The Heartbreaker

“Jordan, can my girl bring her sorority sisters tonight?” Jarvis asks. “They’re all hot.”

“I can vouch for that,” Tucker adds.

“Then hell yeah, bring them,” Jordan says. He looks over at me. “You’re coming, right?”

“I wouldn’t miss it.”

“Is Jo coming?”

“I’m not sure.” I look at my phone again. “Maybe.”

“Bro, have you even talked to her? Told her how you feel?”

“No.” I purse my lips, regretting the night I was playing Madden with the guys and spilled my guts to them. It felt good at the time to get things off my chest to someone other than my brothers, but now I have a lot more than just two people pointing out the mistakes I’m making and it’s driving me crazy.

“You should.”

“You’re just saying that because you don’t want more competition with the chicks at school.” I glance over at him as he laughs.

“You’re not competition. You just happened to get to Jo first and I’m not a dick like Lawrence.”

His name makes my blood boil. It’s funny how we used to hang out and talk all the time and it all died the moment he turned around and went after Jo. Some would say I could also place the blame on her, but she didn’t know how I felt. Hell, I didn’t know how I felt. I knew I liked her, but in hindsight I don’t know that it would have made a difference back then. I’d just gotten here and I truly did want the college experience. I didn’t want to get in a relationship with the first girl I had a fling with. Now, years later, I haven’t had any kind of relationship with anyone and part of me wonders if it’s because of that night with Jo and another part of me thinks it’s just because it’s too easy to hook up with girls and be done, as opposed to being tied down and having a relationship dictate my every move. It doesn’t matter. I’m ready now. I just don’t know if she is. She just got out of a bad one and I don’t know if she’d want to jump into one with me. She specifically said no athletes and I’m in the thick of it. I say bye to my teammates and sit in my car for a moment to gather my thoughts, but before I can finish gathering them, my phone buzzes with a call from Maverick. I answer.

“Yoooooo,” he says loudly, and I can’t help but to smile. “What a game. That first touchdown? One-handed catch with two people all over you? Holy shit, that’s going to be all over ESPN!”

“It might be.” I chuckle, heart pounding at the thought. I’ve been featured before, but it never gets old.

“Come to the bar,” Mav says. “I’m here with Colson and Finn.”

“Jordan’s party is tonight. I need to shave and take a nap and hopefully eat a bowl of pasta,” I add after my stomach grumbles. I showered after the game, but I couldn’t shave and I can’t stand this weird stage my facial hair is in so I want to get rid of it.

“Dude, I’ll order you a bowl of spaghetti. Come on. You can nap after you eat.”

“Fine.” I exhale and hang up the call.

On the ride over, I wonder if Jo is still there or if she already went home. If she’s there, I’m going to be straight up with her and tell her I want her to go with me to the party. If she’s not, I’ll tell her at home. Either way, this ends tonight. I’m tired of hiding my feelings from her. I need to step up and tell her and be done with it. If she feels the same, it would be amazing. If she doesn’t, I can move on once and for all. When I park at the bar, I see her gold Celica and smile. She’s still here. I walk inside and spot my brother and his friends quickly, but as I’m walking over, I see Jo sitting in a corner table with Lawrence. I feel myself frown as I slide into the booth, facing her.

“What the fuck is going on over there?” I say, not even bothering greeting anyone.

“Oh.” Mav looks over his shoulder and back at me. I continue staring at Jo. “They’ve been having dinner for a while now.”

I shake my head, my jaw tensing. I swear I don’t understand this woman. I don’t understand why she continues to give Lawrence the time of day. What’s the point? I wish I could shake that into her, but it’s obvious she wouldn’t listen.

“Hi.” I glance back at my brother’s friends. “Sorry, I’m distracted.”

“Beer’s on me,” Finn says, smiling. “You earned it after that game.”

“Jagger Cruz.” At the sound of my name, I look up to see a man standing there with a smile on his face. “You played a heck of a game today.”