Chapter Seventeen Rowan
Chapter Seventeen
Rowan
“Nice job today, men.” Coach Collins stands at the front of the bus and nods his head to each of us as we walk by. “Rest up tomorrow and I’ll see you Monday.”
Vaughn and I are the last two off the bus. Everyone is excited to be back and eager to enjoy a Saturday night without practice tomorrow.
“Are you going to Boone’s party?” Vaughn asks as we walk to our vehicles.
“I’m not sure,” I answer honestly.
“Have to check with Summer?” He gives me a lopsided grin.
Like he’s one to talk. I saw him texting with Lacey the second we got back on the bus after our win.
“No. I’m just not sure I’m feeling it tonight.”
His happy expression morphs to concern. “Everything good?”
“Yeah. Just tired.”
“You’ve never been too tired to party.”
He makes a good point.
“Do you ever feel like we’re just living the same day over and over and over again?” I ask him.
“No,” he says the word slowly and shakes his head side to side. “And now I’m seriously worried. What’s going on with you? I thought the drinking and moodiness was weird last night, but then you played great today so I figured you must have fixed whatever was going on with you and Summer.”
“Summer and I are fine.”
“Fine?” He arches a brow. Okay, that wasn’t the right thing to say, apparently.
“We’re great.”
The intense stare continues.
“I ran into Amanda after the game while I was waiting for Summer, and it just messed with me a bit.” It’s more than I want to admit to him, or anyone else, but hopefully it’ll be enough to send him on his way. “But everything is good now.”
“You two have a tendency to bring out the worst in each other.”
“Me and Amanda?” I ask, a little defensively.
“Yeah. Listen, I like her fine when you two aren’t together, but when you’re talking or hooking up, she doesn’t seem that into you.”
“Ouch.”
“I’m sorry.” He shrugs his big shoulders. “She wants you to want her, but then you do, and she moves on to wanting someone else. Maybe not intentionally, but that’s how it looks.”
“We were never exclusive. She could mess around with whoever she wanted.”
“And you could have to.”
“Your point?”
“You didn’t. You wouldn’t.”
Well, fuck, that stings a little. Maybe I was a lot more into her than she was into me. I don’t know, but it’s the least of my concerns.
“I appreciate you having my back, but I don’t hold anything against Amanda for what happened.”
“Either way. I’m glad to see you with Summer. I like her.”
“You like her because she’s all ‘soccer is everything,’ just like you.”
His grin pulls higher. “Not true. Lacey isn’t into soccer and she’s my favorite person.”
Hearing him call anyone his favorite person would have been mind-boggling a year ago.
“Yeah, but Lacey is into you being into soccer.”
“She does like it when I score.”
The knot in my chest loosens as I laugh at my buddy. It’s good to see him so happy. I unlock my truck and open the door.
“Too much information,” I say as I get in.
* * *
I go home, shower, change, and then sit in the empty living room and stare at my phone, deciding if I should text Summer. I haven’t heard from her since last night. I texted her to make sure she made it home, and she replied to let me know she did and wished me luck today.
I tap out a few messages, asking how her day was and what she’s up to tonight, but I don’t send any of them. I can’t shake the weird feeling that things have shifted between us.
My phone pings and I jump, heart racing, but it’s only Eddie asking if I’m going out tonight.
I should go, have a few drinks, enjoy the night, sleep in tomorrow, and let everything else shake out on its own.
I briefly wonder if Amanda and Ronnie worked things out, but I don’t linger there.
Vaughn’s words hit me again. I thought what we had was fun and comfortable, but maybe I’m misremembering it.
My head spins and the only thing I can think that would be worse than stewing in thoughts about Amanda is sitting in this house all night by myself.
I grab my keys and head out to my truck. I tell myself I’m going to the party, but when I head toward Oakley, I know I’m not making an appearance at Boone’s tonight.
I picked her up and dropped her off the night of Mariah Rieger’s back-to-school party, but it still takes me a few wrong turns before I find her house. My pulse quickens when I spot Summer’s car in the driveway.
I park along the curb two houses down. The lights are on downstairs, and one window upstairs is illuminated. There’s a big tree on the side of the yard that reaches out toward the house, partially blocking my view.
I don’t have a plan, and suddenly this feels beyond stupid.
Am I really going to ring the front doorbell and ask if Summer’s home?
I let my head drop against the steering wheel.
What the fuck? Get it together. I pull back and bang my forehead on the old leather twice, then sit back and rub the spot.
Great, now when I meet her parents, I’m going to look like I was punched.
