Player's Princess (A Royal Sports Romance)(62)

"They're not going to tell anyone you're here."

By the time all the guests have arrived, the couches are full and there are people sitting on the floor. I look from person to person, fidgeting. Several girls have joined us as well, along with the football players.

Dee is one of the last to show up. She sits at foot of the couch on the floor.

Now I understand all the snack food. Akele and Aheahe distribute it, passing around huge bowls filled with fried potato chips, pretzels, corn chips, twisted orange… things, and bowls of dip, both warm and cold.

Jason plucks one of the puffy orange snacks out of the bowl and offers it to me.

"What is it?"

"Eat it."

I eye him warily, open my mouth, and take it from his hand with my teeth.

It tastes… cheesy.

"It's called a cheese curl, Princess. Welcome to America."

The giant brothers pull down the blinds, darkening the room. Then they turn on their Blu-ray player.

The trumpet fanfare blasts through the living room so loud, I jump in my seat and let out a little squeak.

Text blasts across the screen.

STAR WARS, it reads.

I crane forward to read the crawling words. Jason rests his hand on my back and says nothing. A spaceship appears on the screen, and I jump back from the noise. My mouth falls open a little and I lean back against him, watching, rapt.

When I whisper questions to Jason, he softly says, "Just watch," and sticks another cheese curl in my mouth. I pluck chips from the bowl in front of me and offer them to him in return, amused when nips at my fingers.

I've never watched anything like this. I feel carried away. Only Jason is holding me down, with his arm resting lazily around my waist. My head pillows naturally against his shoulder, and I pull my legs up and curl up on the couch.

The brothers turn on the lights when the first movie ends, and the guests mill around. I speak to a few of them, reserved at first.

They think I would be a good fit for the cheerleading squad, which seems like a peculiar thing to say. I remember seeing the cheerleaders at the games before. Those outfits would look silly on me.

Jason asks if I can skip joining but get one of the uniforms, and I glare at him but suppress a smile.

The second movie starts, and again I almost fall into a trance. Jason seems amused when I instinctively hide my eyes from some of the imagery on screen.

"We're going to have to stop with Return of the Jedi," he sighs. "If we watch all the way through, we'll be up until the wee hours of the morning."

By the time we watch the third film, I'm yawning and my head is resting on his lap. He leans back in the seat, slunk down on the couch, and idly strokes my hair with his hand. I hope he does not turn it orange.

Eventually he goes from stroking my head to resting over my hip, protectively touching my stomach. I shift closer to him, almost lying on top of him, and eat chips.

I sit up toward the end of the final film, staring, engrossed in the drama of Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader.

When it's over, Jason puts his arm around me.

"What did you think?"

"That was amazing," I gasp. "There is more?"

"Yeah, there's more," he says, a little warily. "We better get you home. It's after one o'clock."

"Yes," I agree sadly. "We should go."

As the others drift away, Jason takes my hand, and we walk together through the dark, passing under streetlamps. It feels like walking into another world. When we near my house, we must part ways. I stop on the corner and rise on my tiptoes to kiss him.

He waits, leaning against the lamp, until I climb the fence. I wave to him one last time, crouched on the porch roof, before I swing my legs back through the bedroom window and slip inside.

The paper crown has somehow remained on my head all this time. I carefully remove it and give it a place of honor atop my dresser, and smile at it like a fool for half a minute.

I roll into bed, still smiling, and manage to fall asleep without reminding myself that tomorrow is Wednesday and the week will be halfway over.

Almost.





Chapter Twelve





I dread going to Grandolf's morning class. I am exhausted even when I wake up and skip my morning run to instead drag myself to class half-dressed, still wearing pajama bottoms.

Her course is the worst, because Jason is there and I can't speak to him, not in public. I am still nervous that he brought his team and their friends in on the secret. More than a dozen people now know what is happening between us. More people to let it slip to the wrong person.

Again, I sit far away from the front. Jason sits in his usual seat, far back, and doesn't look at me. He sends a text instead.



Jason: You ok?



Anastasia: I am well.



Jason: Leave if you need to I'll catch you up on the notes.



Anastasia: She is not making me run away.



Jason: As you command, Princess.



Grandolf sends out the TAs again. This time my assignment has received an actual A. I was very careful with the grammar and spelling, and triple-checked everything. I stare at the paper in shock, turning it over to make sure there is no trick, verifying that I wasn't handed someone else's.

The professor hardly spares me a look, no more than she would any other student. Or so I think. The closer I look, the more I catch her glancing from the corner of her eye, glancing at me first when she turns the page of her lecture notes, glaring at me for a moment when she turns around.