I sink into the leather chair in Chris's living room and pull out my notebook. He walks toward the kitchen and grabs two glasses and fills them with ice water. "Did you do your research?" I ask, turning my head slightly to look at him.

He takes a quick sip of his water before walking back into the living area with me. He nods. "Yup. You?" He sets the glass on the table in front of me and sits down on the long couch in front of me. "Yes. Duh."

He takes a long sip of his water and a drop falls from the corner of his mouth, sliding down slowly, falling onto his perfect abdomen. Did I mention he was shirtless? Trying to focus on a stupid speech was not the first thing in my head right now.

Also trying not to check him out was almost impossible.

"Why are you naked? Put on some clothes." I look down at my phone so that he doesn't think I'm staring. He says nothing, but when I look up he's smirking. That stupid sexy smirk. "Don't act like you hate the view." I can see the heat light up in his eyes, but I try not to give in to...him.

"I do. Now put on a shirt, dude." He chuckles before pushing himself up from the couch and picking up a shirt that lay on another recliner chair. He glides it on quickly before sitting back down.

We work on the speech for about two hours and I'm still shocked at how much Christian knows about the topic. When we picked it, I thought it was the worst choice we could make. That's just because I hate anything having to do with economics.

Sadly, our professor thought it would be a good topic to do. She suggested we do something that wasn't overused because we have all heard a lot about why children's lunch should be free or why college athletes should or should not be paid.

Luckily, my partner is an econ major so him gushing out all these random facts, that I didn't care to know, has been helpful.

"So, who was that blonde girl you were with after the game the other day?" I say, tucking a strand of auburn hair behind my ear. I don't look up from my laptop but I can feel his eyes on me now. "Why?" Seriously? Just answer the stupid question without asking one. I look up at him and shrug.

"Just making conversation." I chuckle awkwardly. His eyes narrow like he's trying to read me. I make sure to mask my actual emotions, whatever they may be. "Just a friend of mine." He finally says. A friend? Since when do friends kiss each others jaws like that?

"Right." I say in a whisper.

"Are you jealous?"

I scoff. "Why would I be jealous?"

"I dunno, why would you be?"

"I'm not."

"Then why ask about it?" He retorts.

"Because I was trying to make conversation?" He closes his laptop and sets it next to him. Leaning back into the couch, he crosses his arms over his chest and looks at me. "You could've asked anything else, Novalee."

I roll my eyes. "Aren't we friends? Friends ask each other about things like that, don't make it weird, Valdez." He lets out a husky laugh, rubbing the slight stubble that's growing on his jaw. "Yeah, she's just this girl I slept with occasionally. Not anymore though."

I try not to make a face, only nodding instead. "She's cute." I say, still typing in my computer. I guess he finished his work before me. Not surprised, I'm having a hard time focusing.

He chuckles, before standing up to walk to the kitchen. "Yeah, I guess."

Before I can say anything, the door opens and Chris's roommates walk in. They don't seem to notice me on the couch as they come in laughing their asses off. "What's so funny?" Valdez says, shoving a handful, of what looks like pecans, into his mouth.

The guys don't reply because they're still laughing. Rhys' face is a light shade of pink. Chris furrows his brows and shoots a confused look in my direction. I stand up and walk over to sit on one of the bar stools. They finally notice me as they begin to calm down.

Xander is the one who can actually get the story out without laughing every five seconds so he interrupts Cgc after three of his failed attempts.

"We were getting out of class and walking over to the car, oh you know how they turn on the sprinklers to water the grass, well Professor Green, being the dumb ass he is, decided to walk through the grass to get to the parking lot just as the sprinklers had turned off and he slipped on his ass," Xander says in one long breath, laughing again.

"I swear to God, it looked like one of those falls you see in funny Youtube compilations, bro." He finishes. It's obviously not as funny to us since we didn't see it happen, but a smile tugs onto Chris's lips as his teammates are still giggling.

