Chapter 26
Ethan
When I wake up the next morning, I'm grinding against my friend with my arm over his waist. In my shock, I practically leap backward and end up off the bed.
The sound of my fall and the curse of pain I mutter is enough to wake Logan, who turns over and blinks repeatedly as he looks at me, in a mix of confusion from the sleep and the situation.
"My bad. I didn't account for the size of the bed," I whisper so as not to end up waking Charlie too. Logan gives a sideways smile and lets his head fall back onto the pillow, covering his eyes with his arm.
I sigh and finally get up off the floor.
I can't think of anything to say.
"So, buddy, was it good for you? Because for me it was the craziest and best experience of my life.
Shame I got really turned on by you too in the middle of the process and almost asked you to let me suck you.
But don't worry, it'll pass! And if you want to do it again, I'm in.
Can even be without the sucking thing. Or the kissing. "
Fuck.
I rub both hands over my face and run my fingers through my hair while I try to force my brain to work at 100 percent and, mostly, not to try to look at my friend still very naked under a white sheet.
I sigh and stretch my neck at the same time as I tap a finger on the screen of Logan's phone, which is on the nightstand. The big numbers reading 8:45 make me curse again.
We had practice in fifteen minutes!
I smack Logan's arm and he uncovers his face to look at me.
"It's 8:45!" I warn in a low voice, and the other player's eyes go wide.
"Fuck. We're going to be late!"
"Oh, no we're not. You have exactly five minutes to put on your uniform and meet me at the door. We'll wolf down some fruit on the way and that'll be it!" I decide and practically run out of his room.
Fourteen desperate minutes later, I park in front of the training center and we run inside, even passing Coach Frank and his assistant on the way, like it's no big deal.
The assistant can't resist laughing, but I don't care because, technically, we arrived right on time and Frank won't be able to make us do 200 push-ups or sit-ups.
After going over almost every play from the last game, analyzing the mistakes and wins of the victory, we move on to a not-too-heavy agility drill and then to physical therapy.
On the way back to the locker room, though, is when the magic happens: Johnny comes out of the shower and opens his own locker. A cloud of glitter flies out from the force with which he yanks the door, and the whole team stops to look and try to understand.
Logan and I look at each other, making a herculean effort not to be the first to laugh and end up giving ourselves away, but then Johnny, until now also frozen, finally reacts.
"WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS?" he exclaims and pulls out his shoulder pads. A lot, but a lot of glitter falls from the piece, and the whole team explodes with laughter.
"Come on, Blakely, if you wanted a sparkly uniform that badly, you could have just asked!
" Zac mocks, and the other player huffs with rage.
He shakes the piece, shouting curses and questions about who did it, but it's a big mistake, because the shimmer sticks beautifully to his body, still a little wet from the shower.
Logan and I laugh so hard that I find myself forced to sit down so I don't fall, out of breath. Not even Maddox can keep a straight face and laughs so hard his eyes water.
I take the chance to snap some photos of the situation so I can show Charlie later. I even wanted to film it, or better, do a live call with her, but I can't keep my hand steady in the middle of the laughing fits.
"We're going to have to change the name on the back of his jersey. Now it'll be Sparkles!" It's Dennis who suggests, and I could kiss him for it. It was perfect.
The laughter grows, along with a chorus of "Sparkles, Sparkles, Sparkles!", and with all the commotion, the coach and a good part of the coaching staff burst into the locker room right after. Frank uses his whistle and nearly deafens us, since it echoes in the room, and we shut up real fast.
"What the hell is going on here? Do you think this is a circus and...
" Frank starts to yell, but he finally reaches the hallway where we're gathered and freezes at the scene.
He looks Johnny up and down, complete with shimmer everywhere, skin red with rage, and several equally gleaming pieces of clothing around him, and then... the most impressive thing happens.
Adam "Grumpy" Frank, as he was secretly called around here, bursts out laughing. Obviously, everyone goes back to doing the same.
When he manages to stop laughing a little, the coach points at Jonathan.
"You must have done something really bad to deserve this prank, Blakely.
And good luck trying to get rid of it," he remarks, and my cheeks even hurt.
It was going way better than I expected.
"Go shower again and see if you can get some of it off, and then, deal with your locker.
Tomorrow I expect to see it completely clean again. "
"I have to clean it? They do this shit to me and I'm the one who gets punished even more?" he complains, completely and totally pissed off. Frank shrugs.
"Sure. You think anyone's going to volunteer to help you?" he mocks, pointing at the team. "And I'm not going to make someone from the cleaning crew suffer over this. If you're the one who pulled a prank and got retaliated against, now you face the consequences."
"But I didn't do anything!" Johnny keeps trying, but the coach just raises an eyebrow at him in a "yeah, sure" and turns around. The assistant, Glenn, even pulls out his phone and takes a photo of the scene before running off too.
Jonathan walks off cursing toward the showers, and little by little the circus winds down. Not before sharing the photos and videos of the moment among ourselves. Zac had managed to film it well enough for us to show Charlie and Maddie later.
Logan and I leave a few moments later, and I spend the rest of the day alternating between attending classes and having fun with the fallout of the prank on social media.
After this, Jonathan Blakely was going to have a hard time recovering his status as popular and a player.
Charlotte
To say I had fun with all the footage of Jonathan Sparkles would be the understatement of the year.
Me, Ethan, Logan, Maddie, and Zac spent hours on the lawn of the Gamma Delta Pi house just going over and commenting on that glorious moment, plus liking every post about Johnny.
I'd give anything to have been there watching it all from the front row, but just hearing about it had already been incredible.
By the number of curses that had arrived in my message box, my ex managed to put two and two together and reach the conclusion that the one responsible for the prank could only have been me, but I just laughed at the number of notifications and didn't even bother opening them, finally blocking him on every social network.
He had no way to prove anything, so I wasn't the tiniest bit worried.
The risk of retaliation was low too as long as I was under my roommates' wings.
I empty my cup of beer and feel my bladder ask for relief.
"I need to go to the bathroom, can I use the one in your room, Z?" I ask my cousin's now-boyfriend, and he answers me with a thumbs-up, since he'd just stuffed a piece of cheese into his mouth.
"I'll go with you," Maddie says, getting up along with me.
We go up to his room, which is surprisingly organized and clean for a fraternity resident.
I use the bathroom quickly and find my cousin sitting on her boyfriend's bed and staring at me with that face of someone who wants to pull out all my secrets.
"What is it, twin? You know I hate when you look at me like that without even blinking," I complain, but she doesn't stop the analysis.
"There's something different about you and I'm trying to figure out what it is."
I break into a fake smile to try to escape.
"There's nothing different about me."
"Yes there is. I know you like the back of my hand."
"You're delirious this time, my love. Should we head back to the pool?" I try, holding my hand out to her. Maddie accepts and stands up, but doesn't stop staring at me.
"You're hiding something... Why won't you tell me?" she accuses, and I sigh.
"Because I'm not ready," I admit, and it's true. I wasn't the least bit ready to think about last night. About having wildly given myself to two guys and being dying to do it again.
Maddie seems to sense my anguish and squeezes my hand.
"Should I be worried?"
I smile sideways at her concern.
"No. I promise not," I say, looking her in the eyes this time so she knows I'm serious. She narrows her eyes, but nods after a moment.
"Okay. And you'll tell me when you're ready?"
"You know I will."
"It'd better be. If you get yourself another best friend, you know I'll kill you," she threatens, and I crack up.
"Okay, you goof. I promise never ever to replace you. Now let's go already, I still haven't liked all the tweets with Sparkles memes," I say, pulling her out the door. Maddie laughs and follows me back to our boys.