Hailey became a fixture into our group over the summer. We all took trips. We finally got Mel to spill. She was in fact having sex with Nick and was falling in love with him. He was too if he wasn’t already there. We did a ton of things, there were loads of pictures. We fished, went to the pools, took a trip to the Hamptons. As far as relationships went, we all got even closer. It seems like after the incident with Dan, Landon and I found a new appreciation for each other and our bond was stronger than ever. This upcoming year was going to be rough, this was our senior year and there would be the pressures of college. Nick decided that he was going for the basketball team this year as well as football. Landon was intending to go hard on football to try to secure a scholarship. His dream is to play in the NFL and he was already feeling the pressure to make sure he got into a school with one of the top teams. Mel and I were still contemplating, which to me was worst. I don’t want to be stuck at the end of the year and not have all I need in order to secure a spot where I wanted. I needed to put more focus and thought into my future. Landon tells me it will all work out, and I’ll be fine. But I have my doubts. The other thing that I was afraid of, was us all being split up to follow our dreams. I didn’t want to lose any of them, and I wish that our dreams all point us to the same place.
CHAPTER 15
The first day of school arrived too fast. But unlike the last few years, I didn’t have that anxiety of what was waiting for me. Landon wanted us to ride together since he wouldn’t have any afterschool obligations for a while. I agreed to this, since I knew he’d be working harder this year. We got to school and walked down the halls hand in hand. This year, me and Landon didn’t have any classes together… but I had some with Mel and one with Nick. The morning dragged by, all these introductions and hours wasted talking about what to expect this year. Typical first week bullshit. Things don’t actually get anywhere until about the second week.
Landon met me at my locker for Lunch and we went together. They had burgers today and we grabbed some and headed to a table that Nick and Mel had snatched already. As we sat Ricky and a few others joined us. I laughed, so I guess this was the table and seating for the year. There were a few empty seats at our table when a girl walked up.
“Landon?” she asked. We all turned to look. She had wide chocolate eyes, and brown wavy hair with bangs. She was pretty enough in an understated way.
“Jasmine? What are you doing here?” he asked.
“Oh, well my parents moved back over the summer so here I am. I didn’t know you went here.” She responded.
He nodded. “I do.”
She cleared her throat, “So um. I don’t know anybody, and there are some extra seats here. I was wondering if maybe I could sit with you guys until I can meet some people.”
He shrugged, “go ahead.” He gestured to the empty seats across from us. She smiled and went to take a seat.
Landon, Nick, and Ricky continued talking while I spoke to Mel. Jasmine turned to me and extended her hand. “Hi I’m Jasmine” she introduced herself.
I took her hand and shook it, “Lucy.”
“I’m Mel” Mel introduced herself and shook her hand also. It seemed a bit formal for a lunchroom cafeteria, but whatever. “How do you know Landon?” Mel asked.
Jasmines cheeks pinked, oh boy that is not a good sign. “Well our parents know each other. We hung around at a few of their events when they make us attend. Our parents had a lot of the same vacation spots for the summer’s and breaks so we would be around each other often. We would hang out sometimes to get away from business chatter.” She explained.
I nodded. She worried her bottom lip, “are you two…” she started and gestured between Landon and me. His arm was thrown across the back of my chair. She brought her voice down to a whisper, “sleeping together?” she asked.
My head reared back. Who the fuck asks a question like that when they first meet someone? “Do you mean are we dating? Then yes, we’re together.” I responded.
Her eyebrows arched and she looked at me in confusion, “are you sure?” she asked.
I sat back in my chair. What the hell was that supposed to mean. I was a little pissed off so when I answered it was louder than necessary, “Yes I’m sure we’re together, what is that supposed to mean?” I asked.
Landon’s head swung my way, “what happened?” he asked.
I shrugged and waved a hand towards Jasmine. “What happened?” he asked again but directed his question to her.
She blushed deeper and diverted her eyes, “I didn’t mean any offense or anything. It’s just that you never date. You only have… you know. I was just surprised is all I guess.” She responded.
Landon’s eyes narrowed, “I don’t see how any of that is even your business. And you should refrain from asking my girlfriend any questions about us.” He told her sternly.
She nodded and put her head down and began playing with her food. She didn’t speak or make eye contact with anyone for the rest of lunch. I did catch her sneaking peeks at Landon from under her lashes. I sighed internally, just fucking great.
We were leaving that day, and were walking to Landon’s car in the parking lot.
“Hey, wait… hold up.” We heard. We both spun to see Jasmine running towards us. When she reached us she was out of breath. “I saw you guys pass me, and my mom said she can’t make it here for another hour she got caught in traffic. I didn’t have a chance to get a car yet and she dropped me off this morning. Can you please give me a ride?” she asked Landon.
He sighed, “fine.”
She walked around to the passenger side door, and I just stood and watched. Landon’s eyebrows shot up. She opened the door, and before she could enter she looked up to see neither of us had moved and were both watching her. Her eyes went wide, she seemed to register the fact that I was also getting into the car. She gave a small smile and ran to the backdoor and hopped in. I shook my head as I went to walk around. Landon grabbed my hand and pulled me back giving me a kiss and then letting me go. I hopped in and watched out the window. She gave him her address and went to take her home. When we reached a stop light Landon leaned over and snatched my hand. When I still didn’t turn to face him he kissed my palm and tugged on me. My body moved over to his but I didn’t turn my head. He sighed and bit me on the neck causing me to yelp. I still refused to look at him. He let me go and sped to her house.
