I Hate Football Players 3 | 18+

Chapter 29: Ellie

"Here's dinner." I shoved a pile of sealed food containers over at Charlie once she opened the door. "It's just repurposed leftovers but it'll have to do."

"Nothing tastes better than -" Her face spread into a giant smile, then thankfully she held onto that 'I told you so' thought as her eyes lifted upwards. "Oh, hey Logan."

"Charlie." I looked up behind me and saw he gave her a bright smile.

She stepped away from the door and revealed Wes' best roadkill impression while he relaxed with all his long, muscular limbs stretched out on the sofa. I heard Logan's chuckles behind me like he knew the reason behind Wes' tired state while we walked into their apartment. At Charlie's look down, we kicked off our shoes next to the pile near the door.

"Feeling okay, Wes?" Logan grinned and plopped down on the sofa near him.

"Now I know why someone's been a whiny baby this week," Charlie muttered to herself. At my most likely confused look, she added, "Logan's been making Wes play to his actual potential this week. He's come home from practice sore and soaked his legs in our bathtub every night with my vanilla bath bombs."

"You know I can hear you," Wes called out with a slight groan. "Logan too."

I stuck my head out the kitchen opening. "We probably don't need his ego any bigger, barely fits in our apartment as is."

Before Logan replied with a comment about anything else of his that was 'big,' I stepped back into the kitchen. Unlike our hallway of a kitchen, Charlie and Wes' was rectangular shaped but the counters were laid out in an L-shape.

"So..." Charlie's voice was smug over her shoulder as I followed her into the kitchen, where she set the containers on the counter. "I was right, huh?"

A small, two-person pub table leaned against the open wall, where I took a seat and propped my chin up in my palm.

"About how my flirting skills suck, yes," I gritted out through tight teeth.

"Oh, Ellie. You look a little... tense." She hid a smile behind her hand, grabbed a bottle of wine out of the fridge, then two glasses from an overhead cabinet. Sadly, I envied how she reached inside without climbing onto the counters. "Here, this will help."

"You think that's the solution?" I eyed the almost full glass of red wine she passed over to me.

One of her blue eyes winked at me. "Wine is always the solution."

I only shook my head, then winced slightly at the bitter cabernet that bit the back of my tongue. Technically I'd just turned twenty, Wes was already twenty-one, Charlie's birthday was in November, and...

Logan's birthday is in October.

When we'd dated, Logan thought his birthday was cursed. While we hadn't refuted that claim with unnecessary drama from people who'd tried to break us up back then, I was determined to do something nice for him this year.

Especially since this was his first year away from home, his family and friends...

I smiled to myself when the perfect idea popped into my head.

"Drink up, Ellie," Charlie's voice cut through my thoughts.

Being lightweight, I had the worst relationship with alcohol. I rarely drank because it made me very... open and giggly. So I made a mental note to nurse that single glass the entire time we were over here. Unfortunately, Charlie had given me a Betty White meme-sized glass that looked like at least a guaranteed headache tomorrow morning if I finished even half of it.