Fifteen

Paislee

“You look pretty,” Jude said. Who knew such a simple word could make you feel so good. “When you going to come over at meet Zeus? You should come this weekend.” Jude suggested. He was persistent. I’d give him that. 

“We’ll see.” 

I thought that after our dinner the other night things would be weird between us, but I was wrong. It was easy. We talked in class, and not once did he ever make me feel embarrassed or uneasy about the time we’d spent together. 

“Come on boys, let’s play cards.” Garrett howled, his voice carried over the entire room. 

“I think that’s your cue.” I pointed to the card table. 

“I’m probably going to lose all my money.” His eyebrows rose in amusement. I wanted to say yes you’re probably going to lose because Josh was a card shark, but I learned to never underestimate Jude. He always had a way of surprising me. He was like King Midas. Everything he touched turned to gold. I was yet to learn his weaknesses, but there had to be some. No one could be that perfect. Right?

He tipped his hat to me before making his way to the table. You heard right. He tipped his hat. It’s as hot as it sounds. I’m not going to lie.

The guys all shared some macho fist bumps before the card game started. Josh had pulled up an extra chair between him and Garrett for me to sit down so I took my spot. 

Shit. For the first time, I noticed that Fox was there. I’d invited Letty, and she was supposed to be there in an hour or so. She was going to flip out when saw Fox. Or I assumed she would. She was pretty pissed about their first encounter. 

“Wish me luck Lee,” Josh winked at me. I hated when he did that because that single gesture made me powerless. 

Swallowing hard, I replied, “You don’t need luck. These guys don’t know what’s about to hit them.” It was the truth. Josh had been playing cards with his dad since he was old enough to see over the table. He was no stranger to the game, and he’s probably won more money then some of these guys have ever seen, sad but true.

“Yeah, yeah,” Garret said leaning towards me. “You haven’t seen me play yet.”

I had to laugh. Poor Bear was about to be shown up. “Sorry, Bear,” I patted his cheek. “It was nice knowing you.”

Josh chuckled and patted my leg. “Tell him, Lee. I’m about to wipe the floor with him.”

Nodding my head and tightening my lips, I leaned over pressing my cheek to my shoulder. “You should probably just push all your chips to him now.”

“DAYUM!” Garret yelled. “I thought we were tight, girl.”

“You guys are too much.” I shook my head. 

Fox started the deal, and I watched the guys play a few hands. Nothing big was happening yet except for my possible snooze fest. I kept thinking about all the Netflix shows I could be watching if I weren’t there. 

Josh rested his free hand on my leg under the table, and suddenly I didn’t feel so tired. His fingertips made all my senses heighten by a thousand percent. 

When I glanced up at him he was focused. Not on me, but the cards that were in front of him. He hadn’t even looked in my direction, and I wondered if he was only touching me out of habit. 

It wasn’t fair. 

He knew my feelings. I wasn’t obtuse about them. Surely he wasn’t just toying with me. Was he? Because if he was, I was going to break the fingers that were touching me. 

Looking across the table I noticed that Jude was staring at me. His golden brown eyes were searing into mine. It felt like no one else was in the room. Yet, under the table, a hand rested against my thigh.

Breathe Paislee…

This couldn’t be happening. In eighteen years I have only ever loved Josh. I’ve only ever had eyes for him. If Josh said, “I’ll be with you right now,” then I’d drop everything for him, because he’s mine. He’s supposed to be with me, and I’ve been waiting idly by for him to see the light.

After my love admission to him, it seemed like everything was different. For instance, the way he touched my leg. I couldn’t tell you how many times I’ve had him rest his hands on my legs. We’d slept over in the same beds for years. But it was different now that he knew how I felt. He had to know what it did to me. He had to understand that I could barely breathe at his touch. Yet, his fingers still lingered there. 

Maybe I was wrong to think that he was sending me little signals or signs, but what else was I supposed to think? 

I placed my hand over his where it lay against the warm skin of my thigh, and the moment I did he gave me a gentle squeeze. Then his hand was gone. Just like that. 

Do guys have no understanding of the human feelings? Do they just assume that everything goes away over a cup of coffee?

