Player (What Happens on Campus Book 1) (6 page)

“Why did you leave?”

“I wanted an adventure.” She tried to smile up at him, but it wobbled and she quickly looked away. Reaching for her drink, she closed her fingers around the sweating glass and lifted it to take a long swig. He was just opening his mouth to say something when their food arrived.

A lot of clattering and hubbub later, it didn’t seem like the time to ask what was bothering her. His stomach grumbled and he suddenly realized how hungry he was. His insides felt like they were eating themselves. Grabbing his burger, he squished it down and took a huge bite.

“This is the size of my head!” Chloe exclaimed, holding her own burger up for inspection.

Laughing around his mouthful, Parker garbled, “It’s good for you. It’ll put some meat on your bones.”

“I have enough meat on my bones, thank you very much,” she sniffed at him, even as she picked out the gherkins and loaded her burger with ketchup.

“You not eatin’ them?” he asked, taking them from her plate when she shook her head and putting them into his own burger. Without a word, Terri handed over hers as well. Was it just a girl thing? Swallowing his mouthful, he glanced over at Riley, who was picking unenthusiastically at her salad, and said, “Bet you’re regrettin’ that now.”

Jet scowled at him, jumping to her defense. “There’s nothing wrong with wanting to stay healthy.”

If looks could kill, Terri would be going down for murder. Not for the first time, Parker wondered if there was something going on between the two of them, despite the insistence that they were just friends. When she caught him watching her, Terri dropped her gaze back to her burger, licked ketchup off her wrist, and shoved a handful of fries into her mouth. 

  Glancing over at Chloe, to see if she’d noticed, he found her staring out of the window, expression solemn. Frowning, he nudged her gently with his shoulder, mouthing “you okay” when she looked at him. She forced a half-hearted smile in response and nodded. Under the table, he reached out and squeezed her knee. There was nothing sexual about it and he drew back quickly, watching the surprise in her expressive brown eyes.

Without another word, they both went back to eating. Once they’d finished and paid the bill, they began walking back towards his and Jet’s room to hangout, but Chloe paused outside the diner.

Fiddling with the strap of her bag, she said, “I’ve actually got a bit of a headache, so I think I’m just going to go back to our room.”

“I’ve got some painkillers,” Riley offered, completely oblivious to the fact that her friend was trying to escape, digging around in her handbag.

“Oh, no, thanks. I…er… think I’m just going to lie down for a bit.” After a pause, she finished lamely, “Sorry.”

“I’ll walk you back,” Parker offered.

“You don’t have to, I remember the way.”

“It’s okay, if you’re not feeling well I’ll make sure you get back all right.”

Biting her lip, Chloe wrapped her arms around her stomach, hugging herself, before nodding without further argument.

Having said their goodbyes, they headed towards Willow building. Feeling suddenly nervous in his company, Chloe twisted her fingers together as they walked side by side. Much to her relief, he didn’t ask any questions, in fact, he didn’t even utter a word until they reached her room.

“Mind if I come in?” he asked.

“Well, yeah, actually. I’d like to be alone.”

“Just for a minute.”

Instead of trying to charm her with a smile, his face was solemn and, after a moment, she gave in, stepping aside so that he could enter. Closing the door, she went to sit on her bed, back pressed against the wall, knees drawn up to her chest with her arms wrapped around them. Without asking, he came to sit close beside her. His arm lifted and slid behind her to curl around her shoulders, urging her to lean against him.

It was weird. Weird but nice, comforting. They’d only known each other three days, yet being with him felt so familiar, so easy, as if they’d been together for years and already had history between them.

“Will you tell me?” he asked so quietly that she almost didn’t hear. “Not now, but one day.”

In response, she snuggled closer, turning her head to rest on his shoulder.

The melancholy had come over her all of a sudden – she refused to call it depression – settling upon her shoulders like a lead blanket. Thinking about home had triggered it. She hadn’t been away long enough to become home-sick, but thoughts of the town she’d grown up in inevitably led to thoughts of the brother who’d grown up with her. And those thoughts brought an onslaught of guilt.

A lump formed in her throat, but she forced it back down. She’d thought these episodes were over, but clearly she was wrong…

Parker’s free hand squeezed her knee, briefly like before at the diner, drawing her out of herself, and she forced her head to lift. They shouldn’t be sitting here like this. It’s wasn’t what friends did, especially not friends who knew nothing about one another. Honestly, the only things she really knew about him were that he was a quarterback and he’d been around the block more times than the milkman.

As if reading her mind, he asked, “Tell me something I don’t know about you.”

“You don’t know anything about me,” she said, more sharply than she’d intended.

“It’ll be easy then.”

