I was way too single for this.
My ex was snuggling up next to my cousin while Kara and my dad were making googly eyes at each other from across the table (what was going on with them anyway?!) while one of the most gorgeous men I'd ever laid eyes upon in person (no matter how fuck-boy his looks might have been) was sitting directly beside me. So close it was almost like there was an invisible electromagnetic field pulsing and vibrating between us, moving and twitching and sparking like a living and breathing entity.
Or maybe I was just imagining things. He couldn't have possibly felt those sparks between us. Nope. Not at all.
My foot wouldn't stop bouncing incessantly underneath the table, and at one point my knee jerked violently making the table shake with its movement.
Sara eyed me like I was losing what was left of my mind, but my mind most definitely wasn't focused on Sara, or anyone else in the room besides the infuriatingly gorgeous basketball player directly to my right.
As if the world wasn't cruel enough, the deities above just had to give him the most breathtaking looks, exquisite height, unparalleled athletic talent (abs crafted from god's paintbrush, might I add) and to top it all off, a demeanor fashioned from hell. It was a strange dichotomy, someone so beautiful it hurt to look directly at them, yet when they opened their mouth the only thing they could do was insert their foot into it, and not in the literal way, though that would have been preferable to the way he'd spoken the previous time we'd ever come into contact.
"So do you plan on staying in college, or deferring for the draft once May rolls around?"
I was pulled out of my stupor by my aunt Kara's question, glad that I'd been staring at my uneaten plate of spaghetti and not directly into Eli's face. Talk about awkward.
"My parents want me to continue college, see if we can make it to the final four at least of the NCAA Championship by the time I'm a senior, but I don't know if that's the best route for me, ma'am. Our odds of making it are pretty slim but I plan on seeing the season through and reevaluating at the end of the school year."
"Well that's very conservative of you. Most men in your position would have immediately jumped at the chance for the draft. It's good to know Mike's first protege has a good head on his shoulders."
I almost snorted at my aunt's praise of Eli. He might have been smart about basketball, but he definitely didn't know a thing about manners unless he was around people who could do something for him in his industry. When it came to the 'normal folk' it was obvious where his charms fell flat, and I'd only found that out because I'd lied about who my father was when we'd first met. I was glad that I'd unearthed his true colors sooner, rather than later.
"Thank you ma'am. And thank you for inviting me to dinner tonight, this all looks delicious."
I rolled my eyes, piercing a meatball on the end of my fork and then scraping it back against my plate when I decided I didn't want it to travel the distance from the table to my mouth. I wasn't so hungry, all of a sudden. Not with all of the over stimulation going on.
Sara and Jared were in their own little loved up world making me want to vomit. I had no idea what was going on with my dad and my aunt, and being sat next to Eli Shepherd was more than nerve-racking.
"Virginia?"
"Yes?"
I met my father's concerned eyes across the table.
"I've called your name twice. I told you that you need to get that zoning out under control, especially if you want to do well in school. I was asking you how you were liking all of your classes so far?"
"Same as the last time you asked me, dad. I mean, they'd be a lot more bearable if I was at a performing arts school..." I trailed off, using a honey sweet voice to try and break down those barriers, and considering he'd been in a relatively good mood since things had fizzled out with the only boyfriend I'd ever had and I never underestimated my dad's happiness when it came to the fact that I wanted nothing to do with boys for the time being. Dads were all alike in that over protective way against boys, and it was time I used it to my advantage.
"We've talked about this. I want you at my alma mater, and where I can keep a close eye on you. The closest performance school that you would even consider attending is in New York, and you wouldn't be able to come home every weekend. At least here, I can make sure you're doing well, and I can have someone to watch over you..."
He trailed off and sent his eyes pointedly towards Eli.
"What? You mean you want this guy to 'watch over' me on campus? I don't know if you've forgotten, but I am a legal adult now, Dad. There are plenty of eighteen year olds who leave home for a college halfway across the country, or even in a different country altogether."
"Yes, but I don't think their parents are paying for their education like I am for you. I know you got that scholarship for the New York Conservatory, but you didn't have enough for housing and food once you got there. This was the best choice for you, and we all know it."
Tears pricked behind my eyes and I had no idea why his words had wounded me so clearly. Was it because he was right, that I couldn't fend for myself? That I was a dependent and lonely college girl with no one else, that I was incapable of doing it on my own? I wished my mom was there, to talk some sense into the man that I so rarely had arguments with, but this was one of the most recurring.
It wasn't like I hated Florida or my dad in the slightest, I just knew I had a better chance of making it in New York or Los Angeles instead of a basketball school with a tiny theater program. Maybe it was my dad's way of telling me he didn't believe I had it in me to succeed, even though I'd received a performing arts scholarship fair and square.
"Why don't we change the subject, hm? Sara, you were talking about that karaoke contest that you entered," Kara said, veering the subject away from the more heavy topics.
"Oh yeah! It's this weekend, and I can't wait! Virginia, you should totally come, it would be so great."
"Oh, this weekend...my new friend Maddie invited me to something. I already told her I would go."
Sara's face fell but only for a millisecond.
"Are you sure? Sara so looks up to you and that you've gone to college to follow your singing dream, and she wanted you to watch her perform," Kara added.
And be stuck at a karaoke contest while Sara and Jared were all over each other while I was, yet again, all by myself? No thank you.
"I really would love to come, but maybe someone could record it and I could watch it that way?"
Eli was watching the interaction with barely veiled curiosity, like he was trying to decide why I was pushing back on my family desperately trying to get me to attend what surely sounded like a boring night.
I ignored the magnetic current trying to pull my leg closer to his that was placed so precariously close to mine and back on dinner, but damn it was hard, those sinewy, powerful muscles in his legs twitching when my eyes fell down to look at his thigh dangerously close to my own.
"I hope you're going to be coming home once this event is over? You're not out of our deal to come home every weekend. Eli, will you be attending?"
Eli dabbed at the corner of his mouth with a dark dinner napkin and took a swallow of his water before answering, Adam's apple bobbing as he did so.
"I will. I can give her a ride back here if you need me to, since I'll be staying in the guest house next weekend anyway."
Ignoring the sexy timbre of Eli's voice and instead focusing on the words that just tumbled out of his mouth, my eyes went wide, similar to that of a bug who was being squished underneath a shoe right as those eyes were about to burst out of their head.
"Excuse me, what?"
Ignoring my sputtering much like I was trying to ignore how fatally attracted to him I was, Eli didn't spare me a glance, shoving this whole innocent boy act right in my dad's face who was falling for it hook, line and sinker.
"You know, since you asked me to stay every other weekend as part of our coaching."
"Yes, I remember. That sounds like a great idea, and Virginia can just leave her car on campus. That's perfect."
Ice cooled along my veins.
"Perfect," I hissed. "Just perfect."