Tate threw his head back as he laughed while walking down the hall. Throwing a playful grin over his shoulder, he said, “We’re just friends, remember.”

Ugh!

~*~

The rest of the day, Audrey enjoyed lying in bed and recovering from the night before. She thought a lot about Tate and later that night, it surprised her how much she screamed and cheered for him while he was in goal. He was amazing, and she couldn’t help but notice that he kept sending her quick glances and grins. It was nice to have someone who was so in tune with her. She had never had a guy chase after her, tease her, and want her all in one. It was different and she loved it. As she watched Tate block over forty shots, she was screaming so loud that she was sure the whole arena heard her.

It was then, that she realized that she and Tate Ooooodder were way more than friends.

~*~

The next day, Audrey pulled into her driveway a little sad that she wasn’t able to say bye to Tate in person. He had interviews after the game, and she tried to stay awake but couldn’t, and then he was asleep when she left that morning. She hated not being able to say bye, and she kind of wanted to thank him for the two amazing nights he gave her with a way better kiss then they had shared before. She hadn’t had that much fun in a really long time and it was all thanks to him. With a smile, Audrey thought that it was a good thing he was coming home that night, even if it was only for two nights, it was better than nothing.

Since she was still being lazy, Audrey left her overnight bag in the car as she made her way to the mailbox. Just as she reached into the mailbox, her phone rang. Pulling it out of her pocket, she saw it was the guy she had been thinking about all morning and all night.

“I overslept, I’m sorry,” Tate said when she said hello.

“No, big deal. I’ll see you tonight, you can make it up to me,” she said with a grin as she opened up a letter from the health department.

“Actually, I’m not coming home tonight. After the game tonight, I’m going stay with some of my old roommates. I haven’t seen them in months.”

“Oh,” she said sadly, “That’s cool.”

“Yeah, but I’ll make it up to you tomorrow.”

A smile tugged at her lips, “How so?”

“I was thinking dancing at our favorite club and maybe some dinner.”

“If you say sushi, you might have yourself a date.”

Tate chuckled, “Go eat sushi with me, love, and then go dancing with me.”

“Well since you asked so sweetly,” Audrey cooed.

“Good, but the only thing is; I think Erik and Phillip want to go.”

Audrey laughed, “That’s fine, I’ll ask Piper to go.”

“Awesome, have you told her that you told Erik she liked him?”

Audrey gasped, “Oh no! I totally forgot about that! She is so gonna kill me.”

“Yeah she is,” he laughed.

Audrey giggled as she read the letter she had opened. With a grin she said, “Well Mr. Ooooder, I would like to inform you that, I am not pregnant and that I am clean as a whistle which means you are too.”

“Huh?”

“I went and got tested after our one night stand.”

“Oh! Okay, well that’s good to know. I forgot I hadn’t used condoms, good thing you are on birth control. That was the first time I wasn’t prepared,” he laughed as Audrey stood quietly in her driveway.

It was a prefect opening for her to tell him, but instead of taking it, she crumbled the piece of paper in her hand and sadly said, “Yeah.”

~*~

Come see me.

No.

Please, I need to see you.

What do you want Levi? I’m not having sex with you. I’m done with all that.

No, it is not that. I want to talk about giving this thing you call “forever” a shot.

“Please God, Audrey. Do not go in there,” Piper pleaded over the phone. Audrey sat in her car outside of the Starbucks on West End. She was supposed to meet Levi inside three minutes ago, but at the last second Audrey freaked out and called Piper.

“But what if he does want forever, Pipe?”

“Oh my God! Who cares? What about Tate? Y’all have a date tonight.”

“I know, but we are just friends who are kinda moving into dating. We aren’t fully there yet,” Audrey pointed out.

“You are acting like a slut Audrey, and I’m done with it. That ass**le doesn’t deserve you, and you allow him to f**k with your head!”

“How am I acting like a slut? I told him to meet me at a public place because I didn’t want the risk of him trying to sleep with me.”

“Whatever, Audrey. What about Tate? Don’t you care at all?”

“Yes, I do, and you know it, but why try to make something work with him when there is a chance of it failing?”

“Audrey, what the hell? Are you going to tip toe through life and do things that are safe or are you going to live and be happy!? This is insane, it’s like I don’t even know you.”

“I am the same person I was when we met, nothing has changed,” Audrey argued.

“Then I don’t know if I like this person,” Piper said sadly. It hurt her just as much as it hurt Audrey to hear her say it. “You deserve more and you are settling for crap.”

“Piper, you just don’t understand-”

Suddenly there was a knock at Audrey’s window. Turning she saw Levi standing there with a pissed off look on his face and for the first time ever, Audrey didn’t think he looked good. He looked rough, like he had had a bad day or something. What was wrong with him?