90

Kassie

Bet You're The Nicest

In the back, I found a can of lemonade and a water bottle. I could drink the lemonade with him and he wouldn't argue against the extra sugar. It was an automatic thing now. Thinking about what I could do for him at every step.

"I just…" I shut the fridge door and the emotions hit me again. Slowly, I placed everything on the counter. There had to be something I could say to Zariah but all I could do was shrug, helpless. "I think…he's my person."

Her hand went to her mouth. "Oh, man."

"Yeah." I pressed a cool beer to my forehead. "You can say that again."

"Kassie," a voice called to me from the counter on the other side of the fridge.

I glanced up automatically but I had no idea who she was. Literally no clue. She gave me a long look and pressed her lips so hard, they disappeared for a moment. It wasn't a good look and for a couple of seconds, I knew I should've taken my exit.

"You don't deserve him."

Zariah frowned at me. "What?"

The drunk girl wasn't alone and her friends flocked over in an instant, trying to apologize for her, but she set her face and I knew she wasn't sorry.

"Don't worry about it," I told my roommate and shifted back to look at the girl. "I don't know who you are but not tonight. Seriously. I'm not in the mood."

"Thank you," one of her friends exhaled.

"You don't know who I am?" She gave me a flabbergasted look, ignoring her friends trying to get her off the counter. " Amelia. "

Great. That clears nothing up .

"I don't know an Amelia."

"Now we do," Zariah pushed, stubborn. "And I want to know what she's talking about."

I gathered up the beers. "Z, trust me, you don't."

"My brother's Sebastian. Senior punter." Amelia sneered.

"This used to be a lot worse," I told Zariah, firmly ignoring the drunk girl on the counter. "It doesn't matter. Let's go whoop Adam's ass at cards."

That wasn't enough for Amelia. "I was there for the first practice—I saw everything. How you stomped around and threw a tantrum."

"And she's been seething about it ever since," Zariah scoffed.

I had to push Zariah away because I was absolutely not trying to start up an argument at June's party of all places with the sister of a football player. A waste of time. Nothing good could come from it and I didn't want anyone at our table finding out.

"You're a mean bitch, " Amelia hurled at me.

I froze, halfway down the table. Ever since Cleo went overboard on the socials in a purposeful way to cut out the weirdo conversations, I hadn't been confronted in a while. But I definitely hadn't been called a mean bitch by one of Ryan's fans before.

"Kass?" Zariah must've seen something on my face because she changed her tune. "You're right, let's go."

Her friends tried to apologize for her behavior again but I set everything on the table, staring straight ahead at the wall. God, it'd been high school since someone called me a bitch. Every new school I had attended while I bounced around had someone who thought they could fuck with me. I had to learn how to take care of myself.

I shifted back. "A mean bitch?"

"She didn't mean that," one of her friends lied. "She's just drunk."

"You know what?" I shoved my hands in my pockets, watching this drunk girl up on the counter that had no idea what she was in for.

Amelia jutted her chin. "What?"

"I bet you're the sweetest girl in the whole world when you're not drinking."

She stared at me for a moment and glanced back at her friends.

"I bet you're so caring and so nice," I continued. "And I can tell you that there are a ton of football players that love that shit."

Her eyebrows knitted in confusion.

"And you're right. I can be a mean bitch ."

Zariah tried to take my arm but I shook her off.

"I can be the meanest fucking bitch you know," I stated plainly. "And Ryan Cross loooves mean bitches. I could go to him right now and get you kicked out of this party. All your friends, banned from everything football for the rest of their college existences. I could tell him about your benchwarmer brother and there'd be hell to pay." I took a deep breath. "And you know what? He'd be the happiest man in the world doing that for me." I went back to the table and picked up the beers again. "But I'm not going to do that."

There were audible sighs of relief from her friends but Amelia was silent.

"Ryan gets thirty seconds of free time a week and I'm not wasting it on something this stupid," I said. "I don't care about arguing anymore. Argue with yourselves. I'm not wasting the energy."

With that, I walked back to our table, beers in hand, and Zariah hurried up to me.

"Wow, Kass," she whispered.

I just shrugged it off and dropped off the beers in the middle of a hot debate between my friends. I tossed King a beer and passed around the rest of them before Ryan looped his finger through my jeans loop.

"Hey, art girl."

"Water bottle for you." I smiled. "And a lemonade we can split. Half the sugar."

His eyes lit up and he tugged me closer.

My heart beat in my chest. God, he was so good to look at. And with that pleased grin on his face, not the usual, exhausted one, When I took my seat, he pulled my chair to him.

"What're we arguing about?" I asked, resting my head on Ryan's arm.

Adam put down another card. "I'm giving them the cold, hard truth. This friend group isn't going to last after college."

"He's being negative for no reason," June retorted, carefully placing a card in the middle of the table.

"It's not negative, it's realistic ."

"What are you going to do with the thousands of kids you'll have?" Zariah pointed out, opening her beer. "It'd be easier if you just dropped them off at Kassie and Ryan's place."

"Thousands of kids? Is that a joke?" Adam demanded and I burst into laughter. His mouth fell open. "Fuck no, I'm not having kids."

I smirked. "One hole poked in a condom…"

"He's never wanted kids," Ryan confirmed.

"Nobody's taking child support checks from me." Adam picked up a wild card. "Confirmed bachelor for life."

Everybody started talking again and I snuggled against Ryan, putting down another card on the pile. He was so warm. Gently, he kissed my hair, and my pulse raced again, all for him.

"Ryan?" I asked, my voice low.

"Hm?"

"After college, if we're still together—"

" When, " he corrected me, amused.

"When we're still together…"

It was quiet for a moment and I could feel Ryan's eyes on me. Because I didn't put stock in the far-out future. We both knew that. And with Ryan, I couldn't imagine it but I wanted to. I really, really wanted to.

"When we're still together," I murmured, "I'll make you one."

"Make me what?"

"A dad."

Ryan was silent and it was his turn to play. I nudged his shoulder and glanced up to see smoldering dark honey, gazing down at me. He cocked his head to the side, speechless.

"It's your turn," I whispered with a little nod to the table.

Ryan's hand went to the back of my neck in an instant. He dipped down to me and kissed me, the kind of toe-curling kiss you see in the movie. I put my hand up to his face and his hand engulfed mine, keeping me there, while he kissed me again harder, leaning into me, holding me close.

"You'll get pussy later, " Adam snorted. "Not at the fucking table."

The rest of the table burst into laughter and I pulled away from him with a hand to his chest. Breathless, I nodded to the table again. "It's your turn."

Ryan picked up the first one from his hand and tossed it down without looking at it.

"That's a wild card." I whipped it off the pile and pushed it towards him.

"Take it."

Everybody groaned and half of the table said they wouldn't play the game if Ryan was just throwing wild cards at me. I rolled my eyes before grabbing his cards from him. Seven of spades worked.

"Not a wild card and I can't use it," I informed the group.

Ryan leaned down to kiss my neck, long and slow. Completely inappropriate in front of everybody but I couldn't find it in myself to stop him.

"I'm obsessed with you," he admitted against my skin.

I stroked the side of his face. "You're my person."