You’d think he was fourteen years old. I leaned over close to him where no one could hear. “You are a pain in the ass.”

His eyes shot up to mine. “What did I do?”

“I need a drink.”

I walked over to the table and poured myself a cup of beer thinking it would take the edge off. I sipped it slowly. I was thinking about what my Mom would say if I told her about the situation. She says women overreact. That we jump to conclusions if things don’t seem to be going the way we want them. Cleary, she’d be right. 

Everything became complicated the moment I opened my big, fat mouth. Honestly, it seemed easier when he didn’t know. But stupid me thought that by some slim chance he might’ve felt the same way. 

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone come through the door. 

Yes, Letty.

All eyes turned around to see who it was making their appearance. I couldn’t hold back my excitement. It was a big deal that she showed up, because Letty was the type who preferred the more subtle life. She chose to keep to herself. I was breaking that hard shell she had going on, and slowly weaving her into the crazy life of college. She deserved to experience it too. She worked her ass off.

“Hey, you made it. You don’t know how happy I am to see you.”

“I smell like bacon,” she groaned. 

I stepped closer to take a whiff. “Right you are. You smell delicious.” 

She scoffed. “I still have on my apron. Maybe I should go to the room and change.”

“Oh no, you don’t.” I cuffed my arm with hers. “Come meet everybody, and take a deep breath before you do.”

“Paislee.” Her voice was gravely. 

“I’m sorry,” I said quickly. “I didn’t know that he’d be here.”

I led her to the table as fast as I could pull her. I didn’t want to give her the chance to bolt. She could do this. Besides, if her bite were as bad as her bark then I’d say Mr. Foxy Pants better hope he’s vaccinated. 

Her free hand pinched my side when she spotted him. Oh, she was furious. 

“Letty,” I spoke above the noise at the table. “These are the guys.” I went around the table and told them all their names. Everyone was friendly enough to look up and acknowledge her except Fox. He gave a slight head nod, but never looked up. His eyes remained focused on the cards in front of him. I quickly continued around the table because I didn’t want any more added friction between the two of them. 

Garrett was the last one I introduced and he wasted no time showing her his lovable self. “You single?” He asked eyeing her bare legs. 

There was a bit of fire in her eyes when she responded, “No. I’m sorry. I’m married, and I have six babies.” Her stoic voice was beyond believable, and Garrett’s jaw dropped wide enough to catch flies. I had to look away to keep from laughing. Letty was a pistol. You never knew what was going to come out of that mouth of hers. 

Josh held out his hand to her. “Nice to see you again.” 

“Yeah. You too,” she responded. 

Garrett cleared his throat. “You really married?”

“No, Bear,” I pushed the back of his head. “Get back to your cards before you lose all your money.”

Josh eyed me curiously, probably wondering if I was still mad at him. With Letty by my side, I didn’t give it much more thought. I just childishly ignored him because I knew it would tick him off. It was the least that I could do after he had his hands on my leg earlier. I think the two of us needed some time together, just the two of us. It’d been a while since we had a movie night, or a long walk, or even an escapade in the rain. It was long overdue. 

Letty and I finished off a couple of beers, but the card game was pretty lame. We decided that we were ready to go back to the dorm and call it a night. We had more Gilmore Girl’s episodes to get through. 

We said our brief goodbyes, but everyone was so focused on the game that we were ignored equally. Men and their cards, it was an enigma. I reminded myself to play sick the next time Josh asked me to come over for another game of cards. It just wasn’t my thing. 

Letty and I pushed our beds together in the middle of the floor and set the laptop up in between us. I was so happy that I got her for a roommate. Who else would spend Friday night slumbering with Netflix in their dorm room? 

Now, if I could just get her to go shopping with me, we’d be soulmates.

I was just dozing off when I heard my phone beep. Opening it, I saw a text from Jude. He was the last person I was expecting a message from.

I just got my ass kicked in cards. Thought you’d want to know that there is something I’m not good at. –Jude

I texted back,

I knew you were a loser. -Paislee

Just kidding. Night Jude! -Paislee

He replied back quickly.

Very funny! Night Darlin! -Jude