Chapter Twenty-One
My Gracie Girl - Wyatt
I’m playing video games with Nolan, and he’s kicking my ass. Repeatedly.
I glance over at my phone on the end table next to me. Sebastian is at Phi Sigma tonight, doing me a solid.
He’s keeping an eye on that asshole Asher Ryan for me. I haven’t heard from him yet, and I just want to know that Grace isn’t being hassled.
“Dude, why are we even playing?” Nolan asks as he scores another hockey goal on the screen. “You’re looking at your phone more than the game.”
I toss the controller aside and rub my hand over my face. “I’m worried about my fake girlfriend looking at a guy who wants to be her real boyfriend” isn’t exactly the answer I can give Nolan.
“I haven’t heard from Sebby. I just want to make sure Ryan isn’t making my girl uncomfortable.”
“Okay, you’re being an idiot,” Nolan declares, putting down his controller. “Have you noticed the way Gracie looks at you? Dude. She practically has stars in her eyes.”
I find my pulse quickening with this revelation. I mean, at times I thought it could be true, but I didn’t know if it was wishful thinking on my part. Or then I’d panic that I wanted it to be true.
“It doesn’t matter what Ryan does, she’s locked into you. Now get up off your ass. We’re going to Milo’s. Or Salt & Foam, or The Study Hall,” Nolan says, ticking off the most popular bars with OCU students.
I stare at him in surprise. “Yeah?”
Nolan usually goes when a group of us are going out, since we don’t give him an option, but he rarely initiates it.
He rakes a hand through his hair. “Yeah. I need to get back out there and meet some girls.”
“Are you looking to hook up?” I ask, shocked. “Because you just said you don’t want a relationship a week ago.”
“I don’t know. I thought I would just hook up, and then I saw you with Grace at dinner …” Nolan trails off for a moment. “It made me remember the good parts about being with Sarah. I want that. It’s who I am, if I’m being honest.”
I stare at him. Are Grace and I that real in our fake relationship that it even makes Nolan want to get out there again?
Then I leap to another thought. Could Grace be truly feeling the same things I am? Real things that Sebastian and Nolan are picking up on?
Buzz!
My phone vibrates on the end table, and I see it’s from Sebastian:
Your girl is fine. Ryan is attentive but keeping his hands to himself and not saying anything you’d get mad about. He did eye fuck her when she got up to another water, though.
Anger burns through me. Fuck him. Fuck Ryan for trying to weasel in on my girlfriend.
Because that’s exactly what he’s laying the groundwork for.
Ryan is setting himself up to take my place, and yes, I know this isn’t real, but Grace deserves better than this bullshit.
He didn’t make a move for a semester, and the second she’s with me?
He suddenly wants her because he can’t have her. Asshole.
“Nolan. I’m going to see if I can get Grace and some of her friends to meet us at a bar. Is that good with you?”
“Getting her out of Ryan’s eyesight?” he teases.
“Yes.” I don’t even try to deny it.
“Fine.”
I text Grace:
Do you care to meet your boyfriend at a bar after your function tonight? I’ve got Nolan, so if you want to bring some friends, you can. I know you have an early morning tomorrow, so it doesn’t have to be for long.
I hit send.
Soon I see that Grace is messaging me back:
Yes!! Can you come get me? I’m ready to go. McCall is out, so is Maddie, but I’ll see if Sofia will join us.
I can’t stop smiling. “Get ready,” I tell Nolan. “We’re going to pick up my girl at Phi Sigma.”
***
As soon as Nolan and I are outside of Phi Sigma, I shoot Grace a message, letting her know we’re here and ready to go.
It’s going to be her and Sofia. They won’t be able to drink, since they aren’t twenty-one, but I know Grace won’t last long anyway.
She has to get up at five thirty tomorrow to go to swim practice, and she told me she gets tired early because of it.
Yet here she is, willing to spend some time with me tonight.
I keep my eyes glued to the door, waiting for her to come out. Music can be heard from the backyard, and I know there will be some partying done tonight. I decided to drive so Nolan can drink, and that way I can take Grace home instead of her grabbing an Uber.
The door opens again, and this time, Sofia walks out first, followed by Grace, both of them clutching a single red rose in their hands.
And as soon as I see her, my stomach is filled with butterflies.
Grace is hot as fuck in a sexy black dress.
It dips into a nice V in the front and is short and shows off her long legs.
The dress has these long sleeves, but it’s sexy that not all her skin is showing.
My throat grows dry as I watch her walk.
Her hair is in a low ponytail. A ponytail I envision pulling back so my mouth could have better access to that neck of hers as I explore it with my teeth and tongue.
