Saving Us: A novel of love and friendship (Northern University Book 1)

by Wendy Million

  His lips twitched in amusement, and he took another drink of his beer. “You were at the game tonight?”

  “Under protest. I don’t enjoy football—I should get that out of the way—my roommate loves it. I love her.”

  “Sebastian!” A voice bellowed from deeper in the house.

  Our gazes connected. “One for the road?” He held out his hand for my flask, and I passed it to him.

  He tipped it up enough to wet his lips. When he returned it to me, our fingers brushed, and heat crept into my cheeks. I cursed my fair coloring. I had been doing so well. When I glanced up, he was grinning.

  “I think we should hang out sometime.” He glanced over his shoulder as the voice hollered his name again.

  I shook my head. “That’s probably—I’m not sure—I think it’s not—I just got out of a—” Did I want to hang out with him? A crush on a football player from afar was acceptable, but it was quite another to get involved with one.

  He shrugged, and there was an emotion in his hazel depths that I couldn’t decipher. Disappointment?

  “Maybe I’ll see you around, Nattie.” He backed up and disappeared through the doorway. Once he was swallowed by the crowd, he yelled a response to the obnoxious voices floating down the stairs inside the house. A twinge of regret landed in the middle of my chest.

  Hours later, when my flask was empty and we were leaving, Sebastian was seated on the couch, a brunette beauty perched in his lap. Johnny eventually extricated himself from Annika, but I’d caught him staring at her a few times throughout the night. As we reached the doorway to leave, he appeared.

  “Phone?” He held out his hand.

  Annika took her phone out of her purse and handed it to him. He passed her his, and they both typed away for a minute while I waited. When he glanced up at her to return it, the connection between them was clear. A small frisson of unease snaked along my spine. There was something about him I couldn’t connect with, but I wasn’t sure what.

  We slipped out the door, and she clutched my arm. “That was the best night of my life, I swear.”

  Chapter Three

  The knock on my bedroom door the next afternoon brought on my groan. Rum swizzle hangovers, unlike the drink, were the worst. I was also hoping to sleep long enough to forget that I’d met Michael B. Jordan’s doppelganger and told him I couldn’t possibly hang out with him. I was such an idiot.

  “What do you want?” I asked from under my pillow.

  Sunlight was death. Maybe I should check myself for bite marks? If I’d become a vampire, at least I might be able to avoid Sebastian for eternity. Vampires are only sexy in fiction.

  “Ah, Johnny and some of his friends are going to be here in an hour to watch the game with us,” Annika called from behind the bedroom door.

  I groaned again and rolled over. “Okay!” I stared at the ceiling. “You want me to stick around?”

  “Uh…” Annika trailed off.

  “You can come in.” I bunched the surrounding covers, and she opened the door. Raising myself onto my elbows, I scooted over so she could sit at the foot of my bed. “What’s wrong?”

  Annika took a deep breath. “We need to clean the house, get snacks, get booze, get ready and”—she checked her watch, panic clear on her face—“we only have an hour.” She collapsed back onto my bed.

  I flopped back and enjoyed the moment of peace. Any second, she was going to erupt into a volcano of action. Annika had two speeds: do everything all the time or impersonate a sloth. There was no in-between.

  “Okay!” She jumped up and clapped her hands. “You clean because you enjoy that more. I’ll go out and get alcohol, snacks, and then get ready.”

  I nodded but made no motion to get up. “You know this isn’t the Super Bowl game, right?” Or maybe it was? There was a lot of pre-planning for that game last year, so it was unlikely she was starting preparations this late.

  She paused in the doorway, thrust out her hip, and attached her hand to it. “Nat.”

  Her warning tone and stance were familiar. “Right.” I threw back the covers.

  “It’s just…” She clutched her hands together in prayer. “I’ve spent a year hoping he’d notice me, and he has. He wants to spend time with me and I…” She faltered, her dark eyes pleading.

  I sighed. “Honestly, I get it.” I shoved my feet into my slippers and stood up. “I’m sorry. I’m hung over, and I feel like an ass about Sebastian. Sorry.”

