Page 29

Jake

E liana handles beer pong the way she tackles any to-do item in her calendar— with tact, a game plan, and a determination that could rival an Olympian’s.

She does a few practice throws before the game starts.

She manages to sink her first shot and the next one touches the rim before bouncing off the table.

She decides to up the ante in her next attempt, bouncing the ball off the table and sending me a wide smile when it sinks into the cup a few feet across from her.

“You’re a pro already, Ellie.” I had been using the nickname for weeks now, and if she minded, she hadn’t told me.

She walks around the table to where I’m standing and taps her hip against mine. “Well you gave me some pretty solid pointers earlier.”

She takes a ping pong ball from my hand and sends it flying across the table and into the leftmost cup with ease, and I know immediately we’re going to sweep any team that comes against us. I liked that idea a lot. The thought of us as a team.

We play a couple of rounds just the two of us.

Eventually, I swap out the beer in the cups for water after Eliana confesses that she can’t have more than a few sips without wanting to gag over the taste.

We had set up a few beer pong tables outside and closer to the kitchen to keep the party controlled to the front part of the house.

I set up this table specifically for us, far away from all the alcohol, the debauchery, and decently hidden from the rest of the party.

For a moment, I forget that anyone else exists except for her and I.

That is until Ollie rolls in with Adam and a mix of guys from the hockey and lacrosse teams.

“Well well, what do we have here?”

“Jake’s showing me how to play beer pong.” Eliana’s expression shifts from calm and confident to sheepish. She turns her head to shoot me a quick wink before going back to looking despondent. I’m very intrigued by the game she’s trying to play right now.

“Oh is he now?”

“Yeah…it’s not going super well though.” She sighs and tosses a ball so far back it doesn’t come close to any of the cups. Her second “attempt” isn’t any better, and if I didn’t know any better, I’d say she was very bad at beer pong.

“Don’t beat yourself up over it. You just need some practice. And maybe some better competition.” Ollie smirks playfully at me. “Jake why don’t you and her pair up against Adam and I? Hockey House rules.”

And by that he means loser has to clean the winner’s bathroom and do their laundry for the next two months.

“I mean, it’ll probably be a shutout but I’m down.” Eliana shrugs. Her nonchalant tone matches the look on her face.

“I’ll rack the cups.”

“Excellent.” Ollie smirks. “Jake why don’t you and I start so Eliana has time to adjust?”

“You sure you wanna play House Rules again? My track record speaks for itself.”

“Oh yeah. I think it’s about time for me to get a win. I’m feeling pretty good about tonight. Letting your heart control your head is a rookie mistake, Keeley. I thought you knew better,” he tsks.

Eliana was going to burst his bubble eventually, but for now, I’d let him have his moment. No harm in letting my best friend get excited over finally beating me in beer pong.

“Ready?” He gives me a small nod as we lock eyes and send the ping-pong balls flying.

Each round we face off, he lands a ball into one of my cups.

Eliana is keeping the team alive, scoring against Adam with ease.

Ollie’s eyes narrow in on me as if he’s starting to piece together what’s unfolding in front of him.

“It’s probably beginner’s luck.” Eliana comforts him. She sinks the next cup and we are now tied with 5 cups left.

Ollie seems to be taking the tough competition in stride, and shoots me a smirk when he notices my arms wrapped around Eliana’s waist.

Somewhere between my 5 th or 6 th cup, I went from giving Ellie small hugs in celebration to holding on to her.

She doesn’t seem to mind, as she leans into my chest and places one of her hands on top of mine.

With her so close to me, the scent of her shampoo— a mix of apples and honey— hits my nose and all I want to do is hold on to her for as long as she’ll let me.

Towards the end of the game, Ollie takes the lead, leaving us with two cups to his three.

On her next toss, Eliana bounces the ball on the table and we watch, holding our breath, as the ball circles the rim of the cup before finally falling in.

She lets out the cutest little squeal before turning her head to look at me, pride beaming on her face. “I can’t believe that actually worked.”

“You’re absolutely incredible.” I press a small kiss on her shoulder. ”That counts as two by the way. Which puts us in the lead. ”

“Really?” Eliana beams, and it takes everything in me not to kiss her. Everything about being with her felt right. Even in the moments when we butt heads, there’s no one else I would want to be with than her. And that realization was centering.

“Yes, really. You played me Ellie, didn’t you? What a shark.” Ollie groans as he pulls two of the cups off the table. His shoulders hunch in mock defeat, but by the smile on his face and his use of Ellie’s nickname I can tell he isn’t really upset.

“Mmm maybe a little bit,” she admits. “Are you mad?”

“Mad? No. Annoyed that I’m going to have to wash Jake’s laundry again? Yes. Next time I’m going to be smarter when I pick my team.” He winks at her.

