Fake Dates & Ice Skates: (The North University Series Book 1)

We spend the next few days in one of those heavenly hazes where we’re doing nothing and everything, just lost in each other’s presence. I don’t know we quickly became this. Us. How we so easily fit together like this. We spend the days with our friends, talking shit about whatever’s on the rotation for the week. We take millions of photos to post online which are instantly met with comments like, You’re my OTP, How do these pics keep getting cuter, and I’m so jealous. And I fucking love it.

“Do you think you’ll get an award?” Wren asks, coming up behind me in the mirror while I brush my teeth. She’s wearing my shirt and nothing else as she bends over me to pick up her toothbrush. I watch her in the mirror, and it takes all I am to grip onto my toothbrush instead of her.

“Considering how I’ve been on the bench, and I’ve only just got back on the team, I’m not expecting to,” I say through a foamy smile before spitting and rinsing in the sink. I move behind her as she nods and places her toothbrush in her mouth. I wrap my hands around her stomach and rest my chin on her shoulder, watching the way her smile creeps up her cheeks while she tries to smother it with her toothbrush. “Do you think you will?”

“Maybe. I don’t know-” she mumbles. She takes the toothbrush out of her mouth and pauses, looking at me. “It’s not like Darcy has many options.”

“You’re the best skater on the team, Wren,” I say. She pauses the toothbrush at her mouth before shaking her head and finishes brushing her teeth. I move to the side of the sink, leaning against it while she rinses.

We have spent a lot of mornings like this. It makes this whole thing feel even more surreal. I knew that being in a real relationship with her would be fun and exciting, but I didn’t expect to feel this overwhelming sense of calm and tranquillity when she’s around. She moves to stand between my legs, her hands roaming up and down my shoulder as she studies me with a strange expression.

“You’re biased because we’re sleeping together,” she pouts as if she’s just remembered what we were talking about. I bring my hands around the back of her bare thighs, pressing her closer to me.

“Oh, we’re just sleeping together? I thought I was your boyfriend,” I whine sarcastically as she pushes me in the shoulder. I grip onto her waist as she leans into me, and I inhale her scent.

“Since when?” she asks, kissing along my jaw until she gets to my ear as she whispers, “It’s interesting how you’re always begging to hang out with me, begging me to stay over here, begging to fuck me, but you’ve not had the decency to even ask me to be your girlfriend. If anything, I’m still faking it to qualify.”

“Is that what you want? You want me to beg you to be my girlfriend?” She pulls away from me and drags her lip between her teeth and nods at me in that sultry way I have spent every night since I’ve met her thinking about.

In one swift motion, I turn her around until her ass is against the sink. Her green eyes search mine as her eyebrows furrow when I don’t say anything. I lift up my shirt on her and run my hands from the back of her knee up to her ass and she gasps when I grab it. Her eyes don’t leave mine as I slowly lower to my knees, bunching the shirt in my hands. I leave long kisses on the insides of her thighs as she grabs my hair in her hands, twisting her fingers between each of my curls.

“I want you to be mine, Wren,” I whisper into her skin as I inch further up her thighs until I’m almost at where she’s waiting for me. “I want you to scream my name when I make you come. I want you in my bed every night. I want you and anything you’re willing to give me. I will do anything to get you to be my girlfriend.”

The only response I get is a small whimper when my mouth meets her pussy in gentle kiss. I don’t do what she’s expecting me to do and instead I kiss further up until I’m at her stomach before kissing back down her right thigh. Both of her hands come to each side of my face when I sit back on my heels. A huge grin splits across her mouth as she shakes her head disbelievingly.

“That wasn’t so hard. Was it, baby?’ 

*

Whenever Wren tells me to pick her up at a certain time because she’ll ‘definitely be ready by then,’ I automatically add another fifteen minutes onto the time because she’s never ready by then. Even now as I’m waiting in my car outside her apartment, it’s been thirty minutes since the time she said they would all be ready. Wren is taking Scarlett as her plus-one so I can take Kennedy – for her – as my plus-one.

Sports Achievement Evening is the one night a year where all the sports students – more than half of North U’s population – can come together, get awards, get shitfaced and meet alumni that we are definitely not obsessed with. Everyone on the hockey team know the Class of ’15 team like the back of their hand. Some of them even got drafted into the NHL when they left NU and our team tries out best to follow in their footsteps. We’ve watched all of their games on repeat to try and figure out how they were unbeatable for three years.

