A loud voice booms in the distance. ‘Incoming!’ That’s when everything starts to move in slow motion. Lyss and Laura’s eyes grow wide as they look at something behind me. Their screeching chairs move me into action and when I turn around, there’s a big blue ball floating in the air. As much as I want to move out of the way like Lyss and Laura, my brain can’t focus enough to move my feet. I’m frozen on the spot and all I can do is just watch this giant ball hurtling towards me.
Closer.
Closer.
The ball is getting bigger and finally, my mind snaps back to reality. There’s no way I have time to get away from the table so I do the only thing I can think of. I cover my face with my hands, hold my breath, and brace for impact. I don’t see what happens, but I hear a loud burst as it hits the table and the plates clattering around it. My breath is stolen when the cold-water hits. My entire body is drenched, and I can’t move at all. I’m stunned. What the hell have I gotten myself into?
Even the warm Californian sun can’t stop my shivers and I keep my eyes closed, just in case another water balloon is coming my way. The silence around me is deafening, everyone just staring, lost for words, I’m sure. As I slowly gain the courage to wipe my eyes and open them to assess the damage, the first thing I notice is the hot pink of my bra blaring from under my white sundress. I fold my arms over my chest knowing that it won’t cover much but it’s all I’ve got.
The ripped latex balloon sits on top of the drenched pizza, while the plates are askew, and a few broken. Laura and Lyss finally start moving, apologizing to me while they clear up the mess. They must be used to sneak attacks because they’re both bone dry, with wide eyes.
Lyss yelled profanities at the window where Aiden, Devin, and Jackson have their heads sticking out, laughing.
‘Aiden! This was your idea wasn’t it?!’ Lyss screams at them shaking her fists. Like that’s going to do anything… ‘I’m going to kill you!’
‘Try and come back from that!’ Is his only reply, along with a cackle.
‘It’s Reign’s first day!’ Laura yells back.
Squelching out my now wet hair, ‘It’s fine guys, you have to admit it was pretty funny,’ I say to Lyss and Laura then I glance up at the guys, mainly focused on Devin’s smile. ‘How the hell did you throw that with such precision?!’
‘We have a giant catapult,’ Jackson responds and Aiden nudged him, throwing a threatening look his way.
‘Maybe next time try throwing Aiden,’ Laura muttered, loud enough that they could hear. Aiden barked out a laugh as he backed away from the window.
A flash of blonde appeared and Adam’s friendly face beams down at us. ‘Chill out guys, we’ve ordered more pizza, it should be here soon. We’ll come down and join you.’ He says, wincing when we made eye contact. Yeah, drowned rat doesn’t look good on me, but does it look good on anyone?
‘Maybe, we don’t want you here!!’ Lyss retorts and marches into the house, slamming the door behind her, like a toddler having a tantrum.
‘Aw come on Lyss, you gotta admit that was a good one!’ Aiden softens, poking his head back out and talking to her even though I’m not sure she can hear.
Lyss comes back out a few minutes later with a trash bag, ready to clear up. ‘I’m sorry Reign. I can’t believe they couldn’t just give us a night off so we could enjoy some time with you.’ She looked over at me with an apologetic smile. She’s such a perfectionist that it seems like it might be hard for her to enjoy anything.
‘Honestly, it’s fine. Come on it’s pretty funny when you think about it. That catapult they have must be huge to have thrown a balloon that size.’
‘Aiden probably bought it to make up for other shortcomings he has…’ Lyss snickers.
‘Don’t knock what you can’t have.’ Aiden chuckled as he opens our fence. He and Adam walked in like they own the place. One of her eyes twitches, and she looked like she was a short-circuiting robot. When Aiden walked by her, he taps her on the shoulder with a smirk and she immediately scowls. What is with those two?
