AUTHOR'S NOTE

As some of you know, my main squeeze now is Mari Loyal on Kindle Unlimited! (Yes, Marianna Leal = Mari Loyal = MC Loyal but we're not focusing on the latter yet).

To reward my readers, I wrote a volleyball college romance novella that is available fully for free when you sign up to my newsletter. So if you want to support me but don't have the means to join KU quite yet, this is a great way to do it :D

All you have to do is sign up at my website MARI LOYAL DOT COM and you'll receive the download link for the novella, which you can read on your fave ereader! 

Here's the first chapter:

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Chapter 1: Daze

"Hey, mamacita. What are you doing here all on your own?" I put on my best Latin lover voice, as deep as it can go, and lean on the wall beside her while swirling my drink.

My best friend turns around with a grimace on her face like she just smelled a particularly toxic baby diaper. "Please tell me you don't genuinely use that pick up line with anyone else."

Snorting, I lift my Solo cup until the too lukewarm kombucha hits my lips and grosses me out. "Yuck." I glance around and spot a wonky sideboard propped up by two legit bricks because it's missing one whole leg. After leaving my cup there, I turn back to her and say, "Of course not, you know I'm not trying to pick up even a fly. But seriously, I told you to mingle while I went to the restroom."

"But they're your friends, not mine." Gabby's shoulders rise to hide her ears, which tend to go red when she's embarrassed. Which, as we both know very well, is basically all the time.

"They could be if"—I gesture all around—"you talked to them with your own mouth rather than through mine."

"But you're funnier," she whines, jerking her shoulders.

"But you're cuter." I mimic her movements to perfection.

"But I'm shier."

"Okay, that one's true," I grumble. Sighing, I throw my arm around Gabby's shoulders and bring her against me. "What did you say when I convinced you to join me at this party?

She turns the cutest pout known to human kind in my direction. "That I would try?"

Nodding, I ask, "And what are you not doing while standing here on this corner alone, shrank in on yourself?"

"Trying?" The pout turns into an annoyed frown.

"Atta girl." I pat her back a couple of times before gently pushing her forward. "Now go forth and strike new friendships."

"Noooo." She swivels out of my grasp and sidesteps me before I can grab her in my pincer-like arms. "You can't say that! It makes is sound so much scarier."

"Does it help if I tell you to imagine that everyone in this apartment is naked?"

"Daze! It absolutely doesn't," she screeches, the blush now bleeding from her ears to her face.

I give out one of my infamous guffaws complete with slaps to my thighs. I've been told many times that I have one of the ugliest laughs anyone's ever heard in a girl: too deep, too snorty, yet somehow too squeaky at the same time. My mom used to tell me to not laugh in public and just smile in a demure way so that I was more attractive. Classmates all through elementary until high school bullied me for it. But my fellow engineering students are mostly equally awkward guys who just see me like one of their own. It's been blissful.

That combined with the fact that I have piercings, my hair is dyed mermaid lilac and that I'm a few sizes larger than the average, means there's no hope of me ever dating a guy in college. Also blissful—no pressure to peahen myself for the peacocks.

I say mostly because there are some exceptions, and of course one of them chooses the exact second I let out a particularly obnoxious snort out to walk into the party.

Beside me, Gabby's breath hitches. Her hands rise to hide her mouth, almost as if she's the one releasing the pig-like sounds and doesn't want to let her crush know that about her. Because, that's right, this guy—the exception—is Gabby's evergreen crush. And also the crush of everyone on campus whose sexual orientation gravitates to guys.

Jake Bing. Ace of the volleyball team. Literal gold medalist Olympian. And fellow mechanical engineering student.

His brown eyes fall on us right away and I turn away, not because I don't want him to see me but entirely for the opposite reason. The last thing I want is for another hot guy to make fun of my laughter when I really enjoy exercising it, damn it. I'm not going to stop having fun just because he decided to grace us with his presence.

"Oh my gosh," Gabby murmurs, still staring at her crush now somewhere behind me. "I can't believe that he's here."

Now too annoyed to even giggle, I wipe the remains of mirth off my cheeks and my shoulders slump. "Please, we both know that the odds of him showing up to an engineering party were high and it's why you agreed to come."

