Chapter 21
TWENTY-ONE
NOVEMBER
“It’s nice.” My mom steps into my dorm and smiles. Dad hangs in the doorway and gives a tentative glance around.
“Dad, you can come in.”
He moves only an inch farther inside. Since my parents were in Mexico when I left for college, this is the first time they’re seeing my dorm outside of the pictures I’ve sent.
“Where’s Ava?” my mom asks now inspecting her side. The Vampire Diaries poster and the collage of pictures that is basically a shrine to Trent.
“She’s visiting her boyfriend.”
Dad frowns. “You stay here by yourself on the weekends?”
“Not every weekend. Besides I’m not exactly alone.” I motion behind him where people are moving up and down the hallway.
I set the bag of new towels Mom brought me on the floor by my desk. “Should we head over to the arena?”
Riding to the game with my parents feels a little strange like I’m back in high school and reminds me of the times Bryan and I rode down to Valley with them.
It’s a fleeting feeling of sadness at the thought of my ex, but as soon as Valley U takes the ice and I see Heath, Bryan is completely forgotten.
I sit forward in my seat to get a better look.
He and Adam skate out next to one another. Adam scans until he finds us in the crowd. He smiles and lifts a hand to greet my parents. Heath notices and follows the movement to our family. I wave back as I stare at Heath.
He smiles, drops his gaze, and then does his own scan of the crowd. His mom and her boyfriend are in for the weekend too. And though he didn’t tell me, I know it’s the first time she’s come to a game. I heard Adam and Rhett asking him about it earlier this week when I was hiding in his room.
Grand Canyon is the worst team in the division, and they didn’t bring their A game tonight. Valley leads by two after the first period. On the plus side, Adam is playing great, so my parents don’t care that the game is a snooze fest.
I head to the bathroom during intermission and run into Taryn as I’m going back to my seat.
“Hey.” I pause and move out of the flow of traffic. “I wasn’t sure if you were here tonight.”
“Yeah, of course, I am. Wouldn’t miss it.” Her red hair is pulled back in a high ponytail with blue and yellow ribbons. Adam’s number is painted on her face. I have a flash of jealousy at how proudly and openly she displays her loyalty and fandom for my brother.
“Are you going to meet up with us for dinner after?”
She twists her hands in front of her and nods. “Yeah, Adam asked me to come. I’m a little nervous about meeting your family.”
“Don’t be. They’ll love you. Do you want to come meet them now and get it over with?”
“I don’t know.”
“Come on. Let me introduce you, and by dinner, you’ll be sharing embarrassing Adam stories with my mom.”
A slow smile spreads across her face. “Yeah, okay.”
As I predicted, my parents love Taryn. By the time the game ends and we get to The Hideout, they’re completely enthralled with catching up on Adam and learning more about his girlfriend. I’m able to half-listen and stare across the restaurant to Heath and his table.
Maverick is with him, and they sit across from a woman with light brown hair and small features.
I catch her smile as she turns her head to the man sitting beside her.
He has a thick head of gray hair and a strong jawline and muscular arms that defy his age.
They look happy. Heath looks… well not uncomfortable exactly, but like the outsider.
To a bystander, you’d think Maverick was the one related.
He looks far more relaxed and like he’s enjoying himself.
That’s just Maverick though — he’s always comfortable in his skin.
Rhett’s girlfriend Carrie is here this weekend too.
They’re celebrating their five-year anniversary and the two of them sit up at the bar.
She’s nothing like I expected. Rhett is so nice and sweet, and Carrie is a little harsh and rough around the edges.
When he introduced us, she didn’t even fake a smile. Maybe she has resting bitch face?
I glance back at Heath. He’s got RBF right now too.
“Right, Ginny?” Adam asks, breaking my surveillance of the Payne family.
“Sorry, what?”
My brother smiles like he’s onto me and my cheeks warm. Shit, was that just totally obvious I was staring at Heath?
“I was telling Mom and Dad that you hang out at our apartment pretty often too. That it’s nice and not the pigsty they are imagining.”
“I wouldn’t say often, no.” I shake my head. “I’ve been over a couple of times.”
“What? No way. You’re over at Reagan and Dakota’s all the time.” He looks to my parents. “Our neighbors are cool, and we hang out a lot.”
I’m slow to nod and my pulse is thrumming much too quickly as I realize he isn’t talking about the times I’ve been over at his place and hidden in Heath’s room.
“Right. Yes. We’ve become good friends. I’m actually considering moving in with them next year.”
“Out of the dorms?” My mom frowns.
“Yeah. Just like Adam did his sophomore year.”
“That’s not exactly the same,” my dad points out.
Adam smirks, knowing how it rankles me when our parents give him differential treatment for being a guy.
Yes, I get that some things are safer for him because he’s male, but I don’t think this is one of those things.
I could probably pull up statistics for crime in dorms versus apartments, but can’t they just trust me?
I don’t argue for now. It’s a year away, and I don’t want to spend this weekend annoyed with my parents.
Heath’s table finishes with dinner first, and they get up and head toward the door. We’re just out of their path to the exit, but Maverick moves to us with a big grin.
“Hello, Scott family.”
“Mom, Dad, you remember Johnny Maverick?” Adam asks, dropping an arm around the back of Taryn’s chair. “And Heath Payne?”
My parents say their hellos. Heath doesn’t introduce his mom, and there’s an awkward beat before she steps forward. “Hello, I’m Lana Payne. Heath’s mom.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” my mother responds with a warm smile. She’s always been good at making people feel at ease.
