CHAPTER SIX
HEATH
"Remember your deal, bro." Clark hits me with a loose fist and a crooked grin that he practices in the mirror every goddamn day. "Gotta treat these fine ladies of Wings ‘N Brew with the utmost respect."
"Oh fuck off. I can't believe you left me like that, man. I thought we were best friends."
"I thought you could handle a tiny little thing like Leigh." Clark shrugs. "Guess not."
"Who?" Aidan strolls in, whistling, with his hands in his pockets. He looks like a cartoon, which means he just got laid, the lucky sumbitch. I don't know why sex makes him look like an animated piece of shit, but it always does and we always know.
"Oh, come on." Clark throws a punch at Aidan. That boy needs a release worse than I do. "How are you getting some at fucking two in the afternoon?"
"How are you NOT?"
"Heath, your table is ready." A redhead with freckles and tits up to her collar bone waves menus at us and sashays through the crowded tables.
"Remember your deal." Clark warns, stepping in front of me.
"Fuck off."
"What deal?" Aidan asks.
I shoot Clark the finger and that asshole laughs his way to the table.
"Heath picked up a tutor."
"She hot?"
"No." I shake my head despite the immediate seize in my pants. Despite her face plastered all over my dreams. Despite having coated my shower with jizz a half-dozen times since I had her cornered on Northgate.
"She doesn't fall at his feet like half the student body and now he's got himself a little crush. You're fucking welcome for setting that shit up." Clark dusts off a shoulder. "Feisty and brainy. Should make for an excellent fuck buddy. I mean study buddy."
"My cock would probably snap her in half." I fist a handful of peanuts in my mouth and tweak my pants just a hair. "She couldn't handle this."
"Who?" Aidan asks. "Who is this mystery hot nerd girl whose got Heath all fired up?"
"I'm not fucking fired up, man. She talks a bunch of shit, I talk a bunch of shit, but I'm going to use her to pass my BusiCalc class and call it good. Don't you fuckers remember what I'm always telling you? Girls ain’t worth the trouble."
"I beg to differ." Aidan slicks his hair back with a cheeky grin. "Veronica just made this day a whole hell of a lot better, man. Want her number? She could take this nasty edge right off you."
My face sours. "I am not interested in your contaminated, sloppy seconds, asshole. You've probably got a fucking team of STDs crawling around your junk."
He shrugs. “Actually, I really dig her. Touch her and I'll have to chop your hands off. Don't want that before the scout comes."
"Ignore that salty asshole. He's just mad because Leigh’s not jumping in the sack. Now, her friend, on the other hand..." Clark grinds his hips against his seat. "It's in the bag, gentlemen."
"Bullshit." Aidan and I say in unison.
"Is that right?" Clark reaches for his phone, pauses, and slides it into his jeans pocket. "Bros, the pictures I got..."
"Right, so it sounds like Heath is salty as hell, as usual." Aidan tosses his menu on the table and taps out a tune with his knuckles. Coach calls him the Music Man. "Nothing to see here, folks. What happened to your old tutor, anyway?"
The mere thought of Melanie makes me shudder. "We had an understanding and she broke it. Let's leave it at that."
Aidan and Clark both stare at me just as the waitress comes up.
"Howdy, y'all." She puts on a bright smile. I catch myself looking at her twice to make sure she wasn't... never mind. "I'm Hannah and I'll be takin' real good care of y'all this afternoon. Right now, we got half-price domestics and two-for-one wings. Whatcha havin'?"
Aidan sizes her up “real good” and opens his mouth. I kick him under the table.
"Three shiners, please. And as many garlic parm wings as you can send the table."
Hannah scribbles this all down, offers a wink, and walks off. Aidan rubs his ankle and scowls at me.
"The fuck was that for?"
Clark actually guffaws, that asshole. He rocks back in his chair and claps his hands.
"Listen, we can't treat the girls here like they're slabs of meat. Or something." I say it with a tone of finality, but my shoulder blades itch.
"It's part of the game we all play here, bro. What are you talking about?" Aidan watches Clark and I with a serious ounce of distrust. Can't say I blame him. "We come here and flirt. They come here and flirt. They wear their tits out of their shirts for tips, and we stare because we give the tips. Like, that's the whole damn point of Wings ‘N Brew. Otherwise, it'd be a fucking Buffalo Wild Wings."
"We're supposed to be respectable dudes." It's physically paining me to say this, especially when every fucking waitress who walks by in tight shorts has me praying it's Leigh. "You just fucked Jessica—"
"Veronica."
"Whatever. You just got laid. Try not to act like a jackass. Coach would skin your hide."
"Now that is gospel." Clark points at me with a nod. "I saw Coach hit the Hooters in Bryan once and tear up the b-string boys. Because that's all those assholes can get, know what I mean? Anyway, they ran drills for like twelve straight hours after that."
"That's why?" Aidan gapes. "I thought it was because Morgan was banging Coach's daughter and the team covered for him?"
"No, Evans is banging Coach's daughter. Morgan tried and was epically denied." Hannah drops a beer in my hand and I give her a polite nod in thanks. "But they had to run drills for twelve straight after that shit, too."
"I hate the number twelve." Aidan grumbled. "It's bullshit."
"Shut your mouth." Clark flicks him on the sleeve. "Have some respect."
“Let's get back to how Heath is over here acting like a puss over this shit."
I take a deep sip and lean forward on my elbows, tired of this “deal” already. "Don't be a dick. The end, fucker. This isn't rocket science."
"Good thing, right?" Aidan cracks. "Otherwise you'd be failing that, too."
Red blurs my vision and the urge to beat the fuck out of this wiseass flares through me like a cannonball. I haven't had a good fight in several months, long over do, and the shit Aidan is slinging stinks to high heaven. It's like he wants me to pummel the guts out of him.
I throw back the rest of my beer and flag Hannah down for another.
"You’re lucky we're still in season, asswipe."
Aidan shrugs, good-natured grin on his face. Always smiling, always joking, always acting like shit's no big deal. He's not going anywhere in football once he graduates. Going to help the family business once all is said and down, hocking pigs and tractors and shit. This? It's just fun to him.
It's not just fun and games to me.
"Why do you hate women so much?" Aidan taps the base of his bottle against the table. "We all see the girls cling to that QB title and know they want those Heath nuts bad. Why won't you just get it wet every once in a while? You'd be less intense. Always so damn intense, man."
"Girls are trouble." I peel off the damp label of my bottle and try to keep my head straight. I know what's at stake for me and I need to remember it every time things gets twisted. "You've both got stuff waiting for you outside of the field. This is my fucking life, man. This is where I belong. Remember Tyson? That dude was going to be signed his sophomore year. Best goddamn running back the world had ever seen. Knocks up his girlfriend AND his girlfriend's best friend. Can't be half-assin' it, waiting for a call from the big leagues when you've got child support to pay. That's not going to be me."
We're silent for a minute and I can only hope that means the message sunk in.
"So why not wear a condom?"
"Aidan. Shut the fuck up."