My conversation with Momma keeps running through my mind. I obviously didn't want to talk about my suspicions in front of Alondra and everyone else, but fuck. I really needed some advice.
I glance over my shoulder to make sure no one followed as I step into my room. "Sorry bout that, I didn't want to talk about this in front of the others." I run a hand over my face, trying to comprehend what I suspect.
"What's going on honey?" Momma's calm voice asks and I shake my head.
"So you know Al, how she's Coach's daughter and all."
"Yes?"
I shake my head because it doesn't make sense. "She hasn't explicitly said anything, but I think...I think there is someone who is or was hurting her."
Momma falls silent for a few moments and I sit on the edge of my bed. "That's a very serious thing to suggest."
"I know. But it makes sense. She had this anxiety attack earlier in the week while we were skating. I um—I grabbed her arm to keep her from running away and Al started hyperventilating. I didn't mean to."
"Jack."
Fuck. "I know. I know Momma. I didn't mean to. It's not just that though. She insisted that it had nothing to do with Coach, but there's this football player who is friends with Zeke. He came up to me and pretty much told me to stay away from her because Al was his." Who does that? People aren't property.
"I don't know. Has Alondra explicitly said someone hurt her?" She asks hesitantly and I groan silently.
"No. It's just the way she acts sometimes. Like this bar we were all at. She saw someone there and needed to leave immediately. I don't know. I want to help Al, but she shuts down if we even approach the topic of the night at the bar. I haven't bothered to bring up the anxiety attack because I don't want to scare her off."
"It sounds like you really care about her. Just do your best to be there for her and make sure Al knows that she can come to you for help when she's ready for it. Don't do anything rash please." She warns and I wish she had given me better advice. But I'm not sure if it's my place.
I do care about her. There's something that just draws me to her. Probably helps that our kiss was one of the best I've ever had. Not that I could act on my physical attraction to her. Alondra's too good of a friend now. Plus she's Coach's daughter. Al deserves better than a one night stand from me and that's all I can offer.
But this? I'm almost certain I'm right about this. And I sure as hell can't talk to Coach about it. I think she'd skin me alive.
"Yes ma'am." I agree quietly.
"I know that's probably not what you wanted to hear, but you're a good man Jack. She's lucky to have you in her life."
I can't wait for Momma to come visit. I know I sound like a total wimp, but she really is the best. She always knows exactly what to say.
I walk down the hall of Alondra's dorm room; I probably should have called first, but she left in such a hurry last night that I didn't get much of a chance to talk to her.
Then Peyton came home pretty messed up so I spent the rest of the night playing babysitter to her.
We didn't have class together today so I haven't seen her all day. My text earlier went unanswered which is fine. I just want to check on her.
I knock on the door and Pritchett answers with some kind of green shit on her face. "Uh, what's on your face?"
She grins at me, "What's on yours'?"
Haha very funny.
"Pritchett," Al scolds and I crack a smile when I see the same stuff is on her face.
She's wearing a ratty old t-shirt and her hair is back in two braids. They must be having some kind of movie night or something.
"Sorry, I should have texted first before coming over. Just wanted to see if you were busy," I say, stuffing my hands in my pockets.
"We're kind of doing a spa night," She says, an apologetic look on her face.
Pritchett opens the door wider, "You're welcome to stay, but you have to put this shit on your face too."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah. We have enough for three. Margot dropped out last second cause of something with Hudson. Ruby's with Dylan or she'd be here."
I look at Al to make sure it's okay with her that I crash their night and she has an easy smile on her face so I'm assuming it's alright.
"Just don't put too much gunk on me." I say, stepping into the room.
Al is perched on her bed with a bowl and beckons me to come closer. From the close proximity, you can see that her eyes have a ring of green around the center making them more hazel than brown.
"Pritchett, give me one of your headbands," She says and then some plastic thing comes flying out of nowhere onto the bed next to Al.
"What are you doing?" I ask and she picks the thing up to put it on my head.
Al giggles, "Do you want avocado and cucumber in your hair?"
