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“Can you two play now? Cami is kicking our asses and I’ve only got ten dollars left,” Bear whines, coming over putting his forearms on the table to lean against the it as Cami and Gunnar set up again.

“I love it when she hustles.” I snort out a laugh, taking Grant’s drink from his hand and having a sip since I got rid of my own. “Let me guess, she plays bad enough times that you forget she’s good and then bets you boys large when you’ve been drinking, and you take it?”

“Son of a bitch.” Grant’s mouth is open in shock, and Bear's eyebrows are furrowed in confusion like he’s unsure what I've just explained, because that’s totally what’s been happening.

“Shh, don’t tell anyone I told you that.” Grant and I walk over to the table, and he leans down next to my ear to whisper.

“You can’t drop information like that and tell me not to tell anyone.”

“Sure, I can. How are we going to beat her otherwise?” I whisper back, and he nods as we watch Cami play Gunnar like a fiddle.

“I don’t know how I got so lucky with that shot.” Cami smiles widely at Gunnar, who looks down at her with pride.

“Oh, she’s good,” Grant whispers from behind them as he passes a cue over to me and grabs one for himself.

“Right?” I laugh as we walk back round to the opposite side to face them. “Okay, Cam, what’s the bet, and before we even go there? No money.”

“No fun.” She pouts before tapping her chin with her pointer finger. “Hmm, what do I want from you two, Gunnar?”

“If we win, Grant just got a new TV. I could use a bigger screen for my movie nights with Sasha.” He replies, leaning his hip against the table, smiling over at Grant, who flips him off.

I notice Cami’s smile deflates a little, but she shakes it off like a trooper.

“Woah, hey! You won't bet money, but you will bet my TV.” Grant bursts out laughing. “That’s not happening.”

“Ooh, I know, Brooke, if you win, you can get rid of the mattress, but you can’t sell it to Adam,” Cami smirks my way, knowing I’ll do anything to get that mattress out of my room. It takes up so much space against my wall, but I refuse to sleep on it. It's too weird.

“What the hell?” Adam splutters. “That was an under-the-table deal; how do you know about that?”

“Do I need to list the many reasons it’s gross to you again?” Cami glares over at him, taking a sip of her drink.

“I was getting it professionally cleaned at Brooke’s request,” Adam pouts, dropping down on a nearby stool defeatedly.

“Why did she have to request it?” Grant chuckles at him, but then stops smiling like he’s realising something, leaning away from him slightly. “Dude, you would have done it anyway, right?”

Adam just shrugs, taking a swig of beer while we all stare at him in disgust.

“We take it,” I say to move us along. “You win, you get the TV, we win, I get rid of the mattress.”

“Woah, woah, it’s my TV. Don’t I get a say!” Grant bursts out, putting his hands on my shoulders.

“Nope, sorry locked in,” Cami calls over the table before lining up to break at the other end with the confidence of a professional pool player, even I'm intimidated by the move.

“Brooke,” Grant whines, dropping his head to my shoulder from behind me. My body becomes hyper-aware of our closeness, and I bite my lip, trying to stay calm. How tall is he? He could rest his chin on my head while still standing straight. “I like my TV.”

“I’m sorry, I panicked, and I want to get rid of that mattress.” I pat his neck apologetically as his head is still resting in the crook of my shoulder. “And I’ve played loads with Cami before, I know we can beat them.”

I hear Cami scoff, rolling her eyes and planting a confident hand on her hip while hearing Gunnar nervously whisper. “She’s just trying to throw us off, right? They won’t win?”

“Shush, we are not going to lose,” Cami sighs. “Don’t be such a big baby.”

“Sometimes you’re mean when we play,” Gunnar pouts, leaning away from her on his cue.

“You two going to put your balls where your mouths are, or chit-chat all day?” I call over the table.

“If that’s your trash talk, I’m seriously worried about what you cheer at games,” Grant coughs out as he chokes on his beer and beats his chest.

“Shh, and line up the shot,” I push his shoulder toward the table.

He lines up, and he gets two balls in.

“Nice.” Cami smiles. “Remember that when you’re watching a wall at night?”

“God, she scares me,” he says as he comes back to stand next to me after failing to pot his next ball while Cami looks for the best one to aim for.

“I know.” I shiver. “Never ask her to help train or teach you anything. That’s when she’s at her scariest.”

“What are you two girls talking about?” Cami shouts.

“Nothing,” I say while Grant defends himself “Hey, only one of us is a girl.”

We play a long game, and it is getting close with both pairs only having one ball left on the table each before the black. Cami and Gunnar are taking their time to figure out their next shot.

“I’ve been thinking,” Grant whispers from next to me at the other end of the table. “Say we lose?”

“Hmm?” I hum while still looking at Cami and Gunnar, trying to psych them out with scary eyes, which I’m blaming on Adam and Bear giving us tequila shots and strong drinks while we play.

I’ve got Gunnar spooked, but Cami keeps snapping her fingers in his face to get him back into the game.

“Well, I’ll be TV-less in my room,” he whispers closer now, next to my ear, and I shiver, biting my lip.

“Yup.” I nod, trying to stay calm and composed, but to be honest, tipsy Brooke is.

“But you’ll have a very comfy bed and a TV,” he states.