  She grinned. “He’s coming today. I didn’t want to say anything until I knew whether you were going to be weird about it.”

  “He’ll bore me to death—that’s what’ll happen. There’s no way we have anything even remotely in common.” I shuffled around my room. My hand strayed to my hair. I’d kill for a ponytail. At this rate, I would never cut my hair again. What had I been thinking?

  On the dresser, my phone buzzed, and my heart kicked at the name.

  Heard you were at the frat party last night. Just texting to make sure you got home okay.

  I flipped the screen facedown and followed Annika out of my room. Not in the mood for that bullshit this morning. When I’d called off our relationship, I’d told Clay I wanted to stay friends, but his version of that and mine were different. Sometimes his texts were possessive instead of friendly.

  “Clay?” Annika eyed my empty hand. She teased me that my phone was a third appendage.

  “Yep.” I grabbed the cleaning supplies from under the sink. I surveyed the living room and kitchen. We weren’t super clean, but we were tidy. Maybe I could get this done quickly? “We’re doing a round clean, right?”

  “Yeah, of course. Go around everything. Guys don’t care if you move stuff and clean under it.” She grabbed her keys, a shopping list, and disappeared out the door.

  As I squirted cleaners and wiped down surfaces, I wondered if I’d get a chance to change my mind about Sebastian. Did I even want to make a different choice? He was so freaking hot, but it was clear from watching him last night that he had no trouble attracting female company. Why would he try with me again? One rejection was probably more than enough for his ego.

  Annika was back before I realized, and we flew around the house in a blur of showers, blow-dryers, and subtly applied makeup. Scratch that—Annika’s makeup wasn’t subtle. The annoying part was that she needed little makeup. She went from pretty to stop in your tracks gorgeous with a few swishes from a mascara brush. Her typical jeans and jersey completed her outfit.

  “Do you have another jersey?” I asked on impulse.

  “What?” She flicked her loose waves over her shoulder and turned to me. “Did you just ask to borrow a football jersey?”

  I shrugged. “We’ve never had actual football players in the house before, just a bunch of wannabes. Maybe I need a jersey?”

  She raised her eyebrows, opened a drawer, and threw a jersey at me. “It’s outdated, but you’ll look retro. He was a good player once.” She winked and then picked up the mascara brush for one last swish.

  I tugged it on over my T-shirt and admired myself in the mirror beside her. A knock sounded at the door. Our eyes met in the mirror, and she didn’t have to ask. I turned on my heel and headed to answer, not checking to see who was there first.

  I swung the door open and immediately regretted not peeking.

  “Clay,” I said in a flat voice. “What are you doing here?”

  He scanned me from head to toe and raised his eyebrows. “It worried me when you didn’t text back. I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

  Voices drifted on the wind, coming up the street behind him, and I hoped it wasn’t the football guys.

  I threw my hands out and gave him a tight smile. “Nope, I’m totally fine.”

  “You’re wearing a football jersey?” He cocked his head to the side.

  “Yep.” The loud voices were football players, for sure. This was going to get super weird in a minute.

  The worst part of having him turn up unexpectedly
was that he made my heart hurt. I thought we’d broken up on good terms, but here he was on my doorstep, wearing his good jeans and one of his best plaid shirts. Not an outfit to check up on someone.

  “Was there something else you were wondering about?” Behind him, Johnny turned up the pathway to our townhouse flanked by five or six other guys. No Sebastian. My shoulders slumped.

  “Are you okay?” Clay glanced over his shoulder. When he focused on me again, his eyes were wide. “Is that Johnny McDade?”

  I shrugged. “Yes?”

  They swarmed Clay from behind. Johnny checked him over and smiled, but the warmth didn’t reach his eyes. “You here for the game?” Johnny asked. “Annika said there was sometimes a crowd.”

  Clay was starstruck, and I was about to answer for him when he said, “Yeah, I am. My name’s Clay. It’s so great to meet you. I’m a big fan.” He thrust out his hand, and I cringed.

  Great. Just great.

