Chapter Six
Daniel groaned when he heard the doorbell ring.
“I got it!” Coop called from the living room.
Daniel rubbed a hand over his face in frustration. He was fucking tired. His legs felt like stretched out rubber bands after all the running he’d done—those fucking freshman dicking around had made Coach Hanson run the team extra hard—on top of his lower body workout and run this morning. He’d already iced down in the training room before coming home, but he needed to stay on top of the ibuprofen tonight or he’d never be up to his usual speed by the game in two days.
And now Coop had someone coming over and hadn’t bothered to let him know. Fan-fucking-tastic. He wasn’t in the mood for some random chick in his space drooling all over his roommate—and all the girls drooled over Evan Coopman with his dark brown hair, bright blue eyes, and the smile he claimed dropped panties faster than the speed of light. Sometimes when Daniel was in the living room when Coop brought his latest conquest home, the chick would look at him and decide she was super kinky and offer a threesome if he wanted to join in. Which he didn’t. Ever.
Flopping down on his bed, resigned to spending the evening in his room instead of watching TV or playing video games like he’d planned, he heard Coop’s voice, followed by female laughter that he recognized. Sitting up, he was about to go out there, when a knock sounded on his door and Coop poked his head in, his dark hair flopping over his forehead.
Coop looked him up and down, his blue eyes amused. “Good. You’re decent. You have a visitor.”
Daniel looked down at his bare chest and athletic shorts. Sure. Good enough. He followed Coop out to the living room, where Elena stood holding a pie plate covered in foil, looking around their living room, shifting from one foot to the other.
When he came into the room, her eyes landed on him, and they widened as they traveled over him. He liked when she looked at him like that, when that tell-tale flush came to her cheeks, tinging her skin with the lightest hint of pink. Not a blush. That was the look her skin got when she was aroused.
Coop plopped down on the couch, reminding Daniel they weren’t alone. With one arm thrown along the back of the couch, Coop took a pull off his beer, making no effort to hide the fact that he was watching them like they were some kind of dinner theatre.
Wanting to regain control of the situation, Daniel spoke first. “Hey, Elena. I wasn’t expecting you.”
Her eyes flicked over his chest once more, and it took all his willpower not to puff up and flex under her approving gaze. Instead, he tried to remain casual.
Finally, she met his eyes. “Yeah, I can see that. Sorry. I, um, I wanted to surprise you.” She held up the pie. “I found a recipe for chess pie.” She glanced at Coop, who still stared at them both avidly, now turning his gaze on Daniel, his blue eyes twinkling, dark eyebrows raised as he waited for Daniel’s response.
“Let’s take it to the kitchen.”
He briefly considered grabbing a T-shirt, but decided not to. Let her look. Maybe she’d quit blowing him off every time he asked her out if she kept eye-fucking him like that. And they’d at least be out of Coop’s eyeline in the kitchen, if not out of earshot.
Grabbing paper plates and plastic forks out of the cabinet, he watched as Elena took the foil off the pie, revealing the golden-brown top on the custard filling. His mouth watered just thinking about digging into a slice of that.
Elena eyed the disposable dishes, then looked at him. “Seriously?”
He shrugged. “We don’t like doing dishes. We have them, but prefer these. I do have a real knife to cut it with, though.”
“How grown up of you.”
She laughed at his narrowed eyes. He pulled a knife out of the drawer and handed it to her. “I’ll let you do the honors since you made it.”
Her fingers brushed his as she took the knife out of his hand, and he swore he felt electricity coursing between them, but she seemed unaffected, so he pretended to be as well. For now.
She cut a slice of pie, using the knife and a plastic fork to get it onto a plate in one piece, and presented it to him. “You try it first. Tell me if it tastes right. I’ve never made this before, so I hope I chose a good recipe. They all seemed pretty similar, though, so I just picked one at random. I used my normal crust recipe, because I like it better than the one suggested.”
He took the plate and fork she held. The crust broke as he cut into it, little bits of flaky goodness falling onto the plate. The custard filling was a burst of sweetness on his tongue, perfectly complemented by the buttery crust. He moaned aloud. “Oh my God. That’s so good.”
