He wouldn’t, either. Now that practice was over, besides the dinner bell he had nothing to do all night.
“I even brought my playbook,” he said through the door, clearly using more of that telepathy he was so scarily good at. “I don’t have anywhere else to go, so until you open up and talk to me, I can just study. I got nothing but time.”
Ugh, I sniffed, and I hated in that moment that a smile was very slowly starting to creep across my face. How dare he be so charming when I was trying so very hard to ate him, and right up until that second, I was being really, really successful at it too!
Boys were the worst. They knew just enough to be fascinating and sexy and devilishly handsome and alluring, but not nearly enough to understand how to avoid being stupid. Why girls kept on chasing them made no sense to me, even when I was in the middle of doing so.
This was getting me nowhere. I could keep sitting on the floor leaned up against this door until Drake got tired or broke the door down, or I could get up and confront the problem.
Might as well be a big girl and do the latter. I took my time dusting myself off and wiping my eyes, not bothering to look in the mirror, knowing I’d be horrified at what I might find, then I took a deep breath and stood up.
After I worked out the kinks in my arms and legs, I turned around and put my hand on the door knob, taking another deep breath before I turned the knob and opened the door.
Drake was standing there, right about to knock again, only this time the door wasn’t there anymore. He wasn’t looking, and his hand, not meeting the door as he had carefully planned, landed right on my shoulder as it came down.
“OW!” I yelled, stepping back and almost letting the door close.
Drake whipped his head around to face me. “Oh shit, I’m so sorry, Lily! I didn’t expect that you’d actually open the door! Are you alright?”
I rubbed my sore shoulder, watching the welt form under my bra strap. “Yeah, yeah, I’ll be fine, watch where you’re pointing that thing next time, will ya?”
He started to smile. “I’ll do that. You sure you’re OK?” Drake had taken off his pads, which made sense because they were heavy and probably wouldn’t do any good if he tried to attack my door. They sat on the floor outside, a shell of armor made for a modern gladiator.
He wasn’t sweating as much as before, but I could still smell the exertion on him. It was…very nice. If had been in a less angry and less hurt and more amorous mood I would have pulled him into my room for a quick post-practice massage session, but I kept those unwanted but not entirely unpleasant thoughts to myself, this time.
Instead, I closed the door till just my head was able to poke out. “Can I help you? I’m in the middle of something here.” Of course I wasn’t in the middle of anything except for wallowing in my own pain, but Drake didn’t need to know that right now.
He furrowed his brow, looking somehow even more sexy than ever doing it. Damn, this boy was good. How could I resist this much longer? The door was all that was shielding me from him, and I was throbbing to touch him. It wasn’t fair, what he could do to me just with a confused look like that.
Looks like that made me want to pull him into my arms and rock him to sleep. If you could imagine a 5’5” girl cradling a 6’3” football player without doubling over in laughter. Ugh again.
“In the middle of something? You’ve been leaned against the door since you got in, and there’s nothing around here for you to read or write with. Sooooo,” he said, cocking his head to one side and grinning at me, “what is it you’re in the middle of? Can I help?”
Ugh. I had thrown my bag on the other side of the room when I got in, and that meant I didn’t have my notebook with me. I was up the creek on this one. Time for the big guns. “None of your business,” I said, fluttering my eyes. “Please leave me alone.”
Drake stepped back like I had hit him, then he recovered quick. He wrapped his arms around his massive chest, and then smiled again. “I think I know what’s going on. I think I know what’s got you all wound up.”
All wound up? I wouldn’t mind you winding me up-wait, stop, Lily, you aren’t supposed to be having these kinds of thoughts! We’re MAD AT HIM, remember? Come on! A little help here, please! “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m not wound up about anything.”
He leaned against the frame of the door, clearly enjoying this, which made me both hate and love him way more at the same time. I hated how easily he could do that. It just wasn’t fair. “Nah, I figured it all out. I may look like a dumb football player…”
Nothing could be further from the truth, but I knew Drake liked to play up stereotypes then tear them down. “-But you saw me just now with Annie Ross and now you’re mad at me.”