The Puck Drop by Jaqueline Snowe

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Naomi

Mona, Kellie, Lilly, and I each chose extra baggy ripped jeans and tight tank tops, and we wore plaid shirts tied around our waist. I even put on extra eyeliner after studying 90s grunge online. Fashion was more of Cami’s thing, but I swore some of these trends had come back. Just thinking about my sister had me feeling uneasy. I hadn’t reached out or texted, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to yet—even with Michael’s words flashing through my mind.

Michael. My stomach swooped. He was coming over to party with us. It felt big. I chewed on the side of my lip as I poured myself a drink. Vodka and fruit punch. A drink before he got here would help settle my nerves. Probably.

“I found this dope ass 90s grunge playlist. They were so angsty. I love it. I would’ve killed it if I grew up in the 90s,” Mona said, lying on the couch as she tossed a tennis ball up into the air. Our apartment had a cut-out from the kitchen to the living room, so it was easy to talk while I prepared the drinks. “The movies, the music. Ugh, it was made for me.”

“In typical Mona fashion, she’s being dramatic,” Kellie said, putting a choker necklace on and then applying dark lipstick in the hallway mirror. “They started the music upstairs. Should we head up or wait for Clark Kent and Hockey Hottie to arrive?”

“I’m impressed with you for inviting them,” Mona said, a playful smile on her face. Her dark eyes and smirk were filled with questions, but I pretended to ignore them.

“I’m an impressive person,” I said, bringing the cup to my mouth and sipping. It was perfectly sweet.

“Uh huh, sure, yeah.” She rolled her eyes and joined me in the kitchen. She prepared her own drink and leaned one hip against the counter. “You like him.”

“Um, like?” I said, sounding like a preteen. My muscles tightened, and I might’ve started sweating too. I liked dessert and crime podcasts. Michael? It was definitely more than that. “Sure. We’re friends.”

“Aren’t you friends with Weston from class? Why not invite him?”

“I see the point you’re trying to make, but Michael’s different. He...he’s new, and I don’t know, I thought we’d have fun.” My face was as red as the Solo cup, and I took another sip.

“I’m all for having fun, but you’re an intelligent woman. One of the smartest I know. I just want you to be careful because I haven’t seen you this nervous since you liked that guy in your computer science class freshmen year.”

“I’m not nervous,” I said, my hand hitting the cup and knocking it over. Red liquid spilled onto the counter, and I quickly yanked some paper towels off the roll and wiped the mess up. “Much.”

Mona snorted and poured me another drink but didn’t say anything else on the matter. It was weird to have her warn me twice about Michael. Nothing even happened. We were friends, people. Friends! Friends who almost kissed once!

Music blasted from upstairs, and without a text from Michael, I could feel my roommates’ annoyance. Kellie sighed a lot, Lilly kept looking at the ceiling, and Mona arched one pretty brow at me.

“Okay, let’s head there,” I said.

They jumped up and were all smiles. Disappointment hit me like a pound of flour. Michael was either really late or not coming. Was this what Mona meant about being careful? My feelings were already too involved if I got this upset over him not coming.

I took a large sip of the drink and put on my happy face as we headed to the apartment hop. The first unit showed 10 Things I Hate About You, and people were already doing shots.

Mona and Lilly walked right up to the counter to join a drinking game, and Kellie yanked me toward beer pong in the walkway. The setup was right there in the open, outside, and someone had hung twinkle lights on the ceiling. It was kinda cute.

“We’re next in line, please!” Lilly shouted as someone from the unit across from ours wrote down our names. The cool thing about these parties was the fact we knew our neighbors. It was so much better than the dorms with the awkward shared bathrooms. It was a mini-community here, and I pushed out all the negative thoughts about Michael not showing up. I was being bolder. More like my sister.

Maybe there was a reason he wasn’t here though. It wasn’t like he owed me anything. As Lilly and I played a game of beer pong and the drinks flowed, my worries went away. I didn’t care if Michael was here or not to have fun.

Psh. I didn’t need him.

I had my girls and friends, and shit! I tried gripping the edge of the beer pong table to catch my balance, but I missed and fell onto the ground. My ass stung from the contact, and a very large person appeared in front of my face.

“Typical Fletcher,” the voice said, the deep timbre causing a waterfall of excitement through me.

“Michael,” I said, looking up and smiling at him. The lights reflected off his face and eyes, and god, he was handsome. I became limp when he pulled me up and ran his hands over my arms, like he was dusting me off.

“You showed up.”

“Yeah, sorry if I was late. My damn sister was an hour late to our Facetime call.” He smiled and looked around the unit. “This is sick.”

“I’m happy you’re here,” I said, ignoring how soft my voice went and how my mood improved by a thousand percent. My calculations were correct. One thousand percent increase.

“Me too,” he said, laugh lines appearing around his eyes. He pointed his thumb toward the Clark Kent look-a-like. “Freddie, this is Naomi.”

“Ah, yes. The girl from the trivia bar who has a sister.”

“Hi, Freddie,” I said, not really paying attention to him. Michael scooted closer to me and put his hand on my lower back, making my senses go haywire. His fingers slightly dug into me, and his touch was so warm. Strong fingers, thick. How would they feel inside me?

