"You're going to miss me, you know that right?"
"I've never missed any fling I've had, Quinn. Don't get your hopes up."
Where Scout and Quinn get off to a rocky start and make some choices that make it even rockier.
*************
quinn hughes x fem...
"Because you looked— I'm the one who kicked you out of my room." His head snaps up to stare at me. Faint sirens in my head make me take a sharp breath in. "Too soon?"
He shrugs and changes the subject. "We still have another place to go. You finished?"
* * * * *
"Okay," I say as I chalk my cue stick. "Let's put some stakes to it. See if that'll make you better."
Quinn rolls his eyes, trying to line up his break. The sap brought us to a pool hall. Although, us playing pool didn't necessarily go so great the first time around so I'm not sure if it's his best decision. I do know I have a title to defend. That title is better than Quinn at pool and I don't want to lose it.
"Anytime now, Huggy." My words stop him mid-pullback and he has to take a deep breath before starting his whole process over again. I don't shut up because why would I? "You know we could do bank-the-eight? Or I could. Only a bank shot to make the eight in? Give you maybe an extra round or two after I clear the table before you can even get three in pocket."
"Scout," he states.
"Yeah, what's up?"
"Shut up." And he finally shoots while I laugh. He doesn't pocket any off the break. It's a bad break on his part, it's perfectly set up for me to get a decent first turn. Maybe even a runout if I'm lucky.
I fake a wince as I glance from the table to him. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you're sandbagging."
"What's the bet?" He asks.
"Uh..." I hum, lining up a shot. "How about--" I shoot, pocketing a stripe. My lucky suit. "--I win and you meet Jeremy and his kids while they're visiting."
"That doesn't seem too bad."
I sink two more. Quinn watches me chalk up again. He's looking at me in a way that reminds me of that night back in Michigan. I'm starting to think I had him from the start in some way. It might not be a look of hate like I thought it was. He might've been charmed by my general standoffish competitiveness. Huh. Nice.
"He's got a six-year-old and a three-year-old that people usually say remind them of me as a kid," I explain with a shrug. "If you couldn't have guessed, I wasn't much of a charmer."
He nods. Fair enough. "My guess was you were an absolute terror."
"What do you want if you somehow win?"
"Depends." His tone is light, even mischievous as he walks over to stand near me. I try to ignore him bending down like he's trying to get a look at the angle I'm shooting at. I pull back the cue and he takes his chance, lowering his voice slightly. "How much are you willing to give me?"
A gasp leaves me. The cue lifts off my forehand and hits the top of the cue ball, sending it forward just barely. And I mean just. Honestly, well-played. I motion to the table. His turn. Quinn squints slightly as if he can figure out what move I might pull. I'm not even sure what it could be. You have to empty your brain a bit to try and say shit that'll get under someone's skin in any way. I don't know the logic. Probably since there isn't much.
Quinn picks up the cue ball, sighing way too condescendingly. "Can't believe the great Scout Schuyler scratched."
I follow him around the table like he did to me. Even hum a little when he lines up what will be an easy shot. It's stupid. It works because he hesitates.
I start talking once I'm sure he's committed in his pullback. "Think if you manage to beat me it'll earn you some head—" I pause to fake clear my throat. The cue surges forward. Fast. "—aches because I will be such a sore loser."
Sometimes I think I'm a bit too lucky. The cue ball hits the cushion hard, missing his target completely, and banks off to the opposite side then right to the eight. Quinn turns away from the table in a second, hand covering his eyes as if he'll see it with his back turned. I put a hand on his shoulder as the ball goes right into a corner pocket.
"That would have been so cool if it was intentional," I say.
His hand drops from his face. "Best two out of three?"
* * * * *
I won. I'm on my second playthrough of "We Are The Champions" since I convinced Quinn to let me play music in the car. He was very stubborn about not letting me. Probably because he knew I'd do something like this. I'd like to make it very clear that there's a smile on his face as I sing along. I'd also like to make it very clear I suck at singing. No musical talent in this throat. There is a different talent though. If you know what I mean.
Sorry, winning makes me overconfident.
He turns it down and my voice goes with. "Hey, did you tell anyone about this date?"
"My mom," I say.
"None of our friends though?"
"Nope. Your idiot brother would probably text me the whole time for updates." Actually, I know he would because Jack quite literally has told me that's what he would do if I was on a date. Not necessarily with Quinn. Just any date. But I don't think Jack thinks I should go on dates with anyone but his older brother.
Quinn nods. "Should we try to mess with them? Get back at them a bit because of how much they've gotten in our business?"
There's no hesitation in my words. "I like how you think."
* * * * *
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scoutschuyler14: is this thing on?
valentine.davis00: okay tiktok next scoutschuyler14: not happening valentine.davis00: i'm tired of not being able to simply dm you them scoutschuyler14: would you like me to dig a ditch for you to cry a river into valentine.davis00: well it's the least you could do
jackhughes: @trevorzegras manly looking hand trevorzegras: Hmmm @_quinnhughes thoughts? _quinnhughes: None scoutschuyler14: we already knew that you have no thoughts in that pretty little head trevorzegras: Duuuuuuuuude
trevorzegras: You forgot to tag the person in the pic and get a profile pic on here scoutschuyler14: what person ? trevorzegras: In the corner there scoutschuyler14: those legs are some rando i can't tag them dumbass
_quinnhughes: Thought what we had was special scoutschuyler14: beating people in pool will never be exclusive sorry
atticus.schuyler: trouble in paradise incoming scoutschuyler14: i've never come anywhere close to paradise bc i was born into a world ur in atticus.schuyler: you weren't born you were created in a lab, fucking freak
finchschuyler14: i fw the mystery to this one scoutschuyler14: awesome! idc
lhughes_06: i fw the mystery to this one scoutschuyler14: awesome! i care finchschuyler14: damn okay