I finally turn towards him and quirk an eyebrow, realising we are standing so close to one another. “Doesn’t seem very fair,” I say, playing along to whatever game he’s playing.

“No, it doesn’t.” He rubs his hand along his jaw and nods. “We could always share your TV?” he asks, shrugging before leaning an arm on the table behind me, partially caging me in. I throw caution to the wind completely, because we’ve not flirted like this since the party.

“And what about my bed?” I whisper, biting my lip again and leaning into him.

His eyes darken slightly. I’m guessing he thought I would put a stop to our flirting like I had before, but to be honest with Grant, I might need to get burned and deal with the consequences later.

Things are fun when we are flirting together, and I’m bored with resisting it.

After seeing Josh earlier and realising I feel nothing towards him anymore, I don’t know why I’m holding myself back from enjoying Grant’s attention.

“I hear that mattress is pretty comfy.” He smirks down at me; I love how tall he is when he towers over me.

“Oh, it is,” I nod my head, when suddenly we both hear whooping as we turn to the table, Cami and Gunnar have potted the black.

We turn back to each other with wide eyes, realising we’ve just lost.

“Damn!” Grant says, “That TV was pretty sweet.” He sighs.

“You're strict on sticking to your bets, then?” I don’t know why I ask, I already know the answer.

“Oh yeah, you’ve got that mattress for life, I’m afraid.” He chuckles as Adam sulks up to us with another shot of tequila.

“Thanks a lot, Brookie,” Adam whines as Grant and I take our shots. I groan, half because it burns and half because I wanted to get rid of that mattress.

Brooke and I don’t manage to be alone for the rest of the night as we switch up our pairs with the rest of the team, and Cami and Brooke end up sitting and chatting together.

When we finally leave, Cami has her arm firmly linked with Brooke’s, preventing me from offering her a ride in the back with me.

I internally snort at the thought of a ride because, although it’s not the ride, I’m suggesting I can finally confirm that I’m not interested in hooking up with anyone who is not Brooke.

All the girls who had come up to me tonight, trying to grab my attention, I found myself brushing them off to keep talking to Brooke or just being near her. It was confusing as hell because I hadn’t felt this way towards a girl since high school.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not about to pull out a ring and settle down, but I know random hook-ups are off the table.

Looking over at her and Cami huddled together just outside the bar door, there’s just something about her, it’s how she gives me as good as I get or how I trick her into flirting, and instead of bottling up, she now plays along with me.

She’s so God damn beautiful, too. Whether it’s right now wearing jeans and my jersey or dressed up for a party, she always looks incredible, and I just gravitate towards her.

Our sober ride arrives, and we pile in. Cami tries to convince the driver to stop at McDonald’s during the entire journey, while we all laugh because the driver is only allowed to stop at the rider’s house.

She’s unsuccessful, but when we get up to the apartments, there’s a DoorDash order sitting in front of the girl’s door from McDonald’s, and she lights up and thanks Bear before digging in while opening the door.

Before I can even say bye to Brooke, she’s dragged inside, shouting a quick goodbye before the door slams, and we laugh.

“I didn’t order McDonald’s,” Bear says, confused, as Adam pushes our door open.

“Nah, I did,” Gunnar says, and I smirk behind his back. “She wouldn’t stop, and I felt bad.”

“That was a long list, bro,” Adam yawns, falling onto the couch and hugging a pillow to his chest.

“I assume Brooke will get some of it.” He snorts, moving to his room. “Night.”

“Night,” I call, heading to mine. “Good game today, boys. Let’s keep it up.”

“YES, SIR,” Bear yells, saluting me, and Adam throws his pillow at him, and I don’t linger to watch the fight.

Once I'm settled back against my pillows in bed, my thoughts run riot. I’ve got to convince Brooke to give me some sort of shot. I don’t know what it looks like yet, but how?

Every time we get close to crossing the line with our flirting, she pulls back and leaves me wanting more. She’s got her doubts about me, and I need to change her mind somehow.

I grab my phone and bring up her name, tapping out a text, then deleting it. I do this about ten times before sending it.

Grant- Get any of that McDonald's?

I throw the phone down like it’s on fire and regret sending the text; she’s already asleep,she looked tired at the bar. Stupid.

My phone buzzes, and I grab it.

Brooke- One whole cheeseburger, thank you.

Grant- Wow, big of her.

Brooke- Right?

Brooke- We text now?

I wince because it’s true; we don’t text each other; we either walk into each other’s apartments or plan in person.

Grant- Depends. Do you text again before you get a reply?

Brooke- All the time, it’s my red flag.

Grant- I will have to end our texting relationship before it even started, unfortunately.

Brooke - That’s fair; I would hate to text you, too.

Brooke- But I would anyway, because I’m terribly cute.

Grant- And an annoying texter.

Brooke -:!

Grant- Soo, there’s a party at the football house on Tuesday...

Brooke- go on...

Grant- Wanna go?

Brooke- Day or evening?

Grant- All day and pool.

Brooke- Pool? It’s freezing.

Grant- Indoor pool

Brooke- Sold. I’m in.

I pump my fist at the win and almost type it’s a date, but don’t want to scare her. But hey, I’ve got an official shot at Brooke, and I’m not going to blow it