Stealing Third (3 page)

A
few minutes after beating the pants off Tyler—literally—Kaitlin drags me
through the mass of people crowding the three story house in search of a
bathroom with no line.

“Oops,
sorry. Carry on,” Kat says after throwing open the door to a bedroom currently
occupied.

“Kat!”

“My
bad,” she laughs, shrugging her shoulders. “I swear Pete said take a left up
the stairs and it’s the third door on the right.” She scratches her head before
turning us around and dragging me up the next flight of stairs. “Maybe he said
it’s the door to the right, on the left side of the third floor? Whatever. It
was super loud. We’ll find it—eventually.”

“We
might find a whole lot more than that if you keep barging into people’s
bedrooms,” I giggle, tripping on a stair.

Kat
helps me back to my feet. “Whoa, are you drunk?”

Rubbing
my ankle, I shake my head. Stupid heels. “No. It’s the shoes,” I answer, even
though there
is
a warm buzz running through my body. One I’m not totally
sure is from the beers, or from Hottie Mchottieface, Tyler Ford, whispering in
my ear a few minutes ago.

Hottie
Mchottieface? Okaaaay, maybe I am a little drunk. But seriously, a girl could
get tipsy just looking at that guy’s abs.

I
clutch Kat’s arm as we make our way up the rest of the stairs, hoping to avoid
another mishap, since the last thing I need is a sprained ankle. “Are you?”

“Yes,”
Kaitlin says, triumphantly flinging open the door to the bathroom on the third
floor and pulling me inside with her.

“Wait.”
I shut the door behind us and lean against it, glad Pete was right. No line.
“Yes, you’re drunk?”

“What?
Oh, no,” she laughs, “I meant yes, we finally found the bathroom, not yes I’m
drunk. I’ve only had like two sips from that beer I’ve been nursing ever since
we got here.” She points at herself. “DD, remember? Tonight is all about you.”

I
smile at my best friend as she messes with her hair in the mirror. Man, am I
going to miss her this summer. “You know you’re the best, right?”

“I
know.” Kat winks at me in the reflection before turning around and leaning
against the sink. “Okay, can we seriously talk about the fact that we’re
hanging out with Tyler Ford and Pete Mickelson, right now?”

I
want to squeal, because no. I can’t believe it. But right now, there is
something even more important we need to discuss. 

Arching
an eyebrow over my narrowed eyes, I plant my hands firmly on my hips. “What we
need to seriously talk about, is you, tricking me into coming to the baseball
house tonight. Way to be vague about whose house the party was going to be at.”
I drop my voice to a whisper so no one will hear us, despite the fact the third
floor is empty. “You do know if my dad finds out we were here, he’s going to
come unglued, right?” At us, and probably at the team, too.

“What?”
Kat says innocently, batting her eyes. “I had no choice—you never would have
come if I’d told you.”

I
throw my arms in the air. “Exactly!”

“Relax,”
Kat laughs, “no one has recognized you yet, and we’ve been here for over an
hour. Besides, you haven’t been to one of your dad’s games all year, and you
look way different now anyway.” Kat tugs on the tip of my hair with a grin. “I
think your secret’s safe.”

“I
know, but—”

“Aren’t
you glad you came?” Kat asks, pulling a tube of lip gloss from her purse and
applying it before handing it to me.

I
think about Tyler downstairs shirtless in his low slung blue jeans and bare
feet, and my answer is definite.

“Fine,
I’m glad I came,” I admit, swiping the watermelon red gloss across my lips and
making a kissy face at my best friend as I hand the gloss back.

“Save
your kisses for Romeo downstairs, you little vixen,” Kaitlin teases, tossing
the lip gloss back in her bag. “Oh, btw—what did he say to you when we were playing
pool? Your cheeks turned redder than the tips of your hair.”

“You
mean when
he
and
I
were playing pool? Because as far as I could
tell you and Pete were off in la la land, lady. I’m surprised you even noticed
Tyler and me at all.”

“Can
you blame me? Did you see the shoulders on that guy? Holy crap.” Kat fans
herself with her hand. “They don’t make boys like that in high school.”

I
laugh. Like Kaitlin ever dated a high school boy anyway. I’m pretty sure her
last boyfriend could vote before we could drive.

