Full Count (13 page)

“Hey Dylan,” she said quietly. “Can
we talk for a minute?” I leaned against my car and folded my arms over my
chest, waiting in silence to listen to her bitching. She fiddled with her red
hair before nervously starting.

“I just wanted to say sorry for how
I acted. I always get a little crazy when it comes to you. I knew you were
never really serious with me and I guess I just wanted you to be. I hope we can
still be friends.”

“Thanks,” I quietly replied,
feeling guilty that I hadn’t ever took her feelings into consideration when I
started this thing up with her. “And I’m sorry too, for how I acted. As for
being friends, that’s all I can ever really be with you from now, we can’t go
back to our old relationship we had together.”

She gave me a sad smile and said,
“I know, I can tell there’s another girl, one that seems to make you happy.
Just be gentle with her heart, Dylan.”

She walked away leaving me behind
to lean against my car. I might have treated girls like shit in the past but
Paige was different. I would do anything I had to, to prove to her just how
special she is and no one was going to get in my way of that.

Paige

“Hey, you ready to get out of
here?” Jakes leaned down to whisper in my ear, after I followed Dylan with my
eyes and he walked out the front door. I hated to see him leave, but I wasn’t
going to ditch my best friend. “I have to be up really early to meet up with
the team and I wanted to spend a little bit of alone time with you.”
“Sure.” I said goodbye to Kitty who insisted that she needed to stay the night
with a friend of hers, so Jake and I could have the place to ourselves. I
rolled my eyes when she had told me, even though I told her all the time that
our relationship wasn’t like that.

I flipped on the lights to our room
and instantly Jake burst out laughing. “Oh my god, there’s so much pink. How do
you live like this?”

“Well,” I said, sitting down on the
edge of my bed to pull off my boots. Those things were freaking killing my feet
and I really never wanted to put them on again. Maybe Dylan would want them as
a souvenir since he seemed to like them so much. “It’s not too bad, I’ve gotten
used to it. As you can see I’ve changed a little bit.”

“Not that much, Paigey.” He flopped
down onto my bed and threw an arm over his face. “You still have your own style
and you’re certainly not over the top like that roommate of yours. She seems
pretty nice though. I’m glad you ended up with someone like her. I’m sure you
got sick of having a guy for a best friend over the years.”

I picked up a pillow and chucked it
at his face. “Never, why would you think that?” He jumped up as soon as the
pillow hit his face and headed for the stack that was on Kitty’s bed. A flurry
of pillows attacked me as I tried to dodge each one and throw them back at him.

“I win.” His body tackled me to the
bed and my laughter stopped when his piercing blue eyes cut through me. He
lifted a hand to smooth my hair back and slowly traced his finger over each
feature on my face, until his thumb brushed across my lip. “You are so
beautiful,” he breathed out, lowering his head until our lips were only inches
apart.

What was he doing? My insides were
a mess and he was twisting them around even more. Didn’t he know this was going
to change our whole relationship? I didn’t know how I felt. Dylan flashed
through my head and before Jake’s lips could touch mine, I rolled out from
underneath him.

“Um, I’m going to go change into my
pajamas. I’ll be back in a little bit.” I rifled through my drawers in a hurry,
grabbing the first thing my hands landed on and rushed into the bathroom,
slamming the door behind me.

What in the hell was that all
about? He said he was interested in someone the last time we talked and then he
goes and hits on me? I mean ,I guess I’m not much better, I did cheat on Ben
with Dylan and then I almost let Jake kiss me too.

I looked in the mirror, staring at
the reflection. Have I really changed that much? Still the same sandy brown
hair with the curls that drove me crazy, the blue eyes that I always thought
were too wide for my face, the only big difference was maybe a little extra
makeup that I didn’t use to wear. The old Paige Brinton would never string
along one guy, let alone three.

I stripped out of my dress, which
left me naked, since Dylan had ruined my panties. That boy owed me a new pair.
Good, at least I grabbed something to wear that covers my body. A little bit. I
pulled on a black tank top and a pair of red and black striped sleeping shorts
that Kitty had bought for me, before tying my hair up and removing the little
makeup I had on.

