The Love Game (The Game, #1)

CHAPTER Eight - Braden

I'm pretty sure dating isn't supposed to be this f*cking hard. A simple yes or no answer would do. All this waiting is driving me up a damn wall. So why am I waiting outside her dorm block for her?
Because it's Wednesday, two days after our first “date” and two days before our second “date”. In which I will miss my own damn party for her.
The door opens, and Kay steps in front of me.
“Any reason you're stalkin' my dorm, Carter?” She puts a hand on her hip and looks me over.
“Maddie around?”
“You could call and ask that, you know. Lurking outside girls' dorms isn't a good look for you.”
I clench my teeth. “Just answer the f*cking question, Kay.”
“Yes.” She rolls her eyes. “She has class in half an hour.”
“Any chance you could call her down, like now?”
She sighs and pulls her cell out. She holds a button and puts it to her ear. “You have a stalker down here.”
She hangs up and storms past me.
“Thanks, Kay!” I call after her and she flips me off. Bitch.
I run my fingers through my hair, and Maddie appears at the door. Two girls run past her into the building, giggling, and she shakes her head.
“Isn't stalking a little below you, Braden?” She smirks at me, her pink, glossy lips turning up at one side. Her green eyes are wide and lined with a soft brown liner, her auburn hair pulled to one side revealing her very lightly tanned neck.
“You tell me, Maddie,” I reply. She leans against the wall, and I mimic her movement. “Will you come on another date, or do I have to stalk you some more?”
She plays with a piece of her hair, sliding her fingers up and down it. It makes me wonder what else she could slide her fingers up and down.
Not the f*cking time, Braden. Make her fall in love, don't take her on the damn sidewalk.
“Maybe,” she replies, bringing me back to the conversation. Except now my brain is focused on the way her lips move when she talks.
“Maybe you'll go, or maybe I have to stalk you some more? I gotta say, Angel, I'm down for either.” I rake my eyes down her body, the tight tank top and cut-off shorts, and back up. “Stalking could definitely have its perks.”
She gasps and slaps my arm. Ouch. That stings. “You're a pig.”
“So I keep being told.” I sigh. “At least I'm an honest one.”
“True.” She laughs. “I guess it depends what you have in mind for this second date.”
“I guess you'll just have to wait and see.”
“Because you have no idea?”
Shit. She's too smart. “I just have a few things to finalize.”
“Presumptuous,” she challenges.
“I prefer to think of it as hopeful,” I counter, laughing. “What do you say, Maddie? Please?”
She bites the corner of her thumb, and I shove my hands in my pockets.
“Okay,” she agrees. “One more date.”
“Really?”
“Really, Braden.” She closes her eyes for a second and turns to the door. She punches the code in and opens it, looking at me over her shoulder through her lashes. “Mess this up, and there won't be another. I don't do games.”
She steps through and the door swings shuts. I turn and walk down the sidewalk.
Maddie does do games. The only difference is, she doesn't even realize she's playing it.

~

I have no idea what to do for this 'date'. Honestly, trying to get an idea out of my no-dating brain is like getting water from a stone. It's f*cking impossible. I'm considering the walk on the beach shit Ryan suggested, but I can't just leave it at that. Can I?
F*ck this. When life gets hard, ask Google. Google knows everything.
I pull my laptop from under the bed and start it up, my leg shaking. The hassle I'm going through just for sex should be illegal in every damn state. Do people do this in real life?
This is crazy. I'm going crazy.
I double-click the browser, and it opens onto Google homepage. Where to take a girl for your second date, I type. I hit enter and my cell rings. I trap it between my ear and shoulder as I trawl through the search results.
“Yep?”
“Have you spoken to her yet?” Meggy asks.
“Yep. I waited outside her dorm block earlier.”
“I'm sorry? You did what?” She laughs. “You actually waited outside for her?”
“I wanted my answer. You know I'm impatient.” I click a link that looks promising.
“Okay. And what did she say?”
“She said yes. What, were you expecting her to say no?”
“I was fifty-fifty.” I know she's smirking, and I'd love to wipe it off her cheeky little face.
“She was always gonna say yes, Meggy. You know that.”
“Whatever. What are you doing now? Do you have anything planned for your big date?”
“I'm working on it,” I answer vaguely.
“That's a no.” She sighs. “Do you have any idea what you're doing?”
“If you'd be quiet for two minutes, I'd have ten.”
“Are you doing what I think you're doing?”
“It depends what you think I'm doing.”
“Braden William Carter, are you on Google?”
Shit. “Uh...”
She sighs heavily down the phone. “Go on. Hit me with what it says.”
“Okay.” I scroll down. “Dinner out, dinner in, a movie, the opera - the f*cking opera? No chance. Okay, umm, a picnic, rollerskating, coffee - tried and failed - bowling. Bowling? That could work.”
“You could grab food at the alley,” Meggy suggests. “You'd have fun.”
“But would Maddie like that?”
“Are you actually asking me if she'd like it? Is Mr. Insatiable going soft?”
“F*ck off.” I laugh. “I don't get this dating thing and you know it. Help me out here.”
“Are you dating her to get in her pants, Bray?” She asks the question so fast I double-take.
Yes. “No. Why would you ask that?”
“Maybe I'm having a hard time believing you actually like her and want more than sex.”
That's because you're right. “I like her, Meggy. She's beautiful and smart and funny-”
“And you sound like a robot.”
“I'm trying here.”
“You've always been trying, Bray. So what are you gonna do?”
I sigh. “Bowling, walk on the beach, then if she wants we can head back here for the party.”
“Sounds good. Bye now.” She hangs up, the call clicking off in my ear. I sometimes wonder if I'd kill her if she wasn't like my little sister.
I dial up the bowling alley and ask for a lane for two on Friday night. The girl at the other end of the phone giggles when I give her my name, and I exhale slowly. Sometimes - and I'd never tell anyone this - the fawning girls gets a little old. I book the alley and hang up pronto.
I chuck my cell down, shut the laptop, and lean my head back against the wall. Date two? Sorted.