“So?
What did he say?” Kaitlin cocks her head, a knowing smile on her face.
“Whatever it was must have been good. I swear, your dad would never believe his
little pool shark protégé could get rattled.” Kaitlin gives me a playful shove.
“I bet he’d freak out if he knew by who.”

Just
the thought makes my heart speed up. Dad would more than freak out. “Let’s just
say, if my dad had any idea what Tyler just propositioned, he’d be dead meat.”
My cheeks flush. “And I’d be worse than dead meat if Dad knew how badly I’d
like to take him up on his offer.”

…

“We
were getting worried about you two,” Pete says when we finally make it back
downstairs, my cheeks back to normal. I hope.

“Oh,
sad.” Kaitlin pouts, tugging on the hem of Pete’s tee-shirt. “You put your shirt
back on.” I glance over Pete’s shoulder, disappointed to find Tyler did too.

“The
pool table’s been claimed, but we could always play a round of strip beer pong
or something,” Pete offers, wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her
in close.

Kaitlin
taps her finger against her chin, like she’s actually considering his offer,
causing his eyes to light up, but I know she’s not. She sucks at beer pong.

“Yo,
Mickelson, Ford?” a guy calls out from the living room, where half a dozen
people are sitting around a coffee table covered with at least two dozen shot
glasses filled to the brim with clear liquid. “You wanna get in on Suck, Blow,
Shots?”

Do
we?

Pete
eyes Kat for an answer, Kat eyes me, and I eye Tyler—having no idea what the
hell Suck, Blow, Shots even is.

“A
few rounds of SBS and you’re likely to see Pete with more than just his shirt
off,” Tyler says to Kat from over his friend’s shoulder. The mischievous glint
in his eyes makes me wonder if it’s a warning or a promise. Either way, I doubt
she cares.

“Then
we’re in.” Kat beams, obviously taking it as the latter.

“All
right,” Pete calls out, rubbing his hands together. “Let’s do this thing.”

We
make our way across the room, dodging the couples grinding on the makeshift
dance floor in the middle of the room, and squish in around a crowded coffee
table in the corner.

Sitting
directly across the table from where Tyler and I find a spot to sit, Kat wags
her eyebrows suggestively at us, making me both laugh and cringe at the same
time. Subtle, Kat, real subtle.

“Are
you okay?” Tyler asks as we get pushed even closer together when one last
couple joins the circle. Thankfully, he seems to have missed Kat’s little show.

“I’m
good,” I say, even though something hard is jabbing into my ribs. An elbow, hopefully.
But at this point who knows. It’s crowded as all hell.

“Here,
let me move my arm.” Tyler starts to twists his body away from mine, and I have
to stop myself from stopping him. Who needs personal space, anyway? Not me.

He
lifts his arm up and over my head, angling his body so his chest presses
against my side and his arm rests across my back. “Is that better?”

Better?
More like perfect. I give him my flirtiest smile. “Yeah, thanks.”

“Okay,
for those of you who don’t already know how to play, watch,” the guy, who
called us over to play in the first place, says loudly, holding up four playing
cards, all aces. “We’ll start with one card to begin and go until it drops.”

He
holds up the ace of hearts, puts it to his lips and sucks in, keeping the card locked
to his lips with nothing but the suction of his breath. He turns to the girl on
his right, leans down and presses the card to her mouth like a kiss. Then, just
like he had, she sucks in a breath at the exact same time as he blows his
breath out, releasing the card to her.

The
card continues to get passed around the circle, from person to person, each
sucking and blowing to hold and release the card until it finally drops.

I
turn to Tyler, who’s on my right, and smile at the idea of a thin card being
the only thing standing between our lips. “So, what happens if the card drops?
Are you out?”

Tyler
laughs. “No, you have to take a shot, and then another card gets added into the
circle until someone drops one of them again. Trust me, it sounds easier than
it is. It starts to move pretty fast, especially when there are multiple cards
in play, making it easy to accidently blow when you should be sucking or vice
versa.”

“So,
is everyone good?” the guy asks, holding up the ace of hearts to his mouth
again. With nods from all around the table, he sucks the card to his lips and
the game begins.

Just
like before he leans in close to the girl on his right, but before she presses
her lips to the card, he blows, sending the card falling to the ground and her
lips crashing into his.

“Shots!”
everyone around me yells when the two separate.

