Hooped #3 (The Hooped Interracial Romance Series, Book #3) (6 page)

“What’s the shift time?” I
asked,
remembering the game that night; it was supposed to start at
eight.

“Four till seven-thirty,” Bob, the manager said. I
frowned; I would barely have time to get back to campus, get changed out of my
pizza-scented clothes, and get across campus to the arena—if whoever was
supposed to take over the dinner shift came in a few minutes early, it would
help.

“Who’s due in at seven-thirty?” I heard the sound of
rustling papers as Bob consulted the schedule.

“Lisa. If you can swing it, Jenn, it would take a load
off of my mind.” I worried at my bottom lip.

“If Lisa can come in even five minutes early, I can
definitely do it. If she can’t
,
I’ll do
my part.”

“I’ll call Lisa for you,” Bob said. I could hear the
relief in his voice. “I take it you have plans tonight then?” I grinned.

“Going to go to the game tonight.”

“Oh-ho! That’s more than just casual fandom in your
voice.”

“Maybe. Just do what you can to get me out of there a
few minutes
early
so I don’t miss
tip-off, okay?” Bob agreed and finished the call to get in touch with
Lisa.
 
Devon texted to ask if I wanted to
hang out before the game; I had to tell him that I had work, but that I would
still be there to watch him play.

I ran into some of my friends in the dining hall and
as soon as I knew that Kelly wasn’t with them, I agreed to hang out for a bit
before I went to my dorm to get my things for my afternoon class. In spite of
the fact that Devon had introduced me to his friends and frat brothers already,
I didn’t quite feel comfortable with the idea of telling the girls about the
fact that I was seeing him; I thought that if Kelly had said anything about it,
one of them would have brought it up—and no one did. I didn’t want to tell
anyone about the situation until I absolutely had to.

Instead,
we took turns complaining about classes, talking about what we had going on
that afternoon. “I already know where we’ll find Jenn tonight,” Giselle said
with a grin.

“Ogling the basketball players at the game?” Rebecca
suggested.

“You should join the cheer team, get into the games
for free,” Giselle joked. “As it is the only reason you work is to pay for game
tickets, I swear.” I rolled my eyes. Devon had told me he had the box office
put a ticket aside for me
at
the
counter—I wouldn’t have to pay anything to get in.

“For your information, I am working this evening,” I
said, putting on a self-righteous pose. “Cheryl called in, which means she
probably has the plague, complete with body parts falling off.”

“You can’t be working all night,” Ashley pointed out.
“What are you going to do when you get off?” I shrugged.

“Depends on when I get off.” I didn’t know if Devon
had any plans to spend the night with me—but I certainly hoped he did.
“Probably study and get a good night’s sleep.”

“Like every other night. You’re not fooling me,
Jenn—if there’s even a quarter of the game left, you’ll rush over to watch it.”

“Whatever,” I rolled my eyes again. “At least I have a
hobby.” Giselle pretend-scowled at me, crossing her arms over her chest and
pouting.

“I have a hobby, thank you very much; my hobby is
partying. Like any sensible college student.” We all laughed.

“I need to get going,” I said, glancing at the clock
in the dining area. “If I don’t get back to the dorms, I won’t have time to
print out my paper before class starts.” I took my tray to the line and said
goodbye to my friends, hoping against hope that Kelly was either in the Library
or in
class
so that I wouldn’t run into
her.

Devon and I texted back and forth while we were both
in class for the afternoon, flirting and joking around. I couldn’t believe how
happy I was, how different everything was in my life in just a matter of days.
I might not be ready to tell everyone that I was dating Devon Sealy, but I was
definitely glad that he had sat down next to me at the party, that he had
started talking to me.

I hurried to my dorm and changed into my work uniform;
Pizza
Pronti
, where I worked, had a
relaxed uniform policy, so all I did was change into a black tee shirt and a
pair of sneakers that I only ever wore to work, and I was out. I walked as
quickly as I could off campus and across the street to the restaurant, smiling
in spite of the fact that I was more than a little anxious about getting there
on time. Even if I wasn’t scheduled, I didn’t want to put Bob under stress that
I would be late.

