Hooped #3 (The Hooped Interracial Romance Series, Book #3) (2 page)

Chapter
Two

When I woke up the next morning, Devon was still
asleep next to me; I remembered that I had told him I wouldn’t pull my
disappearing act a second time, but I knew I had to actually talk to Kelly
about what I had learned. I slipped free of his arms and out from under the
covers as carefully as possible, feeling guilty for leaving him the way I
was—he would assume that there was still something wrong, I knew. But I also
knew that I couldn’t just wake him up and tell him that the reason I was
leaving was to confront the girl who’d grabbed and kissed him after the game. I
hadn’t mentioned that Kelly was my friend; I didn’t want to even tell Devon
about the fact that the girl who’d grabbed him was the same person who’d given
me the
advice
to stay away from him.

I rummaged through his book bag as quietly as I could
until I found a pen and a piece of paper; at least, I thought, I could leave
him a note so that he wouldn’t assume the worst about the situation.
Hey Dev,
I wrote.
I know I promised I’d be there when you woke up, but something came up
with one of my friends—crisis situation, have to handle it. I’m not mad at you,
and I can’t wait to see you again. Text me babe!

I folded up the piece of paper and put it where he’d
be sure to find it, right where I had been in bed next to him. I hated having
to do that to him again, and I hated even more that I wouldn’t even have a
chance to enjoy being with him before I got breakfast and went to class. But I
had to talk to Kelly—I had to do it before I lost my nerve and decided that I
was going to just let it go.

I got dressed as quietly as I could, shaking and
starting every time Devon shifted in the bed; if he woke up I would have to
give him the same excuse I had written down—but I knew he’d want to know more.
I slipped out of his room and down the hall, holding my shoes and my purse in
my hand as I made my way down the stairs as quickly and silently as possible.
No one else in the
frat
was awake,
thankfully; I also didn’t want anyone taunting Devon over the fact that his
date for the night had sneaked out first thing in the morning. I still wasn’t
entirely sure I wanted the fact that Devon and I were seeing each other to be
common knowledge.

I hurried across campus; Kelly had class soon—and I
wanted to get to her before she left for class. My stomach was rumbling; I
wished that I could stop for breakfast. But I had to get to her and confront
her about what she had said and done before I lost my nerve.
There has to be another side to
this,
I thought as I almost ran along the
walkways, dodging the few people who were out and about, headed to classes. I
hoped that no one had seen me at the game, or that if they had, they didn’t
notice that I was wearing the same clothes that I had been the night before.

I took the stairs up to my dorm room, not even
bothering to wait for the elevator, and managed to get the door unlocked. Kelly
was sitting in the common area, watching one of the morning news shows, eating
the breakfast she’d gotten from the dining hall. “Hey,” I said, my heart racing
in my chest. Now that the time had come to actually confront her
about
the situation, I had no idea what to say,
how to open the conversation. Kelly looked me up and down, frowning in
confusion.

“Where’d you come from? I assumed you’d come in late
last night.” I shrugged and threw myself down into the chair, my mind spinning.

“I know about you and Devon,” I said, the words
tumbling out of my mouth without any preamble.

“What?” Kelly’s face
went
briefly white before she frowned, narrowing her eyes as she stared at me
with
something that seemed like shock. “What the
hell are you talking about?”

“I know you were with Devon years
ago,
and it didn’t work out,” I said. “I also
know that it was you who I saw kissing him the other night.” Kelly shook her
head.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she told
me, picking her to-go box up and taking another bite quickly. “I’ve never had
anything to do with Devon Sealy. He’s way too much of a player for me, and I’ve
seen him hurt way too many people.”

“Kelly, he told me.” I held her gaze for a long moment
as she stared back at me, silent.

“When would he have told you something like that?
That’s crazy. He’s just trying to get into your head, telling you your friend
is poisoning you against him.” I shook my head.

“He has no idea you’re my friend,” I said quietly. “I
confronted him about seeing him with the
girl
and asked who it was. He told me your name. And that he had dated you a while
back,
and it hadn’t worked out.” Kelly rolled
her eyes.

“You have got to be the most naïve freshman in the
entire school,” Kelly said, shaking her head. “Even if I had ever dated
Devon—which, by the way, I haven’t—I would have just told you from my own
experience what a jerk he is, and I definitely wouldn’t be going after him
still.”

“So where were you the night of the game then?” I
asked, crossing my arms over my chest.

“I told you, I had a date.” Kelly put her food aside.
“Look, I get that you’re all worked up about him because you lost your v-card
to the guy…”

“That’s not it at all!” I said, my blood rushing into
my face. “I talked to him about the whole situation, and I got his side of the
story. That’s all.”

“You talked to him? Jenn, what the hell were you
thinking? He’s already shown you what he thinks of you—nothing. He was kissing
some girl less than a full day after he hooked up with you because that’s what
he does. You might as well just get over him already.”

“How long have we been friends, Kelly? Look, if you
just don’t want to admit it because you’re still
hurting,
I get that. Just come clean and we can work this out.”

“There’s nothing to work out,” Kelly said. “I can’t
believe that you’d talk to Devon after the way he treated you, with the
reputation he has. I can’t believe you’d take his word over mine or even want
to believe it.” She shook her head, giving me a disappointed look. “You’re not
a stupid person, Jenn. You should know when someone’s just running a game on
you.”

“If Devon’s just interested in running game, why would
he take the trouble to track me down, to beg me to talk to him? And anyway—it’s
not like he had to tell me it was you or I wouldn’t have believed him. He
doesn’t even know that you’re my friend. He could have picked any girl on
campus if he just wanted to give me an excuse.”

