Going Long (Waiting on the Sidelines #2)(32)

I’m not going to lie, it had me thinking about what she looked like under that short-ass dress. Maybe I’d been missing out?

Trig and I walked the girls two blocks in the opposite direction of our dorm, and my head was swimming the entire time. I was either going to say goodnight, and head home to pass out—or fight through the dizziness, and make myself feel better by making a decision I’d probably regret in the morning, but would feel so damn good right now.

The girls talked and giggled the entire way to their place, but I couldn’t tell you a damn word they said. When we got to the steps up to their apartment, Trig hung with me for a few seconds, walking them all the way up to the door. But when they invited us in, he just held up his phone and said, “I got things, but my boy will stick around.” He winked at me and skipped down the steps.

Drunk, I followed them inside. The blond that had been walking with Trig just smiled at her friend and said she was going to take a shower, leaving us alone in their living room. Everything looked fuzzy, and I felt enormous in their frilly, girly apartment. I wasn’t sure what I was doing here, but I wasn’t ready to leave yet either. I pulled my hat from my head and shoved it in my back pocket, pulling my sweatshirt up and tossing it on her couch.

“You want anything to drink?” she said, kicking her high heels from her feet and sliding to her kitchen.

I just stared around at my new surroundings, still debating with myself and fighting my instincts. “Nah, I’m good. I should…” I was about to say go when she came back out to the living room, her dress now hanging around her hips and her black bra exposing everything I had been dying to get a better look at.

She walked right up to me and held on to my arm while she pulled her dress the rest of the way down. My mind wandered, “Shit. She was f*cking hot!” Her black panties left very little to the imagination, and I was really fighting the urge to just throw her over my shoulder and carry her into her bedroom. Everything started happening in slow motion, and I was pretty sure I was making the dumbest face, my mouth wide open and panting like a dog. My eyes were so heavy, my mind was racing minutes ahead, imagining running my hands over her body and taking off the last bits of clothing she had on. It was all right there, waiting for me.

She stood to her tiptoes and pulled on the collar of my T-shirt to reach her lips up to my face. I let my eyes fall shut for a second, and then her teeth were tugging on my bottom lip. The shock of it knocked me off balance, and I took a step back, my eyes shooting open in an instant.

Fuck! What was I doing?

“I’m sorry, I…I have to go,” I said, grabbing my sweatshirt and turning from her before I changed my mind. Feeling a little guilty, I stopped at her door before opening it. “I’m sorry. This isn’t how I am…You’re a really pretty girl.”

I couldn’t get myself to fully look at her face, but from the periphery, I knew she was embarrassed, and I felt bad. But somehow, I stopped myself from doing something really stupid.



By the time I finally woke up Friday, I only had a few hours to spare before Trig and I had to get ready for practice. He must have come to a lot earlier than I did, because he stuck a Post-It on my forehead telling me he took off to the main hall for food and would just catch me at practice.

The entire last 24 hours felt like a damned nightmare. If it weren’t for my god-awful raging headache, and the fact that the stupid ring was sitting on my night table staring at me, I might have been able to convince myself I’d dreamt it all.

After guzzling from the gallon of water we kept cold in our mini fridge, I forced myself to dig my phone out from my pocket. And there it was, staring at me—an undoubtedly minutes-long voicemail from Nolan. That stupid flashing green light was giving me the middle finger, over and over again. I’d listen to it, but not now. “Maybe after practice,” I thought. Instead, I slid open the text from Sean.



First of all, dude, you can’t just drop something like that on me without more to go on. WTF? Second, I’m around all day. Just waiting on Becky to finish a midterm and hanging out around the apartment all morning. Call me when you’re done lovin’ on the toilet ; - )



I missed Sean. He was, in so many ways, the brother I wished I had. Everything about him was good. When I decided to grow up, I told myself I would try to be more like Sean. I always thought it was a damned miracle Noles picked me over him in high school. And an even bigger miracle that he didn’t f*cking hate me for it, too.

It was almost 2 p.m., and I was pretty sure he’d be gone, but I gave him a try anyhow. I was about to hang up and just shoot him a text when I heard him answer, breathless.

“Yo, what’s up man?” he asked, still breathing hard.

“Hey, sorry. I was a little late getting started today. Did I…interrupt something?” I teased him. He and Becky were living together, and I’d caught him more than once trying to talk to me while Becky was distracting him.

“No, dumb ass. I was just lifting weights out on the balcony. Not all of us get personal trainers and shit to keep up our workouts,” he gave it right back to me.

We bantered back and forth for a few minutes on nothing important, and then finally settled into the serious stuff. I brought Sean up to speed, and then sat there silent while he thought about things and got over the shock of it all. I knew it would hit Sean pretty hard, too—one, because he was truly a brother to me; and two, because he loved Nolan almost as much as I did.