Dorming With The Jocks

Chapter 23 -

Kent shoved a heavy, dark brown Carhartt jacket into my arms before grabbing another jacket for himself. I didn't have time for an adventure tonight, I needed to study.

"Where are we going again?" I quickly slipped into Kent's jacket, secretly loving the way it smelled, and slipped on my boots. Kent had gotten home from practice and announced that we had to get ready right away, for what though he failed to mention. 

"The bonfire," Kent responded, like I would automatically know what that meant. 

"The bonfire? What bonfire?" I asked while Kent sighed and glanced over at me, searching for a pair of socks. 

"You're going to want an extra pair of socks," Kent tossed a pair of wool socks my way and I failed to catch them, "The bonfire is hosted every year by the senior football players before the end of the season. No one knows when the bonfire is going to be exactly until the night of, and it's tonight so we gotta go," 

I was still processing the information Kent had just shared as he nudged me towards the window and turned off our dorm room light. Kent propped open our window with our alarm clock again and started to go down the ladder first but then stopped. 

"Are you coming?" He asked, the upper half of his body still visible from our small fire escape landing. 

"Yeah? Once you're down, I'll follow you, like last time," 

"It's pretty slippery this time, you should come down with me," Kent extended his arms out and made a motion for me to slide between him and the metal ladder, a playful smirk on his face.

"Are you crazy? That thing barely holds you, let alone both of us!"  Kent opened his mouth to argue with me but someone down below whistled up at us. Looking down made my head spin, I wasn't a huge fan of heights, not while I was standing on some janky, slippery metal at least. 

"Hurry up you guys!" It was Charlie yelling up at us. Jayden, Jace, Squid and Dylan were sprinting towards the parking lot, having just climbed down the ladder as well. I don't know how they've never been caught doing this sort of thing.

"Come on, sweetheart, we don't have all night," Kent's tone was sarcastic and I wanted to be a brat but instead I squeezed between him and the ladder, making our way down together one step at a time. 

Kent stepped down first and helped me down, making sure I was stable before letting go of me but quickly grabbing my hand to sprint towards the parking lot as well. We jumped in his car, the boys had already taken off, and Kent whipped out of the parking lot as fast as possible. 

"I think it's only like fifteen minutes away from here," Kent mumbled mostly to himself while I tried to figure out how to turn on his heat. "Oh, here," 

Kent reached in the back seat and handed me a thick blanket that was also cold but would help tremendously. 

"Are you excited?" Kent asked, reaching over and squeezing my thigh, grinning towards me but keeping his eyes on the road. He looked cute when he was excited about something. 

"I mean, I think so," 

"You think so?"

"The last bonfire I went to, didn't end the best I guess you could say," I trailed off, remembering that I promised myself I wouldn't talk about my old school or my past at all. Kent would probably be bored hearing about it anyway. 

Unfortunately, he didn't seem bored at all. 

"What do you mean by that?" Kent glanced over at me with a mischievous smirk, "You didn't get into a fight or something did you?"