“Are you guys heading out already?” Adam asks.
“We can pull up more chairs,” my dad offers.
Mav looks to Heath, who glances to his mom. “You guys probably want to get back to the hotel?”
I’m not sure if it’s a question or statement and neither is she. Lana nods, though I detect maybe the slightest disappointment. “It has been a long day.” She smiles stiffly. “If you two want to stay with your friends…”
“Nah, I’m tired too. Mav?”
Mav’s brows pull together. “Sure, man, let’s go back. I’m beat.”
“Catch you guys later,” Heath says, finally meeting my gaze and letting it slide around the table. “Good meeting you Mr. and Mrs. Scott.”
They walk off from the table and out of The Hideout.
After they’re gone, my attention and desire to be out wanes.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m enjoying seeing my parents, but I talk to them almost weekly, so there’s not a lot to add.
And… I might also be thinking of a certain boy.
I don’t know his family dynamics. I know his father died when he was young and I know his mother hasn’t visited him at Valley, but I don’t know the why or how and if the two are related.
Heath isn’t very chatty about his family, and okay, we haven’t done a lot of talking lately. When we decided to date, we caved to months of sexual tension and haven’t come up for air yet.
Mom and Dad drop me off in front of the dorm and I head up to my room. I unlock the door, push it open, and flip on the light. Movement catches my eye and my heart goes to my throat. “Oh my gosh, you scared me.”
Heath sits on my bed, his back against the wall, and his long legs hanging off the side.
I glance back to the door. “That was locked, right?”
“Your RA let me in.”
My brows raise up toward my hairline. “She did?”
Rachel, my RA, isn’t known for being all that lenient on rules, which hasn’t ever really bothered me since I don’t spend that much time here.
“I told her I was surprising you for our one-year anniversary.” He looks a little embarrassed which makes me laugh.
“Have you ever had a one-year anniversary?”
“Nah.” He chuckles. “It was the first thing that came to mind with Rauthruss and his girl’s big anniversary this weekend.”
I move to the bed and sit next to him. “Six-month anniversary?”
He shakes his head. “I’ve never even had a one-month anniversary.” A small shrug of his shoulders and then he leans into me. “What about you?”
“Bryan and I were together for two years. We didn’t really celebrate the milestones. For one, we could never agree on the date. He thought it was March third and I swore it was the seventh.”
Heath’s chest moves with a silent laugh and he takes my hand, running his thumb along the inside of my palm.
“How was dinner?” I ask.
“Weird.”
I scoot back against the wall and lean my head against his shoulder. “How so?”
He lets out a breath and brings our joined hands to his thigh.
It’s a few moments of silence before he answers.
“I knew meeting Kevin would be weird. He seems nice, but he’s just like this stranger who is the center of my mom’s world now, and I don’t know her life like I used to.
Even Maverick’s random jokes and comedic commentary couldn’t push past the awkwardness. ”
“I’m sorry.”
He sits tall and I do the same so I can look at him.
“It’s over. Besides, she seems good so that’s worth something.” He clears his throat. “So, back to this anniversary thing. Why do people get hung up on the number of years or the exact date?”
I want to ask him more about his mom but can sense his need to talk about something else. “I’m not sure. I think people like to have milestones to celebrate or maybe it makes them feel like their relationship is the gold standard if they can slap an award on it.”
He grunts a response.
“But also, it’s just sort of nice to look back on a year or twenty of your life and reflect on how it might have been different if you hadn’t been together.”
He studies me carefully, and I feel like I’ve gone too girly on him. It’s a romanticized version, I admit.
“What would you do if you made it an entire year with the same girl?”
His eyes widen, playfully exaggerating as if he’s horrified by the idea of a relationship that long—maybe he’s not exaggerating, but he grins. “I’m not sure.”
His mouth finally captures mine. Maybe it’s because we aren’t in danger of being caught or maybe he’s just exhausted from the day, but our kisses are lazier.
We take our time just kissing without rubbing up on one another, no hands roaming beyond the face and neck.
It’s unexpected but nice. Soft and sweet in the sexiest way.
When we finally lay down on my bed, he removes my clothes between kisses dropped on my lips and body.
I tug at the hem of his shirt and he lifts it and tosses it to the floor.
We’ve never been completely naked at the same time.
My heart rate skitters when I finally get the full skin to skin contact I’d only imagined until now.
Whether it’s because he hasn’t wanted to or because he’s read my hesitation, I’m not sure, but Heath and I haven’t had sex. We’ve done practically everything but.
The largest part of me wants to, but something inside of me still screams for me to hold back.
I hate to acknowledge that something because I think it has everything to do with the way I held out on having sex with Bryan for years and then as soon as I did, he broke up with me.
I get that it wasn’t the sex, and maybe I still would have slept with him even if I knew it was going to end.
But the fact of the matter is, it scares me that the same thing might happen with Heath.
His dick twitches between us and heat pools at my center. There’s a lump in my throat as I find my voice. “I don’t think I’m ready. Is that okay? I mean, I want to do other stuff, just not that.”
His hands frame my face, and his blue eyes stare deeply into mine. “Of course, it’s okay.”
He savors my body in a way I’ll remember forever. Taking sex off the table only makes him more creative, and he gets a well-deserved A plus in that department.
We fall asleep still naked and I take note of a different type of anniversary—the first time you realize you’re falling for someone.