Page 9 of Stalked By the Shortstop
The clock ticked away, and with every stroke, I could feel myself getting antsy.
Edgy.
I gritted my teeth to take some pressure off, but it didn’t help. Nothing helped. Every nerve ending in my body felt like it was awake and hypervigilant for even the tiniest speck of anything from her. Shit, even my gums ached to get close to her again. To see the hint of recognition in those eyes that I was more than some dumb jock she’d bumped into. I had no idea how we lived in the same building when she didn’t play any kind of sport from everything I’d found out about her. Some kind of glitch, I assumed.
Fucking kismet, if you asked me.
My knee bounced and my foot tapped against the grassy area in the backyard of the Omega house that looked out at the party. The Omega house was one of the nicer frat houses in the Greeksystem at University of the Desert thanks to its very generous and powerful alumni. The lawn was perfectly manicured, the pool was lit and heated, the water a sparkling blue not because the guys kept it that way but because someone came in twice a week to clean it.
The whole backyard yelledmoney.
“What’s going on with you?” Jeremy asked, snapping me out of my thoughts. I turned to look at him and frowned.Shit, how long has he been there?
“Nothing,” I muttered, really taking in the state he was in, and I was immediately intrigued.
Straightening my back and shifting my body towards his, I tilted my head slightly. Fuck, the poor guy looked like he hadn’t slept in god only knew how long. Dark circles were under his eyes. Hair slightly disheveled.When did this happen?I wondered to myself. Jeremy was always put together.
“What’s up with you?” I asked, seeing him through new eyes.
Shit, had something happened to him? To his family? Unlike mine, Jeremy’s folks were good people, and his siblings were fucking funny to hang out with. No, it couldn’t be that. I was out of it, but not that out of it.
I knew I’d been fucking stuck in my own obsessed stalker world, but damn, I felt like a shitty friend. How hadn’t I noticed my roommate was obviously going through something? Jeremy was the closest thing I had to a best friend since transferring here. He opened his mouth and then shut it with a grunt.
Something about that, about the way he scoped out not just the partygoers but, more importantly, those who came outside from inside the house, set my radar going. I observed him for a minute and then whistled low.
I knew the look he had in his gaze all too well. His eyes bounced from to the sliding door, and he shot me a death glare.
“Shut it,” he murmured under his breath. He was sitting next to me in the backyard for the same reason as I was. Not because he needed a break from the obnoxious music and the rowdy shit that was inevitably going to start, but because he was waiting for someone. Searching for someone in particular. Unless he was already watching her. I looked around, my brows furrowing, but I couldn’t guess who the big guy would be into.
Not that Jeremy had a type. Or at least not one I would know since he hadn’t dated anyone since we started rooming together when we both transferred to U of D around the same time. If I really thought about it, I wasn’t sure he’d hooked up with anyone. Some of the guys on the team teased him about being a monk, but I hadn’t really thought about it.
We were both dedicated to the game. It was one of the things we had in common. Our drive and dedication. Or we had. Now I wasn’t so sure.
“Which one is she?” I asked, breaking the oddly tense silence between us. There were only a handful of girls here since it was early still.
“No one.” A muscle under his eyes twitched with annoyance, giving him away.
“Liar,” I called him out. He turned his blue eyes on me. “You’re waiting for someone.”
“Should I ask you the same question?” he countered, and my lips twitched.Touché.I shook my head.
“It’s like that?” I asked, not confirming or denying if I was waiting for someone.
“Exactly. Maybe worse,” Jeremy shared. I couldn’t really decipher what the worse could mean, but since I hadn’t been trying to be stealthy about covering my obsessive shit at home, he might know.Who the hell am I to judge?
“Shit.” I crossed my arms over my chest.
“Dylan was like this,” Jeremy muttered, and I nodded. Our third roommate, who was about to move in with his lady. Someone he stalked, too.Allegedly.
At the time, I thought the guy was fucking nuts. To do the shit he was doing and risk everything he’d done for a chick? Karma was a bitch, though, and it felt like Karma suddenly had me by the balls when it came to my sweet little bird.
“Now you and me,” I mumbled, peeling the label off the required beer I had to keep in my hand at shit like this.
“It’s the fucking water,” he muttered. “It has to be.” Our eyes connected, and I couldn’t help but fucking laugh. I shook my head.
“Maybe a gas leak?” I asked and watched his attention scan the crowd. He glared out at the yard like he couldn’t stand how he felt. How helpless he was, just playing some kind of waiting game.
“Maybe,” he muttered under his breath. “Something’s wrong with us, man,” he mumbled. I grunted, agreeing, but not out right because I wasn’t sure how deep he’d dived in with his own obsession.
