Chapter 32: What Are The Odds?: Chapter 32

Grace.

I rushed into the change rooms. I was running late. All thanks to Levi and his tongue. Leaving his bed had been near impossible this morning. For the first time in my life, I’d considered skipping practice. But that wasn’t an option when we had a meet this afternoon.

“Where were you last night?” Stella asked from where she was sitting in front of her locker.

“Um.”

I checked for prying ears, but I didn’t have to anymore. I didn’t think. If Levi and I were exclusive, then it didn’t matter whether people knew we were together. But then I second guessed myself. Because while we weren’t seeing other people, we weren’t, like, a couple. We were just hanging out. But only with each other. But not, like, together together. God, it was too confusing.

“I crashed at Levi’s,” I settled with.

Ava smirked. “Good. I’m team Levi.”

“There aren’t teams.”

“Yes, there are,” Stella interjected. “And I’m team Ryker.”

They were already dressed in their bathers. Given I was late, there was no one else in the changeroom. I took the opportunity and started stripping rather than conservatively changing. Stella and Ava had seen it before. We shared the same dorm after all. There wasn’t much privacy. Stella opened my locker and rummaged around for my bathers. I smiled thankfully after taking them from her hands.

“I thought he had an away game last night,” Ava said.

“He did. He, ugh, called me to come round afterwards.”

I stepped through my one-piece and pulled the straps over my shoulders.

Stella sneered. “Booty call?”

“No actually.”

“So you didn’t?’

“Well, he did.”

Ava frowned. “What do you mean?”

I paused, considering how much I wanted to divulge to my friends. Then I reminded myself I’d just been naked in front of them and neither had batted an eyelid. I sat down. We were already late. We may as well milk it now.

“Stels, when Americans say hooking up, what does that mean?”

She sat down beside me, thinking. “I guess it depends. It can be anything from kissing to sleeping together. But to me, hooking up means sex.”

“Right.”

I had thought so too.

“Last night Levi said he wants to be exclusive.”

Stella looked outright shocked. Part of me was too. When he’d called after his game, there’d been a desperation in his voice. I hadn’t gone around expecting it to be a booty call, but when he’d woken me up, I assumed that’s what it was. Having him admit he was jealous and hadn’t been with another girl for a month wasn’t something I was expecting to hear.

“But each time we’ve been together I’ve been the only one to–” God, this was mortifying. “Finish.”

“He’s not getting into it?” Ava asked.

“No. He definitely is. I can feel him enjoying it. And he says the dirtiest things.” I picked up my towel gripping it in my clammy hands. “But if we’re keeping score, it’s currently Grace-three and Levi-zero.”

Stella frowned, trying to piece it together. “And he was the one who suggested being exclusive?”

I nodded. Saying it out loud, it didn’t seem right. Why the hell would he suggest that when we hadn’t even slept together? Exclusive meant exclusively not hooking up with others. But technically he hadn’t even reaped the rewards yet. He’d just agreed to be exclusively celibate.

“Maybe he thinks you’re not ready or something,” Ava supplied. “Or maybe he’s worried because he’s not that good.”

“Definitely not the latter,” I told her.

This morning my back was arching so much I thought I was going to snap in half. In terms of Levi’s bedroom ability, the rumours were well and truly true. If anything, they were only false on the account they hadn’t been exaggerated enough.

“Did he mean exclusive as in not hooking up with other people? Or exclusive as in dating?” Ava questioned.

We’d not exactly clarified, but I was quite confident it only meant not hooking up with other people. Levi didn’t do girlfriends. He’d made that clear. And I’d come to terms with the whole casual thing. I was only here for the remainder of the school year. Getting a boyfriend wasn’t part of the plan. It was too fleeting to be worth the heartache at the end.

“Levi doesn’t do girlfriends,” Stella said. “But he does sleep with girls. Like, a lot of them.”

I grimaced. “Do you think it’s bad that he hasn’t–”

“No way babe. Girls have been faking it for years. It’s about time the focus was on us.”

I chewed on my thumb. I should probably talk to Levi about this. I knew he was into it. If his dirty words didn’t confirm it, the constant state of hard he was in did. That didn’t mean I wasn’t worried why he hadn’t tried to take things to the next level. Or at least let me do it for him. I wanted to. Hell, I’d asked to. But each time he downplayed it, as though we were only there for me and not him. That was weird. Maybe not if he was sleeping with others. I stopped myself from falling down that rabbit hole. I was overthinking it. I hoped.

“Have you read the comments on Ryan’s latest TikTok?” Ava asked.

I stood, slipping my arms through my swimming jacket.

“Why would I read the comments?”

“Because they’re about you.”

My stomach dropped. She handed me her phone after hitting play. Ryan had filmed each of the players as they turned up, recording their time. When it got to Levi, my heart sped up. Yesterday I’d had to fight the urge to throw myself at him. He’d looked so good in his formal gear. He always looked good. And he made me feel good. Like, amazingly good. A blush crept up my neck when I remembered the reason I was late this morning. The camera panned when Levi’s gaze averted. Ryan continued to film even when I came into view, when Levi hugged me, and when I told them the time. I could only imagine what people were saying. With him decked out in his fitted suit and team beanie, I’d felt like a troll standing beside him in my swimming tracksuit and wet hair.

“What are they saying?” I asked nervously.

“It’s what they’re asking.”

“Everyone wants to know who Levi’s new side piece is,” Stella said.

I glared at Stella. “Side piece?”

“One girl commented seeing Levi and you go upstairs at his party. Another mentioned she saw you shopping for groceries together.”

Did nothing go unnoticed at this college? The gossip was next level. And I was only part of it because of who I was seen with. Every sporting stereotype was turning out to be true. People paid too much attention to guys like Levi. I passed Ava back her phone.

“All I did in this was hug him,’ I pointed out. “And technically, he hugged me first.”

Stella placed her hands on my shoulders, pinning me in place with her gaze. “You’re new here, Grace. So let me get you up to speed. This is Levi Hollway we’re talking about. The fact he suggested exclusively sleeping together is a big deal. Like, huge. I don’t know whether to be happy for you or jealous.” Her expression sobered. “Though I do know for most girls, it’ll be the latter. There’s nothing more attractive to a girl than a guy she can’t have. And you just made one of the most desirable guys on campus even more desirable.”