AllFreeNovel
Share Us
At my own party for the Birchwood Bowl, I was acting like a circus monkey, and I wasn’t drunk enough to blame it on that. Why? The shot I had after we won the Birchwood Bowl, and the beer after I’d finished icing, postgame, were both completely burned out of my system. But I just couldn’t stop the act. Every sentence was like juggling balls to keep Piper’s attention.
Off to the side, I could see one of my favorite teammates, King, throwing me dumbfounded looks every time I spoke to her.
I couldn’t blame him.
There had been even bigger parties on-campus. Hell, Gianna’s was packed, but I told everyone the best one was going to be at my place for no reason. It’d been a fucking nightmare to scramble up a party on such short notice.
Why?
Because I knew Piper Fontaine would come. Even if she’d be banging on my door to do it.
Stupid.
Fucking stupid, actually.
The girl gaped at me, with fuzzy turtle slippers and blonde braids down her shoulders, looking even more shocked than King. Shocked was fine though. Shocked was something I could work with. At least it wasn’t the three days of silence between the pie-throwing and the party, when she scampered off to her room every time she saw me. That’d been unbearable.
"Alright!" I had everyone’s attention, and I pushed myself to a standing position. I promised Piper a magic trick, and I meant to deliver. A foolproof plan to get everyone’s attention. "Now, everybody! Get the hell out of here!"
The ooos and awws to the proposal turned into surprise. All morphing into disgruntled comments. Ungrateful bastards.
I clapped my hands. "I mean it! Get out! We have to consummate!"
A couple of laughs followed but everybody else started heading off towards the door, complaining just loud enough to be dicks. I’d fed them and catered to their alcohol problems. You would think they could be a little nicer when it came to my fake fiancée’s privacy.
A hand reached out and gripped my shirt. Piper yanked me down, shaking. Her words were a stutter. "Don’t—don’t you ever do that again."
"What?"
"The public whatever you just did - don’t do it again."
"Aw, ice princess." I couldn’t help it. Her anger was adorable, like a frustrated kitten. And where Piper was usually sweet, soft, and trying to see the bright side of things, when she was angry—wow—was it a one-eighty. I grinned. "Is that a no to the proposal?"
"Adam?" Ryan leaned against the door frame, holding it open for everyone streaming out.
My team captain of the Romans, one of my best friends in the world, was supposed to be in my room three hours ago.
"Captain, you’re too late." I shook my head. "It just ended."
"I didn’t come for that. Kassie wanted me to drop off some of the lemonades."
Seriously? "You said you two were coming out. We just won the Birchwood Bowl!"
"Her fridge is too full."
It was like he didn’t hear a damn thing I said. Even if we used to hang out together all the time last semester, ever since Ryan and Kassie got back together after Ryan almost royally fucked up, it was like I was lower than chopped liver. All my time with them went down the toilet.
Truth be told, it fucking sucked. Even if they’d been busy last semester, at least I saw them occasionally. That was gone once they shut everybody out to giggle and draw hearts together or whatever the hell they were doing now that they were a real couple.
"Oh my god," Piper whispered. "That’s Ryan Cross."
"Yeah, unfortunately, it is," I muttered. "Bring the drinks in."
Piper took a few steps back, her face peculiarly red. She stammered for a whole new reason. I couldn’t put it together. Did she have a thing for Ryan? That couldn’t be true. She had a thing against football players. I remembered that all too clearly.
Or maybe she just doesn’t like you.
Fuck it. Everybody likes me. I’m the party guy, the prankster dude, the man down for anything. Piper wouldn’t like someone like Ryan. There was no way.