  Chapter Four

  They moved past me into the house, and Johnny scooped Annika into a hug. I pictured her heart beating a million miles a minute. Please let him be a good guy. I turned away from the door to ease it closed, and then I felt resistance. Frowning, I re-opened it and peeked around the edge.

  “Oh, hey, Nattie. I got left behind.” Sebastian grinned, a case of beer in his arms. He took me in from head to toe, but unlike when Clay did it, this perusal sent my heart into overdrive. “Not a football fan, but you own an ancient jersey?” He made a tsking noise as he angled past me.

  I jerked my thumb over my shoulder toward Annika. “Super fan over there has like one thousand jerseys. She gave me one she didn’t care about anymore.”

  He chuckled, and the sound moved like a wave across my body. Having him around was something I could get used to. “Oh, I doubt she doesn’t care anymore. That guy’s going into the hall of fame this year. I bet that jersey is worth serious coin.”

  I examined my shirt with new appreciation. “So, what you’re saying is that spilling salsa and nacho cheese dip on it would be a bad thing?”

  Annika swung her arm around my shoulders. “It means, roomie, that I trust you to take good care of my things.” She grinned at Sebastian. “You can put the beer in the fridge.”

  When he angled past us, Annika dragged my head to her ear. “Why is Clayton here sitting on our couch, mooning over Johnny? That’s my job. My job is mooning over Johnny.”

  “He invited himself before I could make it clear and not super awkward that he wasn’t invited.”

  “He’s drinking our beer. You broke up with him months ago.” She took a swig from her own bottle and released my head.

  “And he’s wearing his best outfit.” His dark hair was visible over the back of the couch. “He said he came to check up on me because I didn’t text him, but I’m not sure.”

  “Nat, he wanted to marry you. He wanted you to bear his babies. He’s not hanging around because he wants to be your friend. You need to cut him off at the knees.”

  Johnny half-turned on the couch, and he caught Annika’s attention. He patted the seat beside him. She gave me a triumphant smile and flounced over to sit next to him.

  In the kitchen, Sebastian and one of the other guys were talking, leaning against the counter. When I bent over to get a beer from the fridge, Sebastian’s gaze burned into me. The other guy was definitely checking out my ass too, and I didn’t even know his name. Grabbing the beer, I closed the fridge with a bump from my hip. Taking the bottle opener off the counter, I popped the top and took a swig.

  “I’m Natalie,” I said, holding out my hand. “I’m the person attached to the ass you were just admiring.” With a sassy grin, I raised my bottle to my lips.

  Sebastian choked on his beer and started coughing. The other guy, who I'd nicknamed Steroids in my head, grinned.

  “I’m Troy.” He laughed and shook my hand. “A fine ass has to be admired. Not my fault.” He held up his hands, a beer still clutched in one of them. He clapped Sebastian on the shoulder. “Nice jersey,” he said to me before going to the living room.

  His comment was probably meant to be a peace offering, but it only annoyed me more. “Troy’s the kind of guy who grabs a girl’s ass in a bar and then gets offended when the girl gets angry.” Troy wasn’t who I was upset with; it was Clay. His voice kept drifting into the kitchen, and I wished he wasn’t here.

  Sebastian eyed me. “I could be wrong, we only met last night, but you don’t seem like yourself today.”

  I drained my beer and put the empty in the sink, leaning down for another. When I glanced over my shoulder, Sebastian’s gaze was averted. He wasn’t risking another peek with my mood.

  “My ex-boyfriend is here.” The bottle top popped, and I tossed it toward the garbage. It hit the rim and tipped in.

  “Ah,” he said. We drank in silence for a beat. “So, he broke up with you but still comes around to hang out with Annika and watch football?” He squinted as though this was the only logical explanation his brain could formulate.

  I laughed, and the tension eased out of me. “No, sort of the opposite. I broke up with him, and he showed up today, dressed in his Sunday best. I’m not sure what’s going on.” I leaned my hip against the kitchen counter but faced Sebastian. If a man could be described as beautiful, this guy nailed it.

  He put his bottle to his lips and grinned. “You want me to explain it to you?”

