How To Get The Girl

Chapter Three

☼ J A C K S O N ☼

I woke up in the morning and rolled over on my bed, fumbling to grab my phone from the nightstand to check the time. When I finally grabbed my phone, I opened my eyes, and caught my reflection against the black screen. My brow furrowed when I saw three parallel scratch marks on my cheek, and I opened my camera to get a better look at the red marks.

And then a memory of getting slapped last night by some girl at the bar named Sarah flashed in my head, and I shook my head. Dropping my phone back on my nightstand and my head back on my pillow, I let out a breath. Sophie had insisted that I try one more time before we went home, despite the fact I had stroke out with virtually every girl at the bar.

Of course, I was a few beers deep and the girl Sophie pointed out looked like an uglier version of Lindsay Lohan, and I accidentally let that slice of information slip to the girl. Naturally, I ended up with a slap across in the face and a few obscenities shouted at me. Needless to say, I dragged Sophie out of the bar myself after that one, and told her we could pick up the lessons the next day.

My phone starts ringing on my nightstand, and I reopen my eyes to grab it again, then press it to my ear. "Hello?"

"Dude, were you just asleep?" Brayden asks through the phone, and I can practically see him rolling his eyes at me. "We're supposed to play basketball at noon, remember? We're meeting the rest of the guys at the courts."

I rubbed my hand over my face and checked the time on my phone: 11:47. "Yeah, man, I'll meet you at the courts in fifteen."

Without another word, I ended the call and climbed out of bed. Lazily, I threw on basketball shorts and a plain white tee shirt, then grabbed my Nike sneakers from under my bed and laced them up. I grabbed my phone and wallet from my nightstand then walked out into the kitchen, took my keys from the key holder, and then made my way out of my apartment.

When I got to the courts, the rest of the guys were passing the ball around, but Brayden was sitting in the stands, talking to Sophie. I watched from the doors, before anyone noticed I got here, as she laughed at something Brayden said, and he grinned lovingly at her. I couldn't mistake that look; the twinkle in his eyes every time he looked at her.

Sometimes it was weird, seeing my best friend with the girl I used to like. In college, I thought Sophia was the most beautiful and most amazing girl I'd ever seen. Of course, I didn't know how to tell her, thanks to my unfortunate inability to speak to girls, and I lost my chance with her because I didn't want to try and fail.

Eventually she started dating Brayden, and she became my friend instead; my only friend who was a girl, too. It was more than infuriating when I actually did try to talk to her, and found that she was the only girl talking came easy with. When I realized I was staring at her, I blinked and straightened up, looked away, and rid my head of these thoughts.

"Waiting on you, man!" I call to Brayden as I walk onto the court, and he looks at me and shakes his head. 

Sophia looks at me and her eyes zero in on my cheek before she laughs, the sound light and melodic, before she smirks. "How's your cheek feeling, Jacks?"

I give her an overly fake smile. "Just great, thanks for asking Soph."

"What happened this time, Jackson?" Henry asks behind me, and when I turn around to show him the scratches on my cheeks, he burst out laughing.