I blink at Q, "You're kidding."
"No deadass, get up. We are going for a run," Q says flicking the bottom of my foot. I flinch sitting up in my bed and moving my laptop next to me. I was minding my own business watching Grey's Anatomy when Q can in demanding we go for a run.
Who willingly goes for a run anymore?
Not I.
"Q, I have work to do," I say pointing to my notes and textbook. I am actually suppose to be doing my notes I just may have gotten sidetracked by Grey's Anatomy
"Oh yeah cause-" Q pauses glances over at my laptop. "Watching Grey's Anatomy is studying."
I glare at him as he pushes my legs off of my bed. I groan loudly, "Dude, why are you so willing to run? Who does that?"
Exercising is just something I don't love to do. High school me was just pushed too hard in soccer to every want or need to exercise again. Q rolls his eyes at me and flicks my leg again. I retract my leg from his reach and glare at him.
"Because, you need to bulk up," he states. He narrow my eyes at him. He's right, I should keep exercising. I slide off my bed slowly and grab my phone from the windowsill.
"You owe me ice cream," I mutter sliding my feet into a pair of Nike's. "And I'm not running."
Q fist pumps the air as I grab a sweatshirt off the back of my chair. I head out of my room and flip the light switch off. Rae and Julie's door is wide open. I step into their room to say bye. Rae is running around the room carrying her cheer bag. Julie is lazily swiping through her phone.
"What's up fuckers!" Q says loudly from behind me. I jump out of the way as he rushes over to Julie's bed. He bounces onto the bed with Julie's phone going flying and her eyes wide.
"Q! My phone!" she groans leaning over her bed. Her head in between the wall and her bed.
"You're loud," Rae states pointing a pom pom at Q. He sticks his tongue out at her. Julie reaches down and grabs her phone from the floor.
"Says you, Miss-" he says pausing to take a deep breath. "-C'mon UNC!"
He says it in his best high pitched girly voice clapping his hands together. Rae chucks a pom pom at his head but he ducks out of the way laughing. I join the laughter leaning against the doorframe.
"I don't sound like that you asshole."
"Yeah you do," Q says throwing the pom pom back at Rae. She catches it before tossing it into her backpack.
"In Rae's defense she has to be loud. As for you, I have no idea what your excuse is," I state crossing my arms over my chest. Rae points at me nodding her head in agreement.
"Oh once again, you're one to talk. What's your excuse?" Q asks me plucking Julie's phone out of her hands. She lets an annoyed groan.
"Q, I need that," Julie states extending a hand for him to give it back.
"What do you have a secret boyfriend or something?" he asks her. She glared at him and grabs her phone from him. He laughs before sliding off of her bed.
"Shut up, Q," Julie states before looking at me. "Speaking of secret boyfriends, you going back to Asher's house again?"
I sit up straighter at the comment. Last night I met up with Jeremy at his place. Little did I know that Asher also lived with Jeremy. I guess I should have guessed that since they are on the same team.
Imagine my surprise when Asher walked through the door. I thought I was in the clear when he didn't walk in with the rest of the boys from practice. I was very wrong.
Asher was in a pissy mood for some reason. Not that I should care but it was annoying. I don't think I did anything wrong. No correction I didn't do anything wrong.
"Oh yeah, she went over there yesterday," Rae comments absentmindedly. Julie giggles and smiles at me while my face heats up. I head towards Q grabbing his arm.
"Oh look at the time. Q, I think it's time for that run," I respond dragging Q to the door. Rae rolls her eyes at me dodging the question and Julie laughs. I'm not dodging the question I just don't want to talk about it. Q plants his feet into the floor and gives me a curious look.
"Woah wait who?" Q asks.
"Um."
"Asher Fletcher and Jeremy Gregor," Rae states I throw my head back at the names and groan. Thank you once again, Rae.
"As in the four star freshman on the basketball team? And the star of the basketball team." Q looks impressed and I shake my head rapidly. Why does everyone make such a big deal about all of this? They are just human beings. Regular, hot, godlike, human beings.
