COLBY

Letting Blondie help fix my knee the other day just about ruined my fucking ego. Everything I had to use against her is officially gone. We are technically even. As soon as she turned that corner into the room, I almost got up and left. Jayden was the one who made me stay. His words hit me when he said, "It's not that deep," I truly realized it wasn't. I didn't like her winning. It won't happen again; I'll be sure of it.

It's Saturday night at Wake Forest, and the athlete's village is alive. Today, our football team took an embarrassing loss against Notre Dame, but the football team is partying to fix the damage. They party no matter the outcome of the game, which is why I fuck with them. They aren't sore losers. It's hard to be a sore loser when you're a small division one school playing against the best teams in the nation. We don't play to win. We play for ourselves.

I was in my apartment with my roommates and a few other guys on the team. Oh, I can't forget our cleat chasers. They're my favorite. A brunette named Faith sits halfway on my lap, nibbling on my neck while the guys and I watch a football game. She's been my little fuck buddy for a while now. She constantly asks for a relationship that I can't give her. Well, not can't; won't. I don't want to be tied down, especially when I know she's not the one I will end up with. She's just a filler for my time.

"What are we doing tonight, boys?" Bryce says as he walks in the door, a twenty-four pack of beer in his hand and a bottle of Jack Daniels in the other. My roommate was an alcoholic. He couldn't sit still without having a drink in his hand. I'm positive he's taken a drink to class multiple times before.

Jayden shifts his girlfriend, Addie, who's on his lap next to me, "I'm going to the football house if anyone wants to join."

Those fuckers will party over anything. Lose a game? Drink their sorrows. Win for the only time of the season? Throw a party.

"I'll go. I haven't seen Bernie and Miller in a minute," Crawford says, boxing up his beers for the road.

Being an athlete at a division one school is hard. You are constantly being fucking watched. One wrong move, and you're toast. The entire world will know about it tomorrow. We have to be extra careful when we party on the weekends away from our place. We can't be caught with drinks in our hands, so we usually stuff everything into a backpack. We are over twenty-one, so technically, we can't get in trouble if we're seen with drinks in our hands, but we are athletes, and everyone always expects us to be perfect. Coach is the one who will punish us if caught.

"You comin', Jonesy?" Crawford asks as he zips up his backpack.

"Yea. I gotta pack some drinks," I tell him, and then I look at Faith, "Up." She obeys, standing to let me get up, and flops back down on the couch when I walk away.

I walk to my room and grab my backpack to store some drinks. My room was pretty bare. I had two flags hung as decoration, and that was just about it. One was an American Flag hung above my bed, and the second was a Wake Forest University flag. I had a framed photo of the four of us, my best friends, in our baseball uniforms after a game last season. Jayden's mom gave us all a copy as a move-in present. My bed was, of course, unmade, like it was every day, my headset and controller for my Xbox laying on it, begging to be put on and played.

My window faced the next-door neighbor's house. I'm unsure who lived next door; I've never seen anyone come out. I also don't pay attention much. I'm typically always occupied, whether with my buddies or a girl.

I grab the bag and stuff about ten beers inside. That should do it for now. I can always come back. The football house was only four houses down, so it was a quick walk. We could hear the bass from their stereo from here.

I grab a fresh beer from the fridge on the way to the house and throw the bag over my shoulder, waiting for the rest of my roommates. I almost groan when I see Faith is still here, patiently waiting to head to the next stop.

"Let's get fucked up," Crawford yells, throwing the front door open and walking out.

I wait for Faith, who grabs her small bag of drinks, and I follow out the door behind her. I don't mind her being here, but it just prevents me from being able to get absolutely plastered. Maybe if I do, she'll leave. I shouldn't be mean. She's nice. She's got a great body and a decent personality, but all she wants to talk about is baseball or her sorority. It gets fucking boring.

When we stepped inside the house, Father Stretch My Hands was blasting over the speakers. Faith grabs onto my tricep. I'm unsure if it was to declare that I was hers or if she was nervous. No one was paying attention. A bunch of the guys crowded by the television, watching a game, and the others were scattered across the house. We walk into the kitchen, and I internally groan.

There Olivia Olsen was, taking tequila shots with Miller Rhodes, wearing a tank top with no bra. Everything was on sight. Her breasts were seconds from bursting out of the shirt; her nipples pebbled at the chilled air. Jesus Christ.

"Jonesy. Glad you could make it," Miller says. Faith's grip tightened on me as Olivia looked up, and we made eye contact yet said nothing to each other. Yep. I'm going to need something stronger than beer.

"Thanks for having me." I walk over to the island table where they stand, grabbing a shot glass. Faith unlatches from my arm, staying on the other side of the table. Miller pours the tequila in the glass, filling two others for him and Olivia.

We throw back the liquor, loving the sting of the liquid around my throat. "Do you want a shot?" Olivia nicely asks Faith. I almost scoff at the kindness in her voice. She obviously didn't use that one with me.

