Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 82543 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 413(@200wpm)___ 330(@250wpm)___ 275(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82543 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 413(@200wpm)___ 330(@250wpm)___ 275(@300wpm)
“You owe me a drink after this.”
I was hoping to wait around after the game to accidentally run into Peyton on purpose, but as that sentence flits through my mind, I realize I’m being too much of a Felicity again, so I turn to Remy. “Why don’t we go get it now?”
“You’ve given up on trying to make sense of football, huh?”
“Yep.”
“Thank fuck. Let’s go.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
peyton
I should be beaming as the team heads for the locker room after an epic win tonight, but I’m not. Because after two weeks of wondering if Levi even went to this school anymore, I see him in the stands. On a date.
I was lucky enough to shake it off because when it comes to football, I have to focus, but that doesn’t mean the way I caught them looking at each other, with Levi’s hand cupping the other dude’s face, didn’t play on a loop in the back of my mind.
A team is only as good as their quarterback. The only way we score is if I’m on my game. I’m just glad we were already on the board when I spotted Levi, or I could have crumbled under the pressure of not having Levi or a goddamn touchdown tonight.
“Celebration at Shenanigans,” Mercer calls out.
Not that he needed to. It’s team tradition. When we win, we celebrate there. When we lose, we commiserate.
Either way, we’re going drinking tonight because come Monday morning, we’re back in training for next week’s game.
It sometimes feels like I’m on a never-ending conveyor belt. Football game, weekend parties, classes and practice, football game.
Sometimes, the routine makes me energized. It’s familiar and keeps me in focus. But other times, like tonight, it makes me edgy.
The buzz of the win simmers under my skin, but it’s mixed with flashes of Levi and that other guy.
I need to break the cycle tonight. I need something more than football and school. I need to hook up.
But I also need to stick to my rules. The bar will be filled with jersey chasers, and it would be so easy to take one of them home with me, but it’s risky.
No matter how many times I tell them I can’t have a relationship because of football, they think I’m being melodramatic or that maybe once I get them into bed, I’ll change my mind.
I don’t care if you know every move in the Kama Sutra, if you ignore my hard lines, I’m not going to fall for you.
This is why I’m careful when hooking up. It’s why I haven’t been with anyone all year. What I had with Casey was perfect because she was the same way. Maybe she’ll be working at Shenanigans tonight and we can fall into old patterns. It technically breaks one of my self-imposed rules about no backsliding, but I’m desperate.
I don’t want to stop and ask myself why seeing Levi with someone else has made me react this way when I’m not a jealous person, because if I do that, I might have to face the reality that the boy from high school still has a hold over me.
He has ever since the night he graduated.
After everyone showers and changes, we all agree to meet at the bar whenever we can get there. Some guys are going right there, but I want to go home first and dump my bag and get changed out of the “business casual” rule Franklin forces on its athletes.
It used to be that if we won a game, we were allowed to go home in sweats.
But when Coach Nass took over, he changed that rule. We must dress the part and always look respectable on game days. I don’t really understand it, but I’m used to it. I’ve been forced to do it since I started playing.
Brady meets me outside the players’ exit, and we walk home together, but he senses something’s up.
“I would’ve thought you’d be jumping up and down and screaming like a banshee.”
“I do not scream like a banshee.”
“All I mean is if you play like you did tonight when you’re in the NFL, you’ll be my easiest client. Your arm will be insured for millions of dollars.”
“It was a good game.” Okay, even I can hear the flatness in my tone.
“Okay, what is up with you?”
“Nothing. I’m just in one of those moods where it’s the same shit, different day.”
“Ah. One of those moods. You’ll be fun Peyton tonight, then. As your future agent, might I suggest you refrain from drinking when you’re in emo mode? It’ll only bring you down more. Want to stay in?”
“You know the team will be expecting me. It’s tradition.”
“One night isn’t going to make them send out a search party. They’re probably already so drunk they won’t even notice if you don’t show up.”
“You severely underestimate my popularity, little brother.”