I jumped into work right away, walking to the back of
the house and pulling my hair into a neat bun while I clocked in and grabbed an
order pad. “Thank god you’re here,” Bob said. “You’re section three tonight.
Lisa said that she’d come in a few minutes early so you could take off.”

“Remind me to get her some flowers,” I told him,
grinning. I scampered out into the dining room and found my section, taking a
deep breath. There was always a pretty steady “early bird” business, with retirees
and teenagers from the local high school alike coming in. My first table was a
group of middle-aged women, all of them wearing purple dresses. “Good evening,
ladies! My name is Jenn, and I’ll be taking your orders.” I rattled off the
specials for the night—they were always the same ones, based on the day of the
week, and easy to remember.

“I think we’ll have two pies,” one of the women
said
after they had briefly consulted each
other. “Both large, one with the four cheese and the other with mushrooms and
spinach.”

“And what would you like to drink? We have Coke
products, beer, some really good wines…” One of the women gave me a little
grin.

“You don’t look old enough to know whether the wine is
good or not,” she said, raising an eyebrow.

“Shh,” I said, bringing my finger up to my lips. “As
far as anyone knows, I only ever tasted them—I’ve certainly never had a full
glass.” The women at the table laughed and ordered two carafes of the house
white, and I trotted off to put in their order.

I went from table to table, taking orders from high
school kids, parents with their elementary-aged children, and groups of
middle-aged and elderly people. It was so easy to smile at everyone, to keep
the playful banter going; I couldn’t help myself, even when one of the tables
of teenagers started making a mess with the cheese and pepper flakes. Instead
of getting angry, I snapped a quick picture of their “artwork”
with
my phone and sent it to Devon.

The shift seemed to fly by, in spite of the fact that
I wanted more than anything to be spending the time with Devon; I was sure that
I was glowing like a lightning bug, hurrying from one table to another to
refresh drinks, to take orders, to bring food. My regulars asked if I was
planning on going to the game that night, or how I liked a particular team’s
chances, and I found myself thinking about Devon over and over again, blushing
when someone asked about the school’s team, unable to stop myself from smiling.

In the back of my mind, I couldn’t help but think about
Kelly, at least a little bit. I was still shocked that she had lied to me, but
then, why should I be? I knew that I was more than a little naïve, in spite of
the fact that I had told Kelly off for accusing me of it. It was so strange to
me that she wouldn’t just be honest
with
me about her feelings towards Devon; but I told myself that one way or another,
the situation would have to work itself out. I didn’t exactly cherish the idea
of having to change dorm rooms over winter break, but if I had to—if she wasn’t
going to be reasonable about my relationship—then I would do it to have peace
of mind.

We had been friends for years; she had been a big part
of the reason that I had decided to go to the college I’d chosen, and I’d loved
living with her. I had always thought that she felt the same way towards me,
and if anyone had asked me a month before if anything could come between us and
drive us apart, I would have laughed in their face and told them they were
crazy. But it was becoming clear to me that she was not at all the same person
that I had known in high school; she wasn’t even the person I had thought she
was when she came home for break and hung out with me before I started college.

I remembered—as I was cashing out someone’s check—that
she had said something to me about
Devon,
and I getting what we deserved. It was such a strange thing to say that I had
brushed it off; what could she even mean by that? But something about the
memory of it, the sound of her voice, stuck in my head. I shook it off; it
wasn’t important.
 
I was just going to
move forward with my life, and enjoy what I had with Devon for however long it
lasted. If Kelly came around, that would be great—and I’d be happy to continue
to be her friend. But if she just couldn’t live with the idea of me dating
Devon, I would have to break off any ties with her; anyone who would ask me to
choose between them and someone I was ready to fall in love with wasn’t someone
I wanted to be around. I could only take my chances with Devon and hope that he
was being
real with me when he said he
wanted to be serious. I could only hope that Kelly would come around and once
more be the friend that I’d always known. But if she couldn’t be my friend
anymore, I would at least have the guy I liked in my life.