"Yes, whatever come on," I say grabbing his arm to tug him out of the room. I'd prefer not to get into any type of detail about the conversation I had with Asher. Which by the way was just weird.
"No, now you have me all invested," Q says planting his feet to the ground again. I let go of his arm and start walking out the door.
"I already told them," I state waving my other hand in the girls direction. Q's footsteps follow me as I grab my key from the hook, "Goodbye! Thanks for nothing roomies!"
Q and I walk out of my dorm room and into the hall. I close the door and he continues looking at me. I put my hands on my hips, "What."
"Tell me everything and we can make it a brisk walk."
I sigh, "Deal."
He smiles triumphantly as we walk down my dorm hall. We walk out the back doors and head towards the campus trails. I clear my throat as we fall into step. Maybe this will be good because I need guy advice. Q is a guy and one of my best friends.
"Okay, so spill. I haven't seen you since the game when Lacey passed out in my bed. So..." he drags on waiting for a response. I roll my eyes at him kicking a stone away from the path.
"Nothing really, you know I made out with Asher but Jeremy sucks almost as much as I do at STAT so we decided to study together. Done. That's about it," I tell him. I look anywhere but him. He's definitely staring at the side of my face waiting for me to continue.
"I can see the gears working in that small brain of yours and I'm very aware that it's a lie it was just a kiss," he says putting air quotes around 'just a kiss.' I groan dragging my feet across the pavement.
"Fine. Asher was at the house yesterday and he was pissed. I mean I don't think it was because of the kiss but there's a good chance it was because of the kiss. Right?" I ask voicing my concern. "I sound psychotic. He probably kisses more girls than he breaths so I don't know why I'm freaking out."
Q laughs at me shaking his head. I'm sure with being friends with all of us Q has heard his fair share of complaints when it comes to boys. It still doesn't make me feel any less stupid about asking him this. So what if Asher doesn't want to talk to me after a kiss. I need to chill.
"Yeah you are probably freaking out. The dude has the weight of the entire basketball season on his shoulders. It's probably not that deep," he explains picking up his pace. I pick up mine and fall into step with him staring at the trees that line the walk way.
"I know. Whatever maybe it's just onto the next. At least I can say I made out with a future NBA player," I state shrugging my shoulders while trying to ignore the slight annoyance of it all. I didn't want it to just be a kiss. I wanted it to be more. Not a relationship of any sorts but something.
"That's the spirit! Any other dudes?" he asks me as we pass by a couple on the trail.
"Not really. Although a cute football player, Chase Summers, did sit next to me in class the other day," I reply. Q stops suddenly. I figured out he was the QB and on the football team by looking at the roster.
I skirt to a stop and side step him, "Dude what?"
"As in QB? Jesus, what is with you and athletes?" he asks. I punch him in the shoulder harshly and narrow my eyes at him as he rubs his arm.
"Shut up."
"Chase Summers is a dick," he states starting to walk again. I roll my eyes at his comment and cross my arms over my chest.
"And Asher Fletcher isn't?" I ask him tilting my head at him. He gives me a look as I jog to catch up to him. I am well aware of the fact that the QB is an asshole and has the same reputation as Asher. The only difference between the two is everyone hates the QB and loves Asher.
Ya know maybe I should just quit while I'm ahead.
"He's a douche and I think you should stick with Asher," Q says making a point. I take a deep inhale and kick another rock. Guys make my head spin and trying to figure them out makes me have a migraine. I just wish Asher would stop brooding and just tell me why he's mad.
Q and I jog in silence until we make it to the rec hall. He slows his pace and I slow down my own, breathing heavily. Before Q mentioned jogging, we had planned on grabbing dinner.
"Do you wanna just go to Bradford since it's closer?" Q asks. I put my hands on my knees trying to catch my breath. I hold up a single finger to him and inhale deeply. I am about to respond but my eyes bug out of my head and my breath gets caught in my throat.
