Between You and Me (A college hockey romance)

Eighteen

Lennon

When I wake up Greyson has left. I know he had an early morning practice at the Gretzky centre but him walking out on me after us having sex - twice - makes me... anxious. 

After our bathroom session, we brushed our teeth and I expected him to take off but he wanted to sleep over. And cuddle. 

Greyson Carter, hockey-bad-boy, wanted to cuddle. 

I toss the covers off and swing my legs over the side of the bed. My covers still smell like him. 

God I need to get a grip. 

This was just a one-time-thing. It has to be. He's a hockey player for god's sake. They're notorious for this and regardless of  however tenderly he's kissed me or however much interest he's shown the past week, I know it doesn't mean anything more to him. 

And that's fine. 

I guess. Ugh. It's not like I'm interested in him anyway. Other than for his body. I'm smarter than that. 

I groan at myself and walk into my bathroom. Another flash of memory of what we did in the shower comes to mind. Greyson's just so good with his hands. 

I need an intervention. Some holy water. At this point, anything would help. 

I put on sweatpants and a t-shirt and put my hair up in a bun before walking out of my room. Arden and Jade are already in the kitchen, cooking when I get there. 

"Finally she's awake!" Jade exclaims, swirling pancake-batter in the pan on the stove. 

"We were about to go in there and drag you out" Arden adds, pointing a manecured nail at me. I go over to join her at the island. 

"Sorry, didn't sleep until early morning" I say trying to school my voice. Both of them raise an eyebrow my way and I feel the heat rush to my cheeks. "Late night, huh?" Arden bumps her shoulder to mine, a sly grin spreading across her face. 

"Yeah, I just couldn't sleep" I reply avoiding her eye. I clear my throat. "When did you come back here anyway?". 

"Oh, Jade got over her crush on Evan and moved on to literally everyone else on the hockey team", Arden laughs while Jade bats the spatula at her. 

"Aw I was looking forward to the wedding" I pout. 

"Oh please. I'm known to have a hundred crushes a year so I'm sure Evan's coming back". 

Jade hands me a plate full of pancakes drizzled with honey. It smells delicious. I take a bite, sighing contendedly. "What about you?" I ask Arden who's enjoying her own plate of pancakes. Jade plates up one for herself and leans against the counter opposite us. 

She swallows before saying, "I hooked up with Sam". 

I nearly choke on my food. "Sam Harvey?". 

"Yeah, he was rooming at Evan's and he's hot so" she shrugs.

 "Fair enough", I laugh, "although I thought he had a girlfriend". 

"That ended again" Jade says. "Evan told me". 

We manage to avoid the topic of my late night adventures for the rest of the breakfast and clean-up. My dad texts me to meet him at the Gretzky centre later today, and Jade has to be at campus for a pre-class-course of some kind. Arden lets us know she's going shopping and asks me to join, but I call a rain-check. 

As the two of them are about to scramble out the door, Arden shouts from the hallway. "Don't think you're getting out of talking about your night, Lenny!".