14. Betsy

Betsy

T he expression on Kelly's face was priceless. Her mouth was open, and her baby blue eyes were wide, but I could tell that she wasn't opposed to what I'd suggested. If she was, she'd be telling me off or arguing about what a terrible idea it was. Instead she just continued to stare at me as if her brain had short-circuited.

"Do we have a deal?" I asked, determined to press my advantage while I had it.

The air seemed to crackle in the room while I waited for her response.

"Fine," she finally said, shocking the hell out of me. "I'll commit to one kiss. Anything else…well, let's just see how it goes."

My proposal had been a gamble, but one I hoped was going to pay off. All I knew for sure was that I needed to kiss her again, I needed to know if what happened between us was a fluke or not. And I needed to take the edge off, because the longer I roomed with Kelly, the hornier I got.

No, that wasn't completely accurate, because it wasn't plain old horniness. That I could take care of with any number of women at the Games. I'd been propositioned twice since I came here, including that swimmer we'd met at the gym. No, it was more like an obsessive desire. For my roommate.

We both jumped as her phone alarm rang, interrupting our little stare off.

"I've got to go to the eye doctor," she mumbled. "See you later."

"Wait," I said. "Do you want to have dinner together when you get back?"

"Okay," she said over her shoulder. "I should be back in an hour or two."

While she was gone I tidied up the room. Well, my side of it anyway. Her side was immaculate as usual, not an item out of place. At first I'd found her obsessive neatness annoying as hell, but the longer we roomed together, the more I started to appreciate how much better things felt when they were neat. Especially when the two of us were sharing a room the size of a shoebox.

Kelly returned about ninety minutes later, a bag in her hand. Her face was no longer drooping, so the Novocain must have worn off, and she seemed like her normal cheerful self.

Although now that I thought of it, the cheerfulness seemed to hide a lot of pain. There was definitely more to Kelly Larson than it seemed at first glance.

"It was great," she gushed. "When the doctor heard I don't have insurance, they gave me two pairs of glasses. For free! I couldn't believe it. It didn't cost me anything, other than hearing a lecture about how ridiculous the American healthcare system is, and it's not like I disagree."

"Let me see," I said, her enthusiasm catching.

She pulled two glasses cases out of the bag. The first one had a pair of glasses with plastic tortoise shell frames, and the second one had thin black frames that looked metallic.

"What do you think?" she asked, modeling the tortoiseshell frames for me.

"I think you just unlocked a sexy librarian fantasy that I never knew I had."

"Haha."

She slipped the glasses back into the case carefully, then looked around the room.

"You cleaned up," she said, her voice surprised.

"I clean," I said defensively. "I'm just not a super neat freak like you."

"I like things tidy," she rejoined. "There's nothing wrong with that."

Resisting my natural urge to continue arguing with her, I changed the subject.

"How's your mouth?"

She moved her jaw from side to side, then pressed the pads of her fingers against her cheek.

"Still a little tender, but overall much better," she said. "Thanks for asking."

"Let me know when you're ready for dinner."

Both Kelly and I went to bed early, but I struggled to fall asleep. My mind was a jumble of confusion and horniness. I didn't understand my feelings towards Kelly. Why I was increasingly drawn to her. Why I cared if her teeth hurt. Why I spent a portion of the night fighting the urge to crawl into bed next to her and snuggle close. When I finally fell into a restless sleep, I even dreamt about her.

The coaches wanted us in the gym early for an easy workout to ensure that we were loose and limber for our game in the afternoon. Much as we did that first morning, Kelly and I stopped at the coffee cart before our workout, grabbing coffee and tartine . This time we didn't see any bird shenanigans though.

It was hot already, despite the early hour, and it was making me even more cranky than I was from lack of sleep. I hated being hot. As we did some footwork drills, I found myself getting irritated with everyone around me, and it must have been obvious, because everyone was giving me a wide berth.

Everyone except my current obsession.

"Who pissed in your Cheerios?" Kelly asked as we practiced forearm passes.

We popped the ball back and forth between us, doing our best to keep the ball in the air.

"I didn't sleep well," I grumbled.

"I slept like a baby," she said.

"Yeah, I know, I had to listen to your damned snoring all night. I seriously considered putting a pillow over your face to smother you at least twice."

She rolled her eyes. "I don't believe that for a minute."

"Believe it. I think you have a deviated septum or something."

"And I think you need a personality transplant, but that's okay, we all have our issues."