. “That asshole shouldn’t be anyone's type.”
“Then who’s my type if it’s not Roland?”
“Well, he is a football player, but he doesn’t have blond hair and blue eyes. I’m thinking black hair, hazel-green eyes, and a permanent scowl on his face.”
I falter, shooting him a surprised look. “You are not talking about Easton, are you?”
“I mean...” Danny shrugs. “I see the way you two look at one another.”
“Like we want to kill each other? Like we hate each other?" I defend. “Because that's how it is.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know you two hate one another. Have for years.”
“But?” I sense he’s not done with the topic.
“But I also see the sexual tension.” Danny grins.
“You're blind then. Easton is straight. That's the whole reason why we stopped being friends. Punched me in the face for kissing him, remember? And he has a girlfriend.”
“Okay,” he says, not sounding convinced. “Whatever you say.”
“It is absolutely not like that, not even close,” I growl.
“Don’t bite my head off,” he chuckles.
“You got it wrong. Roland is my type.”
Danny’s face falls. What the hell is that about?
We don’t talk the rest of the way. Whatever I said seemed to upset Danny.
I want to ask what I said wrong, but we’re already heading into the stadium.
I text Aria, and she says she's waiting in the stands and saved me a seat.
Turning, I go to tell Danny, but he’s already gone.
Shit. What the hell did I do?
Sighing, I find Aria and Taylor.
“Got what you needed?” Aria asks.
“Ah, yeah,” I lie. “Forgot my wallet. Might want to get something to eat or drink.”
We sit and make small talk, but my head isn’t really in it. Not that the girls seem to mind, Taylor and Aria chat away, like the best of friends.
It’s weird, but it’s also nice to see my bestie bond with another girl. She could use some more girlfriends.
The game starts, and the whole time my eyes are on Easton. I can’t tell how he’s feeling from up here. I’m too far away to see his facial expressions.
Every time the other team gets a point, my stomach drops. But every time our team scores, I perk back up.
It’s a fucking rollercoaster.
It’s halftime, and the cheerleaders come out, but my eyes find Easton. He’s at the bench, grabbing a bottle of water. He takes a drink before spraying some on his face. He shakes out his wet hair, and fuck me, my cock twitches.
Why the hell is that so hot?
Shaking my head, I force myself to look away. My eyes land on Roland. He’s doing the same, cooling himself with water. He gives one of his teammates a bright smile, tossing his head back and laughing.
Nothing. My dick does nothing. Huh. Well, that's not good.
My eyes flick back over to Easton and find him watching me. From here, I can see the scowl on his face.
Ah fuck. He knows, he has to. He looks like he wants to wrap his hands around my neck and watch the life drain from my eyes.
I bite my lip, my knee bouncing as the game starts up again.
In the end, they win, and I let out a sigh of relief. See? He didn’t need the socks, the team did just fine without them. Maybe whatever pair he’s wearing now can be his new good luck charm.
As everyone starts to leave, I follow Aria and Taylor, staying close by so no drunk assholes bump into them.
“Party at old Rodger’s field!" one of the football players shouts as they exit the field.