A/N: this is the only chapter I have fully written up to this point, so updates will be a lot slower. The book is coming to an end soon, though! I just want to also thank all of you m for the near 36k reads, I'm so hyped about it, keep it up guys! I love y'all ðHappy reading!
Chapter Seventy-Four: "Knock Knock."
THE LOUD RINGING of Landon's hotel room phone has me waking up, nudging him in the chest to answer it.
Growling underneath his breath, Landon answers the call not so politely, "What?"
His eyes grow wide and immediately he's jumping up, causing me to fall back from being positioned on top of him, and stare at him quizzically.
A few more moments of exchange of words from the other line and Landon has the line cut off, pulling me up so I'm in a sitting position.
"What?" I ask confusedly.
"Get dressed!" He demands, throwing my pyjamas at me. "Your coach is doing an early check-in!"
"What?" I ask again, the sleep clearly not leaving me anytime soon.
"Coach. Check-in. Players. You in my bed. Not allowed. Check-in!" He emphasizes the last part, talking slowly so my sleepy brain comprehends.
"Crap!" I exclaim, finally catching on and jump up out of the warm bed and throw on my underwear, followed by my booty shorts. "Landon!" I cry out, flipping over my sheets frantically.
"What?" He questions, glancing at me. I can tell he's fighting hard with his eyes to keep them trained on me and not my exposed chest.
"My bra!" I shriek.
He blinks. "You didn't come in with one."
"Yes, I did!" I protest, looking under the bed for any sign of the strapless material I was wearing yesterday.
"You think I wouldn't notice if you came here with a bra on?" Landon muses, raising an eyebrow.
"Obviously not, you're a guy, you wouldn't know the difference."
"Ah, on the contrary, Blue," he grins, "I am a guy, therefore I can very much tell if you are wearing a bra or not. And after having you run down the hall last night, I assure you that your bouncing tits were not supported."
I gasp, widening my eyes before narrowing them. "You disgust me."
"Uh huh," he says in amusement. "Hurry up, now, baby, otherwise you're going to be bustedâagain."
"Somehow I don't think getting busted with a boy in a hotel room I'm not supposed to be in will result in a possible lawsuit compared to me tampering a movie theatre's screenings." I say with a cheeky grin. Man, it feels like it's been forever since that happened.
"They'd believe we were in a compromising position, if you know what I mean." He smirks.
"Well they wouldn't be wrong," I giggle, pulling on my shirt. If my bra is here and Landon is wrong, then I'll just fetch it later. God forbid I can ever leave a lacy bra around without Landon hiding it. "Because that's exactly what happened."
"How right you are," he laughs, coming up to kiss me before dragging me to the hotel room door. "Now as much as I love having you around, get out before you get pulled from the tournament."
I nod, leaning up to kiss him quickly before getting ready to sprint down the hall. "Bye!" I chirp before racing to my floor.
"Miss May!" I stop dead in my tracks at my coach, who is stood in the doorway of my hotel room.
I widen my eyes, panicking. Shit, busted. "Um, sir?"
"And just where do you think you've been?"
"I'd like to think I'd be in bed," I say lightheartedly, but Coach is having none of my humour this morning. "Sorry."
"Where have you been, Miss May?" he scowls.
"R-right," I stutter, "um, you see, Coach, I had a sweet tooth and wanted a chocolate bar so I went to the vending machinesâ"
"And where is this said chocolate bar?"
I look down at my hands and mentally facepalm when they're empty. Couldn't have thought of anything better, could you, Brooklyn? "UmâughâI didn't have enough money?"
Coach scowls at me again before finally giving up and turning to look at my roommates. Maya seemed to make it here quicker than I did, somehow. "Practice in an hour. Be there."
We all nod with a, "Yes Coach," before he leaves, looking at me once more as he closes the door behind him.
I let out a huge sigh of relief when he finally leaves us, and I see all my roommates staring at me. "Well that was close!"
Nobody says anything.
"What?"
"You're glowing," Carly comments.
"I'm always glowing," I point out.
"No, this is different," Becca replies.