"I don't really want it on my face but no, I don't want it in my hair."
The headband pulls my hair back and Al starts to gingerly apply the paste onto my face. Her nose is slightly scrunched in concentration. Her touch is light and careful.
I must have zoned out or something because she pokes me, "I know I'm pretty, but you're staring."
"Why wouldn't I stare?" I counter and Pritchett throws a pillow at my back.
"Stop flirting with Alondra."
I roll my eyes, but push myself up onto Alondra's lofted bed to recline into her abundance of pillows. "I'm not flirting. If I was flirting, you'd know." I tease, winking confidently at her.
"You know you're not quite as hot with avocado on your face," Pritchett responds.
I press my hand over my heart, "Oh my ego is just so fragile that you're breaking my heart."
Alondra laughs and lays back against the wall, her legs pressed against mine. "Shut up Jack."
I prop myself up onto my elbows, "So what's the plan for tonight? Naked pillow fights? Taylor Swift sing-a-long? Nicholas Sparks movies?"
"You do know that girls don't fight naked during pillow fights right? Nor do we actually have pillow fights."
"Darling, you're killing my fantasy," I complain.
She shoves my leg, "Move. You take up so much room."
"It's because I'm so big." Sure, I sound kind of like an asshole when I say this. But if you got it, flaunt it. Fuck, I sound like Peyton.
Pritchett bursts into laughter. "Oh that's funny."
"Are you and Eli back together?" I ask, batting my eyelashes at her innocently.
She gapes at me and Al hits my leg. "Don't be mean."
"I'm literally laying here with gunk on my face and a headband. Pretty sure I'm allowed to make comments about how big my dick is without getting laughed at."
It's in that moment that I realize the grave mistake I've made. Pritchett is pointing her phone at me and the next thing I know, she's opened a group chat with all my roommates and Al.
Pritchett: Lots of big dick talk from his highness over here.
The replies from the guys are immediate and I don't have to look at them to know I'm going to catch hell for this. I cross my arms over my chest, "Go ahead, laugh. I'm secure enough in my masculinity that it's okay."
"Pritchett just put the movie on." Al says and I go to rub my nose, but I can't because of the avocado face mask.
It's another fifteen minutes before they tell me I can wash my face off. Not that I'll admit it to them, but my face feels really soft. This is just too much work to do on my own if I were going to do it again; which I'm not.
At some point during the movie—some romcom they already had picked out before I got here—Pritchett drifts off to sleep.
Al is still trying to watch the movie, but I was watching her carefully. My head is resting on a pillow in her lap. Her hands are slowly combing through my hair and it's a fight to keep my eyes open.
It's calming and feels fucking fantastic.
"You know I'm glad you showed up tonight," Al says after a while.
My eyes blink open, the heaviness of sleep weighing on them. "You left so fast last night, I wanted to check on you darling."
"So you stayed for movies and a spa night?"
"What can I say? I needed a night of relaxation. Your dad has no problem kicking my ass every morning."
She chuckles for a moment, "Poor you."
I swallow the lump forming in my throat, "Are you okay?"
I don't want to be right. I really don't.
"Why wouldn't I be?" Alondra's guard is up and I don't know if I can ruin tonight by asking her about Grady.
"You don't have to go to any of the games if you don't want to." I say, chickening out.
Alondra visibly relaxes. "A deal's a deal. I should have known that Pritchett would tell you about my inability to choose something other than rock."
I smile at her because there's nothing to say.
"Your mom seems great." She compliments and my smile grows.
"She is."
"I'm glad you have her."
I chew on my lower lip as Alondra glances down at me. "She wants to meet you while she's here in a couple of weeks. Are you okay with that?"
Her smile is huge, "I'd love that."
*********
I wake up the next morning thanks to my internal alarm surrounded by the familiar smell of strawberries. I shift to fumble for my phone when I realize I'm tangled with someone else. My back is against the wall and the girl is asleep on my arm.