I gulped at how dirty my thoughts went from just a simple touch.

“What’s a guy gotta do to get a drink?” Michael asked, his breath tickling my ear, and I shivered.

“Uh, Freddie, would you fill in for me?” I pointed to Lilly who watched with a small smirk. “I can go make you both a drink.”

“Sure.” Freddie shrugged and stood next to Lilly at the table. He towered over her the same way Michael did with me, and my friend eyed him up and down.

Watch out, Freddie. If Lilly wants you, she’ll do what it takes. I giggled as I headed down the stairs to our place.

“That was a cute sound, Fletcher. Why the laughter?”

“My roommate. Your roommate. I hope Freddie can take care of himself.” I opened our door and tossed the keys onto the counter with a clink. Michael followed, and when the door clicked shut, I was suddenly very aware that it was just the two of us.

In my apartment.

Alone.

I took a steadying breath and kept my back to him as I walked toward the kitchen. He gently grabbed my hand and spun me around. “I want to see what 90s Naomi would look like.”

My hand tingled from his touch, and goosebumps broke out head to toe as he took his time checking me out. A slow smile formed on his gorgeous mouth, and he nodded. “Yup, I dig it.”

An awkward sound came from my throat. Not a laugh or a cough. Like a snort and he raised his brows.

“Uh, sorry. You look 90s-ish too.”

“I already had this windbreaker for reasons I’m not exactly sure of,” he said, laughing and rocking back on his heels. His matching blue track pants made a swish sound when he walked, and he reminded me of an elementary school gym teacher.

He was so at ease right now, it wasn’t fair. Was his heart racing and were his palms sweating at just thinking about the two of us alone? God, I wanted to rip that windbreaker off his broad shoulders. I wanted to feel his hard chest and examine every one of the tattoos on his arm.

Shit. He asked me something, and I wasn’t paying attention. “Hm, what now?”

“Are you okay?” He frowned, and those dark brows came together. “You seem a bit...distracted?”

“Oh.” I was. Very distracted.

Distracted by my attraction to him, how upset I ‘d been when he wasn’t there, and how elated I’d become when he showed up. Constantly thinking about how he’d kiss. Then Mona’s warnings slammed in. The whole hockey issue. There was a lot going on in my mind. I needed to keep busy and do something with my hands before I touched him. “Vodka? Rum? Warm beer? What would you like to drink?”

His frown deepened, but he followed me into the kitchen. He smelled so good, like freshly cleaned clothes and sandalwood. I opened the cabinet to grab a glass, but we’d used all the ones on the bottom shelf. “Shit.”

“Let me be a gentleman and help,” he said, moving behind me and placing one hand on my shoulder. With the other, he grabbed the glass on the highest shelf, but in the process, he pressed his chest to my back. I froze and didn’t move a single muscle.

“Th-thanks,” I said, my entire body on fire. How could he not tell? My face had to be redder than a tomato at this point. All from lust. “I’ll pour it for you.”

“No, no need. I couldn’t have you spill it accidentally, hm?”  He got ice, poured the fruit punch and rum into a glass, and held it up. “I feel like we should toast. Do you need me to make you one?”

“Mine’s around here.” My chest heaved, and I found my leftover drink from before we headed upstairs. I clinked my glass to Michael’s. “Cheers, Michael Reiner.”

“Sure thing, Naomi Fletcher.”

We held eye contact as we each took a sip, and my god, I’d never been this attracted to a guy before. I wanted to jump on him, and instead of being polite and taking a small sip, I downed the rest of my drink.

“I’m officially tipsy,” I said out loud instead of in my mind. “Oops, I didn’t mean to announce it to you. But I did. So now you know.”

“I appreciate how open you are.” He laughed. “I’ll keep you updated on my status too.”

“Please and thank you.”

He laughed again, harder this time, and he leaned his very sexy hip against my counter. “So Officially Tipsy, what does one of these parties look like?”

“It’s so fun. We bounce from unit to unit. This month’s is on the floor above us, so we didn’t have to prepare our unit. But there’s a 90s movie going on in each one and games and you saw the outfits.”

“This is kinda cool. Our building would never do anything like this.” He took a long swig of the drink, and I watched, transfixed as his throat moved with his swallow.

Tipsy Naomi had no reservations about being into Michael.  Tipsy Naomi was seconds away from kissing the hell out of him and saying fuck the consequences. I took a step near him and ran my tongue over my bottom lip, my skin already tingling from anticipation.

As I got closer to him, his nostrils flared, and he jutted his chin toward the door. “Should we bring libations to Freddie and play some games? You know I love a good competition.”

His blues eyes sparkled, and I could think of nothing I’d rather do than play a game with him. I’d lose, most likely, but it’d be fun.

That was what my tipsy mind agreed on with Michael—falling for him, kissing him, sleeping with him—it’d be fun. My life didn’t have a lot of fun, and that was my new plan. Have a good time with him and leave the feelings out of it.

“You’re on, Reiner.”

His eyes flashed with heat, and his gaze dropped to my mouth for one second before he moved out the door. I admired his ass the entire time, but he didn’t catch me. Tipsy Naomi was sneaky and horny. Who would’ve thought?