Tutoring the Player (Campus Wallflowers #1)(32)

And when I say they, I mean all of us because I’ve totally been there before.

After leaving the arena, I run into Violet coming out of University Hall with a to-go coffee in hand.

“Hey.” I hold open the door for her as she steps out and pulls her sunglasses down over her eyes.

“Thank you.”

“Daisy with you?” I look inside, but it’s packed with people in line for coffee before classes.

“No. She was up late studying for a big test today.”

“She has a test today?” My stomach drops.

“Mhmmm.” She takes a sip. “And she was busy helping someone else all week.”

“I didn’t know.”

“I figured,” she says. “Daisy is like that. It’s easy for people to take advantage of her.”

“Damn. It’s not even eight o’clock. It’s too early for a guilt trip.” I rub at my chest. Fuck. I didn’t even think to ask if our nightly tutor sessions were messing with her own schedule.

Her lips twist into a smirk. “Be nice to Daisy.”

“Will do.” I mock a salute, and she starts off. “But maybe I’m not the only one that needs to remember to be nice.”

She pauses and faces me. One brow lifts over the frame of her sunglasses. “Meaning?”

“What’s your issue with sporting events? Liam’s invited her twice. I know Daisy. Or I’m starting to. She wants to go.”

“I’m not stopping her from going.”

“She won’t go without you.”

“Why do you care so much?”

“I don’t.” My skin burns with her accusation. Why am I meddling? It isn’t for Liam’s benefit that much I know. I flick my gaze away from her and step into University Hall.





15





DAISY





The noise in the arena reaches a deafening level that vibrates inside of me. Valley just scored another goal, and it’s impossible not to get caught up in the excitement. Or almost impossible.

“Ouch!” Violet yelps as the person on the other side of her jumps up and down, stomping on her foot in the process. “Watch it.”

“Sorry,” the guy apologizes, yelling over the roar of the crowd as it starts to die down. His face is painted—half yellow and half blue—and he waves his beefy arms around. “We scored!”

He turns back to the ice, and Violet’s annoyed glare softens when she sees my expression.

“You’re enjoying this?”

Shrugging, I smile. “It’s kind of amazing.”

I’ve been to sporting events before. Admittedly it’s been a few years, but I saw a football game or two in high school. I think I even went to a swim meet. However, the number of people crammed into this arena to cheer on the Valley hockey team is double or triple anything I’ve ever attended.

Hockey is fast and fierce. Watching the players race up and down the ice makes my heart gallop like I’m out there with them. I feel like I’m a part of something.

Violet would roll her eyes, and I get it; I will leave here tonight and never speak or see some of these people again. But as someone who is always watching from a distance, it’s nice to be one of many sitting on the sidelines for a few hours.

The Valley bench is all smiles and high-fives as the buzzer sounds. It’s the end of the second period, and Violet bounces beside me, ready to flee. She doesn’t say that, though. She might not want to be here, but she’s committed to seeing it through for me.

I was shocked when she suggested we go to the game tonight. Honestly, I thought she was joking at first and laughed in her face. When she confirmed that I had heard her correctly, and no, she wasn’t kidding, I didn’t ask any more questions.

Dahlia is still at her golf tournament, and Jane went over to her friend Eric’s house to hang out and play some music.

“Do you want to get something to drink?” I ask. People around us are filing out of their seats to the concessions and bathrooms.

“Sure.”

We fall into a slow-moving line with the rest of the crowd, moving up to the nearest mezzanine.

“Thank you for coming tonight.”

She attempts a smile that looks more like a grimace. “It’s nothing. If the roles were reversed, you’d have done it for me.”

“I’m surprised that you even knew there was a game tonight.”

Her brows lift, and her mouth presses into a thin line. The response only lasts for a second, but it’s long enough for me to realize she isn’t telling me something.

“How did you know?”

She lifts onto her toes to peer over the line in front of us. The smell of burnt popcorn is stronger the higher we climb up the stairs. “I think Liam or Jordan must have mentioned it at bowling. Or maybe I heard it around campus.”

The line is at a complete standstill, and eventually, she has to look at me.

“Okay, fine. I ran into Jordan this morning at University Hall.”

My stomach lurches. “And?”

“He told me that Liam’s been inviting you to home games but that you wouldn’t go unless I did.”

Flames tickle my cheeks. It’s a lot to process. Jordan and Violet were talking about me? Vi felt guilty for something as ridiculous as my insecurity to attend an event without a friendly face?