Jock Road (Jock Hard) - Sara Ney Page 0,15
wouldn’t know—I only know what I’ve heard about him.”
“Which is what?”
“Let me google him, too.”
“He’s google-able?”
Savannah looks at me like I’m nuts. “Have you been under a rock? We go to a Big Ten school and he’s on the football team—of course you can google him. He’s probably going to enter the draft. They all do if they’re good enough.”
“Is he?”
“Jesus, Charlie. Get with the program.”
Sorry, but my eye tends to slide toward baseball players and guys who aren’t as bulky and huge. Less Hulk-like and more…intellectual. Funny and cute but smart.
JJ Jennings looks like he could bust through a wall in an action movie as a stunt double for The Rock.
“What does JJ stand for?”
Savannah’s head dips as she checks her phone. “Let me check.” She pauses for a brief second as her fingers fly over the screen of her cell phone. “Jackson Jennings Junior.” Another pause. “Well. That’s certainly a mouthful.”
“That’s certainly Southern.”
“Bless his heart.” Savannah laughs, and suddenly I find myself defending him.
“Hey, it’s not his fault he’s stuck with a terrible name.”
“You’re right, I shouldn’t have said that,” Savannah demurs, shooting me side-eye. “For someone who hates the guy, you sure are—”
“Don’t say it.”
Savannah laughs, smacking me in the arm then reaching for the radio. “I can’t believe your radio has dials. This is so weird.”
Yeah—my radio has actual dials and only gets a grand total of eight FM stations, and it drives my friend crazy that she can’t connect her phone to my car. If I hear her bitch about it once a week, I hear it twice, but I’m the only one of us with a car, and beggars can’t be choosers.
“Are you going to tell me what that was about, or are you going to pretend there’s nothing going on between you and Triple J?”
“Can you not call him that? It’s idiotic.”
“That’s his nickname. What else am I supposed to call him?”
“His name?” Jackson is a cute moniker; I could live with that, but I’d never call him Triple J if I ran into him again. “Thanks for telling him mine, you creep.”
“He wanted to know.”
“He didn’t ask!”
“Trust me, he wanted to know.”
“Whatever.” My eyes are trained on the road ahead of us, and I hang a left after stopping at a stop sign, then another right, heading toward my small off-campus rental. It’s the perfect distance from campus—not so close that I have to see and hear the commotion during the day when classes are in session, but close enough that I can walk and it doesn’t take forever.
Plus, I’m near Jock Row. When I want to party, there’s always one nearby…
“Quit stalling.”
“There is nothing to tell, Savannah.”
“Liar. You’ve met him before, and I want the details. I’d tell you, so why aren’t you telling me?”
She’s right—she would tell me, and in great detail.
“Fine, but just so you know, it’s no big deal.”
“Right. No big deal—got it.”
Her mouth is set in a straight, serious line, but it’s her eyes that give her away. She’s excited for more information and won’t believe me when I tell her Jackson Jennings and I are never going to be a thing because Jackson Jennings and I loathe each other.
Just because he was kind of flirting with me a few minutes back doesn’t mean anything; he’s a jock, and jocks flirt. Like, I’m pretty sure it’s in their DNA and it would go against his core nature if he didn’t.
It had nothing to do with him liking me. Just so we’re clear.
Great, and now I’m talking to myself.
Awesome.
“The other night when I was coming home from the library—it was Friday—”
“You were at the library on a Friday night?”
“Are you going to keep interrupting?”
“Sorry. Go.” Savannah clamps her mouth shut and purses her lips tightly.
“So I’m coming back from the library. It must have been close to eleven? I’m not sure but a truck was behind me and had its headlights right up my ass. I could hardly see—it was dangerous. Anyway. It was him, but I didn’t realize it at the time.”
“Uh huh.” My friend is nodding, mouth still snapped shut.
“The next week I’m on campus grabbing a sandwich in the union—I was totally starving. I’m standing in line for food and all I want in this whole wide world is my damn chicken patty, right?” I give her a sidelong glance. “You know how I love those.”
She nods enthusiastically. “You do.”
“I’m about to have it in my hand and my mouth when all of a sudden,