I turn to Faith, who looks like she's thinking the same thing I was. How fake. She also could be threatened by her hard nipples poking through her shirt. I wonder if she was horny with her nipples looking like that. "That'd be great." How the two know each other, I have no clue. Olivia looks like she's the type of person who knows everyone and everything about them.

We pour four more shots, each taking it without a word. After the third one, I leave Miller and Olivia in the kitchen. How many shots has that girl taken tonight already? How is she still standing? Why do I care this much?

I chugged the rest of my beer, threw it away, cracked a new one open, and grabbed a seat on the living room couch next to Jayden. I didn't even notice, but Faith is nowhere to be seen. Did she stay in the kitchen with her?

I spot Olivia's sidekick seated next to Bernie. They're engaged in an intense conversation as they watch one of the guys in the room. They must be talking about him. That's all girls do, isn't it? They sit here and watch us, judging every movement we make.

"Colby, why are you so damn tense? Chill out," Jayden mumbles next to me. He hardly calls me by my first name; it's weird when he does. He must actually be concerned. "Is it because that girl is here?"

I roll my eyes, sipping my beer, "No, I just feel eyeballs on me, like someone's watching." I had to lie. Yes. That girl is fucking bothering me, and she's not even talking to me. Hell, she's probably not even thinking about me. I don't know why she's getting under my skin.

"Bro, on God," Jayden laughs. "Bernie's chick is staring holes through everyone's head. They're gossiping hella hard right now."

"She could make it a little less obvious."

"Bernie," Jayden calls out to get his attention. He puts his thumb and pointer finger together and puts it to his lips. Bernie nods, squeezing Bella's thigh before standing up.

Jayden stands and motions his head for me to follow. I grab my bag and follow him to the back patio, where a few others are already sitting.

The first thing I notice is Olivia and Crawford sitting next to each other. That fucker is obviously flirting up a storm with her. All I notice is her breasts. Fuck I got to look away. Where the hell is Faith? Crawford whispers something in her ear, and she laughs. Their legs are pushed together, and I just know he wants to fuck her.

Miller is already rolling up a blunt on Olivia's other side. I can't tell if he wants her too. He probably does. Everyone probably wants her. The way she flaunts her body around is annoying. She wants the guys to look at her like a piece of meat.

I take a seat in one of the lawn chairs in the circle. It's crammed out here on this tiny ass porch. Now I understand why she's so close to both of them. She must not have a choice but to be.

Olivia looked up at us, glaring at me for a moment before her eyes shifted to beside me, "Is Bells not coming out?" She asked Bernie, looking through the door window inside.

Bernie shrugs, cracking a new beer open, "She quote on quote said, 'Fuck you, leave me alone.'"

Olivia laughs, "What the hell did you do to her?" I hate to admit it, but she has a cute laugh. Fucking hell. I need fifteen more shots. Where is this blunt?

"I may have complained when she asked me to get her another drink."

"Christ, Bernie. Don't you have a freshman on speed dial to fetch drinks for you?" That almost makes me laugh. We all have freshmen we use to fetch things for us. In exchange, we let them hang out with us older guys and get them whatever drinks they want since they're underage.

"Whatever. I apologized and brought her two," he pauses, "You gonna hog that all night, Miller? Some of us are desperate."

Miller laughs, taking another hit before handing it to Bernie, "Sorry. Distracted." He leans over to Olivia's ear, telling her something to make her laugh. Crawford takes a swig of his beer and checks his phone. Are these two fighting for her attention?

Bernie takes a hit before handing it to me, and I breathe the weed in. I can feel my stress worrying away. I suck on the end, feeding the smoke into my mouth, inhaling it. I release the blunt and deeply breathe the weed in, automatically feeling it make its way through my lungs. I blow out the smoke, staring at the stars in the sky. You can see all of them tonight; there's no cloud in the sky.

I hand off the blunt to Jayden and listen to the music playing off the speakers as I stare at the clouds, almost feeling possessed.

The sound of Olivia's laugh brings me out of my trance. I snap my head towards her as she takes the blunt in her fingers, flicking the ash to the floor. She places the blunt in between her lips and breathes in the smoke. God. That is so fucking hot. She blows the smoke out into the sky, and I decide I need to fucking leave before I do something fucking stupid.

"I think ima head out," I tell the guys.

Jayden groans, "Bro, why? The night is so young."

"Faith seemed pretty adamant about wanting to hang tonight," I partially lie. Faith wanted to fuck. I told her we could later, and now I'm horny from having to stare at that chick's boobs.

He chuckles, "Oh, I got you. Go get laid, pretty boy." He smacks my shoulder, and I roll my eyes, standing up, not glancing again at the devil in disguise.

I head back inside, looking for her. She would have said something if she was leaving. Just as I head down the hallway, Faith exits the bathroom as a football player follows behind her. Wow, okay. We briefly make eye contact as I continue to walk into the living room to reach the door.

We don't have a label. We can fuck whoever we want. It doesn't bother me. But after she came here with me and had the decency to go into the bathroom with another guy, that kind of pisses me off. That's another reason why I always make sure to use a condom with that chick. I don't know where she has been.

I exit the house without another word, headed straight to my room after being bummed out for the rest of the night.