Into Your Arms (Squad Stories #1)(23)
"Only if you want to?" She laughs.
"Thanks, but I think I'll pass. Bye, Rhett." She gives me a little wave and heads off to the dance floor, the rest of the girls trailing behind her.
I can't help but laugh. That girl. She spins on the dance floor and meets my eyes. I give her a wink, and she puts her arms up in the air and slinks down to the floor and then back up. Teasing me. It makes me want to stalk over, put my hands on her hips, and pull her body to mine so she can make better use of it.
But I won't. I'm going to keep trying this staying away from her thing. For one more week. I can handle one more week.
* * *
I didn't expect to be nervous for my first game, but I wake up on Saturday with my stomach churning. I guess when I first thought about joining the squad, I didn't really consider the actual performance part. That I'd be standing up and yelling in front of hundreds of people. It's also going to be broadcast, so there's an added audience. Sure, I know that most of the people are watching the game instead of us, but still.
I'm so jittery that I get to the field house at least a half hour before we're supposed to be there. Since I have nothing to do, I end up just throwing some tumbling passes to warm up. I haven't done power tumbling in a while, but I need to start back with it before it's competition time. I miss the feel of a spring floor under my feet.
I totally flub a pass and am glad that no one is there to see it when I hear the sound of someone clapping. Panting, I turn around and see Freya sitting on the bleachers with a smirk on her face.
"You really fucked that one up, didn't you?" Of course she had to be here. I wipe my forehead and walk over to where she's sitting. Everyone else should be here soon, but for right now, it's just the two of us.
"Yup, I did. And if you tell anyone, I won't be nice to you anymore." She snorts and pushes herself up.
"Is this you being nice to me?" She comes to stand right in front of me. I always notice our height difference, but I'm especially noting it now. Thinking about how easy it would be for me to lift her up so she could wrap her legs around my waist.
"I don't know; you tell me," I say, taking one step closer. Her eyes flick down to my arms, where some of my tattoos are visible. I've caught her looking at them more often than not. When I first got my uniform, I was pleased to see that it had short sleeves so most of my art would be on display. I wouldn't have pegged Freya for a tattoo girl. Fuck, she would look amazing with tattoos on that creamy skin.
A look I don't really understand crosses her face and she swallows. Before she can utter a word, the door bangs open and a bunch of our teammates pour in, disrupting our "moment." If it was even that. She might have been about to tell me to go fuck myself. I'll never know. I cough and pick up my bag. We're going to have a warm-up practice then head out to the field.
"You ready?" Clint asks. He's a cool guy, and I could see us becoming friends outside of cheer at some point. I think he's a former football player that switched to cheer for whatever reason. He's certainly built like a football player.
"As I'll ever be, I guess," I say as we all get the mats out and start stretching.
* * *
A few hours later I'm out on the football field in my uniform, and the team is waiting for their cue to pour onto the turf. I've always liked football, so one of the bonuses of doing cheer is getting to see all the games, including the away ones.
At last the team storms out to the sounds of the band playing the MSU Fight Song, and it's time to do this.
Freya is right in front of me and she looks back once.
"You ready?"
"As ready as I'll ever be. I just hope Jem isn't in the stands with a giant sign with my face on it. That's something he would do." Freya snorts.
"Then he's a true friend."
That he is.
7
Freya
In addition to keeping an eye on the game, I keep an eye on Rhett to see how he's handling things. I almost expected him to quit, mid-game, but he's proved himself during practice. He hoots and hollers and yells and does the whole thing. We stunt together with no incident, and he nails his tumbling pass during the halftime performance. He even rocks the dance portion of our routine, which surprises me too.
A bunch of our other stunts (none of mine) don't go as well, and Coach isn't very pleased when we reconvene after the game and get chewed out. I'm exhausted and all I want is to go back to my apartment and sit in my bathtub with a nice-smelling bath bomb and maybe some soothing music. Cheering at games takes a lot out of you, and I don't have energy for much of anything tonight. I know some of the girls are gonna go out, but nope on that.