Coping Skills (Players of Marycliff University Book 5)

by Jerica MacMillan

  She shook her head, climbing the stairs to the student center that housed the on-campus coffee shop. Before she could pull open the door, Daniel’s hand was there, but he held it closed instead of opening it. She looked up at him, and his face was almost serious, but the skin around his eyes crinkled, and his lips twitched like he was suppressing a smile.

  “Why not?”

  “What?”

  “Why aren’t you coming to the game? Where’s your school spirit?”

  She laughed at that. “I’ve never been big on school spirit. And you already know I’m not a football fan. Why would I go?”

  He gave a careless shrug, but it was immediately contradicted by the intensity in his face, the hint of a smile gone. “To watch me play.”

  She studied him, uncertain what he really wanted here. “Daniel …”

  A cheeky grin appeared on his face, breaking the moment, and he opened the door. “Fine, fine. Don’t come this time. But I’ll get you to one of my games this season, just you wait.”

  Grateful for the sudden change, she latched onto the playfulness in his tone. “Oh really?” she threw back. “I’d like to see you try.”

  “I will.” Her breath caught when his eyes met hers, the raw desire and intention there nearly overwhelming. But he’d turned away before she could say anything more, waiting behind the guy finishing up his order in front of them. Stepping up to the counter, he gestured for her to order first. “My treat.”

  “Oh, you don’t have to—“

  He sighed and shook his head, cutting off her stumbling protest. “I know I don’t have to. But I have to get started convincing you to come to a game, don’t I?” He gave her a wink, and nodded toward the barista again.

  She looked him over again before giving in. “I’ll have a medium Caramelizer.”

  Daniel ordered his own white chocolate mocha and an egg and cheese sandwich while she claimed a table, setting her messenger bag on a chair so she could carry her own drink at least.

  Elena waited until they were both seated, and Daniel had taken a drink of his coffee before continuing their conversation. “Since you bought me coffee, and I still won’t come to your game this weekend,” she gave him a pointed look, “how about I make it up to you a different way?”

  He choked a little as he inhaled some of the sandwich he was chewing. Coughing, he reached for his coffee, shaking his head. “Um, that’s not necessary. I mean, you can always do that if you want anyway, but you don’t owe me anything for buying you a stupid coffee. I mean last weekend was—“

  Elena’s eyes widened, and she yelped when he said that last part, making him stop. “That is not what I meant. I’d just come right out and tell you I wanted to fuck you again if that’s what I was talking about. Dios.” She covered her face with her hands and shook her head. “I was going to say that I could make you a pie.”

  He stared at her, his face blank. “A pie.”

  “Yeah. You know, it’s round, made with crust, filling. Pie.” She made a circle with her hands then mimicked rolling crust to illustrate her point as she spoke.

  “You want to make me a pie?”

  “Yes. What kind of pie do you like?”

  He blinked at her a few times. “Like a real pie. To eat. This isn’t a euphemism for anything.”

  She sighed. “No. For God’s sake. I already told you I’m more direct than that. I mean pie. Real pie. That you eat. Yes.”

  “Um, okay. Sure. You can make me a pie. Like from scratch?”

  She couldn’t help laughing at his reaction. “Yeah, from scratch. What kind?”

  He shook his head, obviously thinking. “I don’t know. Hmm. How about a chess pie?”

  It was her turn to blink. “A what?”

  “Chess pie. You haven’t ever had it?”

  She shook her head. “No. I’ve never even heard of it. Is it hard to make?”

  Shrugging, he gave her a look that clearly said, How should I know? “I’ve never made a chess pie before. Or any pie, really. Not from scratch. My mom’s secret recipe was always to put a deep dish apple pie from the freezer section into her own pie plate.”

  Elena laughed at that, and Daniel smiled. His straight white teeth in that adorable face melted her more than his flirting or even his stunned spluttering at what he thought she was originally suggesting, endearing him to her, moving him further into friend territory from random hook-up land, which was how she’d been thinking of him until now. Even if he was a repeat hook-up.

