On the Sideline (BSU Football #3) - J.B. Salsbury Page 0,30
cheeks?”
My back practically sears with the tension that pours off Loren.
“I think that’s a great idea.” Rowan flashes a sly grin and the corner of Emery’s mouth ticks up on one side.
If Loren confessed his feelings to his roommates last night, they’re torturing him now by encouraging me to agree to go to the dance with Kaipo. And why not? If I have to watch Loren and Riley together all night, I may as well have someone with me for support.
“Sure. I’d love it if you’d come to the formal with me.”
Kaipo jumps to his feet and then takes two gigantic steps to put him on top of the concrete table. I’d never expect a man of his size to move so fluidly. “She said yes!”
The entire quad erupts in cheers thinking Kaipo just proposed. He does some kind of victory dance that is mostly pelvic thrusts. I drop my head to my forearm, mortified, but also laughing really hard. When he climbs off the table he takes the seat next to me. He turns sideways with his elbow on the table and head in his hands. “Do you speak sign language—ouch!” He rubs the back of his head where Loren swatted him.
“We’ll be late for class.” Loren doesn’t look at me and my cousin is too busy looking adoringly up at Loren to notice anyone else.
“I’ll walk with you,” Riley says, slipping her hand in his.
His eyes come to me then and I expect irritation, maybe even anger, but all I see is apology.
“Come over tonight.” She wraps her free hand around his forearm pulling him against her boobs. “I’ll make you dinner.”
“I can’t, I have to work.”
“We’ll pick this up later,” Kaipo says, standing to follow Loren. “Get my number from the girls and let me know the deets for this weekend.”
“I will.” I drag my eyes from Loren and Riley. “I’ll be in touch.”
He bows dramatically. “Looking forward to it, my Queen.”
Loren mumbles, “Fuck.”
I smile, wave, and then hurry and turn back around so I don’t have to watch Loren and Riley walk away hand in hand.
“I don’t know how you do it,” Emery says quietly. “If I had to see another woman with Theodore I’d slit both their throats.”
Rowan blinks at her roommate and then shakes her head. “That’s…intense. But I agree, it would be hard. How are you holding up?”
“It’s uncomfortable, but it has to be this way. When I get the urge to say screw it and ask him to stop seeing her, I consider the influence she has on other people and realize it’s just not worth it. If he dumps her days before the biggest formal of the year, and then is seen with me? She’ll spread horrible rumors about him, and I don’t even want to imagine the hell I’ll get from my sisters, it’s not worth it. In a few days he’ll end things and then we can hang out as friends and see where things go. Hopefully by that time Riley will have found someone new and she’ll forget about Loren.”
Because he’s so forgettable. Yeah right. A chance to be with Loren really does seem hopeless.
Chapter Ten
Loren
Friday night at the surf shop and Riley has been texting me non-stop. I’ve been grateful to use work as an excuse to not see her this week or respond immediately to her texts, but at seven o’clock on the freeway home from work my phone rings and it’s her.
“Hello?”
“Thank God you picked up,” she says in her most dramatic damsel in distress voice. “I need your help. The party rental place dropped off all the tables and chairs for the formal tomorrow but they didn’t set any of it up. They said we had to pay extra for that, which I’m happy to do, but because it was their last stop at six o’clock they said they didn’t have time. Seriously, how hard is it to do their job?”
I don’t waste my breath by telling her it sounds like they did do the job they were paid to do. “You need help setting up tables and chairs?”
“Yes, they’re so heavy.”
I also don’t waste my breath telling her that I’m sure her and her sorority sisters are capable of setting them up themselves. It’s likely the woman has never done physical labor or broken a sweat. “I’ll be there in thirty.”
“You’re my hero. I’ll totally make it up to you,” she says breathlessly.
“Not a problem.” I’ll have to be creative in avoiding Riley’s