Lies:
She's just an annoying little freshman
I'm wrecked.
Physically and messed up in the head.
And for fuck's sake! If I hear her laugh one more time at one of Rhett's silly jokes, I'm going to pounce my head into a randomly chosen wall.
He's not that funny.
It has been another hour and I still haven't left my room because I'm avoiding her like a global pandemic. I do not want her jealous little boyfriend to sneak up on me and break my fucking back for coming near her. He would be fully capable, and I'm not ready to sign off on my future career over her.
She's just an annoying little freshman.
With a very cute face.
Fuck.
I can't hear her talking to Rhett anymore, so I assume she went home. Now I can finally come out of my room and take another shower. I already had one at the rink because I needed to cool off for getting send into the locker room, rinsing off the blood was just a nice plus. After, I got some stitches to my brow, my nose and lip were cut but it wasn't that deep. What is deep though is my hatred for that defenseman. He's crazy for hitting me with his stick like that, so I had a good reason to go absolutely batshit on him, taking that ten-minute misconduct with a fucking smirk.
Just wearing a pair of freshly washed sweats, I sneak out of my room and cross the hallway, in the corner of my eye I can spot Rhett by himself in the living room.
Somehow the fact she already left disappoints me. I couldn't take my eyes off her from the second I got home. She looked cute and relaxed for once. Her hair was tied into a messy ponytail and a cream-colored hoodie hugged her like a warm blanket. Her lips were glossy, her cheeks beautifully flushed, and I would be lying if I said my chest didn't feel tight when her gorgeous eyes scanned every detail on my face.
I wish I could get that perfect image of her out of my head. But it's not that easy because apparently, she's everywhere.
In my thoughts.
In my apartment.
And in my fucking bathroom too! As soon as I open the door, I hear a girl squeal. I'm caught off guard, but I walk into the bathroom regardless. "My God! Don't you know how to knock!" She looks startled and I can feel small water droplets bounce into my chest as she's dramatically waving her hands.
I'm lucky she was just washing her hands.
Anything else, well that would have been awkward.
"Can't you just lock the door?" I shrug while I invade her space and take a step towards her. I shouldn't, but this girl is like a fucking magnet.
Rémy run, it's not too late yet.
Yeah, it is. Because she's staring at my bare chest now and her eyes can no longer detain a sparkle. She knows I'm right. It would indeed have been better had she just locked that door, then we wouldn't' have been in this situation, that being a bathroom filled with sudden sexual tension. It's there, we both can feel it as it's not an awkward silence that falls between us. No, It's a silence screaming that if neither of us backs away, we're both going to be in trouble.
A smirk tugs at the corner of my mouth while I take another step towards her and she can't help it to give me the up and down look. I'm pretty confident she even stopped breathing for a millisecond. "You know, you shouldn't stare at me like that." I whisper and I sound too husky to hide how this is driving me wild.
"Like what?" She asks and it's her blunt confidence that makes me take another step.
I lean forward and cage her, both my hands grabbing the sink behind her, and I have her exactly where I want her.
Squirmy and flustered.
I look at her through my lashes and lean forward to angle my face right in front of hers. "You like what you see." It's just a guess, but any girl who has given me that look in the past ended up on my fucked list, so you tell me if I'm right.
"That defence man hit you too hard in the head." She whispers back, but her voice is barely steady. "You're hallucinating."
I chuckle at her words, but even more at the look on her face. Her cheeks are bright red, and her eyes hooded. She's tense. Evidence of hot and bothered. "Sure," I shrug, but lean in even more, and I can hear her catch a breath when my nose trails along the side of her cheek, all the way until I reach her ear. "Then why do you look like you're about to faint." I whisper and my lips stroke her skin. "You could have pushed me away."
She pulls back and now our noses align perfectly; her gaze lingering on my mouth. "You already look bruised." The words twaddle from her perfect lips. "I don't want to bruise your little ego too." She nervously sucks in her lip, and I have no idea why that drives me so insane. Her eyes are wandering over all the cuts on my face, spending extra-long at the one on my lip.
I can't take it anymore and my hands almost squeeze the porcelain sink to dust. "please." My voice sounds the thickest while I unleash a husky whimper. "If you don't plan to kiss me, then don't look at my mouth like that." I say and then I let my tongue wander over the small cut on my bottom lip.
She barely scoffs as she looks away, however her body does the exact opposite. Her hands reach backwards as they envelop my wrists and she tries to make herself tall, stretching out onto her tiptoes. "I can't stop looking at it." She whispers, "It's talking too much bullshit."
Hot, she sounds soooo fucking hot.
"I have done nothing but tell you the truth." It slips but I know what I mean by that. I'm not sure if she will.
"What's that supposed to mean."
