Chloe told me to meet her at Ray Fieldhouse at eight. It’s Friday night, so the place is quiet as a morgue. She’s waiting for me just inside the side entrance for athletes. Leaning on the wall with her phone in hand, she’s slow to raise her head from the screen, which gives me a couple seconds to take her in.
Tight black shorts that are… well, they can hardly be called shorts they’re so short—and I’m in no way complaining about that—and a white off-the-shoulder t-shirt that comes just to the top of her not-shorts.
“Hey.” She pushes off the wall. Her eyes do a slow perusal of me and she smirks. “Ready?”
“Depends. Gotta say, I’m intrigued. I’ve never had a chick tell me to meet her at the gym on a Friday night.”
We head down the hall toward the weight rooms. She stops outside of the basketball team’s private gym. After last year’s national championship win, they did some renovations on an unused indoor tennis court area to give us our own workout room. The other teams share so it’s a definite perk.
“I see. I’m just the key to the good weight room. We’re working out, for real?”
She nods and flashes an innocent smile. “Well, we could go to the other workout room if you want to slum it with me.”
A rough chuckle fills my chest, and I press my thumb to the keypad entry.
“Fancy,” she mocks when it beeps us in.
No one else is here, as I expected, but I doubt they’d balk at Chloe being here anyway.
“Wow,” she says as she walks into the center of the room.
“Don’t walk over Ray,” I tell her as her feet get dangerously close to stepping on our beloved mascot in the center of the floor. “It’s four years of bad luck.”
She smirks. “Superstitious much?”
“Just not willing to risk it. We’ve got one in the locker room, too. You step on him and it’s seven seasons of shit.”
The way we’re looking in practice right now, I’m not convinced someone hasn’t been stomping on him every chance they get.
“So, now what?”
She turns to face me, hands on hips. “It’s leg day.”
I quirk a brow, but she’s all business as she steps onto the treadmill and presses go. She takes the speed to a light jog. I watch as she warms up. She invited me along so I’m guessing she isn’t opposed to that. And damn, it’d be hard to look away.
She looks over her shoulder. “You gonna work out with me or just stare at my ass the whole time?”
I take the treadmill beside her. “Both. I’m good at multi-tasking.”
After five minutes of jogging, she takes off doing walking lunges across the room. I step in behind her, keeping my promise and working out while I continue to check her out.
She seems to have a whole routine because she goes right into each one with barely a second to let me catch my breath: bear crawl, side shuffle, high skips, wall sits.
I’m in good shape. When I can’t sleep, I exercise to pass the hours, so my endurance is awesome, but Chloe is making me sweat to keep up with her.
Thirty minutes have passed before she finally looks to me, face red with exertion and eyes ablaze with excitement, and says, “Ready to work out?”
Dafuq we been doing? That’s what I think, but instead, I just wave my hand in front of me for her to lead the way.
Chloe heads to the squat rack. She places the barbell on her upper back and steps back and does a quick warm up set. When she racks it, I snap out of it and move to help her add weight. “Don’t you guys do this as a team?”
She nods as she follows the weight with a clip to hold it in place and then moves right back under the bar to go again. I stand behind her as a spot, just in case, as she busts out a set of ten.
“Bonus workouts, I dig it.” She’s in the zone, and my words take a minute to register.
“I need to be stronger and quicker on my feet. I’m not as tall as some of my competition so I need to make up for it any way I can. No weaknesses I can control.”
“Alright.” Her words poke at some insecurity inside me. I had to bust my ass to get where I am so I understand the basic logic behind her desire to outwork the competition. “Let’s put some real weight on there then.”
Her green eyes flash with competition.
I add what I think is a challenging but doable weight to both sides.
“I’ve never squatted that much before.”
“No weaknesses you can control.” I throw her words back at her, which does the trick. She lets out a breath and gets in position. Determination radiates off her, but I stay close to grab the bar if she needs to bail.
She doesn’t need me, though.
“Atta girl.” I help re-rack the bar after her third rep, and she turns and throws her arms around me.
“I did it!”
Sweat mixed with ocean and sunshine fills my nostrils, and I contemplate kissing her for all of two seconds before she seems to read my thoughts and steps back.
“What’s next?”
For the next forty minutes, we workout side by side. We take turns picking the exercises. I push her to add more weight, and she pushes me to move quicker between sets. Her competitive spirit and my desire to flat out not be shown up by a girl makes me work harder. She has this effect on me, I’m finding—she makes me want to be better at a lot of things.