She smiled at his words, until her pleasure turned to embarrassed horror when his jackass of a roommate yelled, “If you’re going to get a blowjob, could you take it into your room at least!”
Elena covered her face with her hands, but Daniel couldn’t help laughing at her embarrassment, yelling back at his roommate around a mouthful of pie. “Shut up, Coop! You’re just jealous that someone made me a delicious pie, and you can’t have any.”
“Oh, is that what we’re calling it these days? My bad. I missed the update. Make sure you add that one to Urban Dictionary.”
Elena’s shoulders shook, but she didn’t make a sound. She was laughing, right? This was funny. At least, he thought so. “Elena?”
She looked up at him, tears in her eyes, but laughter burst forth from her, finally audible, and she fanned her face, trying to take a deep breath. “Oh my God. You guys are horrible. I’ve never had my pies compared to sexual favors until I met the both of you.” She shook her head.
He laughed too. “Whatever. This pie’s almost as good as sex. I’m going to have another piece. You need to try it. You made the damn thing. You have to have at least one piece.”
Slicing the pie for both of them this time, he gave her a plate and a fork and they both sat at the table, eating their pie without talking.
Coop’s voice floated in from the living room. “Well, this is awkward.” Fucking Coop.
Daniel leaned back in his chair so he could see his roommate from where he sat. “Only ‘cause you’re here, asshole.”
“Ouch, man. That hurts. I have feelings too, y’know.”
“Uh-huh.”
Elena chuckled. “He can join us. It’s okay.”
“No it’s not.” Daniel gave a firm shake of his head. “You made this pie for me, not him. He can stay in there and drink his beer and shut the fuck up.” He said the last part a little louder and looked back at Coop, who flipped him off in response.
Elena looked at him like she wanted to say something, so he waited, eating his pie. It tasted just like his mom’s.
Finally, “How’s your first week of classes going?”
He nodded, forking up another bite. “Good. It’s going to be a tough semester. Fall semester’s always rough. I usually try to go for easier classes, but Abnormal Psych’s only offered in the fall, so I have that, plus some upper level math classes that’ll be tough given how often I miss classes for away games. I got away with just twelve credits this semester, but I’ll pay for that with a heavier load next semester so I can graduate on time.”
She wrinkled her brows and cocked her head to the side. “I thought you told me you weren’t graduating until December.”
“Yeah, that’s true, but I’ll be student teaching next fall. So I have to get all my classes in before that.”
“So this is your last season playing football?”
“Yup.”
Scraping up some of the custard filling with the edge of her fork, she kept her eyes on her plate. “Does that make it harder? Knowing you won’t play anymore after this semester?”
He sat back, waiting for her to look up before he answered. Coop, of course, wasn’t content to be patient. “He could always do like Watkins did and go to the Regional Combines, maybe get drafted. Coach even said that some scouts might come to some of our games, so that’s a possibility too.”
Elena’s head snapped up at that, examining him. “Watkins? That’s Chris, right? Megan’s boyfriend?”
Daniel nodded slowly. Coop got off the couch and came to lean against the wall next to Daniel, his arms crossed over his chest. “You know him?”
Elena tilted her head to one side. “Not well. We’ve met. He’s friends with one of my roommates.”
Coop’s head jerked back in surprise, his eyebrows coming down. “Who?”
“Matt Schwartz.”
“You live with Matt Schwartz.” Coop’s voice came out flat, making it a statement instead of a question.
She nodded, looking confused at Coop’s reaction, her eyes flicking to Daniel. “Yeah. He’s dating my best friend, Hannah. They wanted to move in together, so Hannah and I moved into the house he used to share with Megan and Chris.”
“Huh, okay.”
Daniel glared at Coop, who finally got the message that he was unwelcome in their conversation. With a roll of his eyes, he filled a glass of water from the sink, then returned to the living room, where Daniel heard the opening soundtrack to Call of Duty.
“What about you?”
Elena set her fork down, finished with her pie. “What about me?”
“You’re graduating in May, right? What are your plans after that? Keep working with your dad?”