  “So your mom didn’t make chess pie? Where did you have it?”

  “Oh, she did, just not very often. The store bought apple pie in her own pie plate was her lazy dessert for company. She made pies at Thanksgiving and Christmas, and one of them was always chess pie. My grandma always made it growing up. You’ve seriously never had it?”

  “Nope. I’ll look up a recipe, though. I’ll let you know if I don’t think I can.”

  He grinned again. “Sweet. I usually only get it on holidays.” Finishing off his sandwich, he looked thoughtful, his brows coming together. “Why a pie, though?”

  Elena looked down at her coffee cup, turning it in her hands. “Oh, I just like to make pies. I find it relaxing when I’m stressed or need to think. I’ve been making a lot of them lately, and even though I have two roommates, we can’t eat them all. So I’ve been finding people to give them to. I thought you might like one, that’s all. I’d’ve offered even if you hadn’t bought me coffee.”

  When she glanced up, his eyes had softened with sympathy.

  “Nope. No.” She pointed a finger at his face. “Don’t do that.”

  “Don’t do what?”

  “Don’t look at me like that. I’m holding myself together with duct tape and paperclips these days, and if you keep looking at me like that, I’m going to lose it. And I can’t do that.”

  “Why not?”

  “Aside from the embarrassment of blubbering in public? I think if I give in and really let it all out, I’ll never stop crying.” She sniffed, looking up at the ceiling and blinking to dispel the tears that had gathered in her eyes despite her best efforts to keep them in check. Taking a deep breath, she willed them away, running her fingers under her eyes to wipe away any stray tears that may have escaped.

  When she met his gaze again, the sympathetic look was gone. Gracias a Dios. Instead he sat back in his chair, looking her over, examining her.

  “What?”

  He shook his head slowly. “Nothing. Just thinking that if you need another way to de-stress, you can always hit me up for another round of Mario Kart. That worked pretty well last time.”

  She chuckled. “You planning on it ending the same way as last time too?”

  One corner of his mouth turned up. “I wouldn’t object to that, but that’s your call, not mine.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind.” The sudden influx of students made her look around and glance at the clock on the wall. “Shit. I have class in five minutes. I gotta run. Thanks for the coffee. If I don’t see you before this weekend, good luck with your game. I’ll text you about the pie, okay?”

  They stood together. “Sounds good.” His hand closed on her arm after she slung her bag across her body, stilling her as she went to reach for her empty cup. He dropped a kiss on her cheek, grabbed their trash, and headed for the trash can a few feet away. She watched him for a moment, then left for her poli-sci seminar.

  Daniel was a good guy. Understanding, sweet, and could fuck like a god. And all of that made him both tempting and dangerous. She could lose herself in a guy like that. And as much as that sounded like a great idea, she couldn’t handle letting anyone else into the mess inside her head these days. Besides, she was busy. Busy with class, busy with her dad’s business, busy studying for the LSAT. And busy worrying about her dad, worrying about her mom, and feeling guilty that she was so relieved to be away from both of them.

  Chapter Six

  Daniel groaned when he heard the doorbell ring.
r />   “I got it!” Coop called from the living room.

  Daniel rubbed a hand over his face in frustration. He was fucking tired. His legs felt like stretched out rubber bands after all the running he’d done—those fucking freshman dicking around had made Coach Hanson run the team extra hard—on top of his lower body workout and run this morning. He’d already iced down in the training room before coming home, but he needed to stay on top of the ibuprofen tonight or he’d never be up to his usual speed by the game in two days.

  And now Coop had someone coming over and hadn’t bothered to let him know. Fan-fucking-tastic. He wasn’t in the mood for some random chick in his space drooling all over his roommate—and all the girls drooled over Evan Coopman with his dark brown hair, bright blue eyes, and the smile he claimed dropped panties faster than the speed of light. Sometimes when Daniel was in the living room when Coop brought his latest conquest home, the chick would look at him and decide she was super kinky and offer a threesome if he wanted to join in. Which he didn’t. Ever.

