5

Adam

The Circus Monkey Act

At my own party for the Birchwood Bowl, I was acting like a circus monkey, and I wasn't drunk enough to blame it on that. Why ? The shot I had after we won the Birchwood Bowl, and the beer after I'd finished icing, postgame, were both completely burned out of my system. But I just couldn't stop the act. Every sentence was like juggling balls to keep Piper's attention.

Off to the side, I could see one of my favorite teammates, King, throwing me dumbfounded looks every time I spoke to her.

I couldn't blame him.

There had been even bigger parties on-campus. Hell, Gianna's was packed, but I told everyone the best one was going to be at my place for no reason. It'd been a fucking nightmare to scramble up a party on such short notice.

Why?

Because I knew Piper Fontaine would come. Even if she'd be banging on my door to do it.

Stupid.

Fucking stupid, actually.

The girl gaped at me, with fuzzy turtle slippers and blonde braids down her shoulders, looking even more shocked than King. Shocked was fine though. Shocked was something I could work with. At least it wasn't the three days of silence between the pie-throwing and the party, when she scampered off to her room every time she saw me. That'd been unbearable.

"Alright!" I had everyone's attention, and I pushed myself to a standing position. I promised Piper a magic trick, and I meant to deliver. A foolproof plan to get everyone's attention. "Now, everybody! Get the hell out of here!"

The ooo s and aww s to the proposal turned into surprise. All morphing into disgruntled comments. Ungrateful bastards.

I clapped my hands. "I mean it! Get out! We have to consummate!"

A couple of laughs followed but everybody else started heading off towards the door, complaining just loud enough to be dicks. I'd fed them and catered to their alcohol problems. You would think they could be a little nicer when it came to my fake fiancée's privacy.

A hand reached out and gripped my shirt. Piper yanked me down, shaking. Her words were a stutter. "Don't—don't you ever do that again."

"What?"

"The public whatever you just did - don't do it again ."

"Aw, ice princess." I couldn't help it. Her anger was adorable, like a frustrated kitten. And where Piper was usually sweet, soft, and trying to see the bright side of things, when she was angry—wow—was it a one-eighty. I grinned. "Is that a no to the proposal?"

"Adam?" Ryan leaned against the door frame, holding it open for everyone streaming out.

My team captain of the Romans, one of my best friends in the world, was supposed to be in my room three hours ago.

"Captain, you're too late." I shook my head. "It just ended."

"I didn't come for that. Kassie wanted me to drop off some of the lemonades."

Seriously? "You said you two were coming out. We just won the Birchwood Bowl!"

"Her fridge is too full."

It was like he didn't hear a damn thing I said. Even if we used to hang out together all the time last semester, ever since Ryan and Kassie got back together after Ryan almost royally fucked up, it was like I was lower than chopped liver. All my time with them went down the toilet.

Truth be told, it fucking sucked. Even if they'd been busy last semester, at least I saw them occasionally. That was gone once they shut everybody out to giggle and draw hearts together or whatever the hell they were doing now that they were a real couple.

"Oh my god," Piper whispered. "That's Ryan Cross."

"Yeah, unfortunately, it is," I muttered. "Bring the drinks in."

Piper took a few steps back, her face peculiarly red. She stammered for a whole new reason. I couldn't put it together. Did she have a thing for Ryan? That couldn't be true. She had a thing against football players. I remembered that all too clearly.

Or maybe she just doesn't like you .

Fuck it. Everybody likes me. I'm the party guy, the prankster dude, the man down for anything. Piper wouldn't like someone like Ryan. There was no way.

He's my best friend—I'd even watched the door while he beat the shit out of some dude last semester for disrespecting Kassie—but he was one uptight motherfucker. You couldn't skip out on a track run without him sniffing it out during practice.

Piper wouldn't like a guy like that. She couldn't. It just didn't make sense. Piper needed someone more fun to get all that melancholy off her shoulders.

I took the drinks from Ryan and arranged them in the fridge when Piper suddenly blurted out, "I follow you on all your socials."

You got to be kidding me .

I stared at my RA who looked two shades lighter than a tomato. She followed Ryan online? Like she stalked his pages? My hands balled into fists. I had to stop myself from grinding my back teeth. Suddenly, I wanted nothing more than to slam the door in my captain's face.

Ryan stared at her with a blank expression. "Uh. Okay?"

Technophobic Cross probably didn't know what she was talking about. But that didn't make me feel better.

"I mean, I follow your couple pages." Piper's blush deepened. "It's so sweet. I was a huge Rassie fan for months."

Ryan blinked. "A what? "

"A Rassie? Like a Ryan and Kassie shipper?" She looked at me like I could've helped her. "I was rooting for you two since the beginning. It was so sweet just…that's it. Um…it was part of the reason why I came here. You guys just seem like such a family and I…"

Ryan nodded. "Thank you for…the follow." And, with that, he turned and walked out, just as quickly as he'd walked in.

The secondhand embarrassment was nonexistent. While Piper sank into one of my chairs, I was as light as a balloon. I could've been skipping daisies while I walked to the kitchen, past the party carnage and the last of drunk stragglers, too out of it to function properly. Man, was I on top of the world. I couldn't imagine being more on top of the world. Fuck it, this called for a drink.

Not one of the lemonades from Kassie's stuff. That shit was too potent. The last time I drank it, I woke up in a pool with nothing but a scarf over my dick.

Leftover champagne will do .