She gave a quick thanks and hopped out and stood there watching the car leave. Landon left me alone for the rest of the drive. When we got home he grabbed my hand and went to his room. He pulled me inside, closed the door and pressed me against it. When he had me fully caged in, he narrowed his eyes and said, “talk.”
I sighed, “she’s going to be trouble.” I said.
He looked confused, “why?” he asked.
I gave him a knowing look, “don’t act fucking dense. The girl has a crush on you and she’s going to try to spend as much time with you as possible. That much is obvious. I just have a feeling she’s going to be a pain in my ass.”
“She’s not, because I don’t like her that way. She’s always been a nice girl, on the shy side. She was cool to hang around sometimes because she was quiet and didn’t bug me. You don’t have anything to worry about.” He told me.
I gave him a wary look, “listen. All I’m saying is this. If she becomes too attached or tries to make a move or flirts you shut it down immediately the first time. Make sure that she gets the fucking message, alright?”
He nodded, “yes babe, anything else?” he asked.
I shook my head, “good now, get naked… I’ve been thinking about it all day. And never wear these jeans again outside of the house. I had to watch every guy you walked past ogle your ass.”
I rolled my eyes. Before I could say anything he kissed me and the jeans and Jasmine were pushed out of my mind. The rest of the week was slow and boring.
It was Tuesday, and they were having the basketball tryouts. Me, Mel, and Landon went to suppor
t Nick. He fucking killed it. I mean, he’s awesome on the football field, but you can see the passion he has for basketball when he plays. I was confused as to why he was playing football instead, and Landon explained that his old school has a real shitty basketball team and it wasn’t worth playing on. No one paid them any attention. He liked playing football so he joined that team. When he transferred he was known for his football skills so it wasn’t hard to get a place on the team. With basketball already midseason, it was downright impossible for him to get on the team. Let alone get a chance to play. The team here was pretty decent and he wanted to give it a go. This year, he’s planning on doing both since their playing seasons don’t intertwine. Basketball season kicked off the third week of school, and it lasted through November. It leads into December if they make it to the championship. Practice for football kicks off the very beginning of November. Their season goes on until April. Nick got the position of shooting guard and he was so fucking happy. We went out to celebrate afterwards.
Football tryouts were on Thursday. Football season and practice doesn’t start up until November, they just like to make sure that they have a team locked into place so there’s no issues. Unsurprisingly Nick and Landon both made the team. Landon made the running back and Nick as a wide receiver. The cheerleading tryouts were happening that day also off the side of the field. They were still going when the guys finished with football. I looked up to see Jasmine on the bleachers, her eyes glued to Landon. I redirected my attention to the guys as the finished up. Mel and I waited on the bleachers for them to wash off the sweat and come out. They didn’t take long, and we made our way across the field to the parking lot. I stood on Landon’s side furthest from the bleachers so I could get a good look. He was holding my hand with our fingers linked. I watched from the corner of my eyes as she watched him pass. She didn’t even blink. I’m sure I’m reading her correctly. She’s got the major hot’s for him. He didn’t look that way once; he probably didn’t even notice her. I decided to put it out of mind for me, because let’s be honest. A lot of girls have the hot’s for him and they’re always checking him out and I can’t really be mad. As long as they don’t act on it, I don’t really care.
Basketball season was first, which means Nick had a ton of practice. Mel would sometimes go watch him practice or sometimes come home with me and see him when he gets home. We all car pool as much as possible since it doesn’t make sense to have a bunch of cars going to the same places. I was enjoying having Landon before football practice officially started up. I thought that it started at the beginning of the year, but what Landon explained to me was that since they all have their spots and know who’s playing the team would get together and practice before they needed to. But since this is our last year, Landon decided while he would still attend some, he wants to put more effort into his actual school work to raise his grades a bit. We decided we can do some homework and studying together. Even though we didn’t have classes together, didn’t mean we didn’t take the same ones.
The first few months we spent our time doing a lot of studying. We went to all of Nick’s games and he was fucking awesome. We went to their final game that would determine if they would be going to the championships. We were all there to support him, even Erica came up since it was a Friday. Max was cheering for Nick the entire time. My dad and Sam as well as Mel’s parents came to support him. Nick was worried about managing that when football started, but he spoke to the coach and he said he would work with him on his schedule so he can do both. Nick had made 42 points in the game. We met him out on the court where they were celebrating and he picked up Sam and spun her around because he was happy about the win and to see them. Then he grabbed Mel and bent her over with a kiss that got some cat calls. Her father cleared his throat and Nick released her looking sheepish.
We all went out to dinner that night. Mel and her parents, Erica, Max, Nick, Landon, Dean, me, James, and Sam. We were all eating at the table when James turned to Nick, “Do you want to play a sport in college?” he asked.