It’s nearly nine o’clock when we sit on the floor catching our breaths and giving our shaky legs a break.
“Payne.” Coach’s deep voice catches me by surprise, and my head snaps up to find him standing just inside the weight room. He’s dressed in workout clothes with his headphones in hand. Note to self, Coach comes to work out late on the weekends. “What are you doing here?”
I jump to my feet and then proceed to wobble because damn my legs hurt. He takes in me and then Chloe while I find my words. “We were just finishing up.”
Chloe moves behind me. “Sorry. You’ve got the good equipment in here.”
Coach smiles at her. “That we do.” He looks to me and that smile falls a little. He nods with his head to the door. “Get out of here before I’ve got the whole team bringing their girlfriends in here.”
We shuffle past him into the hallway, and Chloe busts up laughing. “Sorry,” she says between giggles. “I hope I didn’t get you in trouble.”
“Nah, I’m already on his shit list.”
She looks to me for an explanation, and I shake my head. “It’s a long story.”
“I’m at the gym on a Friday night… I’ve clearly got time.”
We make our way out to the parking lot and pause where our paths split and we’ll be forced to go in opposite directions.
“I did something dumb, got caught.” I shrug.
“Something dumb?”
The truth is on the tip of my tongue, but I like the way Chloe looks at me now and if she knows the truth… well, it’s a risk I’m not willing to take. Good things haven’t come my way too often lately, and I’m not ready to gamble giving her up.
“I showed up to practice pretty hungover… in fact, I might have still been drunk.”
“So that’s why you’ve stopped drinking so much?” she says as if it’s all clicked in place. “And then you met me.” She bats her eyelashes.
I nod, unable to force another lie. “And then I met you.”
Chloe
Sunday night, Nathan and I are sprawled out on the floor in the common area of my dorm, working on our communications class project. Bri is at a study group, Emily’s in her room with the door closed, and Sydney’s in our room but has the door open just enough we can hear the music she’s playing.
“A pen?” Nathan asks, his pencil tucked behind his ear. He flips through my notes, long legs propped up on the coffee table.
“Not just a pen. A retractable roller pen with extra ink cartridges. It retails for over seventy dollars.”
His eyebrows lift up toward his hairline. “A seventy-dollar pen? That’s crazy.”
“Which is the point of the project,” I remind him. “We need to figure out how to market it to our classmates. What would make you spend that much on a pen?”
“Winning the lotto.”
I tilt my head. “We have to come up with something.”
“Yeah, I know. I’m gonna have to think on it. We can pull together the current marketing details and customer profile and come back to it.”
“Yeah, alright.”
“Or we could blow this off and grab dinner at my place? Joel’s mom brought over enchiladas.”
“Joel’s mom really feeds you guys?”
“Hell yes.” He grins. “I’m not even embarrassed about it because it’s so good. So much better than that cafeteria shit.”
I stare down at my notes. He’s right, we need time to process, but I want Nathan to be here when Bri comes home. “How about we order takeout, finish up the outline, and then watch a movie or something here?”
He nods slowly. “Yeah, alright. We could do that.”
Unlike the eager guy I’ve gotten used to, he doesn’t seem very excited about my plan. And then it hits me. Of course, he doesn’t want to spend money on takeout when he can get a free meal at his place.
“My treat for…” I gesture in front of us. “Well, everything. I owe you.”
Laughing, he shakes his head. “I’m good, holding out for enchiladas. I’ve got a granola bar in my backpack if I get desperate.”
He goes back to studying my notes and I order takeout—three times as much as I would for just myself. It arrives just as we’re finishing up the outline. I grab two plates, setting one in front of him even as he says, “I’m good, seriously. I’ll eat later.”
“Have you had Lotus House?”
He shakes his head.
“Oh, my God, you have to at least try it.” I hold out my fork full of Chow Mein and one side of his mouth pulls up in an amused grin before he opens wide and leans forward.
I wait while he chews and nods his head.
“Amazing, right?”
“Really good.”
I hand him the container of food, and he takes it from me with a shy smile but then shovels in two more big bites. I wave him off when he tries to hand it back and grab for the sesame beef.
Sydney pops her head out of our room. “Did I hear something about a movie?”
“Yeah, you wanna watch something with us?”
She rushes into the room and takes a seat on the couch. “Can we watch New Girl? We just started season two.”
It stings a bit to know they have another thing together that I’ve been missing out on.
“Yeah, New Girl sounds great. I haven’t seen it. You?” I look to Nathan.
