Chapters 19-20 were updated
His Game: Chapter Twenty
The next day, after an amazing nights sleep, I saunter downstairs and to the kitchen where I can hear Belle making the same joke I heard approximately 30 times yesterday. But knowing she's happy in telling it rids any annoyance I may have from hearing the same punchline time after time.
"Good morning," I greet both Belle and my mom as I walk into the kitchen, walking towards the fruit bowl for an apple.
"So, who's the girl?"
I spit out part of my apple from my mom's choice of greeting this morning and stare at her. "What girl?" I ask, doing a terrible job at feigning innocence with my voice crack.
My mom simply smiles and shrugs, sipping on her coffee. "You just seem rather chipper lately, and you couldn't quit smiling last night once you got home. I think you laid on that couch staring at something in your wallet for a solid hour."
"It was not an hour," I mutter, "And I happen to have a very interesting license picture that I like to look at sometimes."
Just because I admitted to myself that I like Joey doesn't mean I have to go around announcing it to the entire world. Mom doesn't need to know about the Polaroid, I don't think she'd ever leave me alone about it.
"I raised a terrible liar. I don't know whether to be proud or a little disappointed," mom comments.
I roll my eyes and walk towards the fridge to get milk, stopping to kiss her cheek on the way. "The only girls I need in my life are you and Belle."
Belle grins widely at me, showing a mouthful of cereal and I snort.
"That's real flattering, Belle. Now come on, we need to go or else we'll be late," I say, walking over to the kitchen table to grab her backpack and help her pack her lunch.
Thursday's are always hard. You wish so badly for it to be Friday, but you're still a day off.
"You're not off the hook about this girl, Rhett," my mom says as we start to walk to the front door.
"Don't know what you're talking about!" I holler behind me before quickly leaving before she can pester me any more.
"Rhett?" Belle asks once we get into the van since I drive her to school some days.
"What's up, Belle?"
"How come you don't want to tell mom about Joey?" She asks.
I scrunch up my face at the loaded question and stare at the road as we drive to school.
"Because...I don't know exactly how I feel about Joey."
That's not necessarily a lie. After I realized I have feelings for Joey, I did a lot of thinking about what exactly that means and I never came to a conclusion.
"I do!" She exclaims proudly.
I chuckle and glance over at her, "You do? And how's that?"
"You like her, and she likes you," she concludes.
I smile, "That so?"
"Yep, hey Rhett! What do you call a bear with no teeth?"
I sigh softly at the constant joke, but mask it with a smile. "I always forget this one! A teddy bear?"
She laughs and shakes her head, "No silly! A gummy bear!"
I smile at her, "Of course! Good one Belle."
Once we get to school, I walk Belle to her class and then meet up with the guys before the first bell rings.
"So do you mind explaining to me why Joey called me in the middle of you two doing the naughty tango?" Dino asks, throwing his hands out as he expresses his disgust.
I roll my eyes at him, "We weren't having sex, dude. I was just trying to get her phone from her and she kept running away." Then I glance at him and add, "And...don't call it that, man."
Dino snorts, "Yeah, okay Calvetti. Whatever you say."
"They called me too," Roger intervenes, "Apparently Rhett randomly wanted to say hey to me."
I shrug past the topic and glance down the hallway, my eyes coincidentally landing on Joey at her locker. Dino and Roger follow my gaze and smirks light up their features.
"So, how's it going with her anyways?" Roger asks. "Because that little grin you have right now, well that's rather suggestive to L word."
I snap my eyes to Roger. "I don't love-"
"No man. Not love, loser. The game, remember?" Roger reminds me, shoving me. "I take it things are going well?"
I look back at Joey and smile, "Very well," I admit before walking away from them and towards her. I reach her and in one swift motion I pin her against the lockers with my hands on either side of her.
She raises a brow at me, holding her books to her chest, "Well hey there."
I just smirk at her, "Hey."
Joey glances around as I stare at her, and then she tilts her head. "Are you just going to stand here or-?"
I chuckle and dip my head down to kiss her. I just kiss her gently, enough for my body to ignite but not enough to have people feeling uncomfortable if they happen to be watching.
"Now Punk," Joey begins with a small smile as we pull away, "if you're not careful, people are really going to think we look like a couple."
I chuckle and shrug, "They can think whatever they want if it means I can keep kissing you."
Joey grins and pushes me slightly back, "Well we don't want to get Punk Jr. too excited."
My eyes widen as she brings up a name I thought we decided would be forgotten, "That is NOT going to become a thing!"
She smirks and lifts her lips to kiss my cheek, "It already has, Punk."
The argument of whether or not that is a thing or not, which I will win, continues all the way to lunch. Once Dino and Roger arrive, however, I shut both of us up so that they can never hear that name uttered out loud.
Luckily Dino changes the topic of conversation as he complains about how his parents are forcing him to get tested for STD's after they found his drawer of condoms.
"My mom just barged into my room and decided to go through my things," he exclaims, accent thick. "She finds the condoms and calls my dad upstairs and they start lecturing me, forcing me to go get tested!"
"Well, that may not be such a bad idea, dude," Roger says. "You've been with some questionable girls."
"Hey, I've been with all the girls Rhett dumped," he says without thinking.
The second the sentence leaves his mouth, my body tenses and I clench my jaw. It's not just because of Joey I get angry about the statement- the guys and I have an unwritten rule not to talk about previous girls with any current girls playing my game.
But before anyone can say anything else, an administrator suddenly comes to our table.
"Rhett, Bernardino, Roger," she nods to the three of us, "Joey, could I please speak with you for a second?"
I furrow my brow as she asks for Joey and tighten my grip around her waist for a second. But Joey sighs and stands up, sending me a reassuring grin as my hand falls from her waist.
Dino and Roger start talking about something, but I keep my focus on Joey speaking with the administrator a few feet away. I mainly focus on the distraught look that spreads across Joey's face for a split second before she masks it.
Then she comes back to the table and collects her things rather quickly, and I place my hand out to stop her.
"Joey, what's wrong?" I ask, furrowing my brow.
She shakes her head, "Jacob had a huge breakdown, I have to go make sure he's okay," she says.
I stand up to go with her without thinking twice about it, but suddenly Joey stops me.
"No, Rhett, you can't come," she says.
I'm taken aback by her statement and she sighs.
"Thank you, but right now Jacob needs someone who is going to stay in his life..." she trails off, and I can tell we're both trying to reach one another's expressions but we both put up a small wall to hide the vulnerability.
Hers due to the insecurities of being left and opening up to me, and mine from the pain of the truth.
Joey hesitates before lifting her backpack onto her shoulder and following the administrator to her brother.
Vote and Comment