Distraction (6 page)

Not long after we got there, Ginger took her manicured claws
out of Tristan. He'd made it perfectly clear he wasn
'
t interested,
and when he brought back a drink for me and not her, she finally took the hint.

“God, she
'
s a vulture, you know. How do you live with," he nodded
to Ginger, "that piece of work? I mean she
'
s hot, but damn."

"That kind of surprises me. She
'
s usually the
type of girl you go after. What gives?" I then remembered the important
news he had for me. I kept bugging him all week, but he refused to budge. He
said he wanted us to be alone when he told me. I hadn
'
t realized my
big goofy grin until Tristan nudged my shoulder.

"What
'
s with the smile, Spud? Is it some guy?" He eyed the
room. His lean shoulders straightened and his chest bowed out. "Because
you know, I
'
m obligated to kick his ass if I don
'
t like him."

"Oh shut up, and no, there isn
'
t a guy...not really
anyway. I
'
m just happy you finally came to see me. Not talking to you
all summer sucked. So," I lingered on the word, "are you going to
tell me what the big news is or do I have to guess?" I bit my bottom lip.
A nervous habit I picked up after my parents divorced, when mine and my
sister's world went to shit.

"I figured we could go to dinner first. Maybe tomorrow?
Your weekend
'
s free, right?"

"
Yep, no plans.
"

A loud bell from in the kitchen stole our attention away.
Tristan and I followed the excess of people crowded in the doorway. In the
kitchen were two kegs. A row of guys in front of one and in front of the other
were girls.

"If you
'
re a light weight, then get the hell out of line,"
Bret,
Ginger
'
s ex, announced holding up a spout. "You know the rules,
an equal amount of guys to girls, and the line that finishes without spewing
wins. Everyone, place your bets now," he finished.

I looked over the crowd and found Alyssa at the front of the
girls’ line. I should have known. Opposite her stood Jarred, the football
team’s captain. She had her work cut out for her. I
'
d heard he
'
d won every keg
stand he
'
d been to.

“All right, all bets are closed. Let the game begin." A
fellow Kappa dinged the bell again, and the race took off. The deafening tune
of chug, chug, chug, bellowed throughout the crowd while Jarred and Alyssa
gulped beer. They
'
d been up for almost a full minute. The best score had been
recorded at a minute and ten seconds. Ten, nine, eight, the seconds were
counted down. Then Jarred dropped to his feet and Alyssa beat him by one
second.

Alyssa strolled over to where Tristan and I stood and burped.

"Wow, Amazon, I
'
m impressed. Guess you really have
learned something at college. Your parents would be proud." Tristan
playfully hit Alyssa in the shoulder causing another burp to escape her
beer-filled stomach. I only drank water, but anyone in the near vicinity of
that burp acquired an instant buzz.

"Yeah, I figured if Mom and Dad are hell bent on me
learning, then what better way than study the art of a kick ass keg stand?"
She burped again.

Someone yakked and we turned our attention to the line of
guys vs. girls keg stand. A freshman from the Pi Phi house lost more than her
money just then. "
Damn freshman, she just made us lose,
" Alyssa
said.

"Give her a break," I said, turning away from the
chunks of beer and food all over the wall.

"Oh shit! Look who the freshman heaved all over." I
followed Alyssa
'
s gaze. My mouth fell open watching the crowd rush away from
a fuming Ginger. Bret walked over, laughing hysterically, and handed her a
towel. Ginger snatched the towel from him then stormed off.

"I think I like that freshman after all." Alyssa
finished with a laugh and a hiccup.

Soon, the crowd in the kitchen dissolved and the music from
earlier cranked back up. Tristan joined a group of people playing quarters. He
played pretty well. His muscles tightened when he forced the quarter to ding
with a hard bounce against the table. He smiled and pointed to a frat guy,
forcing him to take a shot. He was good at everything he did and made it look
effortless. A few girls surrounded Tristan like bees, ready for an opening. I
did my best to keep my expression even.

Hours later, Alyssa decided she
'
d had her fill,
and I searched the dwindling crowd for Tristan. I found him talking to Jarred,
discussing football. I hadn
'
t seen him so passionate about the game in a while.

"Hey, Elle. You realize how good your guy is in
football? He and his team kicked our ass my senior year, but I got in a few
good pass touchdowns while the scout was there."

I laughed but realized Tristan
'
s face wasn
'
t as exuberant
anymore. I wondered if he
'
d thought back to his offer to play here. He never went into
detail why he turned down his football scholarship. He only said he needed to
get away. I didn
'
t push the subject.

"I think Alyssa
'
s ready to go, and I
'
m beat, too."
Tristan and Jarred shoved at each other. A stupid show of male masculinity, and
then we headed home. We didn
'
t live far from Greek row and when we pulled up, we went
straight inside.

Alyssa threw her keys on the kitchen counter, then headed
away. "I
'
ll see you two tomorrow. Night, Shrimp." Alyssa
'
s loud voice
trailed down the hall, indifferent to Ginger sleeping. I turned to Tristan.

"She hasn
'
t changed much, has she?" Tristan yawned.