“Saw a few episodes but never from beginning to end. Sunday night used to be movie night at the house. I miss it.”
I’m having a hard time picturing him and his roommates all sitting around watching a movie together. I’ve seen their theater room, but still.
Sydney knocks on the wall behind the couch in what I can only assume is some sort of bat signal for Bri to come out because not five seconds later, she pops out. Her footsteps slow as she glances around the room. Nathan nudges my elbow with his.
“Wanna watch with us?” I ask, fully prepared for her to say no or maybe even kick me out.
“I don’t want to interrupt date night.”
“It’s fine,” I say at the same time Nathan says, “As long as you’re cool with me feeling up my girl during the show.”
My mouth falls open, and I expect Bri to scoff and go back to her room. Instead, she laughs. Like laughs laughs. I didn’t know she was capable of making the sound. She takes a seat on the couch. I give Nathan, aka Mr. Miracle Worker, a playful slap.
“I’m kidding,” he says, grabbing the remote from the TV stand. “What episode are we on? Season two, episode one?”
Sydney tucks her feet under her on the couch. “Season two, episode three. Emily is on her way.”
Our door flies open as if it were scripted. “I’m here,” Emily says, out of breath. “Season two, episode three,” she repeats. “Jess tried dating two guys at once and met the hot doctor. Except we don’t know he’s a doctor yet. Sorry, Sydney.” She collapses on the couch between Bri and Sydney.
Standing, I place an unopened carton of food on the coffee table. “General Tsao’s chicken?”
Emily dives for it. “Thanks, Chloe. Hey, Nathan.”
He waves to her, and I give Nathan an OMG, we’re hanging out and no one forced them look. He moves to my chair and pulls me onto his lap. It’s big enough that we’d just about fit side by side, but I’m more on his lap than not. I turn to face him and mouth, “Thank you.”
He responds by leaning forward and kissing me lightly on the lips.
“Mmmm, you taste spicy.”
He doesn’t pull away immediately. Our mouths linger, barely not touching, eyes locked. My heart races with the desire I see reflected back at me. I make the first move this time, hesitantly pressing our lips together. He lets out a little growl as he takes over the kiss. I part my lips just as his tongue sweeps in.
A pillow hits the side of my face.
“That’s enough, you two,” Sydney says.
Nathan chuckles and pulls away, but he keeps an arm around me, one hand on my thigh the entire show. A detail that no one else in the room can see, but I like it anyway. And that’s not good.
I can’t fall for my fake boyfriend. What if in a week or two, it blows up and we can’t stand to be around one another? All of this will have been for nothing. I close my eyes and try to ignore the tingles and desire I feel being this close to him.
“Is there a weird song that turns you on that really shouldn’t?” I ask as we’re cleaning up.
He takes the empty Chinese containers from the coffee table. “You mean like Nick and the ‘Humpty Dance?’”
I nod.
He thinks for a minute and then shakes his head. “I can’t think of one. Why?”
“Just curious.” I bite down on my lip.
“Uh-uh. You have one, don’t you? What is it?”
I bite my lip and his face lights up. “Oh, this is fun. Let me guess. ‘Genie in a Bottle?’”
I shake my head no.
“‘The Pony?’”
I scrunch up my face. “Seriously? Ginuwine should turn everyone on.”
He tosses the trash and then crosses his arms in front of him, studying me carefully.
“‘Ice Ice Baby,’” I admit quietly and watch his face transform into a huge smile. “Don’t laugh. It’s my jam.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it.” He presses his lips together tightly and goes back to helping me pick up. Under his breath, he begins to lightly hum the song.
“You said you wouldn’t laugh,” I say as he breaks out singing for real. He spits out the first verse as he walks to me.
When he finishes, we’re standing chest to chest, smiling at one another.
“Jerk,” I tease.
Our gazes lock, and I swear he’s going to kiss me. No witnesses, just us caught up in this happy fake relationship we’ve created. I have to admit, we’re good at pretending. So good that I think we’re both lost wondering what’s real and what’s not.
I can survive another year without a boyfriend, I remind myself. It’s my final shot to prove I belong—that I always belonged. No weaknesses I can control, and Nathan’s definitely starting to feel like a weakness.
“I’m tired,” I say and step back. There’s a note of disappointment in his body language as he watches me put distance between us.
“Yeah, I should go.” He walks to the door and doesn’t glance back as he leaves.
And now I’ve got “Ice Ice Baby” on the brain and no fake boyfriend to make out with.