Shifting to put a little more distance between them, she felt a pang as his arm fell away. Combing her fingers through her ponytail, she frowned as she wondered what to tell him – nothing too personal, or that would lead to more questions.

In the end, she went with the safest options. “My favourite colour’s blue.”

“Damn it, I thought you’d say your favourite colour was the shade of my eyes,” he joked, batting his eyelashes at her. “Come on,” he grinned at her after a moment, reaching out to gently tug at a loose strand of hair, “that was funny.”

“Sorry,” she murmured, trying to muster a smile.

“Don’t bother fakin’ it.” He leant his head back against the wall, closing his eyes as if settling in for a long stay.

“You can go if you want,” she suggested.

“Nah, I’m good here,” he replied without even bothering to open his eyes.

“Surely you have better things to do? You could go hang out with the others, you know, in your own room.”

“I prefer it here.” He wiggled slightly, making himself comfortable, and crossed his arms over his broad chest.

“Seriously,” she shoved at his leg, scowling, “get off my bed and leave. I want some alone time. I like to be alone.”

One hazel eye opened to glare at her. “Bullshit. Don’t lie to me.”

For a moment she was too shocked to say anything, and then she felt her cheeks heating. He could read her like a damn book!

Sliding off the bed, Parker stretched his arms up over his head, wincing slightly as he did so. “I’ll go,” he conceded, “but I’m not buyin’ your reasons.” At the door, he paused with one foot out in the hallway, “If you need me, you have my number.”

As he closed the door behind him, Chloe reached over to the bedside table, where she’d placed her phone. Picking up the slim device, she turned it over in her hands, remembering that Parker had taken it last night to program in his number. Now that he was gone, she suddenly felt very lonely. Putting her phone back down, her fingers brushed the frame which held the photo of her and Jack and she felt a familiar pang in her chest. Though familiar, it still hurt like hell, as if someone had shoved a knife into her heart and twisted it to cause maximum pain. The breath hitched in her lungs.

Feeling the panic attack coming, she scrambled to the edge of the bed and sat bent double, with her head between her knees, forcing herself to breathe deeply until it passed.

When Riley returned late that evening, Chloe pretended to be asleep, curled up beneath the sheets, with music playing softly in the background and her hot water bottle hugged tight to her chest, making her sweat. Rolo sat on the pillow beside her head, but none of it was of any comfort.

Having only turned on her own bedside lamp, Riley clonked around in the semi-darkness, getting ready for bed. She must have stubbed her toe, because she swore through gritted teeth, hopping around, but Chloe still couldn’t summon the energy to say anything.

She felt the same way the next morning, but the bright light that flooded the room when Riley threw open the curtains forced her out of bed.  “What time is it?” she asked groggily.

“Eight,” Riley answered. “Are you feeling better?”

“Yeah,” she lied, pushing back the covers and sitting up, scrubbing her face with both hands, before scraping her hair back into a messy bun.

“Good. In that case, get your butt out of bed, we’re going to explore.”

Reluctantly, Chloe did as she was told. A quick shower washed away the lingering sleep, but not the vague sense of detachment. It would be gone by the end of the day, she knew from experience, however, the feeling still terrified her deep down, because what if she didn’t snap out of it? Was this depression? Was she losing it?

Finding a pair of denim shorts and an old top, she pushed her feet into a pair of trainers and proclaimed herself ready to go.

Riley looked at her dubiously for a moment. “Don’t you want to put some makeup on? Or at least brush your hair?”

She shrugged. “Nah, it’s fine.”

“But you don’t know who we might meet…” Riley argued, but Chloe was already out in the hallway, heading towards the stairwell.

As it turned out, Riley’s idea of exploring meant shopping in the nearby town, which was only a short drive away from campus in Riley’s little convertible, which happened to be bright pink. Though the car was cute, Riley’s driving was absolutely terrifying.

When they arrived, the mall was already full of students enjoying their last day of freedom, most of them cloistered around tables in the food court or walking around weighed down with bags.

“So, what do you need?” Chloe asked.

“Nothing particular,” Riley answered blithely, peering into a shop window. “That skirt’s cute, let’s go in here.”

“Why are we shopping if you don’t need anything?”

“You sound like my sister. Shopping’s fun!”

Pressing her lips together to hide her smile, Chloe rolled her eyes without a word and followed Riley into the shop and around the aisles as she collected a mountain of clothes, which she then proceeded to take into the dressing rooms.

After giving a little fashion show, she brought all of the clothes she’d picked out and then they headed towards the cosmetics department, where Riley used her as a life-sized doll to try out various types of makeup. She did a good job to be fair, but the sales assistants looked less than pleased. They got over it quickly enough when Riley went and brought a truck load of products.