‘Here. I brought you this.’ Adam fans open a fluffy white towel, and his cheeks redden as he looked down at my dress, only to flick his eyes away almost instantly. The white skirt of the dress is clinging to my legs and no doubt showing an unflattering image of my bright pink underwear underneath. Like a little kid, I walked into the towel and his embrace as he wrapped his arms around me, covering my whole body. The warm citrus tones of his aftershave tickle my nose.
His hands rubbed up my arms, trying to dry me off. His warm breath hits my cold, wet shoulder when he whispers into my ear, ‘You’re shivering.’ He’s right, I need to take a shower and change before I catch a cold.
‘Thanks,’ I mumbled out breathlessly. When I turn to look at him, his blue eyes peer down at me. The light dusting of freckles play on his cheeks as he smiles, his hand now rubbing my back.
‘Get a room why don’t you?’ Aiden hollered from across the yard, making me instantly snap away from Adam and look around for Devin. Why? I don’t know. I just seem to look for him when he’s not there.
I held the towel across my chest as I pointed towards the back door. ‘I’m just going to head inside and shower,’ I say, offering Adam one final smile.
He nods, holding his lips tight. ‘Make sure you come back down though. The pizza should be here soon.’
‘Okay. Sure’
Just as I turned around, Adam speaks again. ‘And umm sorry….’
I glanced over my shoulder, meeting Adam’s eyes. ‘For what?’
‘Getting you wet,’ Aiden interrupts with a chortle. Laura slaps him upside the head, which is impressive in its own right considering he’s at least a foot taller than her.
I hurried to my room, trying to get as little wet as possible. Lyss is a control freak and I’m sure she’d kill me if I soaked the floorboards. I shut the door to my room and just as I dropped my towel, there’s a knock on my window.
It’s Devin.
He’s leaning over the balcony, waving with a lopsided grin, taking me in. I don’t bother covering up because frankly, I like the heat behind his eyes, and walked over to the window, opening it up.
‘Nice prank,’ I smirk when I finally get there.
‘Nice bra.’ He retorts, looking down at the pink poking though. ‘You should probably shut your curtains before you take your dress off… the house next door is full of a bunch of horny college guys.’ He motioned his thumb behind him.
‘Mhmm, it’s okay. You’d protect me, right?’ Am I flirting with Devin? Of course I am. He’s hot and he started it, looking at me with those gorgeous smoldering eyes. I can’t help it.
‘Why would you think I wouldn’t be watching too?’
I lean close to him, fully aware of how much I look like a melting panda. I can hear the dripping pools of water puddling around my feet. ‘You’ve already seen it,’ I whisper, trying to speak with as straight a face as possible.
‘Doesn’t mean I don’t want to see it again.’ He licks his lips, and my heart skips a beat. He’s only saying it to get a rise out of me. Instead of swooning and letting my legs give out like they want to, I look him up and down while biting my bottom lip. Damn those tight dark wash jeans and white shirt, I get so hot just looking at him.
‘Not gonna happen,’ I tease. I turned around, doing my best to saunter further into my room with sass. It doesn’t work though, my foot catches on the wet puddle and wind blows through my hair as I land on the floor with a loud, hard smack. Lying there for a minute, I contemplate what’s more embarrassing; looking like you passed out from falling in your own pool of water or trying to get up only to fall over again because you can’t get a grip and you’re clumsy. Before I can make a choice, Devin, ever the white knight, is crouched next to me. He either climbed through that window really fast or I actually did pass out and have a concussion.
‘Are you okay?’ he asks as he tries to push away some of the wet hair from my face. Did I forget to mention that my wet ponytail smacked me like a whip, just as I hit the ground and I didn’t have the time to remove it? I must look super hot right now.
‘Yeah, I’m fine.’ I lie even though I’m pretty sure it wasn’t just my ego that was bruised from that fall. My back is aching and I’m not sure I’ll be able to get up. Devin grabs my hand and without another word pulls me up to my feet slowly. Once I’m standing, I fall into him from the force of his pull and brace myself by placing my hands on his chest. In that moment, I lose my breath. Memories of when I was this close to him before come flooding back and I want to rewind to that night and replay it over and over again. ‘Thanks,’ I can’t look at him. I don’t want him to know what sort of dirty thoughts were going through my head.
