Weak Side (Bexley U)

by S.J. Sylvis

I shrugged. “He said he wanted to focus on his senior project.” “His senior project?” she questioned, making my thoughts spiral right along with hers. “What’s it called? How to create some stupid fucking equation on how to be a douche to your girlfriend?” I laughed out loud and shook my head. “Yeah, something like that.”

“Do you think I’m lying? First, you assume I’m a puck bunny, and now you think I’m lying. Do you think I want to room with you?” I opened my mouth to say something, but her little mumble caught me off guard. “Typical fucking jock.” “What was that?” I asked, inching closer to her. “Listen.” Her hands flew to her hips, and her cheeks were pinker than before. “I’ve gotta go to work, so you’ll have some time to adjust. I’ll be back later if you’d like to insult me some more.” Damn, she’s feisty.

“Not to be arrogant, but I have some pull in this school, Bryant. This will be taken care of.” Her eyes sharpened into diamonds. “My name is Claire, and I know you’re used to getting your way, but I’m pretty sure there is nothing you can do to fix this except move into your own place. So, I will see you later.” Then, the door opened, and she left, leaving me standing there in surprise because, for the first time in my life, I met a girl who didn’t fall over her own feet to talk to me.

There was something about irritating her that entertained me. It was invigorating, and I couldn’t help but laugh to myself as I lay in bed, waiting for her to come back to the room.

At least now she was angry because I had used her to make a puck bunny go away and not angry because I pointed out the obvious with her loser boyfriend who left her alone on yet another Friday night. He couldn’t make it any clearer than that, right?

Ford gasped in between laughs. “You told her you were gonna get them back? You’re stupider than I thought. What girl would want used panties back from someone, let alone a puck bunny? And where were the puck bunny’s panties?

“What are you doing here?” Her brows swooped down with confusion before she scanned the rest of the stage and eyed the few dancers that were waiting around, pretending not to look in our direction. The quiet conversation between Aasher, Taytum, and Ford stopped abruptly when I pulled out the black panties from my pocket and handed them to Claire. “I told you I’d buy you new ones so…here.”

The soft blue in her eyes as she thanked Ford a few seconds ago was now replaced with a deep navy and burned like ice on hot skin. “What the hell, Theo!” “What?” I asked innocently. “I told you I’d get you a new pair.”

“Did you tell Chad you were going out tonight?” I shook my head. “No, should I have?” Taytum snorted. “You don’t owe him anything. If he wants to know what you are up to on a Friday night, maybe he should take the time to ask.”

There was a bundle of girls who had formed a circle around him, and I hesitated when I saw that one of them was the puck bunny that Theo gave my underwear to. I dropped my chin to my jeans, knowing I was wearing the new ones that he’d delicately placed in my underwear drawer with a sticky note attached that said, I didn’t go through your drawer, boss. Swear.

turned back and saw that Chad had no intention of stopping his make-out session with someone who wasn’t his girlfriend and brought my attention back over to Claire. I felt panicked, and the expression on Claire’s face had my world stopping for the briefest of seconds.

The cup of warm beer in her hand slipped from her grip, and Rose grabbed onto her arm, shaking her slightly. It was like watching a tower fall and not being able to stop it. I wanted to protect her from what she was witnessing, but it also wasn’t my job to do so.

I stared at Claire, unable to move from the chaos that was occurring around me. Some people were unaware of what was going on, but I swore I heard her heart break from clear across the party. The second she tore her gaze from Chad, she landed on me, and I took a step backward from the jolt.

Her eyes were glossy, and the acceptance I saw as she realized that I was right the other night hit me smack dab in the center of my chest. Her wobbling lip was a sucker punch right to my jaw. I moved toward her, but she shook her head and mumbled something to Rose and was out the door a moment later.

He pushed her behind him and gave me a warning look before I turned back and looked at the dipshit who just hurt my roommate. Fuck, why do I care so much? “You again?” he said, putting his hands on his hips like he actually had the upper hand. “Mind your fucking business, bro.” An angry laugh left me as I shook my head. I turned my back to him for a single second, letting him think that he was superior to someone like me.

“But you were right.” And I was humiliated. The clanking of his teeth confused me. “I didn’t want to be right about that.”