“Oops,”
the guy says, acting like it was a mistake, when clearly it wasn’t. The girl
next to him smiles at his charade as they both toss back a shot of what smells
like vodka. “All right, time for another card,” he bellows.

The
game starts again and this time the first card makes it successfully around the
group to the random guy on my left. I lean in, touch my lips to the card, and
suck in my breath to hold it secure, as he blows out and releases it. Phew.
Random kiss avoided.

I
turn to face Tyler and my heart picks up speed as he slowly tilts his head and
leans in towards me, wearing a sexy smirk. “Ready?” he whispers.

I
nod, as he comes closer, and it’s taking everything in me to not drop the card
on purpose and kiss him. And I think he knows it.

With
his piercing green eyes never leaving mine, he closes the small gap and lets
the card linger between our lips for a fraction of a second before taking it
from my mouth. I blow out a shaky breath. Holy shit. That was hot.

The
two cards continue around the circle several more times, causing my heart to
race each time Tyler’s lips come close to mine, before one of them is finally
dropped by a girl who looks like she’s had far too much to drink, as it is.

She
throws her arms in the air and yells at the top of her lungs, “Shots!” before
reaching for one of the tiny glasses littering the table. The girl sitting next
to her snatches the shot glass from her hand and laughs. “I think you’ve had
enough,” she says, downing the drink herself, before helping her friend to her
feet and stumbling off. “We’re out. Later.”

With
two less people and now a third card, the game speeds up to an almost
impossible pace. I can barely catch my breath from blowing before the next card
is waiting to be sucked.

“Get
it, Em,” Kaitlin hollers as I turn to pass a card to Tyler, knowing another one
is coming any second. A sudden flash startles me from my concentration, sending
the card slipping from my lips a moment before Tyler’s mouth closes in on mine.

Behind
my closed lids, I see another flash go off, but I’m too far gone in the warmth
of Tyler’s lips to care if it’s a camera, or an explosion, as his hand wraps
around the back of my neck, and pulls me closer, deepening our kiss.

“Shots!
Shots! Shots!” the crowd, I’d completely forgotten existed when his tongue
swept across my lip, starts to chant.

Tyler
pulls away, a sexy smolder replacing his earlier smirk, as he casually grabs
two shot glasses from the table. Handing me one, he clinks the rim of his glass
against mine, before tossing it back and licking his lips, his eyes never
leaving mine. “Yum. Watermelon.”

I
toss back my shot, as my face—among other places—flushes with heat.

“You
want to get out of here?”

Biting
her lip, Emily nods yes, and it takes everything in me not to grab her and kiss
her again. Screw whoever’s watching.

“We’re
out,” I announce to the group, helping Emily up, as the fourth card gets put
into rotation and the inevitable binge shots begin.

“Wait,
you two.” Kaitlin jumps up and Pete follows suit, scrambling to his feet to
wrap his arms around her waist.

I’d
say he has it bad and fast, but the taste of Emily’s fruity lip gloss still
lingering on my lips is driving me pretty crazy, too. So maybe he’s not alone.
“Let me get one more pic,” Kaitlin says jutting her arm out, phone in hand.

One
more pic? When did we take the first one? Ah…the flash. Guess I have Kaitlin to
thank for Emily dropping the card.

Looking
as impatient as I feel, Emily rolls her eyes at her friend.

“Oh,
come on, you’ll thank me one day.” Kaitlin winks. “Now say cheese—no, better
yet—say Suck, Blow, Shots!”

After
a quick picture, and then a selfie of the four of us that Kaitlin insisted
upon, Emily and I manage to weave our way out of the party and up the stairs,
hand in hand.

“Finally,”
Emily says when I shut the door to my room, muffling the sounds of the party
below and that’s all it takes.

In
an instant, her lips crash against mine. Greedily we push and pull at one
another’s clothes while walking backwards towards the bed, breaking apart only
long enough for her to pull my tee-shirt up and off.

I
strip her jacket off and toss it on the floor next to my discarded shirt,
revealing a sexy black dress that looks more like a silky piece of lingerie
than anything else.

“Damn,
you are so sexy,” I whisper, brushing the thin strap off her shoulder, and
kissing the soft skin at the base of her neck, eliciting a quiet moan from her
that makes me want her even more. If that’s even possible.

