Chapter 11 – Three To One Odds
Saturday
“Jacob! I was just looking for you!” I tried to hug him, but Axel was still holding my wrist. So I kind of just waved my hands in the air instead and laughed.
Jacob smiled. “What are you doing?”
“Trying to hug you,” I said.
“She’s heading home early,” Axel said at the same time.
“Psh.” I swatted his hand off my wrist. “I was not doing that. I was just telling Axel all about my kiss thief. Remember when I thought it might be him?” I laughed. “Oh! But I know who it is! You’ll never believe it. Get this. It’s Leo the Rugged Thief.”
Jacob frowned. “Leo? Really?”
“Yeah, and I think I agreed to be his girlfriend too. So now that you know, I can go break up with him.”
“Um...what?”
“It’s a long story,” RJ said.
I tried to step around Jacob but he blocked my path. “I need so much more information, Scarlett.”
“And I need to go break up with my other boyfriend.” I tried to step around Jacob but he blocked my path again.
“Stop talking about your other boyfriend. You only have one.”
“No, I have two.”
“Can someone please explain to me what is going on?” Jacob asked.
I got distracted by someone walking by with a tray of brownies. I grabbed one. “Here, these are delicious.” I handed it to Jacob.
“What do you mean by that? Did you try a bite?”
“Several. I ate a whole brownie. And if you’re not going to eat that one...”
Jacob held it out of my reach. “You ate a whole brownie?”
“Yes?” Why was he looking at me like that was a bad thing?
“Which one of you idiots let her have a brownie?”
RJ laughed. “I didn’t even get a chance to stop her. She downed the whole thing really fast.”
“It feels like everyone is calling me fat,” I said. “Which is very rude. Have none of you ever learned manners?”
“Scarlett, these are pot brownies,” Jacob said. “You’re high.”
What?
“Which is why I was taking her home,” Axel said.
“She can’t go home,” Jacob said. “If her dad sees her like this she’ll be grounded forever.”
“It’s just a little weed...” RJ started.
“A little is a lot to her! She doesn’t do drugs.”
RJ shrugged.
“I’m high?” I touched my face. “Oh my God, I can’t feel my face! Is it still there?”
Jacob put his hand on my shoulder. “You’re fine.”
I kept touching my face. “My boyfriends liked my face.”
Jacob laughed. “So why does she think she has two boyfriends?”
“Because I do,” I answered for myself. “I’m dating you. And I’m dating my kiss thief. Who is Leo. Can you believe it? I went on a date with him last night...”
“Excuse me?”
“It was more of a reveal than a date. He definitely thought it was a date though. And I did have dinner and dessert. Only because it was my favorites. It wasn’t my fault.
He knew too much about me. It was very manipulative.
And I wanted to tell you it was a date to begin with, but I was worried you wouldn’t let me go.
Because you thought it wasn’t important to unmask him and it was very important to me... ”
“Scarlett, if you’d told me it was important to you I wouldn’t have stopped you.”
“Good, so we’re on the same page.”
“No, we’re not on the same page. I would have wanted to be a part of whatever mission it was. And I still don’t understand why you think you’re dating him?”
“Because I am dating him.”
RJ laughed. “She wanted to tell you about the date herself. And she somehow backed herself into a corner where she thought if she appeased Leo by saying she was his girlfriend, he wouldn’t tell you about the date first himself.”
Jacob sighed.
“Ah! Do you hear that?” Music was filtering into the room. “This is my jam!” I grabbed Jacob’s hand and pulled him down the hallway.
“Scarlett...”
I ignored him and kept pulling him down the hall and into the living room. When we reached the makeshift dance floor I spun around and pressed my ass against him.
“Scarlett, we really need to talk,” he whispered in my ear.
“I’d rather dance.” I leaned down and then sprung back up.
Jacob coughed when my hair hit his face. He grabbed my hips and turned me around. “Scarlett.”
I laughed.
He smiled. “You’re so high.”
I laughed again.
“At least tell me...nothing happened on your date, right? You didn’t kiss him?”
“Of course not,” I said. “I’m in love with you and only you.”
He smiled.
“Now can we please just dance?”
“Okay, you win. We can talk later.” His hands settled on my hips.
