Chapter 9
CHAPTER NINE
STARVING BY HAILEE STEINFELD
I lift my hand to knock on the door and bring it back down right away.
I wipe my hands on my jeans, feeling the sweat gather.
Dear god, he gives me nervous sweats, mostly because everything with him is so go with the flow.
I never know what is going to happen. Also because he’s in full control.
I lift my hand to knock again, and the door opens this time.
I’m faced with a very attractive, not as tall as Bellamy, but still tall Griffin, and his girlfriend Jade.
“Hi, you must be Kamryn,” The pretty girl speaks.
She’s got light caramel hair, and natural curls that frame her soft skin. Her skin is brown, but not as dark as Griff’s. She does her makeup perfectly, I notice a pretty light pink in the corners of her eyes that highlights the dark color of them.
“Yes, and you’re Jade right?”
She smiles, her lips curling over her perfect white teeth, “I am.”
She shakes my hand, and I smile at Griff.
“Take care of Archer for me. We’re out for the night. See you around Kamryn,” Griff pulls Jade along and leaves the door open for me.
“Bye!” I wave to the two of them, watching them walk down the long hallway.
I start to walk in the door without watching where I'm going and run into something hard... Someone hard, actually. I look up, horrified I’m going to find Lawson, but luckily finding Bellamy instead. I sigh in relief, and he smirks.
“So excited to see me...” He jokes, and moves me inside his apartment, kicking the door closed behind us.
“I thought you were Lawson, so I got nervous,” I admit.
“That reminds me...” He turns away from me. “LAWSY!” Bellamy screams, and I flinch away from his loud voice.
I step around Bellamy, finally getting a view of his apartment.
It’s narrow, two stories. There’s a catwalk above us that gives a view of the entire living room.
The couch is large and dark blue and has no pillows…
What else should I expect from three college boys?
There’s no tasteless decor though, which is something I can appreciate.
I hear a loud crash from above, and out of the bedroom on the far right side of the catwalk above comes a dirty blonde idiot, falling out of his doorway.
“I’m up!” He yells and that’s exactly what it looks like.
He just woke up, most likely due to Bellamy’s screaming.
“Good, now leave,” He tells him, and I swat Bellamy’s arm.
“He doesn’t have to leave,” I whisper.
“It’s fine Kamryn, I was leaving anyway. Your grumpy ass boyfriend knew that, he’s just been an ass all day,” Lawson says.
I nod my head and look at Bellamy.
“I haven’t done anything,” He argues.
Lawson shuts his door behind him, and walks across the catwalk toward the stairs, still having not brushed his hair.
“That’s not true. He had us clean the whole apartment the entire day, he even made me clean my bedroom!” Lawson complains like a child, and I smirk. It’s obviously Lawson isn’t as put together as his friend. I find it oddly charming though.
“Well, I didn’t want it to look bad,” He defends himself, which makes my smirk turn into a smile. I watch as Lawson slides on his shoes, and walks past us, pushing Bellamy away from him. “Going to pick up Sienna?” Bellamy asks and Lawson shoots daggers at his roommate.
“No. I’m not seeing Sienna at all…”
I have no idea if he’s lying. Sienna hasn’t said a word about Lawson to me.
Lawson’s eyes move to me, “I’m happy you’re here, but don’t fuck on the counter, or the couch. Bellamy, you have a nice bed, please use it.”
He speaks to both of us, and I just stare at him, not surprised at how blunt he is. College boys, they’re all the same. Except for Bellamy.
“You know we’re not really dating…right?” I ask as he opens the door.
“Yes, I’m very aware of that,” He nods and then walks away, closing the door behind him.
I look at the closed door, and I'm turned away, and toward Bellamy, the first time he’s touched me today and held on.
“What did you tell your friends?” I ask him, not offended that they know, but curious.
“Exactly what happened between us. The arrangement, all that. So they know what we are,” He tells me, and I nod. “Did you not want me to tell them?”
I shake my head instantly.
“No it doesn’t bother me, I was just curious.”
He keeps hold of my shoulders.
“Alright. So, I know we’re still trying to get used to this… arrangement, so I figured we could cook together. That way we’re more comfortable with each other for the next two weeks, you know?” He asks me, looking me up and down now.
I’m wearing a pair of loose white track shorts that reach the tops of my thighs and a large SPU lacrosse t-shirt I got while working on the field this year that’s halfway tucked in.