My palms are sweaty as I get out of the truck.
I walk so slowly the neighbors probably think I’m casing the place.
As I get to the edge of Summer’s house, someone walks by the second-floor window.
I freeze, then her red hair hits the light.
She’s out of view before she notices me creeping outside. One small victory. Looking around, I make a last-minute decision that I hope I live to regret.
With a quick glance around, I walk to the tree and pull myself up to the first branch. It’s a large red maple, thick and sturdy.
My thoughts as I pull myself up, testing each branch before I give it my full weight, then moving onto the next, are: What the actual fuck? You’re a goddamn idiot. This girl is going to be the death of you. Or at the very least the death of your pride.
As I get closer to her window, I seriously consider climbing back down and never thinking of this moment again, but then she comes back into view.
I cling to the trunk of the tree as I watch her.
She’s in a plain white T-shirt and cutoff jean shorts, and her hair is wet, making the color a few shades darker and pulling the curls straighter.
I never realized how long her hair was before.
My gaze drops to the notecards in her hands. I should not be surprised she’s studying on a Saturday night. Good thing I’m here to save her. I start moving again, faster this time. When I’m eye level with the window, I sidestep away from the trunk and hope like hell the branch can hold me.
My weight shakes the leaves against the window and Summer quickly glances this way, then back to her notecards. Swallowing, I take two bigger steps and clutch onto the windowsill. Oh, thank fuck. I let out a breath.
I’m just composing myself to knock when I meet Summer’s wide-eyed gaze two feet away. She hurries forward, mouth falling open.
“What are you doing?” she yells as she quickly unlocks and pulls the window open. There’s still a screen between us.
“Thought I’d drop by,” I joke.
She’s still staring at me in shock.
“Think you could let me in before I fall to my death?”
That spurs her to action, and she frees the screen and pulls it in while I lift myself up and over, falling not-so-gracefully onto her floor.
“Ow.” I grimace as my knee takes the brunt of my landing.
“Rowan, what the hell?” Summer asks as she bends down and offers me her hand. She looks me over like she expects worse injuries.
“I was going for romantic, but I think maybe I misjudged the creepy factor,” I mutter as I take her hand and she pulls me to my feet.
Summer lets out a small laugh that grows as I rise to stand in front of her. I aim a wobbly smile at her.
“Best fake boyfriend of the year,” I say, holding my hands out to my sides.
“Vaughn and Coach Collins would have killed me if you fell and got injured.”
“No, they’d kill me.” I pull my gaze away from her and take in the room. It’s very Summer. Soccer posters, framed photos of her with her friends, and one of her and her brother that I choose to ignore. The walls are a light yellow and her comforter is purple.
“I wasn’t expecting you,” she says and moves quickly to her bed to smooth back the comforter.
“Worried I’m going to find out you don’t make your bed every day?” I ask with a chuckle. “Joke’s on you; I never make my bed.”
“Never?” she asks as she continues to fluff the pillows and pat out the wrinkles.
“Every week the cleaners do, does that count?”
“No.” She laughs again though.
“Yeah, I didn’t think so.”
“I didn’t have time this morning. I woke up late,” she says like she still needs an excuse.
I walk over to a picture of her with two other girls. “Charlotte and Jill, right?”
“Yes.”
There’s another with her and a guy that I think might be the ex, Kevin. I don’t recognize him outside of his flashy, red sports car.
“What are you doing here?” she asks.
I turn to face her. “Saving you from a night of studying.”
She looks like she considers denying it. She shifts uncomfortably, hugging her arms over her chest.
“I can go if you want.” I hitch a thumb toward the window. Getting down could be tricky, but what’s one more death-defying stunt tonight?
“No.” She shakes her head and the wet strands of dark-red hair. “Sorry. I wasn’t expecting you to appear at my window.”
“I did consider the front door, but I wasn’t sure how to explain myself to your parents.”
“They don’t know about you,” she confirms.
“I figured as much.”
“Though they were curious about the guy yelling for me so much at the game last night.”
A small puff of laughter leaves my lungs, and I walk over to her dresser, examining the things strewn across the top. Rings, her phone, a soccer ball. I pick up the last item and hold it in both hands.
“Are they home?” I ask.
“My dad is, but he’s watching baseball so you’re safe at least until the game is over.”
“Baseball fan, huh?”
“Yes, he’s wildly disappointed that neither Silas nor I were interested.”
“Somehow I doubt he’s disappointed in you.” Or her brother, for that matter.
“I heard you beat Pacific.”