Her lips curve into a smile that attempts to look innocent. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Gabby." I fold my arms and stare deep into her soul. "Why don't you just go up to him and introduce yourself?"

"I could never." Her eyes grow as wide as saucers.

"I know that you have never, in over three years of attending this college. But you should, if only so that you can go from melting at his sight to melting in his arms."

"Oh, my." She holds her chest like she's trying to contain her heart from leaping out. "I didn't know you were this poetic."

"What can I say, I rewatched Pride and Prejudice last night."

"The BBC mini series or the 2005 one?" she asks, narrowing her eyes.

This time I'm the one who shrinks a little. "2005."

"Without me?" Gabby hisses, a crease between her eyebrows.

I lift my hands up in defense. "Hey, you said you had to study with your accounting classmates."

"Oh, right." Her anger dissipates entirely. "If you'd told me you were planning to rewatch it I'd have ditched them."

I cock an eyebrow. "What if I offer you a full rewatch complete with popcorn, dulce de leche, and mints if you go and say hi to Jake Bing?"

Her mouth opens and closes over and over, and I can practically see her brain whirring while considering the offer.

I stand by, placid on the outside even though I know I just dangled the biggest carrot in front of Gabby. We've rewatched Keira Knightley's Pride and Prejudice probably fifty times since middle school—it's our top fave among a rotation of old romcoms and anime that keep us sane. Plus, baiting her with one of her unique food combinations that make her absolutely happy might just do the trick this time.

"I can't." She shakes her head at last. "I can walk up to Publix easy and buy snacks any time. One does not simply walk into conversation with Jake Bing."

"Please, you're not Boromir. No one's going to murder you for talking to a cute guy."

"But—" There it is again, my socially anxious best friend's favorite word. She wrings the hem of her top, eyes darting around as if to make sure that no one's clocking us. "What if we just call it a night and go home to watch all the Lord of the Rings movies and The Hobbit over and over until we die and everyone forgets that awkward Gabby Lopez ever existed?"

I snort. "Or what if you give yourself the chance to have the epic love story you've always dreamed about with the guy you've been crushing on since freshman year?"

"What would we even talk about? I have nothing in common with an engineering student who is also a freaking Olympian."

"Excuse me, I'm also an engineering student and we have plenty of things in common, like our taste in entertainment media."

"That's because we've been best friends since kindergarten."

"Exactly, you just need to approach him like you approached me in the playground way back when."

Gabby hugs herself. "You're getting it twisted. I didn't approach you, I stumbled into your leg and fell over you, and since you didn't get angry at me I never let you go since."

"That's a great idea. Why don't you do that to him too?"

The side eye glare she gives me almost makes me crack up.

"Can we just forget about Jake freaking Bing? There's absolutely no hope for someone like me even if you set me up with him and there was literally no other competition. I'm just too awkward," saying this, she casts one more longing glance toward him. He must be facing somewhere else because she manages to hold for a hot second until she finally turns away.

I snap my fingers loud enough that it gets not just Gabby's attention, but also some of the other partygoers. "That's it."

"Oh, no." Gabby blanches. "I know that look on your face and I don't like it."

"No, you're gonna like this, trust me." I inhale deep enough to puff up my chest and put my hands on my hips, all superhero like. "I'm going to set you up with Jake Bing."

True horror takes over her delicate features. "No, please. I take back the last minute of this conversation. Pretend like I said nothing."

"It's perfect though. I have zero shame about approaching him because I have sub zero interest in him. Yet, I somewhat know him because we've been in most of the same classes every semester. Plus, I'm your best friend and therefore the most qualified to talk you up." I smack my forehead. "I can't believe I didn't just go ahead and do this before."

"Don't beat yourself up, it's probably because he's never single." Sweet, kind Gabby gives me more benefit of the doubt than I deserve. I simply had never put two and two together—shameful for an engineer-to-be and a NASA-wannabe. "Besides, I'm sure he's with someone new," she adds.

"Actually..." I don't bother hiding my gloating. "Rumor has it that he's been single for a while. I think this is our chance."

She lifts up her naked wrist and says, "Would you look at that? Time to go home to do my hair oiling routine and go to bed."

I cinch my talons around her arm and pull. "Let's go. I'm going to get you that epic romance if it's the last thing I try."

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