“Hey man, don’t act like I’m dead weight over here,” Adam scoffs.

“I would never.” Ollie claps a hand on his shoulder, which Adam shrugs off.

I grab the final ball and slide it into Eliana’s hand, which draws a look of confusion from her. “But it’s your turn.”

I shake my head. “It’s all you.” It’s always been you. “Unless Ollie wants to protest.”

Ollie is unbothered, “Honestly, I kinda want to see if she’s able to make it shooting from behind her back. Consider this an audition for being my partner next round.”

My eyes stay trained on Eliana as she wraps an arm around her back, angles her wrist up, and lets the ball fall from her fingers.

I can’t look away from her, but I hear the beautiful “plop” of the ball making contact with the beer in the cup.

She gives me a a smile that could stop tides and make the earth fall off its axis.

“Holy shit. We won! We won!” She wraps her arms around my neck. My hands fall to her hips and I pick her up in celebration, spinning us around in a circle before setting her back down. “That was so much fun. ”

I tuck a stray piece of hair behind her ear and relish in the way she slightly leans into my hand. “You crushed it.”

“Maybe you should give Ollie a break. For being a good sport?”

I tap a finger on my chin. “Hmm I’ll take it under consideration.”

“C’mon. You knew we were hustling him.”

“Alright fine. I’ll forget this game ever happened Ollie. Consider this your lucky day.”

Ollie pumps a fist in mock celebration. “I knew I liked you, Ellie. Should we go for round two?”

She looks to me for confirmation before saying, “Eh, why don’t you and Adam play and we’ll cycle back. I want to see what other trouble Jake can get me into tonight.”

Well damn. I take her hand in mine as I weave through the bodies.

I have no doubts Adam would demand we scrub the place clean tomorrow but that was a problem for future Jake.

Current Jake had much more important things on his mind.

Like how it felt all too natural having my arms around Ellie or feeling a sense of pride when she absolutely destroyed Ollie at beer pong.

All I wanted to do was figure out how to bottle up this moment and make it last forever.

We head into the kitchen to grab some snacks as I plot my next move. Throwing the cabinet open I groan at the sight of a missing bag of chips.

“Dammit. Freaking animals. Hang on, I stored some in the closet upstairs.” I leave Eliana tucked in the corner of the kitchen as I run upstairs and grab the bag of chips.

As I head back down the stairs, I see Eliana, still in the kitchen, looking incredibly uncomfortable as some random drunk guy is talking to her. Fuck that.

My blood starts to boil as I get close enough to hear her .

“Listen, I told you I’m not interested, so if you could please give me some space?—”

“Aw c’mon baby. There’s no need to play hard to get.” He lifts a hand to touch her hair, but I smack it away before he can make contact. The jackass lets out an irritated noise before looking up, his eyes widening when he notices me.

“She told you to leave her alone man. I recommend you listen to her and fuck off. Because if you don’t, I can promise you I won’t be as nice about removing your hands as she was.”

“Whatever. Fuck this.” He grabs his cup and stalks out of the kitchen. Wise choice.

I pull Eliana closer to me. “I shouldn’t have left you. I’m so sorry?—”

She cuts me off. “It’s not your fault, Jake. Nor is it your responsibility to stop every asshole guy that can’t respect my boundaries. But I do appreciate you jumping in and helping me out.” She reaches out and takes my hand into hers, and I can’t help but notice how good we fit together.

I don’t want to make a big deal of it and risk freaking her out, so I just lift the massive bag of chips I brought down. “Here you go.”

She pops a few chips in her mouth. “Excellent choice. Salt and vinegar chips are my favorite.”

“They’re definitely superior. And I would even argue underrated.”

“ Right? Like not only are they salty but they’re also perfectly tangy. What more could you want from a chip?”

I watch as her tongue dips out and traces over her bottom lip, and it takes me a few seconds to realize she asked me a question. “Maybe if they were kettle cooked?”

“Ooo or even a waffle cut.” She stops before she can finish her sentence and I watch as someone’s beer sprays all over her dress — drenching it .

“Damn my night really peaked with winning beer pong.” Eliana laughs as she shakes the beer off her arms.

My head snaps to the stranger standing across from us in the kitchen. He throws his hands up in defense. “I was just trying to shotgun it…”

Eliana’s hand wrap around by bicep, “Jake, it’s fine. It was an accident.” I look down and see her arms covered in goosebumps.

“Well he can at least say sorry.” I roll my eyes.

She presses her lips together, clearly enjoying my uncharacteristic irritation. Her eyes soften and my arm feels like it's on fire as she trails her hand down my bicep. “Thank you. For defending me.”

“No need to thank me. Now let’s get you cleaned up.”