There. Just the good old regular
Paige. Maybe Jake would forget about the whole kissing thing when he saw my new
look stripped away. His eyes were playing tricks on him or something.

The lights were off when I walked
back out and only the moonlight filtering in could be seen through the cracks
in our blinds. It was quiet and I hoped that maybe Jake was asleep.

I peeled back the covers on my bed
to meet Jake’s bare muscular chest, laying there in only a pair of black shorts.
He had one arm tucked under his head, the other thrown over his tan stomach,
and his eyes were shut while I sunk into the bed and covered my body with the
comforter.

I lay on my side watching the rise
of his chest, up and down, and the little scars that were scattered across his
body that most people wouldn’t even notice. There’s one on his elbow, from when
he had first taught me how to ride a bike. I was determined to go off on my own
after just a few instructions from him and he was there to catch me when I
tumbled over, scraping up his own body in the process.

Another that I lightly ran my
fingers over, was on the knuckle of his right hand. A smile touched my lips
when I remembered what that one was from. Robbie Newton. Jake had caught him
spying on us at the creek one day and didn’t like it one bit when he saw me in
my bathing suit, with his eyes practically falling out at the sight. So Robbie
got a good beating for that one.

“Like what you see?” A smirk spread
across his face and his eyes fluttered open as he twisted his body to lie on
his side, face to face with me.

“I thought you were asleep.” I pulled
my hand away but he grabbed onto it and interlaced our fingers. “Oh I get it,
so you would only take advantage of me while I’m sleeping?”

I rolled my eyes at him and lowered
my head onto the pillow. Of course that’s what he wanted to think, always so
full of himself. “Why would you care? I thought there was some girl you were
interested in. What’s happening with that?”

“Well right now, she’s laying right
next to me, apparently with no clue how I feel about her.” His thumb reached
out to brush my cheek and a small shiver escaped.

My heart felt like it was going to
explode out of my chest at his confession. How could I have been so blind? I
was the girl he was interested in? I guess looking back he had dropped hints every
once in awhile, but had never come out and said anything straight to me.

“Paige, I want to try things with
you. I know you’re worried that it will affect our friendship, but we don’t
have to let it. No matter what happens, you’ll always be my best friend no
matter what. But I can’t keep these feelings inside anymore, it’s eating me up
inside. And then what happens? As soon as you get on campus, you get a
boyfriend. It really didn’t surprise me. I’ve always seen how gorgeous you are,
it doesn’t matter what clothes you have on or the makeup on your face.” I
remained silent, really not sure what to say back to that but my heart squeezed
in my chest at his words. I had never seen this side of him before and it was
unexpected. His lips lowered to mine and this time I didn’t stop their path.

He moved slow and gentle, caressing
his lips against mine before probing my mouth open with his warm tongue. His
hand went to the back of my head and pulled me closer, so I threw a leg around
his until our bodies molded together. He pulled back to lick a trail down my
neck and nipped lightly on my bare shoulder.

“Can you at least give me a chance?
That’s all I’m asking.”

“Jake, how would things work between
us? We go to schools that are almost six hours apart. Do you really think we
should start a long distance relationship? I don’t know how it would survive.”

“Baby girl, you think way too
much.” His lips moved to touch the corner of my mouth, my nose, and my
forehead. “Just think about it. I’ll always be waiting for you.” His arms
wrapped around my waist and he ran a hand through my hair until the sounds of
his heavy breathing filtered up to my ears.

I watched him while he slept,
thinking about what he said. My thoughts kept flicking back and forth to him
and Dylan. How could I choose? Was there even a choice to make?

 Somehow, I was looking at Jake in
a different light and it confused me. But Dylan…Dylan just drove me crazy.
Every time I was around him, I felt like we were the only two in the room and I
wanted to attack him.  Finally, I drifted off to the sounds of Jake’s snoring,
both boys running through my dreams.