I hesitate, but I just have to. "That I'm not the guy who's constantly bullshitting you."
There goes my hockey career.
There goes my perfectly uninjured limbs and back.
And the perfect tension between us too, because her body suddenly demands for space, pushing her shoulder into my chest and dodging the makeshift prison I made with my arms as she walks away.
Fuck.
"You're talking about Eli?" She turns to me, her back into the bathroom's door, her arms crossed in front of her chest. I'm just happy her hand is nowhere near the doorknob.
"Who else?" I throw my hands and give her an angry glare, but she bounces one right back at me. "You're naïve Céline. Seriously?" And now all my empathy just evaporates, and it turns into cold anger. "Do you really believe him? Do you really think I just went in there Friday night to punch him in the face for no fucking reason?" Hearing my own words is making me release a dark laugh. "Come on, you can't be that stupid?"
"Uhm okay!" She frowns while she furiously steps towards me. "Give me any good reason why I should believe you! You have only been vague about what happened at that party! Why wouldn't you just tell me everything you know, if you are telling the truth!"
"Would you believe me?" I scoff and now we're only inches apart, that magnet thing also working when we're angry.
It's stronger even.
"I don't know!" She throws her hands and scrunches her cute little freckled nose. "Try me!"
"Fine." I tilt my head and clench my jaw, trying to figure out where to start. "I did go in there on Friday to mess him up," I sigh deeply and look her right in the eye. She's firing lighting at me and I don't know if that's supposed to throw me off or turn me on, maybe both. "But you only saw the part after he hurt me, and spoke badly about you." I chew on the inside of my cheeks while I can see her otherwise tight shoulders drop. I watch her swallow while her face falls too and she presses her lips in anger. She takes a few calculated breaths before her gaze meets mine again. It's apologetic, it's sorry yet confused.
"You said you injured your shoulder on Friday?" She mutters with a shaky voice before swallowing the lump in her throat. "Did he do that? Eli?"
I nod and not even thinking about it, I grab her hand and bring it towards my shoulder. Her fingers instantly spread over my skin and her touch nearly melts me. Scratch nearly. "He threatened to injure me far worse if I told you the truth or if I came near you again. Career ending even." I lightly shake my head and I try to ignore whatever she's doing to me right now. I'm on edge, nervous, my legs weak... She's not pulling away her hand, she's not asking for space, she's not yelling at me or calling me a liar. She's just trying to fish the truth from my soul.
"But he's, my friend." She tries to convince herself. "Why would he lie to me?" She whimpers and the angry tough girl from minutes ago is gone. There's nothing left of her. This version is vulnerable, hurt, betrayed, but at least she is letting me in.
"Because he has something to lose by telling you." I bite my lip because I just want to tell her. "You." Sighing I try to find her gaze but she's staring into the wall behind me. "Trust me, I just want to do the right thing for once." I tell her while my hand cups her cheek and her eyes finally meet mine.
She shakes while fighting her trembling lip. "Why are you doing this? You don't even know me, y-"
"You hate your roommate, Heather. She's basically you, but multiplied by then. And a half. Specific I know. You suck at math and statistics, but you love true crime. It's the only reason you're studying law. You have anger issues and an allergy to injustice. If you ask me that combo is going to get you in trouble someday. That's also why your knuckles are bruised." I chuckle while I grab her hand and bring my lips to the damage done. "That's all on me, because you took your anger out on a punching bag and I'm pretty sure you imaged my face for every hit." She's trying to hide a soft smile while i intertwine our fingers and I press my lips into the back of her hand, but most of all she's trying to make sense of all those truths and how I managed to collect them without knowing her. "You're also a cute clingy koala when you're drunk and don't know how to stop taking shots. Three should be your limit. You also wanted to screw me, but I politely declined because I'm confident it was just the alcohol talking." For me it's a fun rollercoaster ride as I go over our entire night, but for her it must be head spinning. "Oh yeah," I laugh. "You apparently have no idea what sniffing salts do, but you do now."
"I don't know what you're talking about?" Her whisper is barely audible when she pulls her hand from mine and awkwardly brings it to her chest.
"I..." I put away my smile and I'm back to sighing, hoping she'll believe me for my word. "I was the one who made sure you got home safe after that party. I watched you get drunk and stuck by your side all night, because you insisted on walking home. I had known you for five seconds, but it would have haunted me my entire life if I let anything bad happen to you." I clench my jaw while I stare back at her. I have no idea what she's thinking, I just hope she can forget any negative thought she has about me and decides to trust me on this one.
For her sake and mine.
Her gaze flutters from my mouth to my eyes and back, before looking away. "But Eli said,"
She in denial.
