him in tight hug. “I missed you, Ace,” I whisper in his ear.
Ace pulls me tight and kisses the top of my head. “I missed you too, Ash, it’s so good to see you.”
We proceed to walk into the restaurant and are immediately seated. Ace arrived early to put our name on the list. “So, how’s the roommate, Hailey, right?”
I smile. “Yes, Hailey, and she’s great. Her brother and his buddy actually helped us move in, which was a huge time saver.” I pause, wondering if I should mention how taken I was with Hailey’s brother. Ace is my best friend, we talk about everything. However, I’ve never dated or really been interested in a guy before, so this is new territory for me. Sure, I’ve talked about actors, bands, or celebrities I thought were hot, but it’s never been anyone within reach. Who am I kidding? Liam’s out of reach too. Just spit it out. “It didn’t hurt that he and his friend are hot,” I add as I fumble with my napkin.
Ace smiles. “So, you think her brother’s hot, huh?”
“Yep.” I shrug as if I haven’t been thinking about him all afternoon. “Hot and so out of my league, but good eye candy.”
“Out of your league? You’re kidding me, right? You know you’re gorgeous.”
“Psh, you’re required to say things like that. It’s part of your job description as my best friend.”
“Ash, listen to me, you are amazing, and I’m sure, whoever this guy is, he’s not good enough for you. I don’t want to hear anymore of this out of your league shit. Got it?”
I nod my head yes, afraid to let the emotion in my voice show. He’s always been there to support me since the day we met. I truly don’t know what I would do without him in my life.
“I talked to my parents earlier, they were worried about you. You apparently didn’t call and let them know you had arrived.”
Shit. “No, I forgot. I did call Gran and let her know, though.” I take a sip of my water. “Speaking of your parents, I have a care package for you in my car from your mom.” I grin at him, and then stick out my tongue. “She made me one too.”
Ace laughs. “Did you expect anything less?” We order our food and get caught up with life in general. It’s so good to see him. He had to come back to campus early for football, so I didn’t get to see him much this summer.
The waiter brings our food, and we talk while we eat. I tell Ace about Hailey, how much we have in common, how nice it is to have a girl for a friend. He fakes being hurt by this, but I know he understands where I’m coming from. He talks about football and how excited he is that his team has gone undefeated the last two years. He talks about his hopes to carry that on this year, being it’s his last year at UNC and on the football field. Unless the draft comes through for him, that is. If not, he’ll be a free agent, which makes his chances slim for getting picked up by any of the NFL teams. He always has his degree of Sports Medicine to fall back on.
I want to tell Ace that Hailey’s sexy as sin brother is on his team as well, but decide against it. I know Ace would know him, and I don’t want to deal with the teasing and the lecture that will follow my admission.
As we finish our dessert, a hot fudge sundae we split, I remember I’d promised Hailey we would all go out tomorrow night. “Hey, do you have plans tomorrow night?” I ask Ace.
“Nope.”
“Great, Hailey wants to meet you. I’ve talked about you so much she wants to see if you live up to all the hype,” I tease.
Ace chuckles. “I’m down, I’ll see if Mac wants to go as well.”
“Awesome sauce, we both get to meet each other’s roommates tomorrow night. Where should we go?”
“Let’s meet up at The Warehouse. A guy on the team’s dad owns it, so we get VIP treatment.” He winks at me. “Meet you guys there at eight?”
I nod in agreement.
We argue over who is going to pay for dinner, I lose the battle. After paying he follows me out to my car, so I can give him his care package from his mom. With a farewell hug, we go