The Junior (College Years 3)

“What?” I ask, faintly annoyed.

“You’re in loooove.” He draws out the last word in a high-pitched voice, sounding like a complete idiot. “The biggest player of all time is now completely pussy whipped.”

“Hey, that pussy is worth being one hundred percent whipped for,” I crack

, making Diego laugh.

I immediately feel like a jackass, talking about Gracie in that way, but I rarely say stuff like that anymore, and I think they all wonder if something’s wrong with me. I’m just keeping up the ‘Caleb is a dirty bastard’ façade.

Why I need to, I don’t know. I think they’d accept me as I am, no matter what.

“I have a secret,” Tony announces, causing Diego’s laughter to die. “But you two assholes have to swear not to mention it to anyone.”

Damn. He sounds deadly serious.

“What is it?” Diego asks.

“You promise to keep your mouths shut?” Tony looks from Diego to me, his expression solemn.

I nod. “I swear.”

“Yep,” Diego agrees.

“Ava is here. She flew home for the next few days to see Ellie and spend time with Eli. He has no idea.” Tony grins. “We wanted to keep it a surprise. So don’t breathe a word of this, got it?”

“We won’t,” I say. “He’s going to shit.”

“He’s definitely going to be happy,” Diego adds.

“Ellie went and picked up Ava at the airport. She landed around five. She has to fly back in two days,” Tony says.

“She can’t stick around for the game?” I ask with a frown.

Tony slowly shakes his head. “She has some charity event she has to participate in for her sorority. She can’t miss it.”

Damn. That sucks.

“He’ll be glad to get any amount of time he can with her,” Diego says, and I nod my agreement.

“Keep it quiet.” Another one of those measured long looks from Tony. “Especially you,” he says to me, since I live with Eli. “See you two boneheads later.”

I drive home, my head full of thoughts. About relationships. Friendships. Long distance bullshit. I don’t know if I’m cut out for that kind of thing. Having Gracie around all the time makes me happy. Yes, we’re both busy during the day, but we spend time together every night, unless I’m gone for an away game.

Have I mentioned how supportive she is at games? She gets all decked out in Bulldog red and screams my name from the stands. One time I legit heard her voice, the scream was so distinctly Gracie.

And there are a lot of people filling up Bulldog Stadium, let me tell you.

Everything I do, she supports. Most everything I say, she argues with—most of the time it’s all in good fun, but there are those occasions where she thinks I’m flat-out wrong and she calls me out for it. Which is fine. I love that she doesn’t just readily agree with me or say yes to every suggestion I make. She’s an independent thinker. She’s got her own brain, and it’s a big one.

One I admire.

What I’ve come to realize is Gracie is everything I never knew I wanted. I’d been avoiding having a relationship for so long, I didn’t even know what it took to be in one. And now that I’ve let this girl into my life, and she’s let me into hers, it turns out we’re a perfect fit.

Should’ve known. We reacted to each other so strongly from the first moment we met. It makes total sense.

By the time I’m entering the apartment, Gracie leaps from the couch where she’s sitting and comes for me, grabbing hold of my waist and rising up to smother my face with kisses. I slam the door behind me and scoop her up, pressing her against the door so I can kiss her like I mean it.

She breaks the kiss first, breathless. “Well hello to you too.”