"Eli lied!" I lose my calm for a second and startle her before composing myself. I take a deep and frustrated breath. "He was the reason you were upset and wanted to get drunk."
Her lip is trembling again, and I can't imagine what it must be like to not remember anything at all, and have a stranger throw your best friend from his pedestal. "But why?"
With a sigh I tell her exactly what everyone who was in that kitchen must have seen and heard and with each sentence the water in her eyes increases, the trembling of her lip intensifies and she's making me feel more and more sorry for her.
"Shit..." She mutters while a deep breath makes her chest shake, and she's desperately hanging on to an imminent sob. "You punched him because he was bad mouthing me." She clenches her jaw. "What did he say?" I shake, not knowing if I should tell her, it wouldn't make a difference. She knows the truth now and that he can't be trusted. That he's not a friend. "Rémy please." She's giving me a rigid look I can't resist, so I spill.
"That he would tell you the truth, only after..." I fall silent, it's too harsh and I pinch the bridge of my nose right under the cut. I don't want to say it.
"After?" She nudges me with another pleading look.
"After he screwed you." Instant regret fills my chest when I watch her let go of that sob, no longer holding it to herself.
She breaks.
"Oh my god." She cries, while her arms hug her stomach. "I'm gonna be sick." Her head shakes and suddenly her entire face is drained of any color.
Fuck.
"Listen, it doesn't matter, it's okay." I try to pull her out of whatever panic she's fading into, my hand pushing a rogue flyaway behind her ear.
"No. No. No. No." with each no, her voice becomes more desperate, and I don't know what the hell I could do to make her feel better. I feel helpless. I never cared enough to get myself into this position, but somehow now I do.
My hands cup her face and I try to calm her down but she's nervously fidgeting with her sleeves, hiding her shaking hands. "Céline-"
"No!" She pulls away from me entirely and it stings, my lips parted. "You don't understand! It's not okay." She cries and pushes her hands flat onto her forehead before they disappear into her hair. What she says next completely devastates me. "I slept with him." It devastates her even more. "I'm so stupid!" She starts to cry, and the tears now roll down her cheeks like heavy rainfall. Whatever it is I feel right now, it's overwhelmingly painful. That cross check now feels like a breeze compared to how seeing her like this punches the air out of me. I grind down on my teeth and clench my jaw because if Elijah was standing in front of me right now, he would be a dead man walking.
He might still be if I see him around campus.
Time to collect an expulsion.
But right now... I'm not going anywhere.
Overwhelming guilt washes over my face. If I had told her loud and clear instead of being vague and worry about myself, she would have maybe made one mistake less.
"Hey," I whisper and my hand hooks behind her neck. "Don't blame yourself for trusting your friend. It's not your fault." I pull her into my chest and do the only acceptable thing.
I hug her.
She sobs into my chest while her arms go around my waist and she hangs onto me for dear life. "I don't have any friends."
Her sobs are bouncing off the cold tiles and all I can do is hold her tightly until she decides she has had enough. "I can't go back to my dorm tonight." It's the first thing she mutters after breaking down and she's trying to collect herself, wiping away her tears. Giving her a soft smile my thumb swipes across her cheek too because she missed a smudge of eye makeup. It's the smallest thing, but somehow it made her smile, if only faintly. "He texted me that if I kept ignoring him, he was coming to my dorm. I didn't want to see him earlier, I definitely don't want to see him now, knowing what I know." She shrugs while she continues to wipe at her wet cheeks.
"You were ignoring him?" I shouldn't have asked because she closes herself off again, turning away from me and walking towards the sink. She grips the edges and rolls her eyes at herself in the mirror. Its pure disappointment that she reflects back at herself.
She turns on the water, and briefly stares at my reflection. I'm sitting on the closed toilet now, because I'm starting to feel that crossbody check again and I need to get off my feet. That or seeing her this upset really messed me up. "I think somehow my body knew the truth all along. Ironically sleeping with him was the most horrible sex I ever had." She shakes and even grimaces at herself. I don't know if I should feel sorry for her or be happy. I don't even think she has decided how to feel about it. She hovers over the sink and splashes some water in her face and all I can do is stare at her, taking in every second. She's genuine, not hiding her emotions, the kind of what you see is what you get kind of person and I admire it. "I hate to ask," Turning off the water she looks at me again. "Trust me I really do hate it." She sighs once more. "but, can I stay here tonight?" Her question catches me off guard and I'm probably looking at her with a frown. "I'll sleep on the couch." As if she was asking me if she could sleep with me... I was thinking about it for a second, but I would have started to feel guilty if I held on to it for a second longer. "Everything is better than seeing that piece of shit. He lied to my fucking face after I repeatedly asked him about it. I asked him if anything happened..." Here comes the anger, "I had a feeling... but I was too fucking blind to see it. That fucking asshole! He kept denying it! Lying! I swear," Her voice is going up and she's balling her fists, and if I didn't know any better, I would think she's about to punch something.
