Hard Hitter

“What?” I reply, almost afraid to ask.

“I think that we should fuck.”

My eyes almost bug out and I look over at Fran, who’s rolling hers so hard she looks like she’s about to pass out.

“I think the universe would like it,” he tells me. “You know—Red and Blue? Get together and make some purple?”

My heart’s fluttering like butterfly wings, and I realize my body is hot. Not as hot as his though…

There’s something going on between my legs that’s impossible to ignore, and definitely has something to do with his Adonis

chin and model-esque cheek bones. Oh, and how I can feel muscles in his wrist that I didn’t even know existed.

“Does this pickup approach work on most girls?” I ask. Blue shrugs.

“Dunno. It’s not every day that I meet a girl who I’m destined to be with.”

I may be stubborn, and I do not want to admit it…but his lines are actually working on me. There’s a confidence to him that’s impossible to ignore. His eyes are hypnotic and his body—from what I can see of it—looks like something I’d kill to sketch…if he was nude, that is.

“Go away, dude,” Fran groans, doing her best to be a good roommate and come to my aid. But this time, I don’t want it.

“Do you mind if I’m a virgin?” I blurt out. I expect him to grimace or make some kind of disgusted face, but he doesn’t. In fact, his eyes blaze, and unless I’m imagining things, he licks his lips.

“Mind?” he asks, as though I’m batshit crazy. “Do I look like I mind?”

“No…” I whisper in reply, my excitement swelling within me.

“Good. Then how about this?” he suggests. “Why don’t you come by Briar House around eight after I get on practice and we’ll fix that little problem of yours. What do you say?”

I can barely speak. I glance at Fran, who is giving me the hell-no face, which has the complete opposite effect that she intended. Fiery with desire, I look back at the gorgeous jock and nod.

“I’ll be there.”

“Good,” he says. “Oh, and try to wear something that regular girls wear, all right? I’ll catch a load of shit for bringing home a girl who dresses like a homeless lady.”

“Fuck you,” I reply with a scornful smile.

“See you then, Strawberry,” he grins. “Or should I call you Cherry?”

2

Red

“This is all a big joke, right?” Fran asks as I try on another outfit in front of the mirror. “You’re just fucking with me, right? You’re gonna ghost him, right?”

“Say right again, Fran,” I laugh, not happy with the orange-print dress I was hoping to wear tonight. I got it at Goodwill for five dollars and used to think I looked super cute in it, but now? I think I look like a girl who never learned to dress herself.

“Just wear what you were wearing before!” Fran says, sounding like she’s in agony as she tumbles face first onto her bed.

“Oh, my Goth stockings and the top that makes me look like a witch? You heard what Blue said.”

“Yeah, I heard it all,” she says into her pillow.

As I flip through the rest of my closet, I realize I don’t have a single acceptable outfit for tonight—at least not one that’s worthy of a guy like Blue.Starting quarterback on his way to the NFL…If you had told me in high school that a guy like that would be interested in me, I would have laughed at you. Guys like him were always into girls like Tasha, the cute blonde down the hall—

“That’s it!” I exclaim as I rush from the room in nothing but a pair of shorts and a bra. Tasha’s door is open and I pop my head in to find her eating Cheetos on her bed.

“Tasha! Can I borrow something cute for tonight?”