"Good, that's what he gets for being an ass." Chris chuckles, shoving more pecans into his mouth. I frown and furrow my eyebrows at the laughing bunch. "I like Professor Green." I argue. He was my calculus professor last year—he teaches a lot of other classes too I've heard— and he was actually one of the best professors I've had.

Cgc snorts. "Of course you do, dork." He teases. I smile, shaking my head lightly. Xander wraps his arm around Chris' shoulder. "You still coming out tonight, right?" He asks him. Valdez furrows his eyebrows, "where to?" He replies.

"Nick and the guys invited us the bar tonight, remember?" Cgc replies for him, grabbing a beer from the fridge. "Oh shit, yeah. Luckily we finished our homework, Nov." He smiles. "Shit, I need get laid." Rhys groans and walks into the living room to sit down.

Xander follows behind him, smacking him on the arm. "There's a girl here, don't be nasty." I chuckle lightly, following the boys back into the living area. "Don't stop on my account, Valdez doesn't." I tease, a smirk on my lips. He shakes his hand at me, not being able to talk because of the water in his mouth.

He swallows it quickly. "I don't talk about shit like that with you." He argues. That's half true. He mentions it but I always change the topic. Talking about sex with the guy who took your virginity is not..comfortable.

"I'm shocked you haven't tried to get in her pants yet." Rhys laughs. "Oh he's tried." I retort before Valdez can speak. He narrows his eyes at me. "She's not that easy, it's never happening, Valdez." Cgc backs me up. I appreciate it, he knows me.

"Never happening again. It's happened before." He smirks.

Son of a bitch.

"We were literally ten." I joke. Rhys almost spits out his beer. He wipes his mouth with the back of his hand, "you were what?" His eyes widen. Chris rolls his eyes. "She's exaggerating. We were like fifteen or sixteen."

Rhys places his hand over his chest. "I was about to judge you guys." Xander snorts. "You don't get to judge anyone." Cgc nods in agreement. Rhys rolls his eyes and gets up, "I'm kidding, assholes. Gonna go get ready." He finishes his beer and disappears upstairs.

Cgc and Xander follow him shortly after. I get up from the couch and start putting my things away. "Do you wanna come out with us?" Chris asks, taking off his t-shirt. Seriously? Again?

I shake my head. "Oh no, I shouldn't." He tilts his head to the side and holds his hands out to the side. "C'mon Nov. It'll be fun. You can invite your girl, Maddy." I nod my head and scrunch my nose up.

Maddy has a date tonight with some random guy she met on Tinder. We had been texting about it all day. "She's busy and I don't want to be alone, so I'll pass." Xander comes back downstairs and throws Chris a shirt.

"You think I'm gonna leave you alone?" He says as he slides on the white t-shirt. Why does he have to be built like that? Why couldn't this man have gotten uglier instead of hotter? He snaps his fingers, catching my attention.

"Stop checking me out and answer me." He hides a smirk. Xander chuckles as he jogs back upstairs. I roll my eyes. "I wasn't, but yes, I think you'd leave me alone the second we enter and pretty girls catch your attention." He laughs and shakes his head

He knows damn well I'm right.

"I won't. I'm not looking for anything tonight, just a good night out with the boys." He shrugs. "Wait, so you want me to go to a sausage party?," I smirk teasingly, "I'm down with that." He rolls his eyes.

"The guys take their girlfriends sometimes, so maybe it won't be a complete sausage party." I hum, thinking about it. I don't know why I kind of do want to go. I think I need a drink.

"Okay, fine. I'll come." Christian smiles, "that's what she said." I roll my eyes. "You're a child." He laughs and walks toward the end of the staircase. "Let me go finish changing and I'll take you home to change after." I nod and he jogs upstairs.

+

A sausage party indeed.

We've only been here for five minutes, but I took a while to get ready, so everyone else was already here. We're sat in a booth that sits about ten of us,—the biggest booth in here— with Chris on my right and Cgc on my left.

There's only one other girl here— Lydia. She's one of the other guys girlfriend and she seems nice. I've talked to her once so far. Two waiters come to our booth with all of our drinks which are mostly beers for the guys.