"Yeah, you look exactly like me when I starting dating Lance."
I shrug innocently. "Symptoms of the Honeymoon Phase?"
"Oh, honey, this is a lot more than the Honeymoon Phase," Maya scoffs.
"Oh yeah?" I say challengingly. "Then what exactly is it that I'm glowing about?"
Maya grins knowingly. "Little Miss May here let the flower die."
I widen my eyes, nearly sputtering and choking over my own CO2. "Excuse?"
"She's finally a woman," she continues to tease.
"I already was a woman," I mumble. Besides Landon and my L.A. friends, Maya is the only one that knew I had relapse sex with my ex.
Maya rolls her eyes and grins cheekily. "Do you want a sundae to go with that popped cherry?"
"Maya!"
"Brooklyn!" I turn my head to see Carly and Becca looking at me wide-eyed as they yell at me all at once.
"What!" I exclaim sheepishly, a deep blush forming on my cheeks.
"Give us details!" Carly squeals.
"I can't, we have practice!" I protest, hoping to find any loophole to get me out of this embarrassing situation. I'm not embarrassed at all about what happened last night, I have no regrets, but having to explain it in front of three girls, two of whom are way too squeal-y about boys and crushes and all, it admittedly makes me feel sheepish and shy. I know that Carly and Becca have had their spotlight and don't even get me started on Maya and Lance, but to the two girls, this is my first time.
To me, it's actually my first sober, non-relapsed-consenting time having sex. It feels a lot like a first time should be, minus the awkwardness, but constant reminders of how foolish I was the first time always makes me feel guilty.
Landon hasn't commented on anything, or even my past, but sometimes I can't help but think that he might feel dirty with me because he'd be getting Taylor's sloppy seconds. He probably doesn't, since he isn't that kind of person, but I still think about it. We were broken up, so it wasn't cheating, but it felt like it to me because it was right after we split, and even though my withdrawals were messing with my thinking really bad, I know I consented with Taylor, just regretted it during and after.
"Not for another twenty minutes!" Becca points out.
"I can give you the gist in less than that, but I'm not explaining the whole story before practice." I mutter, knowing it's a win-lose situation for the girls.
"We'll take it." Carly grins excitedly.
I sigh. I wish they refused. "Okay, fine." I take a deep breath, ready to just spit it out, grab my things, and run out the door. "I seduced Landon, he reciprocated, we did foreplay for a while before he took me to bed. There, end of story."
Carly and Becca burst out into squeals, all the while Maya has a huge smirk on her face. "Less than ten minutes wasn't long enough?"
"Nope," I grin shyly. "First ten minutes were pretty good, though. He's very good with his mouth and hands."
"Told you so." She says devilishly.
"How do you even know this?" I question Maya. Seriously, this has always been on the back of my mind and I even questioned several times in my head if Maya and Landon were ever involved in that sort of manner. I really hope not, because Maya has easily become one of my best friends, and though it might have been in the past, it would still be weird to be dating an ex of hers. Even though this is a new-found friendship, isn't it a code to never date a friends ex? If that's the case, it makes my stomach churn.
"I've heard him in bed," she shrugs. "I see that look on your face, Brooklyn, and believe me, I have never, and will never, ever date your boyfriend."
That makes me sigh inwardly in relief, but it still concerns me.
"So, how was it?" Carly smirks.
I chuckle, catching onto her scheme. "I said already, I'm not discussing this before practice. Now, get your pretty asses out of this room before you drive me over the balcony!"
***
"Great practice today ladies! We have dinner reservations for 6:00 p.m. at the restaurant across the road, so don't be late!" Coach yells at us as we all are getting ready to pack up our bags. Today's practice was more challenging than our practices at home, but it was nothing I couldn't handle and nothing I didn't expect. For making it to Internationals, you should expect a heavier workload.
When I'm done in the change room, having decided to shower back in the hotel room, I wait patiently for my roommates. When they're ready, we head back down the road to our hotel and up to our rooms. Landon, Lance, Maya and I have breakfast dates, with a girls day out after with Becca and Carly.