"I guess not. Are you sure you
'
re okay with the
couch? There
'
s a loose spring in the middle, and it can be a pain when you
wake up."

"I
'
m good.
" He hesitated, his facial expression now serious. His
mouth opened in the form of an o, but at the last minute his lips closed
instead. I padded down the hall to change. When I finished, I carried out an
extra pillow and blanket. Tristan thanked me and I crept back down the hallway,
ready for sleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

"Hey, Spud?" I heard Tristan
'
s whisper, and
made my way back to the couch.

"Yeah?" In the dark, I could see Tristan
'
s outline. He
had his head propped up by his hand. He patted the empty space next to him with
his free hand. When I climbed in, he wrapped us in a cocoon with my blanket. I
held my breath, waiting, hoping. The feel of his strong arms around my waist
sent a blaze through my body.

"I missed you." Glad my back was against his chest,
I slowly released my held breath.

"I missed you too, Tristan. What
'
s wrong?"

"Do you think I made a mistake turning down the football
deal here? I mean, I
'
ve knocked some of these guys off their asses, but ya know
what I mean." I felt his chest rumble with quiet laughter, and relaxed
further into him. "What do you think?"

"I think you
'
re the only person who can answer
that question. Does this have to do with what you and Jarred were talking about
at the party?" I knew it did.

"I
'
ve been thinking about being here for a while now." His
arms tightened around my middle, unknowingly pressing the ache for him closer
to the surface.

"It's not too late to change your mind. Maybe it's too
late to get on the team this year, but you know if you talked with your dad, he
could pull some strings. That is, if playing here is what you really want."
He remained quiet for a minute.

"Thanks for listening. I don
'
t know what I
'
d do without you."

"Anytime," I said, seeming the only comfort I could
offer. Before I allowed myself to hope for something I knew didn
'
t exist for him,
I moved from his hold. "Goodnight, Tristan."

"Night, Spud," he said, rolling to his back. I
turned and headed down the hall.

In the stilled darkness, I relaxed my head against my pillow,
hoping the silent tears that had started to fall before I made my way back to
my room would deliver the numbness of sleep soon. Being in love with someone
was supposed to be a sweet and tender release. However, being in love with your
best friend, who didn
'
t interpret those feelings in the same way, became a
violently brutal ache. I knew being around Tristan would be difficult. I just
hadn
'
t prepared myself for the full brunt...until tonight.

Chapter
4

Tristan

My sanity wavered when Elle crawled in next to me on the
couch, carrying the floral scent of her shampoo with her. My arms had wrapped
around her in a sudden need to breathe her in. I hadn
'
t meant to. But
holding her in my arms felt natural, right, and too fucking good. God. I wanted
to feel the pressure of her pouty lips against mine, and when she left, the
damn pillow she gave me left traces of her succulent scent to torture me.
Natural like the shampoo she used, her beauty was as easy as breathing.

My phone lit up, squashing the fantasies, and I opened the
text.

Miss
and love you- xoxo Kellie.

Miss
you too
.
I hit send and chided myself for lying. I did miss Kellie,
but around Elle, I didn
'
t want any other woman.

I texted back.
What are you wearing??
I waited for Kellie
'
s reply.

Nothing…

I sighed. My distraction. Kellie
'
s ability to
create new games inspired me at times.

Touch
yourself.

Oh
Tristan.

I groaned.

Reading Kellie
'
s heavy words in the dark turned me on. Then she sent me a
picture of her naked body draped over the bed in her hotel room. My mouth
watered and the pressure in my boxers increased. I turned further into the
pillow and caught the shampoo smell again. My distraction came to an abrupt
end. I hurried to end the heated texting.

Can
'
t wait to see you.

Me
too. See ya soon Babe.

I moved to my side, avoiding the damn spring, and forced my
eyes shut. My ability to block out Elle
'
s image wasn
'
t as easily
constrained. Sleep was overrated anyway, right?

* * *

I slept worth shit last night and as result, the muscles in
my neck were stiff. If I had told Elle about me going to school here, I
'
d be sleeping in
my own bed.

With a groan, I shoved myself off the couch, straightening my
sore muscles. My neck popped, followed by a crack radiating down my spine when
I bent over to grab my shoes. After I laced them up, I opened the front door
and headed out for a run.

The warm air quickly evaporated the early morning dew. My
shoes beat against the gravel. Loose pebbles hit the back of my calves a few
times as I sprinted down the road. Sweat streaked down my face and my eyes
stung from the salty drips falling from my hair, but I didn
'
t mind. The
stiffness in my neck and back slowly released the farther I ran.

An hour later, my breaths came out in pants and my heart
pounded in my chest. I returned to Elle
'
s house feeling better than when I
left.

Quietly, I opened the front door. The bitter waft of freshly
brewed coffee filled the room. I gently closed the door. With Elle
'
s back turned to
me, I greedily drank her in. The baggy T-shirt she wore flowed loosely when she
walked to the cabinet. When she stepped on her tiptoes, searching for a mug, I
grinned. The boxers she had on were a pair I
'
d given her back
in high school. She'd stayed over one night when my parents were out of town,
and we watched badass zombie movies until early in the morning.