Page 8 of Stalked By the Third Baseman

“Yeah,” I said slowly. “So?”

“So… I have a feeling Mr. Hockey-Playing-Trevor might make a little impromptu visit to the gym.”

This made me giggle.

Not just because she was suggesting that Trevor would ditch whatever frat party was happening on campus to come see me while I worked, but because Trevor was a hockey player, one who started for our division one team. I doubted the guy took a day off from hitting the gym with how muscled up her was.

“Umm, Rox, the guy’s literally a hockey player.”

“Exactly! He goes to the gym on the regular.”

“Yeah, the fancy athletes one on the end of campus or the one connected to the stadium or arena.”

“Right! Not the one the mere mortals of the school hit up on a lonely Friday night.”

“Lonely… are you lonely Rox? You could come with me and⁠—“

“Yeah, I love you, babe, loads! But I am not lonely. Not in the least.” Her eyes didn’t meet mine. Again, almost like she was avoiding them. Something was up with her. “I’m happy potato-ing on the couch tonight since I don’t have to get up until tomorrow at noon,” she reminded me. “I’m just saying in general. Like you, for example.”

“Me?” I asked, touching my chest with my fingertips.

“Babe, you practically volunteer for these shifts,” she pointed out.

“That’s not⁠—“

“It is true, Cal. Like I said, love you to the moon and back, but let’s not lie. Since the whole tiff with Adam, you avoid doing anything even remotely fun.”

“That’s not true!” I laughed. “We did that brunch thing with the girls from your yoga class.”

“Yeah.”

“And we did that paint night with the people in your pottery class.”

“Again, totally true. But you avoid the male gaze like it’s your full-time job,” she said as gently as someone with Roxie’s strong personality could manage. “I get it. Sorta. I mean, Adam is my cousin, but I get missing that person who makes your heart… I don’t know, skip a beat?”

“You have someone who makes your heart skip a beat?” I asked, because I was genuinely curious but also wanted to take the attention off this whole Adam and Callie conversation.

“We’re talking about you, but A plus for effort,” she sassily answered. I snorted and went to grab my sweater.

“Fine. Want me to bring a pizza home?”

“You’re off at two in the morning,” she reminded me, but I just stared at her.

“I said what I said.” I shrugged.

The school gym was only a fifteen-minute walk and the pizza place that was conveniently open until three in the morning was on my way home. Plus, it wasn’t like I could take pizza to work. I worked at a gym after all.

“And I will partake if we’re sharing.”

“Deal.”

Work was slow.

It usually was on Friday nights. Roxie hadn’t been wrong. A month into our fight, I had started to pick up Friday night shifts because it helped fill the time without somehow accidentally bumping into Adam on campus or being dragged to a party by Rox.

It was bad enough that it felt like he was everywhere I turned. But it’d made sense. We’d built our routine around one another, had walked with each other everywhere, from classes to lunch. We’d been as close and inseparable as two people who weren’t dating could be.

I’d had to change my routine. It’d been childish. The whole argument had been childish and so stupid. Jealousy got the better of me and I’d been angry. Not at Adam; it wasn’t his fault girls were interested in him. Or that I was in love with him. I didn’t even think he knew how I felt.