It’s been a tough legacy to uphold but the guys and I are trying everything we can to be as good as them or even better. These events are for the coaches from each team to celebrate a few of their players for different categories. It’s a good way to hang out with all the basketball, football, and soccer players – we’re all so caught up in our own sports that we rarely get to hang out.

I’m about to start pounding my head on the steering wheel before I see the lights from the main doors of the apartment complex light up. Wren is the first one that I see.

She’s dressed in a red satin cowl neck mini dress, her blonde hair curled down past her shoulders as she walks to me in slow motion. When did that start happening? My eyes travel from her smug face to her tits to her long golden legs.

I almost forget that Kennedy and Scarlett are walking behind her in equally stunning outfits until they’re both pulling on the back doors of my car. I unlock them and they slide into the back while Wren sits in the front, beaming at me.

‘You are something else, Wren,” I breathe when my voice comes back to me. She pulls on her seatbelt while the girls snicker in the back. I ignore them and wrap my right hand around the back of her neck, inhaling her perfume before kissing her. She tastes like cinnamon and sugar. She pulls back, holding onto the lapels of my blazer before pulling me back in again.

“I see you still haven’t figured out how to tie a tie, Milesy,” she murmurs when she draws back. She looks down at the tie hanging loose on my neck that I forgot was there. I don’t say anything while she works at the tie seamlessly, completely lost in the presence of her. Even when she’s finished tying it, she keeps her hands on me, looking at me with hopeful eyes. I open my mouth, hoping that words will come out, but nothing does.

“I’m starting to feel violent just looking at this,” Scarlett interrupts with a groan. I turn to her and she’s pretending to stab her eyes with her acrylic nails.

Wren blinks up at me, fear slightly crowding her face as if there’s something unspoken in the air which she’s afraid to address. It’s then that I realise that I’m falling for her. Like, really, no sign of the end kind of falling. It’s a ridiculous thought and I don’t know how I didn’t realise it earlier. But I think she feels it too.

The campus gymnasium is filled with black tables and white cloths when we walk in. Name cards are placed on each seat of the table. The sports department take nights like these very seriously as they decorate the gym with gold and black bunting. All the teachers are dressed in their best outfits, wandering around as they pick up punch and snacks.

My leg bounces up and down in excitement as we wait at our table for the guest speakers to arrive. I know I’m acting like a complete fangirl right now, but I can’t seem to care when this is one of the best nights NU have to offer. Wren’s hand on my knee doesn’t help the jittering even though she thinks it does. We’re sitting at a table with Kennedy, Scarlett, Xavier, Michelle and Tyler and their partner Beau.

“Dude, you look like you’re going to have an aneurysm,” Xavier laughs from across me, in his blacked-out tuxedo. Wren’s hand tightens on me again as she looks at me with a crooked smile.

“You do know that Josh Raymond is coming tonight, right?” I ask, scanning the room again. As expected, he hasn’t arrived in the last three seconds. Xavier shakes his head, letting out an incredulous laugh.

“Don’t act like you weren’t like that last year, Z,” Michelle laughs, taking a sip of her punch. “You practically shit yourself when you met Dean Mayer, and you wouldn’t stop talking about it for weeks.”

“She’s got you there,” Wren mutters and Xavier shrugs happily. We’ve all got our particular favourites for the NU Bear’s team of ’15. Mayer was the left defence for the team and Raymond was the centre and the captain and now they both play for the Utah Grizzlies. “I’m obsessed with your dress Michelle. Where did you get it?”

“I made it myself, actually,” Michelle replies with a soft smile, pushing her braids over her shoulder. Michelle, Wren, Scarlett and Kennedy float into a conversation about fashion and a bunch of other girl shit that I don’t have a clue about.

Wren keeps her hand on my leg the entire time as she talks to them, constantly reminding me she’s still there while I listen to another one of Tyler’s boring stories. Don’t get me wrong, Tyler is one of the funniest people I know but there is one thing they can’t do: tell a good story.

“And that’s how I almost got arrested,” Tyler ends the rant and Xavier, Beau and I exchange knowing glances.

“So, you went through that entire story – plot twists and all – just to tell us how you didn’t get arrested?” Xavier asks, running his hands down his face in exhaustion. Tyler nods with a cheesy grin pulling at their cheeks.

“Yeah. Well, you had to know the contexts, obviously,” Tyler begins before diving into another deep conversation about how things didn’t happen. I float in and out of their chat, checking the door every few seconds before something in Wren’s conversation catches my attention and I turn to their half of the table.