I kick off my Air Forces, leaving myself in white socks, but losing some of my height as I stand in front of him.
He’s wearing loose gray sweatpants and a dark blue compression shirt that shows off his arms well.
Both of us are very relaxed, and I’m glad I dressed down.
“I’m comfortable with you.”
He reaches forward, slinking his arm around my lower back, pressing my body into his muscular torso. I hold onto his forearms, creating friction, and tensing up, not expecting the sudden gesture.
“Are you sure about that?” He asks, his hair flopping onto his forehead as he looks down at me.
His hair normally has some product in it, I guess. It normally doesn’t look this casual... I’ve never seen him this casual in general. He somehow looks better which shouldn’t be possible.
“I am, I just wasn’t expecting you to touch me yet.”
He loosens his grip, but I stay in his arms, not moving away.
“Well, expect the unexpected from now on, got it?”
I nod, noticing the light smile on his lips.
“Got it. Expect the unexpected with you,” I agree.
He moves away from me and turns around a corner.
I stop right when my eyes come into focus.
There’s a spread out kitchen with beautiful marble countertops, and I don’t even want to know how much each of them is paying for their share of this apartment.
I keep my eyes open as I look around at everything, the high pretty ceilings. I can’t stop looking at everything.
“Did you just come from the gym?” I ask him, my hand dusting over the counter.
“The field. I was running drills,” He tells me.
“Is that where you always are?” I take my eyes from the kitchen and look over at him as he stands behind me, taking things out of the fridge.
“Yeah, most of the time. I love it. It’s not really about working out and staying in shape.
That’s a plus. I just enjoy the game, and if I don’t practice, if I don’t constantly work on it, I’ll never continue in the NFL and everything else,” He closes the fridge, and opens a cabinet above him, easily reaching to the top shelf to grab a box of spaghetti noodles.
He reaches down underneath him, taking pots out of the lower cupboard.
“So you really are playing because you love it... Not because of free college, or because it’s what your parents wanted?” I ask, and he shakes his head.
“The sport reminds me of my parents a lot. I started football because of my dad but I continued because I love it. I love the attention, of course, the sound of people cheering for me, and all the love in and out of school. But I just love the game. I had the grades for free college. I didn’t need football,” He tells me, and I furrow my brows.
If his grades were that good, then why does he constantly need tutoring?
“I guess college practice is a bit tougher. Harder to keep your grades up, right?”
He looks at me quickly and nods, looking away almost as quickly, “Yeah. Coach Corbin is a pain in my ass. And you’re going to be a pain in my ass if you just stand there and watch me cook instead of helping me. I know I look good but-”
“You are so full of yourself. The only way you’d stop me from helping is if you were naked in the midst of your kitchen.”
He raises his eyebrows, a lopsided smirk forming on his lips, “Oh you are so bluffing right now.” The words sound like a laugh when they fall from my lips.
I roll my eyes. Bellamy slowly lifts the hem of his tank top, my chest burning instantly at the sight of his chiseled stomach. Right away he drops his shirt before showing too much.
“No, I’ve got to leave something to the imagination,” He tells me, and I stare at him, watching as he turns the water on, filling the pot.
Bellamy starts everything and turns some music on.
The two of us are now standing side by side, individual cutting boards next to each other.
He cuts fresh basil, and I cut up garlic for the sauce.
I watch carefully, his hands cutting the basil perfectly.
His fucking hands. They’re clean, no rings today, but they look just as good.
He finishes cutting, and walks around to the other side of me, washing his hands.
I peek to the side, watching him do that too, making sure he sees nothing as I do so.
“I’ll take over, can you put the pasta in the water, and get the sauce started?” He asks me, holding his hands out for the knife.
I look, and swallow deeply, passing him the sharp object, wishing I could shove it in my eyes for staring so deeply at an outer extremity on a man that truly means nothing…
Or at least it should mean nothing… Here I am though, sweating over his fucking quarterback hands once again.
I look at his eyes, seeing them narrow as I hand the knife over, his lips twitching, threatening a smile.
“Sure,” I nod, walking past him.
I see the water begin to boil, and I take out the noodles, letting them slide into the large pot. I cover it and reach toward the stovetop. My hand is covered by his right away, and I fight the urge to groan as he turns the heat down only slightly for me.
“Sorry... Didn’t mean to intrude.”