Page 65 of Playing to Win
“He’s awful, Ruby. Don’t defend him. He’s aman, he’s on thefootball team, plus he’s ajerkand women fall at his feet. Don’t let him get away with it.” She points at me. “Let’s answer him.”
She is seriously making my head spin, but hey. At least she saw the light and is now on my side.
We work on the response for far too long, to the point that Ace has probably given up on me replying at all, and when I finally send it, I immediately feel nervous. Like maybe I just made a mistake.
Oh well. Too late now.
TWENTY
ACE
It takeswhat feels like hours for Ruby to respond, and when she finally does, it’s not the answer I was looking for.
Ruby:I can’t see you tonight. Maybe tomorrow?
I blink at her text, imagining more words came along with it. Another text, a fucking meme maybe, but no.
That’s it.
A frustrated growl leaves me and I stalk out of my bedroom and down the hall until I’m in the living room where my roommate Javier Sanchez—he’s an excellent tight end, good eyes, great hands—and Derek are sitting on the couch, playing X-Box. Some violent game that I’m not into whatsoever, which means I rarely play with them.
I’m more of a Madden Football kind of guy. That’s my game of choice. Oh yeah, and anything to do with Spider-Man because what guy my age doesn’t love Spider-Man?
“What crawled up your butt hole and died?” Derek asks after taking one look at my face.
“I’m sick of women,” I spit out, though really, I’m just sick of one woman in particular.
And I don’t want to tell them about her because I will never hear the end of it, especially from Derek. A lot ofI told you so’swill be coming out of his mouth at first mention of her name.
“Best way to get over one is to fuck another,” Derek claims.
Javi glances over at him. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“Get with a woman who’s nothing like the ones who annoy you and fuck her. That’ll get those other chicks—chick—whatever, out of your mind for good.” Derek nods, looking pleased with his explanation.
“That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.” Javier has a girlfriend back in his hometown and she’s already visited him twice since he started here. He’s a junior like me, a transfer student. His girlfriend Piper is totally into him and I had the unfortunate luck to listen to them bang repeatedly when she was staying here with him last weekend.
It sucked. Their constant sex noises eventually drove me out of here to a bar downtown to try and find some random girl to hook up with. When not a single one of them interested me, I came back home only to discover they werestillbanging.
I’m surprised they could walk when they finally ventured out of Javier’s room Sunday afternoon.
“Your opinion doesn’t count,” Derek says to Javier with a snort. “You’re completely pussy-whipped.”
“Your opinion is exactly what I’m looking for,” I tell Javier, earning a confused look from Derek. “Tell me what I should do.”
“First, what is your exact problem?” Javier sets his game controller onto the table in front of him.
Derek pauses the game and does the same thing, leaning back against the couch and crossing his arms behind his head. “Yes, please enlighten us, Townsend.”
How do I even begin to explain this without sounding like I’ve lost my mind?
“Let’s just say there’s a girl…and I’m into her. And I’m never into just one woman,” I start. “But this one is different.”
Derek groans. Javier jabs him in the ribs to shut him up. “Keep going.”
“I don’t even know her that well. But there’s something about her…” I stare off into the distance for a moment, thinking about what I want to say about Ruby. Why I feel so connected to her when I barely know her. It makes no sense.
But I’m starting to realize that life in general doesn’t make any sense. Just when we think we have something figured out, boom. Everything changes.