I ordered a gin and tonic. An old lady drink as Xander said when I ordered it. It gives me a good buzz, so I love it. Christian takes a swig of his beer and looks at me when he notices me staring. "What?" He licks his lips. "I won't even get a buzz with this drink," I shake my drink "do you want me to be DD?"

I don't mind driving home. Plus, I could drink three of these and still barely be getting a light buzz. He shakes his head. "This is my only beer. I have to be up early tomorrow," he shrugs "you can get buzzed though, I got you." He bumps his shoulder with mine lightly.

Might as well right? It's a Saturday night, screw it. When the waitress comes back, I order something a little stronger and the guys order two rounds of shots.

"The first game should be easy though right?" Dante, one of Christian's teammates, says. Christian scoffs, shaking his head. "No shit. I've been seeing their film," he sucks his teeth "they look worse than last year."

"Yeah, but that big motherfucker they have in the backfield, what's his name? The linebacker? You know who. Scares the shit out of me." Cgc says, cringing at the thought. I chuckle lightly. "I got you man, I won't let him come near you." One of the other guys says. I haven't learned his name.

The waitress comes back with our shots and my drink. I grab it from her quickly and take a long sip. I finished my gin and tonic a couple of minutes ago. Christian chuckles, "calm down, babe. You're gonna get drunk. Quick." I roll my eyes, shaking my head.

"I don't get drunk quick, Valdez and don't call me babe." He holds his hands up in defense. Xander passes me a shot of vodka. "Cheers boys," Cgc says raising his shot "And Novalee and Lydia." The table lets out some chuckles before downing the first shot.

The liquid is sadly warm which doesn't help the burning sensation as it slides down my throat. I make a disgusted face, using my other alcoholic drink as a chaser. "Good?" Christian asks with a laugh. I shake my head as I'm still taking a much needed long sip of my drink.

I drag the other shot, which everyones already taken, off the small tray. I lick the rim of salt on my drink and then down the second shot. It's not any better than the first. God, why is alcohol so atrocious?

Four shots and one more drink later, Novalee is drunk. Some of the guys have left and here I am, taking care of the girl who can't stop giggling uncontrollably at something Rhys said. He's actually really funny, but I think a lot of the laughing has to do with the amount of alcohol she's consumed.

Nova gasps and pats my arm repeatedly. "I want to go sing!" She exclaims, pointing toward the small stage. It was karaoke night after eleven pm. I shake my head. "No, stay here where I can see you." I say.

I was talking to my co-captain, Nate, until she interrupted me just now. I turn back to face Nate when he motions his head to look behind me. I furrow my brows, turning around to see a overly excited redhead running towards the stage.

"Shit."

I push past people as the bar has filled up a bit now. The lights dim and music starts as Novalee stands in front of the microphone. I shake my head. "This isn't gonna be pretty." Cgc says, coming up next to me.

Then she sings, and he's wrong. It is.. pretty.

She sings a song I don't recognize, a slower song. Her voice catches the attention of people in the bar despite how sad it sounds for the setting we're in. "What the hell?" Cgc whispers in my ear, but I don't look towards him.

I can't keep my eyes off the stage. Not only because she has a voice on her but because I'm scared she's going to fall off with how drunk she is. When the song ends, it earns her claps from damn near everyone in the bar.

She puts the mic back on its stand and covers her face with her small hands. She then starts walking down the steps of the stage. I run to help her as I see her tumble on her feet a bit. Her eyes light up when she sees me, but I know it's just the alcohol.

"How did I do?" She asks me, a huge smile across her pretty face. "You did amazing. I didn't know you knew how to sing that good." I say. She chuckles and her smile turns into a smirk.

"There's a lot of things you don't know about me." She winks and then walks back toward our booth.

She may be right. But I can't help but want to know those things.

this chapters a bit longer since I haven't updated in a while! Make sure to vote, comment, or follow to show support for my book