Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 95019 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 475(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95019 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 475(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
And I must admit, probably also has something to do with my frustrations about football and Dad.
On Wednesday, after I’m finished with classes, I meet the guys at the rec center for pickleball. It’s a mix of frats and sororities at the indoor courts, and we play a few rounds before Ty and I swap out with Marty and our Sigma Alpha buddy Jaxon, taking seats on a nearby bench with Keegan.
“Look at the guy,” I tell Ty as Marty gawks at Angie, who’s playing on the court beside ours. Angie gives him a friendly wave, which Marty returns before the ball hits him in the leg.
“Man, where are you?” Lance calls out from the opposite side.
“So pathetic,” I grumble.
Ty takes a sip of water from his thermos before saying, “Will you leave him the hell alone, for your own sake?”
“Not my fault he’s got no moves.”
Ty and Keegan eye me, but I pretend not to notice as I holler out, “Nice serve, Ang!”
“Thank you, boo,” she calls back, and I’ve rightfully earned a glare from Marty.
She’s started calling me boo since we’ve been back from the break, which is cute, but probably not helping with Marty thinking I’m making moves on her.
“Ry…” Ty says with a severe tone, the way Mom or Dad might’ve when I was a kid and did something wrong.
“What?”
“It’s not nice what you’re doing.”
“What am I doing?”
“Angie…?”
I’m as thrown as when Marty got up in arms about it before the break.
“You aren’t trying to get with her?” Ty asks.
“No.”
His skeptical expression doesn’t change.
“I know it’s coming from that day before break when we went to Junkie’s,” I say. “I was being friendly with her like I normally am, but Marty started giving me hell like I was making moves on her, and I maybe did make sure to talk to her more than I normally would to piss him off. But not like flirting. Whatever story Marty’s making up in his head is on him and not my problem.”
“You really don’t like that guy, do you?” Ty asks.
“Don’t like doesn’t really cover the hate I feel for that prick.”
We’ve never gotten along, but it’s been worse since probation, for sure, and as soon as we got back from break, we were right back to our usual routine. Even though I’m being a dick, he’s earned it.
“Damn, Ry,” Keegan says. “Give him a break. He’s helped us a lot with the insurance and navigating the fire stuff.”
That’s the truth. After the fire, he’s really stepped up, and I can’t shit all over his perfectionism and obsession with rules.
“Yeah, yeah. I know he’s made things easier for Sigma Alpha as a whole, but guy’s gone out of his way to make my life hell since we got here.”
“I imagine he’d say the same about you,” Ty presses.
“Whose side are you on again?”
“My best friend’s, always, man.”
Another ball passes by Marty while he’s exchanging a look with Angie.
“That guy has zero game, seriously,” Keegan notes.
“Okay,” Ty says, “I’m not gonna let you guys gang up on my boyfriend’s buddy like that.”
I groan. “I miss when we hated on Alpha Theta Mus.”
“Yeah, can we get back to that?” Keegan teases.
“Be nice,” Ty warns.
“All I have to do is be on my best behavior for the next month,” I say. “Then everything will be fine.”
“Really?” Keegan asks.
“Yeah…”
I look between Ty and Keegan, noting their suspicious expressions. “Why are you making those faces?”
“I just don’t know you to be the kind of guy who can follow the rules,” Keegan adds.
“It’s been three and a half weeks, and I’ve been good.”
“Two and a half,” Ty corrects. “Spring break doesn’t count. And you’ve been tolerable. Mart’s already talking about how you’re walking around naked in your room, listening to loud videos on your phone, hogging the bathroom so that he has to use the communal one down the hall.”
“And every time he’s said anything, I’ve put on pants and turned off the sound. And the bathroom thing…not my fault he doesn’t claim it first.”
“No one thing in that is against the rules, but he’s documenting it because he’s Marty, so all he has to do is get enough to bring to the guys and say you’ve become a nuisance, and then you’re out.”
The hell? “Nuisance? Is that a thing?”
Ty angles his head, giving me a look that tells me it definitely is.
“And you’re only telling me this now? Seriously, I went on a whole trip with my president friend only for him not to warn me when I’m close to getting kicked out?”
“You didn’t mention to me you were doing any of these things, and Lance just mentioned these things to me yesterday.”
“Fucking hell,” I mutter as tension tightens in my chest.
“Don’t freak out,” Ty says. “It’s not enough yet, but you’re really testing the waters, and it’s a dangerous thing to do right now, especially if he thinks you’re trying to get with the girl he’s hung up on.”