I quickly rub my hand over my face, wishing I could slap myself instead. I’ve got to get my shit together. Stop thinking about her like that. She’s not mine. Not for real. This all ends after the first weekend of hockey in October.
But she’s mine for now, my stubborn side reminds me. And that’s all that matters.
“Hey!” Grace says, a big smile lighting up her beautiful face. “I’m so glad you’re here!”
I reach for her and pull her into my chest, wrapping my arms protectively around her. I feel her hands move around my back, and I love how it feels when she touches me. I drop a kiss on the top of her hair, and I can smell her shampoo. It’s sweet, but not like vanilla or honey. What is that?
“How’s my girl?” I ask as she steps back from me.
“Better now that I’m with you,” she says.
A rush shoots through me. “Yeah?”
“Yes,” she says.
I reach for her free hand, locking her fingers around mine. Then I look at the rose, and having done enough fraternity events, I know it’s from Ryan. But at least every girl got a rose. It’s not like he put any thought into it or picked a creative flower for Grace.
“Hi, Nolan,” Grace says. “This is my sorority sister, Sofia. Sofia, this is Nolan, he’s one of Wyatt’s roommates.”
Nolan smiles and shakes Sofia’s hand. Sofia is a pretty girl, with light brown hair with blonde in it, and light brown eyes.
She also has a splash of freckles across her nose and cheeks.
I don’t know if Nolan will have any interest in flirting with her, but at least she’s a cool girl, so we can all hang out for a bit.
“I drove,” I say, tilting my head down the street. “That way I can take you home when you get tired.”
“Oh, you didn’t have to do that!” Grace says, shaking her head. The streetlight catches her ponytail holder, and I notice it’s a silver pin with crystals. I’m distracted for a moment, watching how her blonde hair and jewelry shimmer in the light. “We planned to Uber back to the house.”
“I know I didn’t have to, but I wanted to,” I say firmly.
I wanted to because it’s more time with you, I admit to myself.
“A-plus,” she says to me, smiling.
She feels like my girl for real when she smiles up at me like that.
My Gracie girl.
“Where are we going?” Nolan asks. “Do you ladies have any preference?”
“I’m twenty, and Sofia is nineteen, so that kind of limits things,” Grace says.
“Right,” Nolan says. “Salt and Foam is a brewery and restaurant, so we can go there, and Milo’s is considered a sports bar and restaurant, so you can go there, too.”
“You guys like Milo’s, don’t you?” Grace asks.
“It’s not about what we like,” Nolan teases. “We’ll go where you and Sofia want to go.”
“Milo’s is fine,” Grace says. She turns and looks over her shoulder. “Is that okay, Sofia?”
“Of course.”
We continue to walk, and I hear Nolan and Sofia talking.
I decide to ask the question I really want to ask Grace. “So how was your mixer?”
“It was fine. Asher was nice.”
I try to remain poker faced. Oh, I bet he was nice. Asshole.
“Good,” I say, trying to sound casual.
“I also reminded him I have a boyfriend.”
Now I turn and look down at her. “Yeah?”
“Of course.”
Inside, I can feel that stupid warmth spread across my chest again. “I see.”
But the warmth goes cold when I remember Asher could be laying the groundwork so when the opportunity comes his way—like when we “break up” in October—he can make his move.
Dickhead.
“Sebastian got Maddie,” Grace says, interrupting my thoughts.
“Oh?” Maddie is a cute girl. I wonder if Sebastian is excited about that. I mean, yeah, she has a boyfriend, but he sounds like a douchenozzle, and Sebastian does love a challenge. Hm. That could be interesting.
“Yeah, but he was kind of weird. He kept calling her Madelyn.”
I furrow my brow. “That’s weird.”
“I thought so, too! I was hoping you could explain why he’d do that.”
“To be annoying?” Nolan calls out.
I chuckle. Nolan has this sick skill of being aware of everything going on around him. It comes in very handy when playing hockey, but it can be weird in regular life.
“She definitely found it annoying,” Sofia confirms.
“Speaking of annoying, McCall had the most annoying buddy,” Grace continues. “All he could talk about was being a Phi Sigma or his Phi Sigma brothers.”
“McCall told me he must have taken a bath in his cologne before coming downstairs,” Sofia adds. “She went home with a headache.”
“How was your buddy?” I ask her.
“Oh, he was nice. Basic.”
“What’s basic?” Nolan asks.
“We had a vanilla conversation, and he was a copy and paste of any other college bro. There wasn’t anything interesting about him. And I want more than interesting. I’m holding out for exceptional.”
“As you should,” Grace says.
“I’ll know it when I find it,” Sofia says firmly. “I’m not wasting my time with basic.”