“So, how did Miles convince you to date him? I’ve known him since we were kids and I’ve never seen him so….” Michelle begins, waving her hands vaguely. I don’t say anything as I try to listen but make myself invisible at the same time.

“Whipped?” Kennedy cuts in.

“Obsessed?” Scarlett chirps.

“I was going to say, ‘in love’ but sure,” Michelle laughs softly as every single nerve in my body is set on fire. Wren’s hand stills on my thigh as I turn back to the rest of the group, leaning my arm on the table to hide my face from their view while still trying to listen.

In love?

Maybe that is what it was this morning before she left. In the car. Every time I’m around her. But I can’t, right? I’m too young to feel that shit. I never felt it with Emily or anything close to it. I’ve always known there was something deeper underneath it all, but I thought it was just purely a hyper-fixation.

As much as this can be easily labelled as love, I can’t love her. She doesn’t want that. The sound of her laugh catches me off guard, but I still stay facing away from her.

“That’s ridiculous, guys,” Wren whisper-laughs. “We have a good time. We talk, we laugh we fuck but he’s not in love with me. We’ve only just started dating.”

“You’ve been dating since September. I told Z I loved him, like, a month into our relationship,” Michelle explains. The girls laugh but Wren’s voice is quiet when she speaks next, as if she doesn’t want me to hear but I do.

“Whatever. If he was in love with me, I think I’d know and I’d definitely be freaking out.”

Finally, saving me from the torture of eavesdropping, the doors open and the entire gym bursts into a loud cheer. NU legends walk through the door – basketball, football, soccer, and ice hockey players dressed as if this is the most important event they’ve attended. They all take a seat at their designated table under watchful eyes. The screeching sound of mic feedback turns everyone’s attention from their seats at the back of the room to the front, where a makeshift stage stands with Billy Carhart, the head of the sports department, behind a podium.

“Good evening, everyone,” he begins, and we all burst into another fit of cheers. Wren looks over at me now, beaming, completely unaware of what I heard her say. I press a kiss to her forehead, and she turns back to face the front, her back nuzzling into my chest. “As you have noticed, the night has officially begun as we welcome back generations of North’s sports stars. But tonight, is not about them. It’s about every single student in this room for your dedication to your sport.”

He goes on a rant about how much he adores our commitment and how he couldn’t ask for better people to be playing the sports her loves. I zone out his talk while the excitement wells in me as I itch to get out of this seat and talk to Josh. Carhart hands over to the coaches or the basketball and soccer team while they talk about two students, they’re awarding their certificates to.

I pay attention when they announce the skating team’s awards and all of the shyness she had this morning about her winning gets thrown at the window as she already walking up to the stage before they announce her name. Of course she knew she would win.

Everyone from our table stands up and claps for her and she throws us an embarassing smile as she receives her certificate from the podium, behind which they play her best moments on a projector.

Kennedy and Scarlett are tearing up like proud parents and I put two fingers in my mouth and whistle. She widens her eyes as she walks back down, loving and hating the attention all at the same time.

‘See. I told you you’d win,’ I whisper to her when she’s back at the table, snuggled into my side. ‘You are brilliant, Wren. Don’t ever forget it.’

She blinks up at me, tearing lining her eyes but she doesn’t let them fall. She opens her mouth but nothing comes out, the same way I was earlier. Instead, she presses a kiss to the corner of my mouth.

After Nash Reading and Wyatt Denton receive their awards Carhart steps in again to give us an interval to walk around and talk to the alumni. This is my chance.

“Are you going to be okay here or do you want to come with me?” I ask Wren, only half meeting her eyes as I scan the room to check if Josh has moved from his corner of the room. My eyes make their way back to her when she places her gentle hands on both sides of my face, shaking it slightly.

“I’ll go with you, but you’ve got to chill. He’s not going anywhere,” Wren whispers with a laugh, pressing a quick kiss to the side of my mouth. I take in her green eyes and my breathing begins to settle.

“It’s just really important that I talk to him, you know. He was Carter’s idol,” I whisper back, my chest tightening and softening again. My eyes flicker over to Josh and he’s standing up out of his seat, pulling at his blazer, flashing a smile to no one in particular.

“I know, Miles. I just don’t want you to freak him out with your fangirling,” she laughs, pushing out her chair from the table. I ignore her comment and reach for her hand as we start to walk over to his side of the room.

She squeezes my hand and looks up at me, the fairy lights in the room casting a luminous glow into her eyes. I squeeze back and my heartbeat picks up when we’re five steps away from him. What do I say? What do I do now that I’m so close to meeting the person that Carter would have sold his left lung for? I inch closer towards him, trying to make this interaction seem accidental. He’s dressed in a dark blue suit and tie, his black hair cornrowed down to the nape of his neck. This is what greatness looks like.

