What Are The Odds?: A college hockey romance. (Phil-U Book 1)

Grace.

I pushed open the door, scanning the busy café for Ava and Stella. They hadn’t been in the dorm when Levi dropped me off. I’d dozed off for a little while longer, though still not as long as he’d probably hoped. I woke early. Blame the years of swimming practice. I hadn’t been overly keen to do the walk of shame in front of his roommates. And dressed in his clothes, that’s exactly what it had felt like. I’d vowed to wash and return his things as soon as possible. He hadn’t seemed fazed at all. Given I hadn’t brushed my teeth and he had, I’d tried to dodge his goodbye kiss. That hadn’t gone well. He’d grabbed my wrists, pinning me against the brick wall of my dorm building before stealing the hottest goodbye kiss of all time. Levi knew how to kiss. He knew how to do everything. My legs still felt weak as I navigated the tables to the booth where Ava and Stella were waiting. I’d dressed in white trackies, an oversized grey knit and thick scarf. I doubt my body was ever going to adjust to this weather. Stella and Ava were sitting in silence when I sat down. They were still dressed in their clothes from last night. Stella was also wearing sunglasses even though we were inside.

“Morning,” I chirped.

“Sh,” Ava grumbled. “The coffee isn’t here yet.”

I studied the menu, ensuring my lips remained closed until the waitress returned with Stella and Ava’s coffees and took the food orders.

“Good night?” I tentatively asked.

“Mmhm,” Ava mumbled.

“Worth the hangover,” Stella confirmed.

“Where did you end up?”

“At Ryker’s place.”

I raised my eyebrows at that.

“The football house is, like, a ten-minute walk from the hockey guys’ house,” Stella explained. “Don’t worry. Ryker went straight to bed when we got back.”

“Why would I be worried?”

She paused, taking a long sip of her coffee.

“As hot as Ryker is, I’d never break girl code.”

I frowned. “Girl code?”

“You kissed him. That means he’s off limits.”

I leant back in the booth, crossing my ankles over each other under the table.

“I appreciate it, but that’s unnecessary. Ryker and I are just friends.”

Stella rolled her eyes. “Sure you are. I totally hook up with my friends too.”

I opened my mouth then closed it. I wasn’t getting into this again.

“Anything happen with the blonde with blue eyes?” I asked instead.

She let out a satisfied sigh. “Everything happened. He’s gorgeous. And sweet. And nothing but solid muscle.”

I could relate. A blush crept up my neck as I recalled marvelling at Levi’s muscled body. That then led to thoughts of other things. Thoughts I needed to shut down. I sipped my water.

“Will you be seeing him again?”

Stella shrugged. “Not sure. Maybe we could double date. Him. Me. You. Ryker.”

I wasn’t taking the bait.

“How was your night, Ava?” I asked instead.

“I fell asleep on the couch while the guy I was talking to played PlayStation with some of the other guys.” She shook her head, as if snapping back to reality. “Why the hell are we talking about my lack of action when you slept with Levi again last night?”

“Nothing happened the first night.”

She beamed. “But it did last night, didn’t it?”

Saved by the waitress. She set down our three plates. I pressed a hand to my gargling stomach. I was starving. We’d each ordered like food was going out of fashion. I missed Australian breakfasts. I would do questionable things for some Vegemite on toast.

“Worked up an appetite, did you?” Stella asked, eyebrows raised in question.

I ignored her.

“Do you like Levi?” Ava questioned, shoving a large bite of pancake down her throat.

I shrugged before shaking my head. “What’s the point? He’s Levi. He doesn’t do girlfriends.”

Stella craned her head. “And what about you? Do you do boyfriends?”

“Seems kind of pointless knowing I’ll be going back home.”

“That’s months away,” Ava pointed out. “Plenty of time to have some fun.”

Fun sounded, well, fun. And of course I bloody liked Levi. I liked his confidence, and his smugness, and his mattress topper, and even his cockiness. And call me vain, but I also loved his appearance, including his body and the things he could do with it. I’d never been with a guy other than my first and only boyfriend. Even then, we’d gone from childhood friends to something more. So things never felt rushed, more like a natural step. With Levi, things had been a lot quicker. Spending the night. Hooking up. Being comfortable enough with him to come. Twice. It wasn’t a bad thing. Just different. And I knew that’s how the casual thing went. You didn’t waste time getting to know one another. If you were attracted to them, you made it known and went from there. Now here we were. Attracted to each other. And I had no idea what would happen next.