Page 7 of Anchored To You

"Duh, we're going. And no, you're not going to bail on me this year, like you did last year."

"I didn't bail," I lie. "I got caught up with something. And it just made me late."

"Late? You might have gone late, but you never even came to find me." She pouts, sticking out her lower lip.

"Wasn't that the night you and Wyatt were making out in front of the fire and only stayed there for less than twenty minutes? Hell, I'm pretty sure I was at the bonfire longer than you were."

"Still. You ditched me."

We both laugh loudly, knowing she's full of shit. Even if I went with her to the bonfire, she and Wyatt would have found each other eventually, and then I would have been a third wheel. It's not so bad when Wyatt's best friend Chris is there, but sometimes he's preoccupied with trying to find someone to hook up with, so he checks out too.

"Do you think you'll see him tonight?" She asks, twirling her straw around in her cup.

"Hmm? Who?" I play dumb, even though I know exactly who she's talking about.

Last year, on the evening of the bonfire, I tried to hide out at Zomb-Bar, but once Beck walked into my space, I wanted to spend the remainder of the night with him. After our swim in the river, we went back to his room where we hooked up. It was the hottest night of my life. That man had me saying and doing things I had never done before. Hell, I still haven't had another night like that since then. But the highest of feelings crashed when I was ghosted by Beck. The morning after we exchanged numbers, and we each promised to text and hang out again. Well, after trying a couple of times to text him and receiving nothing in response, I gave up. I wasn't going to chase after a man who obviously didn't want to talk to me. I never saw him again, either. I figured for sure I would have seen him once or twice throughout the year, but nope, nothing. It's not that I'm bitter; I realize one night stands are common. I was more irritated at the fact that he couldn't send a three second text just letting me know nothing else was going to happen. And I haven't even thought of him since then. Not his gorgeous blue eyes, or the longer strands of hair I wrapped my fingers in. Or that perfect V-cut on his abdomen. Nope, I haven't thought about him at all.

"Beck. Or whatever his name was. I bet he'll be there tonight."

"Maybe. Who cares?" I lie, hating that my heart beats faster at the idea of him going to the bonfire tonight. I was only planning to make a quick appearance for Hannah's sake, but now I'm rethinking things. Maybe I'll hang out even longer at the bonfire this evening.

"Oh honey, you know you care. But that's okay; we can pretend we don't care. We just have to make sure you look good as fuck."

"Hell yes. We're both about to look spectacular. Now what should we wear?"

Hannah and I spend the rest of the morning discussing what we're going to wear to the bonfire tonight. By the time we leave the library, we've made plans about when we will meet at the bonfire. And for the first time in a long time, I'm actually looking forward to the CU yearly party.

Chapter

Four

BECK

"Fuck, why is Coach riding our ass so hard?" I groan, letting the water from the shower rush over my back. I close my eyes tightly, my body aching from practice. That’s another thing that sucks about living in shared dorm rooms. Shared showers. So, I always try to spend as much time in the locker room washrooms as possible. I don’t have to worry about rushing because someone else is waiting on me to finish. And with how hard Coach is making us work, I need all the extra minutes in the bathroom I can get.

King laughs, turning on his own shower head. "This is nothing. Did you already forget how it was last year? Hell, we had no time to do anything. He knows our team this year is a fucking beast, and he's planning to make us work our asses off. This might be the year we make it all the way to the end. I don't think that's ever happened since Coach took over."

"This blows," Wyatt adds, joining us in the showers. “Everyone else is getting ready for the bonfire, and here we are working extremely hard. I don't even know if I'm going to stay awake long enough to get to the damn thing.”

"Niko is making me go, otherwise I would crawl into my bed and hide. You would think I would be the one dragging him out tonight, but nope, that man has opened up in so many ways. I love seeing him become carefree and so much more full of life. But damn, right now all I want to do is sleep."

"Beck, you're going to the bonfire, right?"

"Ugh," I groan loudly, not answering. I don't know if I feel like going.

My body is sore as hell, and last night when I finally laid down to go to sleep, my mattress was hard as a rock. I can't even imagine what it would have been like to lie down on the other mattress since I had picked the softer of the two. Plus, Coach has been working us into the ground. We've been coming to practice early as hell in the mornings, and then he makes us do strengthening and conditioning for a few hours. My body is wrecked.

"Come on, man," Wyatt says, getting my attention. "You can hang out with me and my friends. It'll be fun."

"Fine," I relent, shaking my head underwater. "But I can't guarantee that I'll stay the whole time."

"Me neither, so it's all good."

Grabbing my towel off the rack, I quickly dry myself before stepping away. "Text me and let me know when and where we're meeting up."

I toss my white t-shirt over my head, double-checking my outfit in the mirror. Sifting my fingers through my hair, I mess it up a little so it doesn't look so put together. I pick up my Nikes out of my duffel bag and put them on my feet. My gaze drifts over to the other side of the room. My roommate moved in, but I haven't seen him yet. Besides his lump under the covers this morning. I tried to catch a glimpse of him, but he was so cocooned in his blanket that I couldn't see any part of him. He must have been here right before I got back because there's a pile of clothes in the center of his bed.

Eventually we'll have to meet one another at some point. Thought it would have happened by now, but maybe he's just as busy as I am. Wyatt texts me, letting me know he's on his way toward the bonfire, so I grab my phone and head out of the room. My thoughts drift back to last year, on the night of the bonfire, and how I was in a completely different headspace. I was so nervous to come to Creelin U, and I had felt so out of place. I was worried I wouldn't be able to make any friends, and I didn't want to go to the bonfire only to be hanging out there alone.