9. Teresa
“So?” Sadie asked as she poured milk into her bowl of cereal. “This weekend kind of went by in a blur, huh?”
“Yeah,” I chuckled as I chewed. It most definitely had gone by in a blur. A hot, sweaty, orgasm-filled blur. Since I had started college, there hadn’t been a day when I’d missed a run or a workout, even when I was dying from a hangover or sick as a dog.
But this weekend, I hadn’t even worn socks! To say Jeremy had kept me tied to his bed would have been a literal understatement. My lips started to twitch, and Sadie started to laugh.
“So, you’ve been dating a baseball boy?”
“He’s a catcher.”
“The catcher,” she corrected. I ignored the way my cheeks burned. I had no idea why this was suddenly hard to talk about. I loved and thrived off girl talk. Or I had in the past. Now, talking about things between Jer and me felt… almost wrong.
“A pretty good one from what I see.”
“What?” My head tilted. “What do you mean?”
“He caught you, didn’t he?” I snorted. The two of us looked at one another and broke into a fit of giggles before I hip-checked her.
“What about you? Little Miss No-thank-you, please-don’t-even-think-about-looking-in-my-direction is dating a future hall of famer!”
“Umm, so are you!”
“Dating.” I started to shake my head. The spoon of cereal that had been halfway up to my mouth froze in the air.
Was that what we were doing?
I knew he’s said a lot of sweet nothings in the heat of the moment. He’d also said a lot of dirty sweet nothings, but that didn’t mean he meant them, right?
“You like him,” Sadie spoke up, breaking the silence. I set my bowl down on the breakfast counter.
“No,” I defensively answered and made a face. “Yes.” I hated lying. “I shouldn’t.” I chewed on my bottom lip. Fear rolled through me, and before I knew it, I was pacing.
“Hey.” Sadie reached for my hand before leading me to the couch. We both sat down and stared at each other. “What’s up? Talk to me. You’re freaking out.”
“I’m…” I hesitated.
Holy shit! I didn’t just like him. I was in love with Jeremy Fletcher.
Him and stupid beautiful blue eyes and crazy ripped body.
But it wasn’t just physical. It was the way he cared.
He watched over me. My adorable stalker.
Because that’s what he was! He had to be with the way he popped up everywhere I was, even before the whole bullying, blackmailing crap he did to me.
Though… was it really bullying if all he’d done was help me with my bio work and give me a place to study and decompress when life was too much during the craziness of the soccer season?
“Tere?” Sadie called, snapping me out of my head.
“I’m totally freaking out.” I swallowed.
Suddenly, everything hit me all at once.
My grades, the heavy practice schedule, my asshole biology professor, and Jeremy. Jeremy, though, if I was being honest, wasn’t necessarily something I was scared of. How could I when I’d fallen in love with him? Head over heels in love.
I just didn’t know where he would fit in my life.
Where will I fit in his?
“Why? From everything I’ve seen and that Jason’s told me, Jeremy’s a good guy.”
“He is.” The best, I thought to myself, but the realization only had my heart pounding harder in my chest. My eyes locked with my roommate’s, the best friend I could have ever asked for.
“How’s stuff with Jason?” I was deflecting and knew it. I was officially a chicken shit!.
“Changing the subject?” Her lips twitched before her face transformed into the dreamiest smile I’d ever witnessed. “Stuff with Jason is good. I… I think I really like him.”
“That’s good. You look happy.”
“I am.” She smiled brighter, and then her features softened. “You know you can talk to me?”
“I know. It’s just…” Words failed me. One, because I didn’t have them, and two, because if I was honest, it felt wrong talking about it with her before Jeremy.
“A lot?” she guessed. I nodded because it was an understatement. “Take it one day at a time.” She shrugged. “That’s what I’m doing.” She sighed. “If I’m honest with you, I’m just waiting for the other shoe to drop.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean…” She hesitated as she got her words together. “Can life, dating, love… really be like this? It feels too right. Too easy somehow.” I felt those words deep.
Being with Jeremy felt too good to be true. Somewhere, somehow, something was going to happen and it would all go to crap.
Were we even a possibility of being more?