He leans to the side and gets the towel that Adam had given me and places it on the floor below as he starts to wipe the floor ‘Wipe your feet on the towel so they’re dry.’ I oblige, letting him capture my feet in his towel-clad hand and massage them. Something him being on his knees, serving me, is mildly erotic. ‘Why don’t you go take a shower? I’ll dry the floors for you and then meet you outside.’ He suggests, taking the towel and my thoughts away with him.
‘Okay.’ I really want to ask him to stay with me and wait but that would sound a little desperate and I’m not desperate… Well maybe a little… For him. Which I shouldn’t be because I already told him we should just be friends. Nothing more can happen between us. I walk ahead into the bathroom and feel weird about the fact that I’m leaving a hot guy in my bedroom to clean my floors. That doesn’t happen every day.
My room is dry when I’ve made it out of the shower and Devin’s gone. His curtains shut and it’s as though my mind played tricks on me. All of the moments I have with him feel like a vague memory in the back of my head, I only wish I could bring them forward and relish in them.
After brushing my hair and putting on a pair of shorts and one of Clay’s old sweatshirts. The laughter and chatter from outside floats into my room. I skip out, careful to avoid any rogue wet patches on my way.
Our backyard is empty of people, but the patio stones are still wet from the balloon, the only evidence that something went down here. The voices echo over the fence and I immediately go through the back gate to the guy’s yard.
When I unlatch and open the door, I’m met with the smiling faces of my new roommates and our next-door neighbors with enough pizza to feed the college for the day. Even though I was just victim to a pretty harsh prank, they’re all smiling and happy to see me. It’s the first time in a long time I’ve felt somewhat normal. No one views me as anything other than the college girl I am. A feeling I haven’t had since high school.
I headed over to the bench and took the last seat available between Devin and Adam. ‘Sorry about earlier Reign.’ Matty says apologetically. ‘We didn’t want to do that on your first week, but Aiden insisted.’ He takes his black cap off, running a hand through his chestnut hair and scowls at Aiden.
I just shrugged my shoulder, grabbing a piece of pizza. ‘Ah, it’s not a problem. I thought it was a good prank.’ I reply sweetly and that relaxes Matty who seemed the most concerned about my wellbeing.
‘Just wait until we get you back…’
‘Is that a challenge?’ Aiden pipes in, eyebrow cocked with a smile growing on his chiseled face. A guy so wicked shouldn’t look that much like superman.
‘More of a promise.’ I wink. He’s a big guy and I think he likes to intimidate people, but he doesn’t scare me in the slightest. He shows his tells too easily. Lyss is his weak spot, every time she moves, he’s hypersensitive to it.
‘You’re a feisty one, aren’t you?’ Adam elbows me, pushing me directly into Devin’s arm. That small connection sends shivers straight down my spine to my panties.
‘I’ve been called worse in my day.’ I say right before taking a large bite of pizza. I lift the leg next to Adam up to create a little more room between the two guys. The seats are wide, but the guys are wider than the average person. In fact, I’m surprised they can fit through door frames. Lifting my leg is the only way to claim more space.
As I chewed on my pizza, Devin chokes loudly. Adam takes no time in reaching around me to pat him on the back. ‘Dude, are you okay?’ Adam asks and Devin nods, still partially coughing. His eyes widen as he stares at me more urgently. His gaze goes between my face and my thigh a few times and it takes me a few seconds to realize he wants me to look at something. When I follow his gaze, I hold back a gasp and shove my leg under the table, pulling my shorts down. On the top of my inner thigh is a big fat red mark. Devin gave me a hickey when he was down there, and I hadn’t noticed.