  “I don’t know. Are you going to do it with a football analogy?” I raised my eyebrows and took a sip of my beer.

  He chuckled and shook his head. “He wants you back.”

  “I was hoping you’d go with the football analogy so I could pretend I didn’t know what you were talking about.” I pressed my lower back into the counter.

  “What are you going to do about it?”

  When I glanced at Sebastian, the urge to touch him was almost overwhelming. Letting Clay catch me making out with a football player in the kitchen would pound the final nail into our relationship coffin. A cruel thing to do, even if it was efficient.

  “Annika thinks I should cut him loose.” I rubbed my finger along the edge of the counter instead of reaching for him. We were close enough that the faint whiff of his cologne caressed my senses whenever he shifted his feet. A guy who understood the right amount of cologne to put on? Priceless.

  We drank our beers in companionable silence before I asked, “If you were him, would you want to be cut loose?”

  One side of Sebastian’s mouth quirked up, and I was mesmerized. Not good, Nat. Not good. A crush was fine, but full on I want to have your babies was not cool. I’d have to join a line. Women probably lined up to be with him.

  He glanced over, and the air between us electrified. “You mean if I was chasing a girl who wasn’t interested? Would I want to be cut loose?”

  “Yes,” I whispered. Were we still talking about Clay and me?

  He faced me with an intense gaze. “I enjoy the thrill of the chase. I’m not sure I could be easily deterred if I wanted someone.”

  He was a hair’s breadth from me now. The tart bitterness of the beer he’d chosen from the fridge mingled in the air with his cologne. I glanced at him under my lashes, almost willing him to kiss me.

  “Oh, ah, I was just—I’m just grabbing a beer.” Clay stood at the side of the kitchen closest to the living room. I jumped back from Sebastian as though Clay dumped cold water on us. I could only imagine how Sebastian and I looked right now, standing so close, electricity sparking between us. Clay’s interruption was both wonderful and awful. I didn’t want to start something with Sebastian. The worst idea.

  I pushed off the counter without a word and wandered into the living room. Avoiding Sebastian for the next little while was the best plan. Instead, I studied Annika and Johnny bonding over plays and strategy as the game progressed. She’d told me she’d dated football guys before, but Johnny was different. He was eligible for the draft at the end of this school year. Annika was sure someone would
pick him up; he was that good.

  “So, you and the football guy? That transferred junior superstar?” Clay sidled up beside me, his annoyance on full display.

  “Me and Sebastian what?” I refused to look at him. Letting him believe what he already thought was an exit strategy. Most of the time, I was a horrible liar. In the year we’d been together, I’d never told more than the tiniest white lie and that had been about my weight, which had almost felt truthful. Who tells their boyfriend how much they weigh, anyway?

  “Is he why you’re wearing a football jersey and out of your room during one of Annika’s football parties?” Apparently, he wouldn’t assume. He wanted me to say it.

  “There’s nothing going on between me and Sebastian.” But I couldn’t help glancing in Sebastian’s direction when I said it. “I just met him last night.” There was a smattering of freckles across Clay’s cheeks, and I focused on those instead of making eye contact. In a minute, I’d see his one crooked tooth when he spoke. I forced myself to meet his gaze. “There’s nothing there.” I hesitated. “You know there’s nothing here anymore either, right?” I tried to keep my voice quiet and gentle.

  Clay let out a strangled laugh. “Yeah, you’ve been pretty clear. I told you I was worried. If I’m not allowed to be worried, maybe we shouldn’t be friends.” His voice was tinged with bitterness.

  His tone made pieces of me curl up in shame and then unfurl in rage. “If you don’t want to be friends with me, that’s your choice. But if I go to a frat party or out with Annika somewhere, it’s not your job to make sure I get home safe.”

  He chugged the rest of his beer, his Adam’s apple working as he tipped the last bit back. His eyes blazed when they met mine. “Noted.” He headed into the kitchen with purpose.

  Please tell me he didn’t drive here. I didn’t want his hungover, sorry ass coming tomorrow to get his keys and car.

  “That looked smooth.” Sebastian took Clay’s spot beside me.