Holy shit, I’m totally freaking out.

Maybe I should have let the girls listen to Taylor Swift on the way here for good measure. She’s supposed to calm nerves. ‘Taylor Swift just gets me, you know?’ Wren said once.  He catches my eye and smiles. Instantly, I smooth out my shirt before extending my hand.

“Hi, I’m Miles Davis, current right wing for the hockey team,” I say, my voice an octave higher than I intended. Josh looks down at my hand, then to Wren who is beaming at my side, and then he shakes my hand. It’s firm and sharp.

“Josh Raymond. It’s nice to meet you, Miles,” he says, a dimple popping out on his right cheek. Carter would be going insane right now. Honestly, so am I.

“I’m a huge fan of yours, like, truly. You’ve inspired so much of my team but especially me,” I ramble, not knowing whether to look into his eyes or somewhere else.

“Thank you. I really appreciate it,” he replies. “How’s the season going? I came to see your final last season, it was insane.”

“It’s off to a good start.  Competition is a lot tougher this year. Wait– You came to one of our games?” I ask when the realisation hits me. I’m sure I would have been able to recognise him out of a thousand clones, there’s no way he came to our game without me noticing.

“Yeah, me and a few of the guys went. It was a low-key thing. We didn’t want to spook you, so we kept it quiet,” he explains with a shrug. “If my memory is right, you were really good. And there was another guy. I think he was number ten. He was, like, a professional level player. Is he here?”

“Carter,” I whisper, the smallness of my voice catching me completely off guard. He remembers him. Josh Raymond remembers Carter. I clear my throat as Wren wraps her arm around my bicep, silently reminding me that she’s still there. “Yeah, that was Carter. He, uh, he got into an accident a few weeks after that game and he…”

“Oh, I’m sorry, man. Seriously. I only came to that game, but he was truly amazing,” Josh says, his eyebrows drawing together with sympathy as shakes his head lightly. I nod in appreciation. “It’s not easy to lose a teammate. How is your team doing?”

“We’ve all dealt with it in different ways but we’re getting back into it,” I explain, adjusting my collar which has suddenly got too tight. The lights in the room start to dim as the slow jazz music comes into play.

Not only is this an event for the sports students but it’s an opportunity for the faculty members to remind us about the old middle school dances we would have. I don’t know where this conversation with Josh is going to go but I want to find out. Wren pulls at my arm and my gaze drops down to her expectant eyes.

“We should dance,” she whispers into me. I tense at the way she slowly drags her nails from my bicep down to my hand where she interlocks her fingers into mine. She smirks at me, knowing it drives me insane.

“Yeah, in five minutes,” I whisper back, and she pouts, turning both of our attentions back to Josh.

“You guys should enjoy your night. I don’t want to keep you from having a good time,” Josh says uncertainly, tugging at the sleeve of his blazer. Wren looks up at me again, her blonde curls falling into her face before I brush them back.

“No,” I say quickly. “I wanted to ask you a few things, if that’s okay?”

“Yeah, if you’re sure,” he responds, looking between us. The music floats into a slow song and Wren squeezes my hand. I squeeze back but shake my head.

“No, it’s cool,” I say to Josh before dipping my head to Wren. She’s got her lip pulled between her teeth the way that makes all the senses heighten. “You should go and dance with your friends.”

“Fine,” she grits out. I know she’s pissed. She tells Josh it was a pleasure to meet him and she drops my hand with a tight smile. She turns around and struts off into the opposite direction, her ass hypnotising me as she walks away. I’m going to have to make up for that later. Josh’s voice brings me back to the conversation.

“I’d like to know more about your team and Carter – if you want to,” he asks, and I nod.

We float instantly into a light-hearted conversation as if we’re old friends. He tells me about his stories while playing for the Bears at NU and how it wasn’t easy for him to get to his position as captain. I tell him our game-day rituals. He walks me through his foolproof tactics and how to ensure a win. Talking to him about Carter feels so easy, like he gets him the way I do. It doesn’t feel like we talk about him as if he’s doesn’t exist.

We talk about him as if he’s in this room with us right now.

I don’t know how long we’ve been talking before I turn back to the crowd when the hundredth slow song plays. I scan the crowd and I spot Wren’s red dress.

I can only see her from the back, but it only takes a few seconds before I realise that her body is pressed against someone else’s.

