Chapter 5 Chapter Five
Danny's Pov
No matter what I do, Nessa wouldn't stop glaring at me like I was some dirt underneath her shoe.
“Can you please slow down?” I was practically running after her at this point. Students stared and frankly, I didn't care. All I wanted was to talk to her.
“Get away from me!” Nessa power-walked towards the Psychology building. There was a door in the way. Before I could get it for her, the door swung open and Bean stepped out. The girls enveloped themselves in a hug. I'm guessing Bean is the only one she can hug without breaking into hives.
“Hey, you,” Bean smiled as she pulled away. “How did it go?”
Nessa shot me a glare. “What do you think?”
Bean looked at me for a moment and a frown creased her brows. She seemed to be in thoughts for a few seconds before everything came together.
“Oh no. He's your partner?” She said it like I was some gross animal.
“Dude, I'm right here.” I rolled my eyes.
“I know. I'm looking at you, aren't I?” She sighed then turned to her best friend. “Poor you. Of all people it had to be him.”
“Come on,” I sighed. “I'm not a terrible person.”
“Really?” Bean scoffed. “You're not a terrible person? After what you cheated on Nessa with that bitch named Sophia?”
My smile died instantly.
Nessa grabbed her arm, hiding behind her friend. “Let's just go, Bean. We'll be late for class.”
Bean narrowed her eyes on me. “You might think you've won but you haven't, Glover. I've got my eyes on you.”
Then the duo disappeared into the building.
Great.
Hockey practice went to shit the second I stepped into the rink. My teammates kept making kissing sounds at me and for a second I thought he'd heard me and Nessa two days ago but I thought wrong. They'd been informed about the project thing we were supposed to work on. Gossip does travel fast.
Marco skated towards me with a grin on his face. “The real MVP is here!”
The team erupts in loud whoops and I winced. “Knock it off!”
“You got paired with Elsa? What a lucky man you are, Danny.” Henry hollered across the rink.
“I was there when it happened,” Marco grinned.
“Shut up, man.” I grabbed a tape and wrapped it around my hockey stick.
Marco gathered the team like a proud mother and began his story. “So you know, after dropping off my girl at her department, I decided to go for a stroll, you know, to stretch my legs…”
I rolled my eyes. “If you say ‘you know’ one more time…”
“Can I, Glover!” Ethan yelled.
Marco continued. “Thanks, man. So… I was walking down when I saw Elsa walk into some professor's office. Guess who was there too…”
“Who?” The team chorused.
“Danny!”
“Woah!” The team chorused.
“We didn't do anything. It was just a meeting with her professor.” I hissed.
They ignored me.
“So how is she? I haven't seen her in person.” Ethan said.
“Yeah. Now that you mentioned it I didn't see her on your birthday, Marco.”
Marco's face blanched and for the second, he looked at me.
“Alright, team. We've got practice.” I shoved the hockey stick to Ethan who frowned.
“Let's go.”
For a second, I thought that was over. But when I got home and checked our groupchat, I saw 500+ messages.
“What the fuck are these people talking about?” I sighed.
They tagged me five times and even put Elsa’s picture everywhere. What the?
Tyler : She's fucking pretty man.
Dylan : Does she have a boyfriend?
Marco: No, she doesn't.
Dylan : Yes. I'll shoot my shot.
Marco : As if.
Dylan : Dude, you have a girlfriend. Focus on her.
I read through garbage they sent to the group and it made my blood boil. No one except me should have Nessa.
I didn't think. I typed in my message and hit send.
Ethan sent an eyeball emoji with a WTF. Marco was already calling my phone and the rest of the group chat was on fire.
“Dude, she's your girlfriend?”
“Why didn't you say anything?”
“Wait. Captain's dating Elsa? Since when?”
I ignored their messages and grabbed my jacket. I'd just stirred trouble.
With Nessa's favourite flowers in hand, I pulled into her dorm but the girls there told me she moved out since freshman year. One of them had been kind enough to give me the address to her apartment. She probably thought we were dating or something.
Anyways, I found the place but each step to the door was mortifying but what can I say? I made my bed so I'll sleep on it.
When I knocked, I heard muffled voices behind the door.
“No, mom. I'm supposed to work on a project with some asshole —” The words died on Nessa's lips the second she looked at me. “Call you later, mom. The asshole is here.”
She ended the call and glared at me. “What are you doing here?”
“Can we talk?” I said softly.
She gestured to the flowers then slammed the door in my face.
Darling, what the fuck?
“Nessa, please.” I knocked again. “You have to hear me out.”
“Go away.” She said.
“Please, darling.”
“Don't call me that.”
“Fine. I won't. Just hear me out, will you?”
The door swung open and she let me in. “You have 30 seconds to say what you want and leave.”
Ouch.
I passed her the flower. “Here.”
Her gaze dropped to the flower and for a second I thought she'd take them but she looked away.
My legs moved on autopilot and I put them in an empty vase and filled it up with water.
“Talk.” She said, still crossing her arms.
“Can you sit down first?” I said.
“Is it bad news?” she arched a brow.
“Yes… and no.”
“Then I'll stand.”
I exhaled softly. “Promise me you won't freak out.”
“It depends on what you want to tell me.”
“Okay. I… I kinda told everyone on the team that we're dating.”
Her eyes widened. “You what?”
“I know. I'm sorry. It's just the guys keep talking about hooking up with you and it scares me. I didn't know when I said it.”
“What? They want to… Was that why Marco tried to…” she ran her hand through her hair.
“Yeah. I'm sorry,” I took a step forward. Thankfully, she didn't move back.
“Can't you tell them to leave me alone?” Nessa sighed.
“Do you think they'll listen to me?” I cupped her face and stroked her skin. She didn't pull away either.
“Well, you shouldn't have said what you said.” She pushed my hand away.
“I did it to protect you.”
“No. You did it for yourself.”
“I'm sorry. Okay? Please, I … I know what happens in the Hockey House and it is messy and I don't want you involved. So…”
“You want to date me?”
“No. We can fake-date. I will protect you from the guys and help you with your project.”
She seemed skeptical about the whole thing and I don't blame her. I would too.
“That's it?” She finally asked. “No strings attached?”
“None. I don't want you to get hurt.” I said and I meant it.
“Too bad you did it before.”
I winced at her words but still held out my hand. “Fake dating?”
She hesitated for a moment. “Fake dating.”
“Thank you.” I smiled.
“I hope we know what we're doing, Danny.”
“Of course.”
I don't know what I'm doing but I'm doing it anyway.