It takes me a moment to realize that I'm holding onto Alondra. I must have fallen asleep here last night.
My head drops back onto the pillow and I relax. This bed is tiny as hell, but holding Al is nice. She groans and shifts further into me, her ass unintentionally grinding against my pelvis.
My body is all too happy to respond to the close proximity. My morning wood is aching and Alondra shifts again in her sleep.
Fuck me.
Except I'd forgotten that my morning practice alarm was still set. The beeping sounds from on the floor, probably where my phone fell. Alondra holds onto my arm tighter and a low moan slips from the back of my throat.
Her body tenses and she turns in my arms, "Jack?" Al whispers, her voice thick with sleep. My alarm continues blaring in the background but I don't make a move to get up yet. "What are you still doing here?"
And then she wiggles out from under me, brushing against my hard on and embarrassment floods me. Oh shit.
"Turn that fucking alarm off before I smother you with my pillow Al." Pritchett threatens and I have to admit that I'm a little afraid of her right now.
Al moves too fast when she tries to grab it, clearly flustered and takes a nosedive straight off the side of the twin sized bed. She lets out a small scream when she hits the floor. "Fuck!"
"Shit, are you okay?" I ask, sitting up as my erection deflating quickly at the idea of her getting hurt.
"Fine." She chokes out, throwing the phone up on the bed, smacking me straight in the eye.
"Al!" I groan, my hand going up to my eye. I quickly turn the alarm off and Pritchett groans loudly. A light flips on and I wince at the bright light. Pritchett's hair is a rat's nest but the murderous glare on her face terrifies the fuck out of me.
"Jack, I don't care if you stay the night, but for the love of fucking god don't wake me up again." She hisses and Al is rubbing her forehead on the ground.
"Sorry, I must have fallen asleep," I apologize quickly, sliding out from under the blankets to locate my shoes and hoodie.
"It's fine," Al says, unable to meet my eyes.
My phone rings in my hand and I answer it quickly before Pritchett can kill me.
"Yo, where are you? Morning skate starts in thirty." Dylan says and I feel my eye start to swell.
"I know," I reply tiredly, my tone a little harsher than it probably needed to be. "Can you grab me some clothes and I'll meet you in the locker room in less than ten. I'm at Al's."
"Jack!" Alondra exclaims and I wave her off to hear Dylan's reply. He hangs up, promising to bring me clean clothes to skate in. Al is shooting me a disapproving look before whispering, "You shouldn't have told him that you were here."
I shrug after pulling my hood over my head. "Why? You've crashed at my place before. A platonic sleepover."
Al's cheeks flush red and I slip into my sneakers. "Sorry darling, I'll see you in class." I blurt out before leaving quickly to save myself any further embarrassment. If I had more time before morning skate starts, I'd probably try to find the right words. Like hey, sorry you woke up with my dick stabbing you.
Dylan is pulling on his shoulder pads when I walk into the locker room, feeling pretty shitty. He bows dramatically and I roll my eyes. "Your highness," He mocks and Coop snickers from his locker further down.
"Shut up. I'm not in the mood."
He raises an eyebrow at me and tosses a bag in my direction.
"Didn't you stay at Al's last night? Thought you'd be in a good mood if you two finally hooked up." Dylan continues and I shoot him a quick glare. "What the hell happened to your eye?"
"Nothing happened."
Just Al having the best fucking aim in the world.
I want to bang my head against the locker. "We were hanging out and I fell asleep. Woke up with morning wood and she brushed up against it."
Coop laughs, "What happened to your big dick energy from last night?"
I stick my middle finger up at him. "Screw you."
"So what? She woke up to it and punched you?"
I pull a shirt on quickly. "No, she threw my phone at me. Wouldn't even look me in the eyes before she left."
"Any chance she didn't feel it?" Dylan asks, doing a terrible job at keeping the smile off his face.
I look at him like he's an idiot. Of course she felt it. "I don't know Dyl. Is the sky blue? Of course she fucking noticed."
The chorus of laughter in the locker room doesn't make me feel better.