Lasting Stars (Stars Series #2)

7

Jordan

This was the last place I expected to find Daphne on a Friday night.

The guys and I decided to go out after our game because, well, we kicked ass. The team we played against is right up next to Teakwood in the league and we dominated them today, 0-3.

Derek of course bailed because apparently Ash had a surprise for him. I rolled my eyes because all of us knew the last place they wanted to be was at the Sports Bar when they could be home alone.

Tyler left me a few minutes ago after spotting a brunette at a nearby table. I can never keep up with that guy. I swear he was dating a girl yesterday. And Daphne thinks I'm bad.

Speaking of Daphne, I watch her as she sways back over to a friend of hers, it seems. I don't think I've ever seen her drunk. It's... amusing. Her friend is talking to one of my teammates Jared and they look about five minutes before leaving.

The friend and Jared look to Daphne and say something. Daphne waves them off and they seem to hesitate, looking at Daphne I would do the same. She seems to convince them and they leave.

I see her start to walk toward a table, sitting down by herself. I saw the way a few guys watched her as she passed. No way in hell am I letting her sit in this bar by herself. Drunk, I might add.

I make my way over to her and she doesn't notice me at first. I sit down at the chair across from her and she jumps.

She recognizes me and gives me a lazy smile. "Jordan!" She says over the loud crowd.

I raise my eyebrows. "You okay, Blondie?" I ask.

She scoffs, lazily tossing her hair over her shoulder. "I'm good, great even."

I'm not so convinced. If I know anything about girls it's that they like to lie about their feelings sometimes. Well, when they are mad at least. At least that's what I came up with.

"You know?" She slurs, pointing a finger at me. "You were right when you said you are nothing like Brooks because man that guy is a jackass."

Uh oh.

She keeps talking, "You know what I saw? He posted a five month anniversary of his new girlfriend, Vanessa, today." She slurs out.

"And?" I ask. Still not sure why she decided to bring up Brooks.

She rolls her eyes. Her facial expression goes from not caring to sad. "He left five months ago." She says, sadly.

Yikes. I watch Daphne pick at her nails. Even in her drunk state she's beautiful. I knew that the first moment I saw her. Yeah sure, I've had many girls come and go but Daphne caught my eye automatically. Her blonde hair covers her face like a curtain and her brown eyes sadly look down.

She looks back up at me a second later, a small smile grows on her lips, "I'm glad you're my friend Jordan." She says, her mood seemed to have shifted.

I chuckle. "I thought you didn't like me?" I question.

She shrugs. "I never said that couldn't change."

I shake my head in amusement. "Well, fuck pretty boy and his girlfriend. Like I've said before, he's the one who left right?" She nods. "Then so be it."

I see a tear roll down her cheek. "Thanks Jordan." She says. "What girl do you have your eye on tonight?" She asks, seeming a tad annoyed by her tone.

I smirk. "She's sitting right in front of me."

Daphne gives me a weird look and scoffs. "Uh huh, sureeeee." She draws out.

I stand up from the table. "Come one, let's take you home."

She raises an eyebrow. "What if I was having fun?"

I give her a look. "You look dead on your feet, let's go."

She finally gives in and follows me out of the bar. We reach my truck and we both get in. I start the route to Daphne and Ash's dorm building. I watch Daphne's eyes flutter from the passenger seat.

"You don't get drunk often do you? How did you even get alcohol anyways?" I ask.

She turns to me, eyes glaring at me like she always does. "My friend Kam had some in her dorm before we left. Apparently, I drank more than I expected. I am not drunk, though." She comments. "I'm a tad tipsy. But for your information, I do get drunk. I'm not boring."

I wince remembering when I called her that. "You're not boring, I'm sorry I said that."

She shrugs. "Apology accepted."

I changed the subject. "Hey, we got an A on that project. How 'bout that?" I say grinning.

Her face lights up. "I know right! Go us!" She cheers, clearly still, as she described it, tipsy.

I chuckle at her enthusiasm. I park in the building lot and remember the last time I was here. Back on Halloween when I got drunk off my ass and crashed in their dorm. Funny how the rolls are reversed.

"You want me to walk you in?" I ask.

She gives me a look, not one I recognize. She looks...intrigued. "Sure." She says, wiping that look off her face as she says it.

"Okay then," I say and follow Daphne into her dorm.

She puts the key card in and opens the door. Looking back at me she says, "Coming in?" She asks.

I know I shouldn't. I watch her brown eyes trace the line of my body and know exactly where this could go. But no, it can't. Daphne hates me and she's going to remember it in the morning and hate me even more. She was just crying over Pretty Boy for god sake.

I scratch the back of my head. "Ah, I'm not sure."

She reaches out to grab my hand. "It's fine, come on, we can watch a movie or something. I'm not tired yet."

This is a bad idea. She drags me into the room and just as she says, she grabs her computer off the charger and sits on her bed. Her innocent brown eyes watch me curiously and she cocks her head to the side. "You coming?"

Oh what the hell. I walk over to her bed and lay next to her on her small bed. Since the bed is small, my body sits very close to hers. She doesn't seem to care, which I know if she weren't a tad drunk, she would care.

She plays a movie and I see her eyes flutter again, not tired my ass. A second later she looks over at me. "Jordan?" She asks,

"Yes?"

"What did you mean by saying I was the girl you were looking after tonight?" She asks.

Interesting. I shrug. "Cause it's true."

She leans closer into me. Uh oh. I shouldn't be doing this. "Jordan?"

"Yes?"

Her eyes search mine as if she's trying to find the answer in my eyes. "Kiss me."

I tense for a moment. "Why?" That was a stupid question, Jordan, way to go.

She shrugs, her eyes goe half lidded and before I can react her lips crash onto mine. Her warm lips connect with mine and any rational thoughts erase from my mind. A second later we are all over each other, she fists my shirt and my hand drags its way down to her hip.

My mind can't process besides the feeling of her against me but I know I can't do this right now. I pull away, me now above her staring down at her confused expression. "Daphne we can't."

She pouts. "Why not? You hook up with other girls all the time. I'm not drunk enough to not know what I'm doing Jordan."

I groan. "That's the point Daphne, you aren't just a girl I hook up with. I don't want that with you."

She still looks confused. "Then what do you want with me?"

And to that, I have no answer. My mind just goes blank.

I shake my head. "It's nothing, go to sleep Daphne." I say.

"Fine." She grunts out.

She looked pissed off and turned toward the wall so she can't see me. I look at my phone and it's two am. I decide I might as well just stay here and soon enough I drift off to sleep in Daphne's small bed.