“Fuuuuuck.” Aaron hunches forward, holding his head. “That party really fucked me up.”
“That’s what you get for drinking five cups of spiked punch,” Theo says. He reaches into his backpack, pulling out a tiny bottle of ibuprofen pills. He sits it on the table, sliding it over to Aaron. “Take one of those. You’ll feel better.”
“You know how much I hate swallowing pills.”
“Do you really wanna suffer through a half-hour long class plus practice with a hangover?”
Aaron rolled his eyes and groaned, taking the bottle as he got up from his seat. “If the professor asks, I’m in the bathroom trying not to throw up my damn organs.” He earns a small laugh from Theo as he stumbles a bit out of the room.
Theo turns to me. “Speaking of the party, you wanna explain what happened?”
I lean back in the chair. “What’re you talking about?”
“You know what I’m talking about, Deion. About what happened between you and Cole.”
“You would’ve done the same thing if it was Eric,” I tell him.
“Of course I would’ve. He’s my boyfriend, after all.” Theo watches as a few more students enter the room. “I’ve just never seen you act that way before.”
“It was nothing. I told you, Aliyah is like a little sister to me.”
Theo raised an eyebrow at me. “Really?”
“Yes.”
Theo eyed me up and down, as if to ask me if I was serious.
“What? You think I’m lying or something?”
“No,” Theo says. “I’m just saying. With the way that you were staring at Aliyah at the party, nobody would even consider the fact that you think of her as a little sister.”
The chatter between us and everyone else in the room died down when the professor walked in, but listening to the lecture he started to give was the last thing on my mind right now.
Ever since we were kids, I always told myself that Aliyah was like a second sister to me. But even though I didn’t want to admit it, Theo was right. I shouldn’t have been looking at her the way I was. At the same time, it was like my eyes were glued to her and even if I had tried to look away, I don’t think I would’ve been able to.
I rest my elbow on the desk, resting my chin in the palm of my hand, a tiny sigh escaping from me as I wait for class to be over.
~*~
Practice was tense, of course. Some of the teammates, including Aaron, were scolded by Coach before practice began when he found out they had been drinking and still had mild hangovers. And of course, things were also tense between Cole and I. Coach obviously found that out when Cole tackled me a little harder than he was supposed to.
FWEEEEET! “Emerson! Knight ain’t no tackle dummy! Tone it down!”
Cole didn’t say anything back. Instead, he took off his helmet and walked over to the water cooler sitting on the bench, giving me a glare as he did so.
“What’s up with Cole?” Aaron asks as he comes up to me. “You two get into a fight or something?”
“It’s nothing,” I say. “Don’t worry about it.”
“You sure?”
“It’s nothing, Aaron.”
“Alight, man.” Aaron pats me on the back before jogging over to the water cooler.
I take off my helmet and wipe the sweat from my forehead, briefly noticing someone sitting in the stands. I do a double take, seeing that Aliyah was the person sitting in the stands. Wearing my varsity jacket. She notices me looking at her, giving me a wave.
Coach tells us that he’ll be right back, heading off the field. I make my way up the stairs of the bleachers, going to where Aliyah was sitting.
“Surprised to see you here, Alicat,” I say. “What’re you doing here?”
“I only had one class today,” she says. “I was bored, and decided to come here. Since you’re always coming to my practices.”
I lean against the railing, grinning at her. “I like coming to your practices.”
“Yeah, I know you do, which is why you’re always there,” she tells me.
“Admit it. You love having me there.”
“I will never admit that.”
“You will someday,” I say with a wink.
Aliyah rolls her eyes, smiling. “Speaking of which, shouldn’t you be practicing with the rest of the team right now?”
“I think I wanna keep talking to you.”
Aliyah crosses her arms. “Slacking off, huh?”
I chuckle. “It’s not slacking off. Just a little distraction.”
“So I’m a distraction to you?”
I smile at her. “I didn’t mean that in a bad way.”
Aliyah turns away from me with her arms still crossed. “Well if I’m such a distraction to you, I guess I should just leave.”
I knew that she was joking, but as she started to get up, my reflexes acted upon themselves. I grabbed her hand, her turning back to me as I did so. I could see that she was now blushing.
“Deion—”
I pull my hand away. “You don’t have to leave.”
Aliyah giggles a little. “I was gonna say that your coach is coming back.”
I look back, seeing Coach coming back inside the stadium. I look back at her. “I’m gonna go back before Coach gets on my ass. Are you staying?”
“Dance practice isn’t until six and I don’t have anything planned until then,” she tells me. “So, yeah, I’ll stay.”
“Alright. We got about an hour left so hopefully your butt doesn’t get sore from sitting here for a while.”
“Please. The only pain in my ass is you.”
I grin at her again. “You know you keep being mean to me, but I know that one of these days, you’re not gonna be able to resist me.”
She scoffs a bit, crossing her arms. “In your dreams, mister Knight.”
“Won’t be in my dreams for long,” I say, winking at her again before heading back on the field.
Even with his helmet on, I could tell Theo was raising his eyebrow at me as I approached him.
“What?” I ask.
He shakes his head, grinning a little. “Nothing.
“It’s something.”
Theo shrugs. “I just think that one day, you’re gonna prove my point.”
“What point?”
“You and I both know what point I’m talking about.”
I looked over at Aliyah, who was on her phone. She looks up from her screen, smiling at me. I smile back before turning away, licking my lips. “It’s never gonna happen.”
“Keep telling yourself that, man.”
“It’s not.”
Was I gonna keep telling myself that? Yes. Even if I wanted something to happen, I knew that nothing was never going to happen. Aliyah was my sister’s best friend. I never looked at her beyond more than just a little sister.
But even if that was the way it should be…why couldn’t I get her out of my fucking head?
YOU ARE READING
Loving Knight: Book One of the Cresswell Series
RomanceFor nineteen-year-old Aliyah Mitchell, her freshman year of college was all she could think about. From rooming with her friends, becoming a member of the dance team, and all around enjoying the college experience, she had it all planned out. What...