"Oh fuck no." I turn around my ponytail whipping around. It hits Q and he smacks it away from him. The one day I actually see this kid on campus. The one freaking day I actually see him outside of class. Before the past couple of weeks I've never even seen him before. Now he's everywhere. Just what I fucking need.
"I just ate your hair," he said shoving me to the side. I stumble turning and glaring at Q. He is about to roll his eyes but pauses when he sees who is behind me. His lips curve into an evil smile as he glances down at me, "Your speech really came back to bite you in the ass."
"Shut up," I glare at him. I want to be calm and friendly with Asher but clearly it's not that easy for him. Or me. I ignore the fact that his voice is getting closer and the fact that my skin is on fire.
"Well, you're fucked," Q mumbles towards me. He flicks his eyes behind me and I freeze. Well this could either go really bad or really well.
"Fuck." I breath out. Q looks like this is the best fucking thing he's seen since sliced bread. I am about to bolt but pause. "Wait are they like coming here here or like over there here."
"Carter what?" Q asks giving me a confused look. I sigh trying to nod my head in the direction I'm talking about. Q looks completely lost. I throw my hands up shaking my head. I make my way in the opposite direction. Q grabs ahold of my shoulders and turns me around, "Dining hall is that way."
Asher isn't even looking in our direction his hood is pulled over his head and he's looking down at his phone. I look away from him and start walking normally. I hope it's as normal as it can be.
"You do realize you are just about as helpful as I am," I state grabbing my phone from the waistband of my shorts. Q laughs shaking his head as I open my phone to literally anything.
"And you realize your avoidance techniques are pathetic, right?" Q adds making me look up from my phone. I send him a punch to the arm that releases a girly yelp from him and stares at the people I am trying to avoid. Asher looks in our direction with Robbie who sends me a quick wave. I smile as best as I can and send him a wave as well.
"You hit hard."
"Next time I'll punch your-"
"Carter," Asher says holding up a finger to his teammates. He starts jogging over here while Q and I come to a stop.
So much for avoiding him.
His dark hair bounces while he runs making my heart skip a beat slightly. I swallow looking over him and his broad shoulders.
"Hi," I state when he's close enough to hear me. His eyes flick over to Q who is still rubbing his arm and glaring at me.
"I-uh didn't mean to be a dick to you yesterday. It was just a bad day," Asher states looking down at me. I notice the bit of stubble on his chin as well as freckles that probably become more prominent when in the sun.
"Are you trying to apologize? Cause you should probably try again," I say without thinking. Sometimes snarky remarks just shoot out of my mouth without me even realizing I was thinking it. He narrows his eyes at me while Q makes a noise that resembles a laugh.
"I'm not apologizing for anything," he states defensively. I nod my head him before stepping around him.
"Alright, well have a good practice," I say shrugging my shoulders. I should punch him in the throat. That was a shitty ass apology even for him. I hear his long sigh and then a hand wrapping around my arm.
"Ight, fine. I'm sorry," he says as I turn around. Q is pretending to fan himself. I hope my eyes read how annoyed I am with him and Asher.
"For what?" I ask playing dumb. He gives me a 'really' look but I just give him a blank stare. I take this moment to admire his cheekbones and his jawline.
Man is he dreamy.
"For the love of god, Miller. You are frustrating," he states making me smile up at him. I can tell by the twitch in his cheek he is trying not to smile.
"Right back at you," I state laughing a little. "It's whatever but do it again and I'll punch you. In the throat."
"She's not lying and she's strong for being a mini person," Q chimes in making me shoot him a glare. This time Asher laughs shaking his head at me.
"I'd like to see you try," he says his eyes flicking behind me before meeting mine. I smirk at him and ignore the warmth that fills me when he looks at me.
"Challenge accepted, Fletcher."
"Alright, Miller. We'll see," he says before I step away from him. I nod my head at him as he heads back to the rec hall. I watch his retreating figure and his back muscles flexing underneath the sweatshirt.
"Oh but y'all just friends. Keep believing that," Q says giving me an unconvinced look. I stay silent because honestly my racing heart is telling me otherwise.