State of Grace | ONGOING

Chapter 7

Recognition washed over me in waves. I just stared at her, my face flushed with the excitement of their win and the overwhelming anger I felt towards Bo right now.

Her hair was messy and soaked with sweat from where her helmet had been hiding the long black ponytail. Tattoos trailed down her tan arms, black line art with slightly fuzzy edges indicating that she'd had some of these since high school. Her cheeks were flushed and a dimple was highlighted by her wide smile. But my eyes caught on her lips. The full, sensual lips that I'd pictured on the column of my throat before I'd learned who she was. Or before I'd learned part of who she was.

Theo Ortiz, the new player I'd incorrectly assumed was a man for a few weeks now, wasn't just any girl. She was the hot girl from my business class. She was the girl who'd walked in on me and Bo. And she was the girl who'd cinched the first win of the season for the Spartans.

"Congratulations, Bo!" Simi caught up to me, not yet noticing that I'd very clearly stopped celebrating. "Great game," she added, giving my boyfriend a one armed hug. She looked at me, finally, her brown eyes confused by the look on my face. "Lou?"

I grabbed Simi's arm, turning my back to Bo, who didn't move to stop me as I hauled her through the celebratory crowd of family and close friends that was mobbing the team now.

"What's going on?" Simi demanded as I shouldered my way through the crowd.

"Theo." I stumbled out of the crowd finally, sitting down heavily on a patch of concrete right at the base of the stands.

"Theo?" Simi crouched down in front of me, placing her hands on my knees for balance as I forced myself to take slow, intentional breaths. The air around us didn't seem clean enough, it wasn't reaching deep enough in my lungs as I fought back the rising panic. My heart pounded loudly enough to drown out the cheering and celebration as I closed my eyes to shut out the image of the team on the field behind my friend.

Bo was a liar. He'd been lying to me for the past few weeks. Hell, he'd probably had a conversation with Theo about her walking in on us. He'd known everything and he'd let me look like a fucking idiot. I could picture the two of them laughing at my expense about the whole situation.

Oh god, what if he thought she was hot? I thought she was hot, of course he'd think she was hot. He had eyes. Of course the only girl on the football team had to be hot. She couldn't be a hideous bridge troll or something. She had to be beautiful.

"Lou, what's wrong?" Sunny's voice came into focus over the blood roaring in my ears and I opened my eyes. Sunny was sitting next to me, Anna and Billie standing behind Simi.

"My boyfriend's a liar," I said viciously. My roommates all had the decency to look alarmed. They could have said that they'd told me as much over the years, that boys were idiots, that Bo wasn't the exception I pretended he was. But Sunny just grabbed my hand and squeezed it. Despite our differences, all of us, we were always able to put it aside to help each other.

"What did he do?" Sunny asked softly, and the sympathetic look on my best friend's face made me want to cry.

"It's nothing, really," I muttered, feeling like an idiot for making this a big deal. "It's the girl from my business class. She's Theo."

Immediately all four heads swiveled towards the team. Theo was visible through the bodies as the team started clearing out to head to the locker rooms to shower and change for whatever party they would be cooking up to celebrate the first win. They were superstitious enough not to plan a party in advance, but Bo's roommates would have already had a keg ordered by the time they made it down the tunnel and into the locker room.