Chapter
Eight

True to her word, Lisa came in a few minutes early and
took over the few tables I still had in my section, clocking in and introducing
herself to my customers, promising that she would share the tips with me and
urging me to make tracks. I shot out of the restaurant like a shot, going
through the back so that my tables wouldn’t think that I was in a hurry because
of them. My cheerfulness had won me more tips than I knew what to do with, and
I decided that I’d count them all out later—I needed to get back to my room,
get out of my work clothes, and into something cute to wear to the game, all in
a span of
fewer
than forty minutes.

Kelly was nowhere to be seen when I catapulted myself
through the door of our dorm room, and I was relieved; the last thing I wanted
was to be held up by another argument with her. I got into my side of the dorm
and stripped off my clothes as fast as I could, spritzing a little bit of
perfume on my neck, my wrists, my
cleavage,
and my hips to get rid of the pizza and fried food smell I knew was clinging to
me; I didn’t have time to take a shower. I rummaged through my closet and
drawers as quickly as I could, picking out a cute skirt that fell to just above
my knees along with a tee shirt, in school colors. I kept my hair the way it
was, reasoning that there was no need to waste time taking it down and
taming
it; I put on a little bit of lipstick
and slipped on a pair of ankle-high boots and decided that it was good enough.
Devon had seen me naked—he wanted to see me having a good time watching him,
not dressed up like I was going to a party. I made sure I had my ID in my purse
and hurried down the stairs, thankful that I hadn’t made the mistake of wearing
heels.

My heart was pounding in my chest as I rushed across
campus, walking so fast I might as well have been running, checking my phone
every few moments to make sure I wasn’t going to be late. I had cash with
me—mostly my tips from the evening—just in case there was some kind of problem
with the ticket that Devon had asked them to hold for me at the box office.

I was out of breath by the time I got to the box
office, my student ID out and my cash ready at hand. Almost everyone was
already inside, save for the people milling around for a last cigarette, their
tickets already purchased or claimed. “Hi,” I said, taking a few deep breaths
to calm the rapid flutter of my heart. “I was told there was a ticket on hold
for me?” The woman behind the glass smiled.

“Can I have your
ID,
please? I can check and see if you’re on the list.” I nodded and slid my ID
onto the counter. I could hear the noise from inside the arena—the game hadn’t
started yet, but people were already starting to get warmed up, excited, ready
to cheer. The woman in charge of the box office took my ID and pulled out a
printed list, looking over the names. “Ah—yep, here you are. Lucky girl, you’ve
got court-side seats!” She grinned at me and I knew she knew that I was seeing
someone on the team—of course, I thought, the guys on the team would have
probably a handful of great tickets at their disposal for friends and family
members to use.

I took my tickets and my ID and hurried into the
arena; I could hear the announcement that the two teams would be taking the
court for their warm-ups in a matter of minutes. Looking down at my ticket, I
figured out the section I was in and rushed to that part of the arena, hoping
against hope that I could make it to my seat before Devon took the court and
looked around for me. I ran through the corridor and down the stairs, nearly
tripping over my own feet in the process, and found my seat.

I was panting for breath as I stumbled down into the
chair, looking out
on
the court to see
what was going on. The cheerleaders were still whipping the crowd on both sides
into a frenzy; I had gotten to my seat just in time. I took a moment to catch
my breath, and then I was on my feet as the announcer proclaimed that the teams
were
taking the court in a matter of
seconds. The game was against Northwestern, and I watched as the opposing team
took the court first, bouncy and agile, none of them sluggish on their feet as
they headed to their side of the court to do their drills. A moment later, the
announcer called out our team, and I cheered along with everyone else in the
crowd, jumping up and down, already caught up in the fervor and excitement. I
watched
intently
and saw Devon come out
onto the court; just the sight of him made my heart flutter in my chest in a
way that had nothing to do with anxiety or general excitement. The members of
the team were bouncing on the balls of their feet, greeting the crowd, and
looking out over the stands.