Chapter 2 – Stella
STELLA
Me
I made it back. Thanks for the link. It provided a nice distraction. Guess who sat across the aisle from me on the plane?
Beau
Harry Styles?
Me
No. Why would I want a distraction from Harry Styles??!!
Beau
Good point. Must have been the whistling ex then. Hope everyone on the flight had ear plugs. I’m glad I could help.
I stare down at our text exchange, re-reading it again and wondering if I should text back. He was nice. Cute, too. Dark hair, square jaw, athletic build with trendy gold, circle-rimmed glasses that gave him a whole hot, studious, muscled-nerd vibe.
I think he was into me. If I’m totally honest, it was hard to read him. But I assume the whole asking to send me the link thing was a ploy to get my number. Although his text doesn’t leave a lot of room for a reply.
I got back to campus over an hour ago and came straight to my dorm to shower and get ready for a night out. My brother Felix is having a party at his place. He shares a house off-campus with two other football players.
I should already be there, but I’ve been wracking my brain for something clever to text Beau. Shoving my phone into my purse, I head out. Holly will know what to say. She’s better with the written word.
At Felix’s house, I knock on the front door, but go in without waiting for an answer. Even if they could hear me over the music playing inside, they’d just yell, “Door’s open,” or “Come in.” Getting up and answering the door for guests is entirely too formal for anything that happens inside.
“Hello?” I call as I walk into the living room. It’s empty, but above the fireplace on the mantle, a speaker sits between empty beer bottles, blasting music.
The house has bedrooms on both sides of the living room. Felix’s roommates, Teddy and Lucas, are on one side and Felix has the other with a small, private bathroom that he won in a drinking game.
I go straight back to the eat-in kitchen. It looks out onto a patio, where the guys have thrown many parties, like the one happening later tonight.
Sliding open the door, I step outside. The keg is tapped and sitting in a big, red plastic bin in the middle of the yard.
Felix and several other guys are playing washers, but Holly is sitting at a table with some of the football guys’ girlfriends and looks up immediately.
I can read the ‘thank god you’re finally here’ look on her face so well, a small laugh escapes my lips.
Holly and I are identical twins. We share the same strawberry blonde hair color and brown eyes. We even have the same number of freckles on our right arm—we counted once.
She gets up to greet me, wrapping an arm around my neck as she does. “I am so glad you’re here. What took so long?”
“Sorry. I got distracted.” I give her a playful smile, which she acknowledges immediately.
“Who is he?”
“Stella!” Felix calls from where he’s playing washers. His roommate and best friend Teddy stands next to him and lifts his cup in a silent greeting.
“I’ll tell you all about it later.” I link my arm through hers. “Have you talked to Teddy tonight?”
Color stains her cheeks. “Yeah. He said hello and asked how classes were going.”
My twin has had a crush on our brother’s best friend for as long as we’ve known him. I think he might like her too, but they’re both so freaking polite to each other, it’s not likely either is ever going to pick up on it.
“Did he use your name?” I lower my voice and do my best impression of the quiet and broody football player. “Hey, Holly. How are your classes going? I could give you a little one-on-one tutoring if you want.” I waggle my eyebrows.
“Oh my gosh. Stop it.” She nudges me with an elbow. “He did not say that. He’d never.”
“But he did use your name, didn’t he?”
She nods slightly.
“He definitely likes you.”
People get us mixed up all the time. It was better in high school because our friends had known us for years, but we’ve only been at Valley U for a few months, and we’re constantly being called by the wrong names. But never Teddy. It’s worth noting he never greets me by name.
As we get closer to the guys, Felix comes forward and hugs me with one arm. “You made it. How was the meet?”
“First place in both my dives.”
He pulls back and lifts a fist for me to bump. “Congrats.”
“Thanks.”
Standing next to me, Holly has gone quiet and stiff. I glance over at the point of her unease. “Hey, Theodore.”
One side of Teddy’s lips quirks up. He has dimples, one of the many things Holly adores about him, and one pops out now. “Hey. Congrats on the meet.”
“Thank you.” I pull Holly a step closer. “How’ve you been?”
The guys go back to tossing washers while we talk, and then Holly and I jump in for the next game.
I love watching Teddy and my sister sneak little glances at each other.
Holly is generally more timid and shy than me, but Teddy is a popular football player so I haven’t figured out why he hasn’t made a move.
Maybe because of Felix? Our brother is pretty protective of us, but Teddy is a great guy.
Two hours later, the party is really going. The backyard is filled with people, more are inside. Holly and I head into the kitchen and find Teddy and Lucas playing video games in the living room, which reminds me of Beau.
“Hey, Stella,” Lucas yells from the couch, but he’s looking at my sister. His gaze darts between us. “Ah shit. One of you, grab me a beer from the fridge?”
“One of us?” I arch a brow.
“I tried.”
“Dude, there’s a keg outside,” Teddy says without looking away from the TV.
“I’m not drinking that crappy light shit,” Lucas replies to him, while giving Holly and me a pouty face with sad, puppy eyes.
Chuckling, I do get him a beer, but then I toss it so it’s good and shaken up. Maybe it’ll spray all over him.
Pulling out my phone, I’m struck with a surprising amount of disappointment that I don’t have any new texts from Beau. I really thought he was into me. Maybe I completely misread his kindness as something more. Or worse, maybe he was taking pity on me because I was yammering on about my ex. Ugh.
Holly pours us both a drink. “Okay. I’ve waited patiently, played three games of washers, flip cup—which you know I hate.”
“It’s so fun.”
“And stressful. I can’t concentrate with everyone watching me.”
I laugh because it’s such a Holly answer. Always happy to be out of the spotlight.
“Tell me who it is,” she begs.
“Who?”
“The guy you’re talking to. It isn’t Eric again, is it?”
“No.”
“Another guy on the swim team?”
I shake my head.
“Who?!” Her brown eyes plead with me.
“His name is Beau. I met him at the airport.”
Her lips part as if she’s going to speak, but it’s several seconds before she says, “Only you would meet a guy at the airport. How did this happen? Does he go to Valley?”
I tell her the whole story. How I was trying to get away from Eric and how I gave Beau my number. She wants to see the texts, obviously, and I drum my nails against my thigh as I wait for her assessment.
“His texts are cute. Flirty and fun. I’d say he’s into you.”
“You got all that off a few texts, but you can’t see how totally into you Teddy is from across the room?”
“Shhh.” She thrusts my phone back at me. “Text him back now.”
“And say what?”
“Anything.”
“That’s too broad.”
“Okay.” She puts a finger to her chin. “You need some common ground. You know that he goes to college and he likes video games. Anything else?”
“I know that he’s very cute.”
“If you respond by telling him how hot he is, he’ll either think you’re a potential stalker or that you’re looking to sext.” She casts a serious stare in my direction. “Are you just looking to sext?”
“No,” I say defensively. “Sexting is so high school.”
Holly laughs. I feel a prick of unease. I don’t have the best track record when it comes to dating, but at least I put myself out there.
“But I get your point.” I scrunch up my nose. “I already thanked him for the link. I don’t know how to spin that into another conversation.”
“Text him and ask for more video game stream suggestions.”
“He’ll see right through that.”
“If he likes you, he won’t care.”
“And if he doesn’t like me?”
“Who would dare not like you?” She bumps her shoulder against mine. “Worst case, he’ll ignore you or he’ll hit you up with a bunch of links and nothing else. At least then you’ll know. No big loss, right?”
“Right.” I let out a breath.
“You really like this guy.”
“I just met him.”
“So?” She casts a quick glance to where Teddy sits in the living room playing video games. “Sometimes it’s just that fast.”