“Of course he knows we’re friends,” Kelly said,
rolling her eyes again. “I was at the Phi Kappa party too, you know. We got
there
together
and hung out during. You
think he didn’t see you talking to me and dancing with me? Of course he did.”

“So then how does he know your name if you’ve never
been involved?” I raised an eyebrow.

“I’ve dated some of the other Phi Kappa guys. He
probably got my name from one of them. Look—this is ridiculous, Jenn. You’re
going crazy
over
this
guy,
and he’s totally not worth it.” I shook my
head.

“It doesn’t add up. There would be no reason for him to
name-drop you if he was lying to me.”

“There would be every reason!” I shook my head at
Kelly again.

“Don’t you think he’s smart enough to figure I’d check
it out—if he picked your name deliberately?”

“He knows you’re crazy about him because you’re about
as transparent as an un-tinted window!” Kelly scowled at me. “He figured that
you’d just trust his word on it because he’s so charming and sweet and gentle
and fucked your brains out.”

“He came clean to me about everything,” I said. “If he
was just lying to me to get in my pants…hell, he’s already been in my pants!
That wouldn’t make sense. And it wouldn’t make sense for him to try and feed me
some story like that without thinking I’d confront you.”

“He knew you’d do just what you’re doing right
now—believe him instead of me. I can’t believe
you,
Jenn, I thought you had more sense than that.” Kelly shook her head and picked
up her to-go box again, picking at her food. She took a deep breath, sighing.

“Just come clean, Kelly,” I said, suddenly feeling
exhausted. “I can forgive you for not wanting to tell me about it because
you’re hurting still. I can get that. I was hurt too. But come clean about what
it is with you and
him,
because we’ve
been friends for way too long for you to lie to me.” Kelly closed her to-go box
and threw it in the trash, shaking her head again.

“You’re going to have to choose who you’re going to
believe and who you’re going to side with,” she said, holding my gaze for a
long moment. “Because you’re right; we’ve been friends for way too long for you
to believe what some guy tells you instead of trusting me. If I’m not even a
good enough friend for you to believe me, we shouldn’t be friends at all.” I
sighed.

“Kelly, come on,” I said, watching her as she grabbed
her book bag from off of the floor. “You’re really going to make me choose
between him and you?”

“I have to go to class,” she said flatly, walking past
me without even looking in my direction. She slammed the door shut behind her
as she left the room, and I sat in the common area for a long time after she
left, just staring at the TV she’d left on. I couldn’t believe that she’d keep
the lie up even after confronted with the facts; I couldn’t believe that Kelly
would care so little about our friendship to just keep to the same story.

I knew that she had to still be hurting over Devon to
have done the things she had, but to completely and totally deny that she’d had
anything to do with him made no sense. I shook my head, full of disbelief.
There had been absolutely no reason for Devon to drop her name if he hadn’t
actually been with her; he could have picked any name at all and I would have
been none the wiser. Especially since when I had asked him about the name of
the girl in question, it was easily an hour or more after he had explained what
the situation had been—if he wanted to deflect my attention, he could have
picked a girl from one of the sororities, anything. It didn’t make any sense,
and I couldn’t help thinking that it was a damned shame that Kelly was willing
to throw away years of friendship all because she was bitter about Devon.

Chapter
Three

I decided to check my
email
since I had lost any appetite I had for breakfast. I forced myself to eat dry
cereal from my closet stash while I opened up my school account and logged in;
the first thing that popped up was a notification that my professor for my only
morning class that day had canceled the class meeting, adding a note that she
was sick and didn’t want to spread it to the rest of us. I sat back in my chair
at my desk, trying to decide what to do with myself in all my freedom for the
day. My next class for the day wouldn’t be until the afternoon; I had all
morning and lunchtime to stew about the situation with Kelly.
Great,
I thought.
I’m just going to sit here pretending to watch TV and pretending not to
think about the fact that I might be losing my best friend.

Kelly came back from her short morning class while I
was still ruminating
on
the situation,
sitting in my room and pretending to myself that I was actually making any
headway in studying for one of my classes. I heard the door close behind her,
heard her go into her room—and ignored her completely. I still couldn’t believe
that she had not only lied to me, but also lied about lying to me.

In spite of how confused and hurt I felt, I might have
made an effort to at least talk to her again about the situation if my phone
buzzing hadn’t interrupted my thoughts. I unlocked my screen; Devon had texted
me, and I couldn’t help but smile.
Got
your note, babe. Hope everything’s all right with your friend crisis! I was
just
wondering
if you’re not doing
anything right now…feel like coming to watch me practice? You could give
coach
a few of those pointers you gave me last
night.
I laughed, rolling my eyes; the last person I’d give advice to on
coaching would be the coach himself.

I closed my books; I didn’t have a
class
for hours, and I definitely wanted to see
Devon again, even if it was just from the bleachers while he practiced.
I’d love to watch you get all sweaty. Be
right there.
I grabbed my purse and made sure that I had my keys and my
phone; I changed into new clothes—no sense walking around in the ones I’d worn
last night for any longer than necessary. I closed the door to my side of the
dorm hard, enough for Kelly to hear me leaving; but she stayed in her room, and
I decided that if she was going to keep ignoring me, that I would just return
the favor.

I made it to the court just as the team was finishing
up their warm-up, finding a good spot in the bleachers and settling myself
there. There were a few other girls from campus watching; most of them were
girlfriends of different members of the team, but there were some obvious
fangirls
too, just hanging out to watch and
giggle. Devon looked out over the bleachers as he went in for drills; he caught
my eye and grinned, and in spite of the fact that I was still feeling guilty
and confused about how things had gone earlier in the morning, I felt my heart
skip a beat.