Nick gave him an incredulous look, “are you for real? Of course James.” He shook his head, “and all this time I thought you knew me.” He said feigning hurt.
James laughed, “No I mean I knew you were really good at football. But if you ask me, basketball is your calling. Every time I’ve seen you play I get more and more impressed. And well I’m asking because as you know I’m a recruiter for the NFL and all my guys know about you both. But I don’t have any jurisdiction over the basketball side. People have been talking about you all this year since you came out and bombed the first game, but it’s not the same level of exposure as people who’ve been playing for years in high school and such.” James shrugged, “I guess I wanted to ask your permission if I could call a few friends to see you play. I won’t tell them of any relation, I just want them to come see you for themselves and make their own judgment.”
Nick smiled, “sure, what friends are you talking about?” he asked curiously.
James cleared his throat and took a swig of water. “Well, I’m sure some of these people have heard of you through the football talks… but I happen to know basketball scouts for UCLA, Oregon, Michigan, and Ohio State. I may also have a buddy that’s a recruiter like me but for basketball.” Another shrug, “I can’t make guarantees about anything but I figured you’re worth seeing.”
Nick’s jaw was hanging open and we were all smiling, “Dude! Those are like the top football and basketball colleges there are right now.” He said stunned.
James nodded and squirmed in his seat and took another drink. He shot a wary look at Landon and Nick before staring at Dean. “I wasn’t sure if I was crossing any lines. But I talk about all of you guys at parties and things, and well they all already have heard of you both. I told them that you guys have practically adopted my daughter and I consider you family so I go to as many games of yours as possible. They wanted invitations, and I gave them some. So if you are all ok with it… they’re pretty excited to be attending a few of your football games also and maybe meeting you.”
Landon and Nick whooped and we laughed. Dean reached out and patted James on the back and gave him a sincere smile. “Thanks James, we all appreciate that you did that.”
James held up his hands, “I didn’t do anything. All I did was just regular small talk and I mentioned going to the games to watch family and it’s awesome. They wanted to know who, and when I said their names they practically mauled me to get to them. It’s not me it’s them who did it.”
“While we’re on the talks of college, did either of you girls make up your minds yet?” James asked.
I started to shake my head, but then I sighed. “Well, I’ve been thinking about going to school with art as my major, and maybe taking business management as my minor. Or even do a double degree.” I said with a shrug.
James gave me a smile, “that’s great. I’ve seen some of your work and your drawing and painting is beautiful. You have so much talent. I actually have another question for you?”
I smiled back and nodded, “sure, what’s up?” I asked.
He cleared his throat, he’s nervous. That’s his tell when he’s uncomfortable with what he has to say and is unsure how it’s going to be received, “well after grants or scholarships or whatever. I would like to pay for your schooling. I don’t want you to take out any loans.”
I began to argue but he cut me off and sighed, “look. I’m not doing it over guilt or anything like that. I just want you to be able to go to school without any extra burdens. You deserve it. And I have the money, I mean you know I don’t splurge or anything so it’s sitting there. I’ve already setup a trust for you, but I want to pay for your education because I want you to have it just as much as you do. I want you to have the exact experience you’re looking for. Whether that be living in the dorms or getting your own place. Hell even if you stay local and live in my place. Whatever you want. I just want you to have normal especially after all you’ve been t
hrough. Dean also wanted to pay, but he’s already letting you live in his home. We discussed that it was fair that I pay for your school as long as I let him pitch in with other things. Maybe like monthly allowances or whatnot. We didn’t know if you were taking a double major or anything…” he shrugs. “I’m rambling now. We just want you to be able to do what you want. And god forbid you end up in a school with one or both of these guys, they’ll eat you out of house and home. No amount of work study will feed you guys.”
That had the entire table erupting in laughter. That was true. I couldn’t imagine having to work and buy groceries and feed them. We would die of starvation. I decided what would it hurt to just let them help. And I’m not totally sure what I’m going to do yet. It would be nice to not have to make a choice because of a tight or nonexistent budget. Truth be told, that’s why I never thought so much about it. I always figured I’d end up having not having too many options. I’d probably have to pick the cheapest school and maybe hold a few jobs. I sighed, “fine, if you two are only going to fight over me I have no choice but to say yes to both of you.” I said with a grin.
James smiled back, “I remember one night I was talking to Landon about the day in the hospital how you both were running around calling all four of us your kids. You two can definitely come off as a good looking couple. The way you guys talk, you would think you went halfsies on all our births.” James snickered and Dean shook his head but he couldn’t contain the smile.
Mel spoke up. She looked nervous, “well, I’ve always like to run. I do it alone in the mornings or evenings. Anyway I told Nick and he started letting me run with him and I do it when I’m home on the treadmill. He told me I should start monitoring my times and distance, so I did. And well, he says they’re good and went and spoke to the coach without my consent.” She glared at him, “he said the coach was impressed and urged me to join the team. They start tryouts around November so right now I’m training. If I’m as good as they think I am, I would love to continue to run in college. I also want to study Biology… but I’m hoping to get a scholarship in track or something too.” She gave her parents a big smile and I beamed at her.
Losing Her (The Lexington Series Book 1) Page 43