No.

Nope.

Not happening.

My heartbeat picks up as I excuse myself from the conversation with Josh and storm over to Greyson who has his hands all over her body. There’s no real way to describe the anger pulsating through my skin as I get closer to them. Grey’s hands are on her hips, her body too close to his as she links her arms around his neck.

“What the fuck are you doing?” I whisper-shout, trying not to cause a scene while I push them apart. Wren looks up at me, her face red, as if she’s been caught doing something she shouldn’t be. Grey’s a good guy. I trust him more than most guys on the team but that doesn’t mean I want his hands all of my girlfriend’s body.

“We’re just dancing, Miles, since you blew me off,” she says, a wicked grin creeping up her face as she tries to pull Grey close to her again. I push him back with a quick flick and he stumbles on his heels. ‘You were the one who said I should dance with my friends.‘

“Just so you don’t beat the shit of me, she asked me to, dude. I was planning on trying my luck with one for the netball girls but she totally cockblocked me,” Grey chimes in, putting his hands up defensively. I glare at him and he slowly saunters away backwards. I turn back to Wren and she’s laughing.

She’s fucking laughing.

“Do you think this is funny?” I ask, closing the space between us. She holds onto the lapels of my blazer to steady herself as I tower over her.

“A little, yeah,” she replies through a giggle. Without saying anything else I pick her up and drop her over my shoulder in a fireman’s carry, her ass wiggling in my face as she squeals.  “I swear to God, if you don’t put me down in the next five seconds, I’m going to call homeland security.”

“You’re not going to get away with dancing with one of my friends like that.”

“Miles,” she whisper-groans. “I’m not wearing anything underneath.”

“I know,” I say through a shaky exhale.

I laugh and smack her on the ass as I walk with her to our table, the crowd watching us but turning back to their dances when they realise, they’d rather not ask any questions. When we get to the table, the girls are there, talking. I grab Wren’s purse from the table before turning her around so they can see her face instead of her ass.

“Can you tell him to put me down?” Wren whines. I turn her back around so they can’t see her face as she pounds on my back. Michelle shrugs happily, shaking her head.

“Do I even want to ask?” Scarlett asks, shoving her straw into her mouth and taking a sip of punch.

“Wren’s been a bad girl tonight, so she’s needs to learn a lesson,” I say with a smug grin, gripping her thighs tighter with my hand. Wren’s tiny fists pound on my back again and I laugh at the amount of effort she’s putting into hating this. Scarlett pretends to gag herself with the straw.

“That is the second time you’ve made me feel violent tonight just by looking at you,” she groans. “Just don’t teach her the lesson in our apartment. My Air Pods can only do so much for noise cancellation.”

“Ha-ha,” I mock before turning to Ken who has a less distasteful look on her face. “Ask Z to take you guys home, okay?”

*

“Did you really have to carry me the whole way here? I could have walked from the car,” she moans when I throw her onto my bed. She scrambles back so she’s in the middle of the bed and I climb up to her as she sits crossed legged, the dress only just covering her exposed thighs.

“What would be the fun in that?” I catch her lips with a rough kiss before she starts to fall back onto the bed. I’ve been dying to touch her like this all night. I run my hands along her thighs, coming dangerously close to her bare heat. “Jesus. Are you always this wet when I’m around?” 

“I’m starting to think it’s a problem,” she rasps, leaning up on her elbows to guide my hand up further up her until my hand reaches where she’s soaking. “Especially when you got jealous earlier. That was hot.” 

I brush my thumb over her clit, and she moans into my ear, arching off the bed. “I don’t like the thought of you with anyone else, Wren. Do you understand?”

She nods, her heavy breathing clouding my senses.

“Call me crazy but I think I’m, like, definitely obsessed with you. You drive me insane just by looking at you. That is a problem,” I groan into her, still keeping my hand over her wet pussy as her legs shift beneath me.

“I kind of like it. Is that bad?” she breathes biting her lip. I shake my head slowly, moving my fingers over her. She starts to sit up off the bed, her hands coming to my face where she kisses me softly. ‘But, Miles, promise me you won’t do that again. Don’t push me aside. Because I mean something, okay? And I don’t like feeling like I don’t.’

My heart sinks a little. ‘I’m sorry. I got caught up and I didn’t mean to do hurt you. I don’t want to hurt you because you mean everything.’

‘Good. Then, treat me like it,’ she demands, kissing me deeply. I make the promise to her over and over in my actions and in my brain because there is nothing I wouldn’t do for this girl.