A single tear fell down my cheek, and I bit my tongue so hard it bled. My throat was tight, and the knot only grew tighter the more I tried to keep my emotions locked away. I cleared my throat and gripped my blanket harder. Am I not good enough? Did I subconsciously become a shitty girlfriend because I knew, deep down, I didn’t love Chad like he thought I did? I cared for Chad—I did. There was once a time where his eyes in my direction made my heart jump. But he changed. I changed. And our relationship changed. It became more about how I could please him so he would stop making me feel less worthy, and less about how I could please him because I liked to see him happy.

The room was dark, but I opened my eyes, knowing that my vision was completely clear now. My entire body tensed when Theo’s heavy arm draped around my waist, and his chest clung to my back. “What…” I sounded like I hadn’t spoken in days by the rasp in my voice. Clearing my throat, I tried again. “What are you doing, Theo? I’m fine.” His chuckle rumbled against my back as his breath tickled my hair. “I have ears, Bryant. I can hear you crying.” “I am not crying,” I lied. My cheeks blasted with heat from embarrassment. “You’ve gotta be the most stubborn person I have ever met.”

I huffed with rage, hating that I allowed myself to crumble from a broken heart—if even just for a few moments. My chest was as tight as a knot as I swiped my cheek one last time before Theo’s heavy arm flexed around my waist. “Moving on to anger now?” his voice rasped against my ear, ruffling my hair. My body stilled, but instead of shying away from him, I latched onto the quietness of the room and our candid moment. “Yes,” I answered,

“Good,” he whispered, encouraging me. “You should be angry.”

I couldn’t see his face, but I felt his breath land on my lips, and there was a mysterious push against my back that made me hook my leg over his body. His hand slapped over my thigh, spreading his fingers out wide. “Claire.” His breath was heavy. “Don’t do this to me.”

Theo’s hand on my leg gripped me even harder, his fingers digging into my skin with a bite that I didn’t realize I enjoyed until he quickly pulled it away and placed it on my hip, pulling me on top of him in record speed. “Is this how you plan to get back at him? Fuck me to make yourself feel better?”

“Every guy on this floor wants you, Bryant. Don’t you dare let your cheating boyfriend make you feel less than.” Surprise took hold of me when Theo’s hands climbed back to my waist to flip me onto my back. A whoosh of air left my mouth, but he caught it in his when his lips covered mine.

Butterflies flew around my lower stomach, and I was warm all over. He managed to coax a whimper from me, and although the kiss only lasted a few seconds, Theo Brooks had allowed me to feel more wanted than Chad ever had in the past.

I felt marked. My lips had been touched by someone who knew what they wanted, and for a moment, I let myself believe that it was me, even if I knew, deep down, that it wasn’t.

Ah, shit. I pulled back, and my traitor of a tongue licked her taste off my lips, and I knew that I would never be able to unlive the moment now that it had happened.

“Good. Now remember that when he comes crawling back to you.” I turned and glanced at her over my shoulder as soon as I turned my lamp on. She was sitting upright, peering at me out of the corner of her eye. I dropped my eyes down to her chest and quickly turned away. Nope. I knew that the thoughts I was having were a simple reaction to the way her skin felt against my palm and the lingering taste of her mouth on mine, so I quickly got my shit together. “Chin up, roomie. We have a long night ahead of us.”

“What the hell was what?” I asked, wondering if he somehow knew that I’d pushed my roommate onto her bed and kissed her with a passion I’d never felt before.

“Fuck yeah, I did. I don’t like it.” My shoulders started to tense again. “Don’t like what?” “Cheating. It pisses me off. Don’t get in a committed relationship if you want to fuck other people. It’s just weak. And then this happens.” I inched my head to my door. “Girls end up with broken hearts and deny it until they are blue in the face.”

“You give them extra fries? You’ve never given me extra fries.” She darted her attention to the pizza in my grasp. Her little hands snatched the box before she shrugged. “They don’t use my scrunchies on the door to indicate that they’re fucking someone in my room, now do they? Or give my favorite pair of underwear to some puck bunny.” Or kiss the fuck out of you to make you feel better.

The door shut in my face, and I was left standing beside Aasher and Taytum. I peered down at the short blonde, and she sighed. “She said she’s fine, but she isn’t.” I nodded at her and placed my hand on the doorknob. Claire didn’t show much vulnerability, but little did she know, I could see right through her, and so could her best friend.

There was no mention of the kiss, and although every single brush of her skin against mine sent my thoughts into a frenzy, it all ended pretty innocently.