Capturing
her lips again and deepening our kiss, she runs her hands up the length of my
torso and across my chest, before burying them in my hair as we reach the bed.

“Oops,
sorry!” a drunk girl says, throwing open the door to my bedroom and stumbling
in. “I’m looking for the bathroom. Is it in here?”

I
groan at the interruption, but under her breath, Emily laughs. I don’t see
what’s so funny, though. I seriously hate having a room right next to the
bathroom.

“It’s
the first door on the right,” I offer as the girl sways back and forth
giggling, drink in hand.

“Thaaanksss,”
she slurs, looking between Emily and me with a lazy smile on her face. “Hey,
cute abs.” She points at Emily as she staggers further into the room. “And nice
dress.” She points at me. “Oh…I mean…cute dress and nice abs.” She laughs—this
time—pointing at us correctly.

“Ah,
thanks,” Emily says, adjusting the tiny black strap back over her shoulder
before tucking her hair behind her ears, the bright red ends brushing across
her collarbone. The collarbone I was busy kissing before we were drunkenly
interrupted.

“Hey,
I’m looking for the bathroom,” the girl says again, this time hiccupping before
falling into my desk chair and hiccupping again. “Is there a bathroom in here?”
Hiccup. “Because—” Hiccup. “I think I’m gonna be—”

I
plunge my trashcan in front of her face. Sick.

…

“All
right,” I say when it sounds like nothing is left in the poor girl’s stomach to
throw up. “Let’s get you some water and let you lay down in here for a while.”
The mood has effectively been purged from this room anyway. So to speak.

Emily,
who’s been holding the girls hair back for the last twenty minutes, helps her
to my couch as I grab a bottle of water from my mini fridge, a small flashlight
and the empty trash can from next to my bed.

I
help the girl take a few small sips of water, and then lay her on her side with
the trash can near her face. Just in case.

“Would
you mind grabbing that for her?” I nod to the navy fleece blanket at the end of
my bed as I rest my fingers against the girl’s radial pulse point to check her
heart rate.

“What
are you doing that for?” Emily asks, pulling the blanket off my bed and draping
it over the girl, who’s already passed out.

“Just
checking her vitals to make sure she doesn’t have alcohol poisoning or
anything.”

Emily
looks around my room, taking in the mix of baseball memorabilia scattered
amongst posters of skeletal, circulatory, and muscular systems of the body.
“What, are you a doctor, or something?”

“Or
something,” I offer. Not sure what direction I’m going to go now. “But uh,
maybe, someday. I’m actually pre-med.”

I
quickly check the girl’s pupils with my flashlight and determine she’s going to
be okay. Just majorly hungover tomorrow.

“Yo,
party people. What’cha doing up here?” Nate, the team’s first baseman, says
from the hallway just outside my door. “Whoa, is that Jessica?”

I
nod to the sleeping girl on my couch. “You know her?”

“Yeah,
she’s one of Trish’s pledges. She’s downstairs, want me to grab her?”

“That’d
be great. Thanks, Nate.” I pick up my shirt from the floor and slip it back on
when he leaves. And then, against my better judgment, since she looks so
ridiculously hot in that dress without it, I grab Emily’s jacket and hand it
back to her, as well. “Sorry about all this. As soon as Trish gets here, we can
go back down to the party if you want.”

Emily
twists a lock of hair around her finger as she looks up at me, her light eyes
framed by her dark lashes, a soft smile playing on her lips.

“I’m
not really interested in going back down to the party.”

Good.
Me either.

…

Leaving
Trish to tend to her pledge, I throw on my favorite red sweatshirt, grab
Emily’s hand and lead her to the large pane glass window at the far end of the
hall. “What are we doing?”

I
smile, despite having to let go of Emily’s hand, and shove open the window.
“You’ll see.”

Emily
stares, wide-eyed, as I climb out and then offer her my hand to help her do the
same. She glances over her shoulder and then back at me. “You want me to climb
out the window? Are you crazy?”

“Hardly.”
I chuckle. “I’m probably the least wild and crazy person you’ll ever meet.”

Emily
arches a brow, looking completely unconvinced, and I can’t blame her,
considering she’s met me on the one night this entire semester I’ve really let
loose. I hold up my hand like I’m swearing an oath. “No, it’s true. I’m like
boy scout-follow the rules-boring. Ask anyone.”

