Unintentionally Falling

chapter twenty-seven

Iris

Zack Cartier stands in front of me, a lop-sided grin tipping the side of his mouth.

"Miss me?" He tilts his head to the side, he's not wearing any sort of costume he's just dressed in normal usual clothes. I guess he didn't get the memo that today is Halloween.

"Not really," I tut back jokingly, his smile growing wider from my words.

"Well, I missed you. He holds his hand to his chest like he's just been shot through the heart from my words.

He opens up his arms for a hug, pouting at me like a toddler. I chuckle when I inch closer to him and he immediately wraps his arms around my figure. His hand slides to my lower back teetering dangerously close to my ass.

A year ago I would've found myself so shy. I would have fainted in all honesty, giddy as hell from a college dude's attention. Rookie Zack Cartier is hugging me and now a year later it's 'Star QB' Zack Cartier hugging me.

When we break apart from the hug, I watch his eyes scan over my body like he's studying the most interesting thing in the world.

"I like the costume." He nods in approval, "Your ass looks nice in it."

"I don't like your costume," I tell him, shaking my head in joking disapproval. "You're not wearing one."

"Wearing a costume is lame as hell." He groans. I gasp like his words just hurt me and maybe that is true. I love dressing up, hell it's so much fucking fun.

"Excuse me?" I gesture down to my costume, then add, "Plus your teammates are dressed up, even Parker."

"I like when you dress up." He explains before gaining a more exasperated look when mentioning his teammates. "And Rookie is a fucking mystery. He's a fucking ice cube but with his friends and other people he's talkative."

I never would've tacked Parker as the icy type. Then from what all the shit Zack has told me about him, he barely talks to his teammates. He's dead-focused on the game, never trying to be too friendly with anyone. I know being a D1 athlete and shit is cutthroat but those are his teammates after all.

"So has he opened up to anyone on the team?" I question, when I saw Parker he was pretty loud and rambunctious with Jadon. He also had a pretty girl glued to his side... or were there two? In all honesty, I respect the hustle when getting girls.

"Nah," Zack replies as we walk together to go get a drink. "only Coach, but no one can call him out on it because the kid is a fucking roadrunner on the field."

I chuckle at how he describes Parker, with a sigh of annoyance. I guess it's clear those two have a mutual distaste for each other.

Come to think of it, from what Aaron has said to me Zack also isn't a super fan of Aaron either. Aaron's currently going to the bathroom, I find myself smiling at the memory of us dancing together. Or the way his cold rings sent a shiver through me, the way when he saw me his dark blue eyes were only focused on me.

"Let's play beer pong," Zack hastily takes my hand like he's in a rush, I reluctantly follow. Honestly I rather be outside taking in some fresh air then go back inside to Aaron but here I am.

At the table are people about to play a round, Cody, Jadon and Crystal are already there as well as a bunch of other people including Zack's teammates. Crystal's eye glances up and her eyes shine with excitement as soon as her eyes meet ours. She waves her hand like a maniac to come forth, and I guess there's no getting out of this one.

I greet some of his football teammates, Zack's arm stretches pulling me over to his side. My eyebrows raise at this kind of gesture, I mean we've been touchy—not in a relationship kind of way but a former friends-with-benefits kind of thing. I guess it wasn't like that though because we only did stuff like that once or twice. That's it, we remained platonic friends.