“You’re a shopaholic,” Chloe accused as they sat down with a fruit smoothie each from a nearby stand.

“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” Riley grinned over the top of her plastic cup, before taking a slurp of the shocking green liquid.

Chloe stirred her own drink, a more sedate vanilla colour, and then took a small sip, tasting banana. “So, did you get everything you wanted?”

Laughing, Riley reached over the table to pat her hand consolingly. “Oh, poor baby, you think we’re done. How wrong you are! This was just the first quarter.”

Her face must have dropped because Riley laughed once more, throwing her head back, causing several guys at the next table to look over. Noticing the attention, her friend’s smile widened and she flicked back her hair.

The guy’s turned to talk amongst themselves, before three of them pushed back their chairs and sauntered over. Clustering around their table, the guys grinned down at them. It was actually kind of creepy, Chloe thought.

“Hi, I’m Joey, these are Derek and Kel. Mind if we hang with you for a bit?”

Flashing the tall, dark haired guy who’d spoken a flirtatious smile, Riley answered before Chloe could even open her mouth. “Go ahead, some company would be nice.”

“Cool.” Joey clapped his hands together and sat on the only spare chair at the table, whilst his friends dragged more over. “So, do you girls have names?”

Chloe rolled her eyes; of course they had names, they hadn’t gone this long without them.

“More importantly,” the one with reddish-brown hair butted in – she thought it was Derek – “are you single?”

“I’m Riley and this is my roommate Chloe, and yes, as a matter of fact, we’re both single.”

“Didn’t I see you dancing with Parker Mitchell the other night?” Joey asked with a frown, studying her face closely. The other guy’s heads whipped around to look at her too.

“Yes, but there’s nothing going on between us,” Chloe admitted.

Joey still didn’t look convinced, but Derek didn’t seem to care, instead he exclaimed, “Great accent. Where you from?”

“England.”

His face screwed up. “I’ve got an aunt from New England, but she don’t talk like that.”

For a moment her mind went blank and her brows drew together, but thankfully, she didn’t have to say anything, because Joey hit the back of his friends’ head and snapped, “Not New England, you idiot. Britain.”

“How was I supposed to know that?” he flushed, rubbing the back of his head.

“Idiot,” Joey repeated.

Across the table, Riley caught her eye, biting her lip to hold back her hysterics, shoulders shaking. Ducking her head, Chloe hid her own smile.

They spent the rest of the day with the guys; Joel and Riley appeared to be getting quite cosy, which left Chloe with Derek and Kel, which was awkward to say the least. Derek talked non-stop, but most of what came out of his mouth was complete nonsense, whereas Kel barely spoke a word to her.

By the time they returned to their room, Chloe was glad to be rid of them. Kicking off her shoes, she dropped the bags she was carrying and flung herself onto her bed. Sitting next to her, Riley crossed her legs.

“Isn’t Joey great?” she gushed.

Opening one eye, Chloe peered up at her, but didn’t say anything. Personally, she thought he was a bit of a dick and he smelt kind of funky, but she didn’t feel like she knew Riley well enough yet to be brutally honest.

Luckily though, Riley didn’t require an answer; she just breezed straight on. “He’s taking me to a party on Friday night, to celebrate the first week of school being over. I might wear the little black dress I brought today, or maybe the blue one. You know the one with the lace? And those dangly earrings.”

Chloe zoned out for a while as Riley chattered about her wardrobe choices, but when her friend said, “Derek likes you,” she snapped to attention.

“What?”

“You heard me.”

Seeing the excited gleam in Riley’s copper coloured eyes, she shook her head. “Don’t get any ideas. I’m definitely not interested in Derek.”

“Because of Parker…?”

If she’d been wearing waders and towing around a fishing rod, she couldn’t have been more obvious. “Quit fishing,” she frowned, “and it has nothing to do with Parker. Derek’s just not my type.”

“That’s fair enough,” she shrugged, “he is a bit slow.” She tapped the side of her head to make her meaning clear. “But very hot. He has nice biceps.”

Closing her eyes again, Chloe brought an arm up to cover them. “Riley, I’m seriously not looking for a boyfriend. I just want to focus on school.”

“Classes aren’t the only thing that’s important. You need to have the whole college experience: parties, friends, boys.”

“And I will, but I don’t feel the need to cram it all into the first week.”

“Fine,” Riley sighed, bouncing off the bed and beginning to pull clothes out of bags.

A few minutes later, she heard a phone beep. Coincidently, they both had the same message tone, but Chloe’s phone was in her pocket and she hadn’t felt it vibrate. Propping herself up on her elbows, she watched as Riley read and typed a quick response.

Looking up, she caught her looking and grinned. “Get your shoes back on, we’re meeting the others.”