20. Cecelia #3
The third time Devon comes over, I start to feel a little unsettled.
Is this evidence that they’re moving my treatment fully back to the professional training staff now that they know my knee isn’t in peak condition?
The thought of not working with Solomon anymore is not a pleasant one.
Regardless of what happened in his hotel room last night, working with him has made a huge difference.
There aren’t many people I would have trusted enough to confide about my ongoing fear about the injury.
Hell, I never even told my mom that I was freaked out about my knee.
When we get to campus, Sol has to stay back with the staff to get the equipment off the bus. I really hate leaving without talking to him, but I can’t exactly approach him in front of the other trainers. What would I even say? “Thanks for the sex last night, I hope it wasn’t a one-time thing?”
You’re being ridiculous, I tell myself, but I’m definitely in a worse mood when I get back to the house than I was when I left his bed this morning.
I’m hoping for a little quiet time to get my thoughts together, but of course, all four of my cousins are sitting in the living room when I walk in.
“Ceece!” Cade calls. “Nice game, girl!”
“He didn’t even watch it,” Violet says. “He was pregaming for a party at the football house.”
“Drunk off his ass by seven p.m.,” Ash confirms.
“Why are you hovering?” Vega asks. “Come sit down and tell us about it.”
I’m hovering because I’m not sure I can sit down. They’re going to know something is off in no time. And I really don’t want to get the third degree about this until I can wrap my mind around the way I feel.
“What’s wrong with you?” Ash asks, sitting up straighter to look at me. “Your face is all…weird.”
“My face isn’t weird,” I say immediately, hands coming up to my cheeks. Shit, am I blushing? Of course that makes me think about Sol’s texts. Now I really am blushing.
“Something happened,” Vega says, her eyes narrowed. “You’re not telling us something.”
“I literally just walked through the door,” I say, annoyed. Why do I have to have so many freaking cousins anyway?
She’s still staring at me, and now the others are beginning to study me, too. I know there’s no way I’m keeping a secret for long.
“I slept with Solomon,” I blurt out, then immediately cover my face. “Shit, why did I say that?”
“Oh my God!” Vega shrieks, jumping up. “Seriously?”
“Cecelia,” Cade groans. “I do not need to know that.”
“Oh, shut up,” Vega says. “It’s not like she gave any graphic details.” She looks up at me with pleading eyes. “Will you please give us some graphic details?”
“This is a disaster,” I mutter, sinking down into the nearest chair.
“No,” Violet says, coming over to pull my hands away from my face. “This is a good thing! You really like him!”
“I do! And that’s exactly why this shouldn’t have happened!”
“That makes zero sense,” Cade says, then mutters something under his breath that sounds a lot like, “girls are crazy.” Vega smacks him on the back of his head.
“I’m supposed to be focusing on my season,” I say, my stomach dipping when I realize I barely thought about soccer all weekend—even though the whole point of the trip was our match.
“You can’t focus on soccer and hook up with someone in your free time?” Ash asks.
“Dude,” Cade complains. “Don’t say hook up when you’re talking about one of the girls.”
Ash rolls his eyes and ignores Cade, like everyone should do pretty much all the time. “I like Solomon,” he says. “And isn’t he helping you with your rehab? Seems like he’s good for your season.”
“Did he help you with your rehab this weekend?” Vega asks, her eyes glinting with mischief. “Did he give you massages?”
“I’m out of here,” Cade says, standing. Violet throws a pillow at him as he leaves the room.
“I agree with Ash,” she says. “Solomon seems good for you.”
“Was he good for you this weekend?” Vega asks and Vi pinches her.
“Enough,” she tells her. “Can’t you see CeCe is freaking out?”
“I’m not freaking out.” The three of them look at me and I sigh. “Fine. I’m freaking out.” I pause, trying to get my thoughts together. “But I think I’m mostly freaking out because I’m not freaking out? Does that make sense?”
“Strangely enough, it does,” Vi says drily.
“You think it should be a big deal,” Vega says, not so teasing anymore. “But deep down you’re just happy about it.”
She’s totally right. Logically, I know this could be a mess.
I need to focus on soccer right now, and Solomon makes focusing on anything really difficult.
There’s also the fact that I never let myself get this close to any of the guys I sleep with.
I only spent one night with him and it already feels like a big deal.
And most importantly, there’s his clinicals.
The last thing I want is for him to get into any trouble that could affect his schooling.
So the logical thing to do is treat this like a one-night stand, no different from any of the others that I’ve had, and move on.
But just the thought of doing that makes me feel vaguely nauseated.
“It’s okay to like someone, Ceece,” Vega says, her voice uncharacteristically gentle. I meet Violet’s eye, remembering our conversation before the party. She’d said the exact same thing to me.
Who am I to argue when two of my favorite people in the world—two people who I trust more than just about anyone—are both giving the same advice?
Just then, my phone dings with a text. I scramble to reach for it, not realizing how obvious I’m being until Ash laughs. “She’s got it bad.”
I ignore them all and check my phone. Sure enough, it’s Solomon.
Solomon: Are you icing your knee right now?
Me: Not yet
Solomon:
Solomon: Do I need to come over there and do it for you?
“Oh man,” Violet murmurs, and I look up to see the three of them gaping at me. “You should see your face right now.”
“Shut up,” I mutter, standing. “I’m just gonna…” I gesture vaguely toward my room.
“Tell Sol we say hi,” Vega calls sweetly as I leave the room. I manage to flip her off before I get to the hallway. I can hear the three of them laughing behind me, but I don’t really care. Not when I’m going to be able to hear Sol’s voice in just a few minutes.