She shook her head. “No. I’m planning on going to law school. I take the LSAT in October. And I’ll be applying to law schools soon.”
“That’s cool. Where are you applying?”
“Marycliff for sure. They have a good program. Um, UW, probably. I dunno. I haven’t decided on any others yet.”
He raised an eyebrow, finishing off his second piece of pie. “What about the big name places like Harvard or Stanford?”
She shrugged, looking away from him again. Some emotion passed over her face, but she masked it before he could figure it out. “It depends on my test scores. If I don’t score high enough, it’s not even worth bothering. And they’re so far away, so I don’t know. Probably not.”
“Really? You haven’t even taken the test yet, and you’re already ruling them out? What ever happened to going after your dreams? You know, reach for the stars and all that shit.”
She laughed, and he couldn’t help grinning at the sound. He loved it when she laughed. “You’d make a great motivational speaker. That should be on a poster. You could put it up in your classroom for whatever you’re planning on teaching. What are you planning on teaching?”
He gave her a pointed look. “Math. And I’ll coach football too, so even though this probably will be my last season, despite Coop’s high hopes for me to go pro, I won’t be done with football entirely. Don’t think you’re going to change the subject so easily, though.”
“Well, now you can have a third career writing quotes for motivational posters. ‘Reach for the stars and all that shit.’” She chuckled again. “That’s perfect.”
“You should, you know.”
That look crossed her face again. “Yeah. We’ll see.” She gave a forced smile. “I still have to take the test first.” Standing, she gathered her plate and fork, glancing around. “Trash can under the sink?”
He nodded. “Yeah. I can get that, though.”
“It’s fine. I don’t mind.” He watched her throw away her paper plate, then come back to the table and gather her phone and keys from where she’d set them. “This was fun, but I need to get going. Homework and a website to finish.”
Daniel stood. “Sure. Me too. Well, homework anyway. I don’t have to build websites for anyone.”
She smiled at him. “Thanks for letting me barge in like this. I promise I’ll text next time.”
“It’s fine. Barge in any time.”
“Okay. Well …” She twisted her keys in her hands, looking toward Coop who was now engrossed in his game, seemingly oblivious to them. Daniel wasn’t fooled. Coop paid attention to everything. It was part of what made him one of the best offensive tackles on the team, noticing anyone coming up and blocking them before they got to the quarterback.
“It was good to see you. I’ll text you after the game on Saturday to see if you’re free, okay?”
Her dark brown eyes met his, wide and searching. “Okay.” He walked her to the door, stepping outside and pulling it closed behind him so he could have a moment without Coop witnessing everything. “Goodnight, Elena. Thanks for the pie.”
“You’re welcome.”
Taking advantage of her upturned face, he placed his hand behind her head and brought his lips to hers. It was an innocent kiss, closed lips to closed lips, but her indrawn breath had blood rushing south. He broke it off before he was tempted to turn it into something more, knowing they couldn’t go further.
She stared up at him some more, his hand still behind her head, the lights from the parking lot casting a warm glow on her face. Pulling away, she broke contact and looked down. “Goodnight, Daniel.” And with that she was gone, leaving him standing on his steps watching her get into her car.
When he went back inside after she drove away, Coop had paused his game and was waiting for him.
Resigning himself to a conversation he knew he wouldn’t like, Daniel went into the kitchen to cover the pie and put it in the fridge. “Spit it out, man. I know you have something to say.” If he had to listen, that didn’t mean he had to look at him while they talked.
“Nah, man. Not really. Just noticing that you got it bad for that chick.”
“Your point?”
“Just that you’re already pussy-whipped by a girl who’s got you firmly in the friend zone.”
Daniel smirked at that. He hadn’t told Coop about their activities on Saturday. Instead he said, “She needs a friend right now.” That was true, too. And he intended to keep being that. It was up to her how good of a friend he was. With the way she’d stared at him tonight, and how things had gone on Saturday, he was pretty sure he was the kind who gave her screaming orgasms—the best kind of friend, in his opinion. And if she let him do that, he’d push to make it official.
Coop just snorted and started his game again. “Suit yourself, man.”
“Thanks. I will.”