State of Grace | ONGOING

Chapter 3

My roommates and I waltzed into the party without much trouble. There was a line out the door, of course, with people trying to get in. But one of the perks of dating Bo for so long was that all of the boys knew me, and by extension, my best friends. I beelined to the head of the line, giving Tucker a side hug as I greeted him and one of the rookies, who was on door duty with him.

"Hey Lou, he's in the backyard," Tucker said as his hello, and then he eyed Sunny from head to toe. "Hey Sunny," he said to my roommate, ignoring the other three girls, who mostly looked grateful for it. Sunny rolled her eyes, opening her mouth to say something in return. This wasn't on a great track for the disaster-free night I was hoping for.

"Thanks, Tuck," I said, and grabbed Sunny's arm firmly before she could say something. It turns out that even the nice guys can't seem to get it into their thick skulls when a woman isn't interested. And considering that Sunny's been out as a lesbian since she was twelve, she was very uninterested.

I pushed past the linebacker and shot a wink at the rookie, who looked a little stunned to be faced with five beautiful women. When we stepped into the house it was already packed, the bass of the music pulsing so loudly that the sticky floors shook under my feet. I tried not to think about the cleanup that this party would entail. I knew Bo and his roommates would call a cleaning service, but it was a little gross to think about this gyrating mass of bodies as the living room we watched movies in.

This party was much more mine and Simi's scene, with sweaty bodies dancing to the music and cold cans of beer threatening to slosh over onto any unsuspecting passersby. Simi and I had both danced and cheered most of our lives, so finding ourselves in the middle of a dance floor was a fun activity. Anna and Sunny were more pub girls, they liked to be able to take a seat and relax while they drank. They valued the ability to actually have a conversation with another person while they drank a few beers. Billie settled in anywhere. We had to coax her out of the house but once she had enough alcohol in her we had to drag her off the dance floor and force her to switch over to water instead of shots.

I led my friends through the house, ducking around the bulky bodies of the men on the football team and the women who huddled in groups chatting together or who were dancing like they didn't have a care in the world. When I reached the sliding back door off the kitchen, I pushed it open further and stepped into the fresh air outside, my feet planted firmly on the wood planks of the deck. Groups of people gathered around the large yard, chatting and drinking beer.

I spotted Bo over by the keg, talking to a few of his teammates. I hurried over to him, alcohol endorsing my decision to throw my arms around his neck and pull him down enough that I could kiss him soundly on the lips. Normally I tried to let him have his time with the boys, not pulling his attention away to focus on me. He emphasized the importance of team building enough that I steered away from PDA in front of the team. But tonight he caught my waist with a smile, that same heartstopping smile he always gave me. It might have been the effects of the alcohol, but I swore my knees went weak when he looked down at me, brown eyes molten even in the dim light from the awful string lights they'd tried to salvage from their party last winter and that had certainly seen better days.

"Hey bubba," I said softly, tuning everything out around us as my friends said hi to the guys Bo had been talking to. I usually had to rely on Simi and Anna to keep Sunny and Billie out of trouble at parties like this, especially when all I wanted to do was sneak into the upstairs bathroom with Bo.

"I thought you didn't want to come," he murmured to me, one hand brushing a strand of blonde hair out of my eyes.

"Oh I didn't," I chuckled, knowing he wasn't offended by it. I went to everything else, all of the important stuff, at least, and he was very aware that my friends weren't the biggest fans of the team. "Simi wanted to come, though. And I thought you'd be lonely without me," I teased, leaning in for another kiss that was interrupted when he raised his head to look at one of his teammates and my forehead bumped awkwardly against his chin. He tucked me easily under his arm, maneuvering to greet the team's quarterback, Jordan, with some ridiculously masculine handshake that had Sunny whispering something into Billie's ear. The two girls giggled and I just turned my attention to Simi, grabbing her hand and pulling her closer to me.