Sacking The Player
Not wanting him to see me eating like a pig, I stay safe just ordering one plate of food. The waitress looks at me funny, she knows I come here often, and usually eat a lot. I order their Made in The Shade Platter. It comes with eggs, pancakes, bacon, and grits. It’s a big plate and a few times he offers to finish it off if I can’t. He is eyeing me like he can’t believe I’ve ate as much as I have already. So, when I’m about to finish the last bit, I decide to push the plate at him to finish. I seriously don’t need to scare him off, not yet anyways. I’m starting to want him around for more than keeping Keith away.
I’m terrified but I can’t seem to stay away from Tate.
Tate orders us a malt shake with two straws. It’s cheesy but totally cute. He’s gazing at me intently as we both suck on our straws. He swallows and sits back. “Tonight’s been fun.”
“Yeah,” I admit, because I’ve had a great time with him. Gah, I am falling under the Tate King spell. I don’t even want to fight him on it anymore. At least not right now.
I keep waiting for him to kiss me goodnight as we walk home but he only holds my hand. It’s nice and disappointing. Maybe he really does want to only be friends.
The thought bothers me more than it should. This is what I wanted from him, so why do I feel rejected?
He walks to the outside of the street like a true gentleman. Keith never did little things like that. Tate is so freaking thoughtful.
Back at the dorms, he gives me a brief side hug at my door. I don’t even know how to take it. It was a hug someone gives a relative to avoid touching their boobs or something. I feel like I should invite him in, but I feel stupid. He looks at me expectantly. Does he want me to make a move? I’m so not making the first move here.
“So, thanks for dinner.”
He just nods and leaves. What just happened here? Is he for real? He’s been trying to make moves on me and now that I want him to, he won’t. Men.
“See ya around,” he calls over his shoulder with a small wave, as he walks down the hall.
&
nbsp; I open the door and lean my back against it with a sigh once its closed.
“What’s with you?” Court eyes me speculatively.
“Nothing,” I snap.
Ignoring her inquisitive stare, I go to the fridge and breakout my emergency supply of chocolate cake icing.
I flop down on the couch with my spoon in my mouth, the metal clangs against my teeth. I flip through the TV channels looking for a cheesy movie to perfect my self-wallowing pity party.
Court gets in front of the screen. “You ready to tell me what’s going on with you?”
“Nope.” I try to look past her at the guide channel. “Do you mind?” I hold my spoon up threatening to flip icing at her.
She throws her hands up and steps aside in submission. “Fine. But when you want to talk, I’m here for you.”
“Yeah, yeah.” I wave her away. I should be going over my lecture notes, but I decide to watch Cry Baby with yummy Johnny Depp instead.
Chapter 9
Tate
I
almost didn’t want to say goodbye to Amaya tonight, but I felt that maybe I came off a bit too strong and she looked scared. Instead of giving her a kiss goodbye like I wanted to, I just walked off.
Opening the door to my room, the guys are all still hanging around. “What are you all still doing here?” I ask.
“We wanted to find out what that was tonight,” Big Tex says in the most girlish voice I’ve ever heard, fluttering his eyes like a doofus.
“Yeah, like spill,” Adams chimes in.
I glare at them and look to Bucky. “You chime in next, and my foot is curb stomping your face.”
He shrugs. “Wasn’t gonna say shit, at least not in the fucking pussy ass way they did. I just want to know what the hell that was. You’ve never let a girl step foot inside your space, ever.”