Summer Fling - Players of Marycliff University, Book 1

Chapter 7

A key scraped in the lock and the front door opened in a way that suggested the person coming in hoped to remain undetected. Chris turned the handle before pushing the door closed and turned the handle back so it latched.

Lance watched him from his place on the couch, amusement coloring his irritation. When Chris turned and saw Lance, he jumped in surprise.

"Hey, man. I didn't expect you to be out here." Chris walked across the living room and tossed his keys on an end table before sitting on the other end of the couch.

Lance just shrugged, eyes still on the TV, and brought a beer bottle to his lips.

"What're you watching?" An explosion filled the screen.

"Die Hard."

"Which one?"

"The last one."

They sat in relative silence, watching high speed chases and more explosions.

"So was it just a quickie or did you strike out?"

"Shut up, Chris." Lance gripped the bottle in his hand tighter.

Chris laughed. "She turned you down, huh? That always stings."

Lance looked at the time on his phone. "What are you doing here? It's only three. I thought you guys were going to stay out until at least four."

Chris ran a hand over his close cropped sandy blonde hair. "I got bored and figured I could sneak in while you guys were otherwise occupied in your room."

Chris got up and went into the kitchen to grab his own beer. He handed another to Lance before sitting back down. "So what happened? From your attitude I gather she didn't come back here with you."

Lance opened the beer Chris handed him and took a drink. "She had things she needed to get done tonight and she has to be at work in the morning. I took her home."

Chris swigged his beer and studied Lance's profile. "Okay." He drew the word out. "Did you know she had stuff to do after lunch when you scheduled the date?" Lance nodded. "Why are you pissed off, then? Obviously you were hoping she'd rearrange her schedule a bit for you or you wouldn't have told Matt and me to scram, but it can't have been that surprising. Just take her out another night."

Lance clenched and unclenched his jaw a couple times. "I asked. She turned me down."

"Oooh, burn." Chris laughed. Lance clenched his teeth some more.

"Shut up, dude. Someone told her that I only go out with girls once or twice and that's why she told me no."

Lance could feel Chris's eyes on him again. "And? You do only go out with chicks once or twice. You either bang 'em and move on, or just move on. What's the big deal?"

Lance ground his teeth before spitting out his answer. "Yeah, I know. Today was four with Abby, though, so I don't know why it was suddenly a big deal today."

Chris just swigged his beer again before delivering his philosophical answer. "Chicks, man. What can you do?"

* * *

Abby was grading the homework from the morning language labs when she heard the faint buzzing from her bag. She fished it out from under the table where she was working in her classroom so she could see who was texting her.

It was her mom.

I need your help.

Abby pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to decide the best way to respond.