"We demand a story when you guys get back!" Becca scolds me as we reach our room, Carly using her keycard to open the door.
I roll my eyes. "When will you guys get over that?" I chuckle. "It's just a story."
"Um, a sex story!" Carly corrects. "Everyone loves those."
"I'm sure the boys wouldn't want to hear it from Landon in detail," I mutter.
"Actually," Maya interrupts, "the boys are like that. They were all on my ass when I first lost my virginity. Wanted position details and all. It's quite disturbing, really."
I scrunch up my face in disgust. "That's... not surprising."
"Landon won't say anything though," she continues. "He doesn't kiss and tell."
"Well, in Brookie's case, doesn't have sex and tell." Carly chides in.
"Can we stop talking about my sex life?!" I exclaim. "Jesus, guys, it was one time!"
"I'm calling bullshit on that," Becca snorts.
"Yeah, me too." Carly laughs.
"Me three." Maya says softly.
"Maya!"
"Hey, I know it, you know it, clearly these girls know it as well so why hide and deny it?"
I hate how this girl has a point. "I hate you." I curse.
"Brooklyn, Brooklyn, Spanish, dear, I know it." she winks.
I roll my eyes. "Kiss my ass."
"Landon's already done that, sweetheart, I'll pass this time."
"Can we just go?" I plea. "Please?"
"Fine," the girls reply, and thankfully, leave me alone while I get showered and ready.
***
Maya and I head down to the foyer where we plan to meet the boys. We decided that it was best so we didn't have to risk being caught by Coach, plus, we didn't want Coach to grow suspicious of having the same guys come to our floor every so often.
It's just a precaution.
"Please keep your mouth shut about last night," I plead when we get to the top of the stairs to their floor.
Maya glances at me as I hold the door open for her. "Relax. We were just teasing. Landon would chop my hair off if I mentioned it in front of his brother."
I frown. "Yeah, but don't they talk about their one night stands all the time with one another?"
"Of course they do," she agrees, "but the girls they bang they barely even know, so it doesn't make it personal."
"But they still barely even know me," I murmur. Sure they get my lifestyle, but they don't know me as a person. Landon only found that out last night.
"Landon is very open with that because he has no connection with those girls." Maya says. "You're different, since you're his girlfriend. He keeps his private life private for a reason. He went down that road before with a close relative and he hated to see her like that."
"Who?"
Maya stops, walking, talking, breathing, you name it; it's as if she wasn't paying attention and she only just realized what she said. "I've said too much."
"No, Maya, please, don't do this." I complain. "Every one of you is hiding the same Goddamn secret and nobody is telling me!"
She sighs and turns to look at me. "It's not my secret to tell," she says softly. "It's all theirs. If one of them wants to discuss it with you, then they will. But this secret is a secret to everyone in that family, especially to the boys."
"Does it have anything to do with Atticus and their hatred towards each other?" I ask softly, pleading with my eyes that she'll at least give me this tidbit of information.
She sighs again and continues walking until we reach their rooms. Well, Landon's. "Yes, Brooklyn, but that's all I'm giving out. You'll have to talk to them."
I nod silently as she knocks on his door. "Thank you."
She nods, trying to smile but it not reaching her eyes. Landon opens the door seconds later. "Hello, beautiful." He beams down at us. Then glances at me. "Beautifuller."
I blink up at him in amusement. "That isn't a word," I whisper as a blush creeps up on my cheeks.
"It is now." He grins. "I'm going to claim it and copyright it and everything."
"You're so cheesy." I laugh. Lance appears behind him and smiles at me.
"Hey, Brookie."
"Lance." I smile back.
He engulfs me in a quick hug, Maya with Landon and Lance with me before we switch. "You smell great," Landon whispers in my ear.
"I'm wearing your sweater," I giggle as he rubs his nose in my hair.
"And you look very sexy as well." He adds cheekily, making me slap his arm playfully.
"Okay, stop being so lovey dovey and let's get fat!" Maya exclaims in excitement, grabbing my hand with her left and Lance's with her right. I immediately cling onto Landon to drag him behind and laugh as she pulls all four of us again.