My cheeks heat at the memory of him nibbling my thighs and the way his tongue teased me right before he gave me everything I ever wanted. I’m quickly knocked back to reality when Adam rests his arm on my shoulder after he’s finished hitting Devin’s back. Not sure what to do with that. If I moved it off, I’d embarrass him in front of his friends, so I just leave it there for now.
I let the conversation continue as I munch down on the pizza, noticing Adams hand trailing my back and rubbing my shoulder. It’s awkward. What with Devin sitting right on the other side, but I can’t deny his warm hand feels nice and Devin and I already agreed nothing more was going to happen between us. I shouldn’t feel guilty. It’s just a hand on my shoulder after all.
‘So, how did you guys meet?’ I ask pointing between Aiden, Jackson, Matty, Adam, and lastly Devin. I hold my gaze with Devin for just a second longer than I probably should. His hazel eyes always dragging me in.
‘Football,’ They grunt in unison.
‘Should have guessed that right? Have you always lived together?’
‘We moved here last year when Aiden joined the team,’ Matty replies. ‘We wanted to live off-campus away from the frat’s and their parties.”
‘It means we control the guestlists.’ Aiden griped out, looking at me pointedly. As if I want to go to jock parties. Sounds worse than a Two on One date on The Bachelor.
‘Ah, so I guess you just focus on the jocks and cheerleaders, right?’
‘They come, but they aren’t all invited,’ Jackson says. Probably because they’ve been through all of the girls on the cheer team…
‘Rest assured Princess, you’ll always be invited. You can be my plus one.’ Adam says in my ear. Princess? I just nod along focusing on how good the pizza is. ‘Speaking of, are you girls going to come to our party on Friday? Laura and Lyss respond with a few grumbles so I’m guessing that’s a yes. ‘I’d love to see you there, Reign.’ I just nod again. I want to be as non-committal as possible at this point.
‘What are you studying, Reign?’ Matty asks.
‘Nursing.’
‘That’s admirable. What made you choose it?’ I shovel a little more pizza in my mouth, taking my time to think of an answer. My parents dying in a car accident isn’t exactly something I want to share with the group.
‘I just want to help people,’ I reply. ‘What do you study Adam?’ I ask him quickly because he’s the one who’s looking at me most intently, and I want to get the focus off me.
His eyebrow lifts in surprise. ‘I study Business Economics. Are most of your courses in the Farrar Research building?’ I nod. ‘I’m surprised I’ve never seen you. All of mine are in the Coates building next door.’
‘It’s probably because I’m a recent transfer.’
‘Where’d you transfer from?’
‘LSU.’
‘A southern girl without an accent.” He laughed. “What made you leave?’
‘I’m originally from California. I’m just coming back home.’ I can feel Devin’s eyes on me. He knows more of the story but it’s not like he’d tell.
I let the conversation move from me and eat my pizza quietly. There are so many things tied to LSU and the last few years that sometimes it feels hard to connect with people. Connecting with them would mean I’d have to let them in and after Clay and Ally, I’m not entirely ready to do that.
Later that night, as I’m lying in bed looking at the light the moon pools in from the window, I hear Devin’s door open. It’s about one am, and it’s the first time I’ve seen him since the pizza outside. He’s looking at his phone, running a hand through his dark hair. I can feel the frustration from here as he paces back and forth. He hasn’t noticed my glare, probably because I’m in the dark under my covers staring at him like a stalker.
I should stop looking. I know I should but watching him take his shirt off is getting me all hot and flustered. Shimmying further under my covers, only my eyes are visible as I watch him unbutton his jeans and pull his pants down. He must have forgotten his curtains are open because he’s showing everything off. His sculpted muscles move as he walks and he sits on the edge of his bed, phone in one hand and he pushes his hair through the other. I rolled over, reminding myself that I said we would be just friends for a reason. I’m not ready for a relationship and the whole fuck buddies thing isn’t my style. Closing my eyes, I desperately try to go to sleep thinking about anything but my hot neighbor.