“Actually, I think there is more I need to tell you. But I can’t remember.”
He lifted one of his hands and tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear. “It’s fine.”
“Do you forgive me?”
“Of course I forgive you. I just wish you talked to me about it.”
I’d tried. I really had. “I’m sorry.”
He smiled and stepped back.
“Wait...”
Instead of walking away he lifted his hands above my head and pretended that they were a showerhead.
I laughed and pretended to wash my hair with my hands.
I wasn’t sure what I’d been so worried about. I should have just told Jacob the truth. I started jumping up and down to the beat of the music, singing at the top of my lungs.
“It’s our song!” Sophie yelled and grabbed my hand.
The three of us started dancing.
Yeah, I had no idea what I’d been so worried about. This was the best night ever.
The song changed but we didn’t stop dancing. I wasn’t sure I’d ever felt so alive before. Jacob spun me around and Sophie slapped my ass.
I laughed and Sophie pulled me close for a second.
“I’m taking it that you told Jacob the truth?” Sophie whispered. “Because you look so relaxed.”
“I did! And he was so cool with it.”
“Really? Good for him. I thought he’d freak out for sure.”
“I know, right? He’s the best boyfriend ever.”
“You’re amazing!” Sophie yelled to Jacob. “Very few men would be cool with knowing that their girlfriend went to third base with someone else the same night she started dating you. You’re very confident.”
Oh crap. That’s the thing I’d forgotten.
“What?” Jacob asked.
“Super chill, man,” Sophie said. “But I guess she did practice with you first.”
Jacob had stopped dancing. He was just standing in the middle of the dance floor. “You sucked Leo’s dick? What the fuck?”
“I...no...I...”
“I thought you told him?!” Sophie yelled. “Scar!”
“I forgot...”
“Hey, babe,” Leo said and pulled me into his arms.
Before I had a chance to respond, he pressed his lips against mine.
Ah!
I didn’t kiss him back. But it didn’t matter. My lips were against his lips. Right in front of my real boyfriend. Gah!
I was about to push him back, but before my hands could collide with his chest, Leo was already being pulled off of me.
Jacob had his hand around Leo’s bicep. “Get the fuck away from my girlfriend.”
Leo pushed Jacob off of him. “Dude. She’s not into you anymore.” He turned and smiled at me. “Didn’t you tell him what we did...”
Jacob’s fist collided with the side of Leo’s jaw and Leo fell to the ground.
“Leo!” I screamed. And that had been the exact wrong thing to scream. Because Jacob looked super pissed. And he was too busy looking pissed at me to notice what Leo was doing.
Leo stood up and rammed his shoulder into Jacob’s stomach.
The two of them fell to the ground.
“Stop it!” I screamed.
RJ walked up next to me. “Just what I was hoping for.”
“RJ, make them stop!”
He sighed. But then he grabbed the back of Leo’s shirt to pull him off of Jacob.
Leo tried to elbow RJ, but RJ dodged it.
“You did not just try to hit me.” RJ lifted his fists and took a swing. His knuckles collided with Leo’s nose.
I was so tempted to yell “Leo” again, but I kept my stupid mouth shut.
Leo shoved RJ backward and RJ almost ran into me. Sophie pulled me to the side.
“I’m so so sorry,” she said.
It wasn’t her fault. It was mine.
Jacob took another swing, and I thought I saw blood splatter on the floor.
“Eli!” Sophie yelled and waved Eli over from across the room.
He walked over.
“Stop this madness, please.”
“Sure thing.” He walked over and pushed Leo out of the way of another swing. “Bro, stop beating up our kicker.” He shoved Jacob backwards.
And Jacob immediately shoved him.
Oh no.
A few people started chanting, “Fight, fight, fight!” And then it tumbled into everyone chanting.
RJ cracked his neck to the side. “It is so on.” He jumped onto Eli’s back.
“Stop it!” I yelled.
Eli spun around, knocking RJ into Jacob. Just as Leo slammed into Jacob’s back. Somehow all four of them ended up on the floor.
I looked around the room. “Someone make them stop!”
But everyone was just chanting, “Fight, fight, fight!”
Damn it!
“I thought you said you told him,” Sophie said. “I’m so so sorry.”
It didn’t matter how many times she said she was sorry. The four of them were going to kill each other.