  Flopping down on his bed, resigned to spending the evening in his room instead of watching TV or playing video games like he’d planned, he heard Coop’s voice, followed by female laughter that he recognized. Sitting up, he was about to go out there, when a knock sounded on his door and Coop poked his head in, his dark hair flopping over his forehead.

  Coop looked him up and down, his blue eyes amused. “Good. You’re decent. You have a visitor.”

  Daniel looked down at his bare chest and athletic shorts. Sure. Good enough. He followed Coop out to the living room, where Elena stood holding a pie plate covered in foil, looking around their living room, shifting from one foot to the other.

  When he came into the room, her eyes landed on him, and they widened as they traveled over him. He liked when she looked at him like that, when that tell-tale flush came to her cheeks, tinging her skin with the lightest hint of pink. Not a blush. That was the look her skin got when she was aroused.

  Coop plopped down on the couch, reminding Daniel they weren’t alone. With one arm thrown along the back of the couch, Coop took a pull off his beer, making no effort to hide the fact that he was watching them like they were some kind of dinner theatre.

  Wanting to regain control of the situation, Daniel spoke first. “Hey, Elena. I wasn’t expecting you.”

  Her eyes flicked over his chest once more, and it took all his willpower not to puff up and flex under her approving gaze. Instead, he tried to remain casual.

  Finally, she met his eyes. “Yeah, I can see that. Sorry. I, um, I wanted to surprise you.” She held up the pie. “I found a recipe for chess pie.” She glanced at Coop, who still stared at them both avidly, now turning his gaze on Daniel, his blue eyes twinkling, dark eyebrows raised as he waited for Daniel’s response.

  “Let’s take it to the kitchen.”

  He briefly considered grabbing a T-shirt, but decided not to. Let her look. Maybe she’d quit blowing him off every time he asked her out if she kept eye-fucking him like that. And they’d at least be out of Coop’s eyeline in the kitchen, if not out of earshot.

  Grabbing paper plates and plastic forks out of the cabinet, he watched as Elena took the foil off the pie, revealing the golden-brown top on the custard filling. His mouth watered just thinking about digging into a slice of that.

  Elena eyed the disposable dishes, then looked at him. “Seriously?”

  He shrugged. “We don’t like doing dishes. We have them, but prefer these. I do have a real knife to cut it with, though.”

  “How grown up of you.”

  She laughed at his narrowed eyes. He pulled a knife out of the drawer and handed it to her. “I’ll let you do the honors since you made it.”

  Her fingers brushed his as she took the knife out of his hand, and he swore he felt electricity coursing between them, but she seemed unaffected, so he pretended to be as well. For now.

  She cut a slice of pie, using the knife and a plastic fork to get it onto a plate in one piece, and presented it to him. “You try it first. Tell me if it tastes right. I’ve never made this before, so I hope I chose a good recipe. They all seemed pretty similar, though, so I just picked one at random. I used my normal crust recipe, because I like it better than the one suggested.”

  He took the plate and fork she held. The crust broke as he cut into it, little bits of flaky goodness falling onto the plate. The custard filling was a burst of sweetness on his tongue, perfectly complemented by the buttery crust. He moaned aloud. “Oh my God. That’s so good.”

  She smiled at his words, until her pleasure turned to embarrassed horror when his jackass of a roommate yelled, “If you’re going to get a blowjob, could you take it into your room at least!”

  Elena covered her face with her hands, but Daniel couldn’t help laughing at her embarrassment, yelling back at his roommate around a mouthful of pie. “Shut up, Coop! You’re just jealous that someone made me a delicious pie, and you can’t have any.”

  “Oh, is that what we’re calling it these days? My bad. I missed the update. Make sure you add that one to Urban Dictionary.”

  Elena’s shoulders shook, but she didn’t make a sound. She was laughing, right? This was funny. At least, he thought so. “Elena?”