Oh she totally is!
Shit.
I quickly grab her wrist, spin her around and pull her into my lap. It's unfortunate, but it's the only way she won't pounce into the mirror. That shit isn't that cheap to replace.
She's surprised, squeaking until her eyes meet mine and we're suddenly in the eye of a storm. The silence and calm that suddenly falls over her is like driving underneath a highway bridge during rainfall. For a second there's silence, and then the rain starts pouring down again. "You were going to punch something. I had to stop you." I don't move a muscle, I can't, because she's straddling me and moving would mean I would feel a little bit too much of her. The last thing I need her to do is move and wiggle. "You need to stop that. Why are you so angry all the time? Not that you don't have a reason right now." I lick my lips as her hands rest on my shoulders and mine grab a fistful of her hoodie.
"I don't know." She whispers, "It's like everything I feel, I feel a thousand times more intense than anyone else. It's annoying, I don't have any control over it and it's like that with everything." She shakes her head and it's exactly that much movement I was talking about. It's driving me crazy, and my hands desperately disappear into her waist to keep her still. "Stress, anger, happiness, anxiety." She whispers and once more her knee weakening gaze falls on my lips. "Tension." The word leaves her mouth at a painfully slow speed, and I watch her swallow nervously. She's not wrong and she read the room well. Never did I think about kissing a girl so many times without actually doing it.
I want to.
I'm drawn in more by the second, my nose now caressing the freckles on hers. "If you want, you can stay." I tell her softly and I earn a little smile. "On the couch." Her smile only grows wider.
You couldn't possibly imagine I only offered her the couch considering the intimate but weirdly comforting position we're in now.
"Thanks." She whispers and sits back in my lap, and it's making me tug a sharp breath. Her gorgeous eyes scan my face until she starts to frown. "Are you, okay?" Her fingers gently brush over the bridge of my nose where I now have a painful cut.
Her touch feels so good it's making me hum but I try to hide my affection with words. "I'll live."
"Are you sure." Her fingertips are feathering over my stitched-up brow next. "That was an illegal cross check. You didn't even have the puck anymore. Hope he gets suspended for a few games... That was some Marty McSorley type of shit. He never played another NHL game, hope that asshole of yours doesn't even see the NHL up close."
Kill me now.
I grab her wrist and throw her a smirk, pulling her fingers only an inch away from my face. "You speak hockey."
"Are you surprised?" She cocks a brow at me and now I know she purposely wiggles herself into my lap, and it makes me squeeze her waist.
"Uhm, yeah," I tell her while I try to keep my cool. "That was the most attractive thing you ever said to me."
"Aw." She pouts and it's adorable. "You don't find my insults appealing?"
I do.
A lot.
But I won't admit it while she's still wiggling in my lap, because one more inch forward and she'll feel how hard her insults really make me.
"Nah." I grimace, and she yanks her hand from my wrist with a smile, only to return her fingers to my brow. Neither of us say another word while they travel down the side of my face, ultimately reaching the cut on my lip. Her touch burns with desire as her thumb swipes across it, agonizingly slow and her eyes never leave mine. You can cut the tension with a knife now, both of us grasping for our next breath. "I uhm..." I whisper nervously and it makes her thumb slip and now she looks down, her fingers following that direction.
"MBST." She whispers while her fingertips slide across my chest, a small tattoo inking my skin just over my heart. "What does it mean?"
I'm caught off guard, but apparently that happens a lot around her, only this time it feels different. I feel vulnerable. "Miller boys stick together." I whisper back at her. "It's something my brother and I always say to each other."
"I like that." She smiles, but if only she knew what it meant, or why we would have to say it, she'd feel bad for me. She would pity me.
"Are you hungry?" I try to change the subject before she can ask too many questions about my past. Whatever she thinks about me right now, I think I'd like to keep it like that. "I'm starving." I say while getting up with her still in my arms. Putting her back on her feet, I take a deep breath as this is some much-needed space. Desperately trying to distract Céline from the boner in my pants I put my hands on her shoulders and quickly turn her around, pushing her towards the door. "Why don't you ask Rhett to order some food and tell him that you're crashing on our couch tonight. You have my permission." I rasp in a hurry, but she turns her head and frowns. "I'll be out in a sec, I'm just going to take a quick shower." I fail to mention it's going to be an ice cold one.
Again.
✨ oh Rémy, he obviously cares about that annoying little freshman
✨ also updating this one from beautiful Sicily 🇮🇹🍕🥰 currently fighting a heatwave so I'm overheated 🥵 but I guess so are Rémy and Céce 😅