I stepped forward without even meaning to, but Aasher’s hand gripped a bundle of my shirt, and I stopped at the last second. Anger split down my spine, but I snapped out of it a moment later when I realized I had actually growled like a caveman. Well, that’s new. Taytum was the first to step forward, nearly facing off with Chad,

Claire moved in front of Taytum, and although I wanted to push her behind me to protect her from him, I didn’t. It wasn’t my place, and I knew it. That wasn’t to say I didn’t want to knock him on his ass again or, better yet, stick my tongue down her throat—farther than I did last night—just to see how he liked watching her kiss someone else. Fuck, why am I so mad?

He stood with his hands on his hips, demanding that I explain why I was surrounded by a bunch of hockey players this morning. My jaw dropped slightly before I righted myself and pretended there wasn’t a sting burning my cheek from the slap. “You actually think you have any right to question me?”

“Claire?” Taytum snapped her fingers in front of my face, and her face quickly came back into focus. “Yeah, things are fine. He…” I lifted a shoulder, unsure of how I felt about him, especially after last weekend. “I was wrong about him.” Her eyebrow quirked, and I put my hand up. “Don’t get that look. He just isn’t what I had expected.”

There was tension in my shoulders at the thought of showing my face at another party after I was humiliated last time, but Taytum was right earlier. I deserved to have fun because, come tomorrow morning, I would be back in the auditorium, going over my solo number and killing myself to come out on top instead of ending up beneath Chad.

Her gaze snagged mine from across the room, and her sweet smile made me feel slightly uncomfortable but strangely calm too. Was Claire the first girl I cared about?

“Brother,” Emory patted my chest and I instantly wanted to fling his palm off my body because I was suddenly extremely irritated. “You don’t look at friends the way you’re lookin’ at her.”

“Absolutely not. No roommate of mine is gonna be played like that. I won’t have it.” Her warm hand covered mine on her hip as my other one snaked up her neck. I cupped her face, splaying my palm out against her cheek, my fingers disappearing in her hair. “I’m gonna kiss the hell out of you, Bryant, and don’t you dare pull away.” For the second time, our mouths sealed, but this time, the kiss was undeniably soul-wrecking, and that was when I knew that Claire Bryant was about to become my weak side.

“Make sure you look over at him when I step away, because he will be staring over here. Two can play that game, baby. And he doesn’t get to make the rules when it comes to you.” Theo’s voice was gravelly and daring.

“I could go back out there and throw him down the fucking stairs.” Theo’s hands went to his hips as he stood back and stared at me from several feet away. He was out of breath, his chest rising and falling so quickly it seemed like he was back on the ice, putting the puck between the defenseman’s own feet before taking the shot on the net. “It’s fine.” I crossed my arms over my chest and looked away with embarrassment.

“Has he never made you come?” Not without my help. “Um…” Lie, Claire. Oh my God. I want to die. “Is that why he said you could use the experience?” Theo’s grip grew rougher on my body, and suddenly, his jaw seemed sharper than before. “He’s really gonna hate me now.” “Why?” My question was breathy, and I watched Theo turn from lethal to devious in a matter of seconds. “I’ll lead.” The hand behind my back slowly slid down my spine and around my stomach, landing at the button of my jeans. “And you follow.”

I knew it wasn’t the competitiveness that lived within my bones that was pushing me to slip the button through the hole of her jeans. It was the fact that I was beyond perturbed that someone like Chad could make someone like her feel as if they weren’t good enough.

Silence filled the space between us, and my smirk was as deep as the pull in my stomach. My heart was racing, and it was unnerving to feel so worked up in this situation. Shit, am I nervous? I

“Tell me,” I pleaded, sounding just as desperate as I felt. “Does it feel good?”

but I needed her mouth on mine. Suddenly, I was the one who needed more in this moment. I wanted more.

“He’s out of his goddamn mind for letting you go.” I pulled on her ear with my teeth and blew my hot, seedy breath against her neck.

“I’ve gotta say…if you were mine, I’d make you come every single second of every single day, because I’ve never witnessed anything as beautiful as this.”

“For you to be our fake girlfriend, too.” My jaw fell open, and I looked over at Theo. He threw his hands up before showing off his gleaming-white teeth. “I told them you were mine.” I lowered my voice, leaning into his space. “I’m not your fake girlfriend, Theo.” “So, you’re my real girlfriend?” “I could slap you,” I mumbled.