  She looked up at him, tears in her eyes, but laughter burst forth from her, finally audible, and she fanned her face, trying to take a deep breath. “Oh my God. You guys are horrible. I’ve never had my pies compared to sexual favors until I met the both of you.” She shook her head.

  He laughed too. “Whatever. This pie’s almost as good as sex. I’m going to have another piece. You need to try it. You made the damn thing. You have to have at least one piece.”

  Slicing the pie for both of them this time, he gave her a plate and a fork and they both sat at the table, eating their pie without talking.

  Coop’s voice floated in from the living room. “Well, this is awkward.” Fucking Coop.

  Daniel leaned back in his chair so he could see his roommate from where he sat. “Only ‘cause you’re here, asshole.”

  “Ouch, man. That hurts. I have feelings too, y’know.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  Elena chuckled. “He can join us. It’s okay.”

  “No it’s not.” Daniel gave a firm shake of his head. “You made this pie for me, not him. He can stay in there and drink his beer and shut the fuck up.” He said the last part a little louder and looked back at Coop, who flipped him off in response.

  Elena looked at him like she wanted to say something, so he waited, eating his pie. It tasted just like his mom’s.

  Finally, “How’s your first week of classes going?”

  He nodded, forking up another bite. “Good. It’s going to be a tough semester. Fall semester’s always rough. I usually try to go for easier classes, but Abnormal Psych’s only offered in the fall, so I have that, plus some upper level math classes that’ll be tough given how often I miss classes for away games. I got away with just twelve credits this semester, but I’ll pay for that with a heavier load next semester so I can graduate on time.”

  She wrinkled her brows and cocked her head to the side. “I thought you told me you weren’t graduating until December.”

  “Yeah, that’s true, but I’ll be student teaching next fall. So I have to get all my classes in before that.”

  “So this is your last season playing football?”

  “Yup.”

  Scraping up some of the custard filling with the edge of her fork, she kept her eyes on her plate. “Does that make it harder? Knowing you won’t play anymore after this semester?”

  He sat back, waiting for her to look up before he answered. Coop, of course, wasn’t content to be patient. “He could always do like Watkins did and go to the Regional Combines, maybe get drafted. Coach even said that some scouts might come to some of our games, so that’s a possibility too.”

  Elena’s head snapped up at that, examining him. “Watkins? That’s Chris, right? Megan’s b
oyfriend?”

  Daniel nodded slowly. Coop got off the couch and came to lean against the wall next to Daniel, his arms crossed over his chest. “You know him?”

  Elena tilted her head to one side. “Not well. We’ve met. He’s friends with one of my roommates.”

  Coop’s head jerked back in surprise, his eyebrows coming down. “Who?”

  “Matt Schwartz.”

  “You live with Matt Schwartz.” Coop’s voice came out flat, making it a statement instead of a question.

  She nodded, looking confused at Coop’s reaction, her eyes flicking to Daniel. “Yeah. He’s dating my best friend, Hannah. They wanted to move in together, so Hannah and I moved into the house he used to share with Megan and Chris.”

  “Huh, okay.”

  Daniel glared at Coop, who finally got the message that he was unwelcome in their conversation. With a roll of his eyes, he filled a glass of water from the sink, then returned to the living room, where Daniel heard the opening soundtrack to Call of Duty.

  “What about you?”

  Elena set her fork down, finished with her pie. “What about me?”

  “You’re graduating in May, right? What are your plans after that? Keep working with your dad?”

  She shook her head. “No. I’m planning on going to law school. I take the LSAT in October. And I’ll be applying to law schools soon.”

  “That’s cool. Where are you applying?”

  “Marycliff for sure. They have a good program. Um, UW, probably. I dunno. I haven’t decided on any others yet.”

  He raised an eyebrow, finishing off his second piece of pie. “What about the big name places like Harvard or Stanford?”

  She shrugged, looking away from him again. Some emotion passed over her face, but she masked it before he could figure it out. “It depends on my test scores. If I don’t score high enough, it’s not even worth bothering. And they’re so far away, so I don’t know. Probably not.”