Billy O’Reilly had pulled off his baseball cap and was collecting bets on who would win.
“Billy!” I yelled. “Stop them!”
“But there’s three to one odds...”
Gah! I grabbed someone’s cup of beer and threw the contents onto the pile of them.
Most of it somehow landed in Leo’s mouth. He spit it out as his fist collided with RJ’s face.
“I didn’t do what Sophie said!” I yelled. Well, not in the way Jacob had taken it, anyway. “Everyone stop it!”
No one listened to me. “Jacob! I didn’t do that! Stop!”
“I know who can help,” Sophie said. William was walking toward the kitchen. But Sophie grabbed his arm.
He was the biggest guy on the team. He was a great choice to help us.
“Get in there,” Sophie said. “Please.”
He smiled. “Okay.”
“William the Beefcake can handle this.”
Was that the name we’d decided on? Because I kind of thought it was something else...
William walked over and kind of crawled between everyone. He had the biggest smile on his face when someone’s hand touched his butt.
“Gah!” Sophie yelled. “I forgot that he liked that!”
“Sophie!”
“I’m sorry! Wait, there’s Liam!”
We ran over to him.
“Liam, can you please stop this somehow?” I asked.
He looked at the guys fighting. “Yeah...no. I’m not getting in the middle of that.”
“Liam!”
“Mom and Dad will kill me if I come home with another black eye.”
Wait, really? I didn’t know he’d gotten in trouble after his boxing match.
The music cut out.
I turned around to see Axel standing on top of a table. He put his fingers in his mouth and whistled. “Anyone still fighting in five seconds is cut from the team,” he said very calmly.
“Can he do that?” I asked.
Sophie shrugged. “I have no idea.”
But the threat was enough.
Jacob, Leo, Eli, and RJ all froze. William did too. And he looked the most disappointed.
Axel jumped off the table, like that was the end of that.
Jacob slowly stood up. He grabbed RJ’s arms to help him to his feet too.
Jacob spit some blood out onto the floor. “Stay away from my girlfriend, Leo.”
Leo turned to me. “Tell him...”
“Leo, can I please talk to you in private?” I said.
“Not happening,” Jacob said.
Okay then... I looked around. I hated that everyone was watching.
“I’ve got you.” Sophie ran over and got the music to start up again.
I walked up to Leo. “I’m so sorry. But I’m still with Jacob.”
“Seriously, babe?”
Jacob shot him another dirty glance.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “We...um...we worked it out.”
Leo looked at Jacob and then back at me. “But you love kickers.”
“No, I love Jacob. I’m sorry about all of this. I really am.”
“But what about last night? We had such a good time.”
He’d made that seem like we’d done way more than dinner. And I saw Jacob ball his hands into fists out of the corner of my eye.
“I’m sorry,” I said again. “I’m staying with Jacob.”
Leo sighed. “Well, when you’re ready to hang out with your kiss thief again, I’m here.” He walked past Jacob, bumping his shoulder into him.
Jacob shook his head and just stared at me.
I stepped closer so no one could hear us. “I didn’t blow him,” I whispered.
“Then what was Sophie talking about?”
“Leo...um...went to third base on me. Not the other way around. I’m so sorry. I wanted to tell you...”
“But you didn’t. I flat out asked you and you lied to me.”
Technically Sophie had lied. But I hadn’t corrected her.
“I’m sorry.” I felt tears welling in the corners of my eyes.
“When Leo did that at homecoming, all I was thinking about was that I wished it was you. I came and found you right after. Jacob, I’m so sorry.
But I was upset that night. I thought you liked Olivia and... ”
Jacob exhaled slowly. “Come on.” He put his hand out for me. “We’re going home.”
“Okay.” I slipped my hand into his.
Jacob pulled me off the dance floor and into the entranceway. We walked out of the party in complete silence. He didn’t say a word to me as we got onto the elevator. Or when we walked outside. Or when he helped me into his truck.
Whatever high I had was completely gone.
And I really wished I’d gotten to eat another brownie.
Because that was a lot more fun than this tension.
The silence between us was unbearable. But the alternative was worse, I guess.
Because I was pretty sure that whenever Jacob started talking to me again, he’d be breaking up with me.