Chapter 29
Charlotte
Because of the fire and the week we spent without classes, the university administration decided that the way to make up for it would be by sacrificing the Thanksgiving break.
I don't even need to say how pissed off everyone was, even the families.
Well, maybe not everyone, because the whole Royals team was still on cloud nine.
They'd won the last match and were officially qualified for the Bowl game in December.
According to Logan and Ethan, their campaign had truly been perfect, with nine wins and only three losses over the whole regular season, finishing in third place in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
I didn't really understand the importance of all this, but they told me so excitedly and fulfilled that I listened to everything and gave them lots of congratulatory kisses.
Among other rewards.
However, when it came to the holiday, our only day off would be Thursday itself, and as a form of consolation, Maddie and I had convinced the guys at the house to throw a celebration dinner. I even would have preferred it here at the guys' apartment, but it wasn't big enough to fit everyone seated.
Because of that, that day I woke up early and put the turkey in to roast. A turkey that Logan, Ethan, and I made a huge mess seasoning the day before, since each of our moms had sent a recipe and we fought to decide which was the best. In the end, we ended up making a hodgepodge of all of them, and prayed it would come out tasty.
Maddie and Zac were in charge of the sides, and Trey and Dennis of dessert. And God knows what would come out of that.
I'm finishing getting ready in my bedroom bathroom when Logan appears behind me, going with his hands straight to my waist. I smile at him through the mirror while I put a light shadow on my eyelids.
"Almost ready, princess?" he asks, giving me a kiss on the neck.
Strangely, moving up to this level of affection and intimacy with the blond man had been much more natural than I'd imagined. It was like we'd just... all fit together.
They kissed me before heading to practice, laid their heads on my lap on the couch on weekends, after coming home exhausted from a game, or we simply sat on the living room rug, each studying on our own laptop, just for the pleasure of spending more time together.
"Five more minutes," I answer, and he nods. When I finish the eyeshadow, I turn my body to face him.
"You look handsome," I compliment, running a hand over the dark blue shirt he's wearing. His hair is wet from the recent shower and he smells so good it makes me want to bite him. "And very, very good-smelling," I add, which makes him grin from ear to ear.
"Thanks, you too. Beautiful, good-smelling," he says, leaning down to run his nose along my neck, "and too hot for your own good. I'd better not think too much, or I'm going to want to tear those boots off with my teeth."
I instinctively wet my lips. I'd chosen one of the pieces my mom sent from home: a cream-colored wool dress, high-necked and long-sleeved, but ending mid-thigh.
Right below, the white square-heeled boots came up to my knees.
I'd felt beautiful when I tried it on, but it was nice to see him like it so much.
I murmur a thank you and almost lose myself in the expression of raw desire that takes over his features as he stares at my lips. I feel my pulse quicken, dying to kiss him, but if I do that, I know he's going to mess me all up and we'll be late for dinner.
It takes a lot of willpower to push him away gently by the shoulders.
"Stop thinking about how much you want to put me on this counter and go take the turkey out of the oven so we can bring it," I ask, and he laughs. I turn my body back to the mirror and reach for the mascara.
"It wasn't on the counter I was thinking about," he claims, and I raise an eyebrow, incredulous. He laughs more and takes a long look at my butt. A total shameless one. "This time the idea was to press you against the wall and fuck you from behind."
His admission followed by a wink makes me bite the tip of my tongue, causing myself pain to avoid falling into temptation. I elbow the damn player.
"Get going, or I'll never be ready and the turkey will burn!"
"Okay, okay. But I'm going to revisit this idea when we get back," he warns, giving me one more kiss on the cheek before finally leaving the room.
I use the makeup palette to fan myself, chasing away the heat Logan left.
Damn. Now I wanted him to take me against the wall, but I'd have to hold that idea for later.
There were more people inside that fraternity than expected.
I'd only invited Tessa, but three of the other residents there dragged their girlfriends along, and Dennis said he'd "only invited his closest friends," which consisted of eight people.