Emily
blushes. “I’m not sure your diversionary tactics downstairs at the pool table
could be considered ‘boy scout-following the rules-boring’—but if you say so.”

“Trust
me, you’ll see.” I smile, taking her hand and helping her out the window and
onto the hidden flattop deck tucked in-between the peaks of our house’s old
slanted roof.

“Wow,
this is amazing,” Emily says, walking to the edge of the deck and peering out
over the small college town, the lights reflecting in her eyes as she looks
back at me. “I think you can see my house from here.”

“I
knew you looked familiar. What sorority are you in?”

Emily’s
mouth forms an ‘O’ before she turns away and looks back out at the view. “Uh
no…I meant you can see my, uh…dorm from here. Batterson Hall.” She points to
the tall dormitory in the distance.

Ah.
A freshman. Or, well, technically a sophomore now. “That explains it. Batterson
Hall is near my pre-med labs. I’ve probably walked past you a million times in
a rush to class.”

“Yeah,
maybe,” Emily says, looking slightly nervous. Or maybe she’s just cold.

I
lean back against the railing across from her, and gesture with my index finger
for her to come closer, happy to warm her up. “Come here,” I whisper.

Emily’s
walk is seductive, but somehow tentative too, like she’s trying it out for the
first time. And if she is, it works.

I
reach out and wrap my arms around her waist, until our bodies are flush with
one another, the barely-there feel of her dress driving me crazy. “You’re
making it almost impossible to behave myself. You know that, right?”

Biting
her lip, she drapes her arms around my neck. “You didn’t bring us up here to
behave ourselves, did you?”

With
our lips only inches apart, I tighten my grip on her waist with one hand, and
brush my thumb across the tiny silver star by her eye with my other.

“While
you have a point, I actually brought you out here to see this.” I lift my eyes
and then my head.

Emily’s
breath hitches. “It’s…so beautiful,” she says, staring up into the night sky,
the Milky Way laid out above us.

“Should
we?” I gesture to the wood planked deck. Since the fleece blanket from my bed is
currently in use, I zip off my hoodie and lay it down. It’ll have to do.

She
nods with a smile, hardly able to take her eyes off the stars as we sit down.

I
lie back, propping my arms behind my head, and admire the view. “I come up here
to think sometimes, or, you know, get away from the masses.” I motion with my
eyes to the sound of the party below us.

“I
can see why, it’s so peaceful,” she says, lying down next to me and resting her
head in the crook of my shoulder. “Oh! Look, a shooting star.” Emily points up,
to where the faint traces of the star’s tail can still be seen. “Did you see
it?” she asks with the enthusiasm of a little kid as she turns to face me; her
lips just inches from mine.

Somehow
her reaction to the shooting star is in complete opposition with the edgy girl
from downstairs and it intrigues me.

Who
is this girl?

“Emily?”
Kaitlin shouts from down the hallway, sounding panicked.

We
scramble to our feet as Kaitlin tosses open my bedroom door. “Where in the hell
are you?”

“I’m
right here,” Emily says, climbing back in through the window. “What’s wrong?”

“Cops
are here, we have to go.”

I
climb in behind her and shut the window.

Emily
whips around, looking as panicked as Kaitlin sounds. “I’m so sorry, but we have
to go.”

“Why
don’t you hang out in my room until they’re gone?” I offer, not wanting our
night to be over just yet. Who knows when I’ll get to see her again.

“Sorry,
Romeo, we gotta bail.” Kaitlin grabs Emily’s hand and starts to drag her
towards the stairs.

“Wait.
How can I contact you?” I ask, the sounds of the party quieted, except for some
guy, probably Pete, yelling at everyone to chill out and be cool.

Emily
breaks out of Kaitlin’s grip and rushes back down the hallway. “Emily—” Kaitlin
snaps, looking over her shoulder nervously.

Emily
lifts up on her toes and gives me a quick kiss goodbye. “I’ll contact you,
okay?”

“Seriously,
Evers. We have to go. Now.”

Emily
rushes back to her friend and together they disappear down the stairs, leaving
me standing slack jawed in the empty hallway.

Did
she just say Evers?

And
like a lightning bolt, I know exactly where I’ve seen her before.

She’s
the coach’s kid.