Jake’s alarm on his phone woke me
up early the next morning. We both woke up, our limbs intertwined, and stared
at each other without saying a word. He looked like he was trying to read my
mind, his blue eyes piercing straight into mine. “I need to get going,” he
finally whispered out in a husky voice, still laced with sleep. “Coach will
kick my ass if I’m late and I’ll have to hitchhike back to campus.”

“Oh please. Some college girl would
drive by and slam on the brakes before you even made it five hundred feet up
the road.” He let out a laugh as he pulled his t-shirt on over his head. “I’d
only accept the ride if it was from you though.” He bent down to slide on his
shoes and I had to cover my face with my pillow. I could feel the deep blush on
my cheeks. Sweetness and Jake Niles just didn’t usually go together, and it was
weird to hear.

“Wanna walk me out?”

“Sure.” I grabbed a sweatshirt off
my dresser and slid it on before following him out the door. “Well I guess this
is it, baby girl. You coming home for Thanksgiving?”

“Um…I’m not sure yet. I’ll let you
know when I find out.” I wasn’t about to let him know that my dad was going to
be out of town. Jake would beg me to come to his house and I really didn’t want
to put up with his mom and her snide comments. Kitty had extended the offer to
come to her family’s and that sounded like a better idea.

“Hmm…well hopefully I’ll see you,
if not we’ll have to get together soon. Maybe next time you’re at one of my
games, you’ll actually get to see me play.” He wrapped me in a tight hug and I
buried my nose in his chest. His scent was so familiar and welcoming. I felt
tears trying to push their way through. He really was like home to me.

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world,”
I whispered out. His lips brushed my forehead before he pulled away, grasping
his black duffel bag over his shoulder, and I instantly missed his warmth.

“Think about what I said. Just not
too much. I know how you love to over- think things.” He gave me a big wink,
before slowly backing up and turning around to leave. I watched until he
disappeared out of sight and I wiped away a stray tear that was rolling down my
cheek.

I turned to head back up the
stairs, thinking I might be able to get a little bit more sleep squeezed in
before Kitty came home. “Wasn’t that sweet?” I jumped when I heard the voice
and twisted my body around, locking eyes with Ben.

“Ben, what are you doing here?” He
shoved his hands in his pockets and narrowed his eyes at me, moving just an
inch closer.

“What am I doing? The real question
is what are you doing, Paige? Pretty sure best friends don’t act like
that.
I knew you were too good to be true, especially after I witnessed everything
last night.”

“Ben, Jake and I…it’s complicated.
And what are you talking about? You weren’t even there. I don’t…”

“Don’t try to deny it, Paige,” he
stepped closer, grabbing my upper arm and yanking my body towards his. “I just
needed to see for myself what a little slut you were, so I followed you. I knew
something was up when you didn’t answer any of my phone calls or texts the
night before, Kitty told me you weren’t with her. And what a surprise it was when
I not only saw you with him, but Dylan too. Sounds like you had a lot of fun in
the bathroom, didn’t you?”

I stared back at him, as his grip
grew tighter; guilt was coursing through my body at what I had done to him but
a mixture of fear too. I had never seen his eyes so cold before. “Ben, I wanted
to talk to you. I wanted to break things off. I just didn’t want to hurt you.”

“Hurt me? You don’t think it hurt
me what you were doing behind my back? What, did you think I wouldn’t find
out?” He yanked my body back to his when I tried to twist away, his fingers
piercing into the sensitive skin on my arm. “Ben, you’re hurting me, let go.”

“Well you know what, Paige? I think
you deserve it, so I guess you’ll just have to deal. And to think that I loved
you.”

“You didn’t love me, Ben. We’ve
been dating for like a month! Your still in love with Amy, how could you
possibly love me? I mean, you called out her name that one night in your
bedroom, did you even realize it?”

“Don’t even speak her name around
me. You’re just like her, lying about everything. You two would probably be
best friends. And don’t tell me how I feel, you apparently don’t care.”
“Ben, just stop. I’m sorry things had to end this way but…” The next few
seconds whirled by in my head. I saw his hand raise and inch towards my face,
like it was happening in slow motion, but before it made contact, he was shoved
aside, landing on his back on the concrete stairs.