Luckily, almost everyone had the sense to bring something to eat, and in the end we had a room with more than twenty people, but also a table loaded with food.
I didn't even get to try a little of everything and I was already full, resting lazily in Ethan's lap.
People gradually dispersed after dinner, going to their rooms or other places.
In the end it was just the three of us left, my cousin and her boyfriend, plus Trey and Tessa.
Those last two were actually caught up in their own little world, flirting with each other, which I was loving to watch.
"Did your parents dress you two the same as kids?" Logan asks, curious, and my cousin and I laugh.
"Sometimes, but almost always by accident. Our moms take that whole twin-connection thing way too far, so they'd buy similar things without realizing it. Only when we went out and I saw Charlie wearing the same top as me would we find out," Maddie says, and I laugh remembering it.
"How bizarre." It's Zac who remarks, looking from me to his girlfriend kind of fascinated.
"Yeah. Luckily we grew up soon and started picking our own clothes," I say and take advantage of Logan finishing his dessert to stretch my feet into his lap. He lets a sideways smile appear as he starts giving me a massage.
"And have you ever tried to switch places? Like, take a test for each other?" It's Ethan who voices his curiosity now.
Maddie and I trade a knowing smile.
"Just once. I was bad at geography and Maddie had bad grades in history, so we tried to switch, but we got caught immediately because she's always been taller than me," I confess, and the whole group laughs.
They make us show photos of our parents and of the two of us as kids, but I only agreed by asking that everyone do the same, which made it all even more fun.
I find out Logan had his two front teeth a little bit apart and I feel sorry they took that away during the phase when he had to wear braces.
I thought it was really charming. Zac, on the other hand, had been the cutest, chubbiest baby I'd ever seen, and I swear I heard Maddie's uterus scream the moment she laid eyes on it.
I was going to tease her a lot about that later.
But the highlight of the night was thanks to Ethan and his photos as a mini figure skater. I'd forgotten that detail he mentioned on our first date and now I was simply enchanted.
"Look at him proud with his gold medal!" Maddie exclaims to Ethan's phone, where he'd gathered the photos in a folder and was passing it through everyone's hands. "And this little girl here is a cutie too. Do you still talk to her, Ethan?"
He shakes his head.
"No, she moved to Canada that year. I was in love with her and I refused to try another partner after she left. That's why my skating career came to an end," he says, and there's a collective "aww" from all the girls present. I run my hand over Ethan's chest as a sign of comfort.
"Was it your first broken heart, sweetie?"
"It was. For a while I even kept sending her love letters." The revelation is so cute that I hold his cheeks and squeeze.
"Oh my God, how adorable. I'm sorry for twelve-year-old Ethan's little heart," I say, and he laughs, shrugging.
"It's fine. The next year I discovered football and never let it go again," he explains, and I look at him fondly. "It wasn't bad discovering either that I could kiss the girls I liked," he adds, with a mischievous air, and we laugh.
"And in high school he met me. That's when I taught him how to really have fun," the blond man with his hands on my legs says, and Ethan shakes his head like he's saying "yeah, sure it was."
"I didn't know you two had known each other since high school, I thought it was from college," I exclaim, looking from one to the other.
"Yeah, I've been putting up with this pain since I was fifteen, when I moved to Dover, and he still managed to follow me here," Logan complains and takes advantage of his arm stretched along the back of the couch to deliver a little smack to his friend's head.
"Quite the opposite. I applied to Lexington first and he copied me.
He even got into another university in California, but he clearly can't live without me," Ethan mocks, earning a tongue stuck out from Logan.
"Not to mention he likes to have everything I have," he adds after a few seconds, and both the other player and I widen our eyes.
Ethan laughs, unbothered, and kisses my cheek. Out of the corner of my eye, I watch him give Logan a light head-stroke too, who looks at him with a certain disapproval, but doesn't pull away or comment on anything.
I disguise a satisfied twitch of the lips and snuggle even more against the two of them. I keep thinking about when they would realize that they'd been touching each other much more since we started all this, and that they were dying to do it behind closed doors too.
I hoped it would be soon.