"I slept with him."
"PARDON?!" Phoebe's jaw hit the floor.
Lacey sighed as she pushed herself off the back of the door of their doom room. She groaned and flopped herself face down onto her bed for the second time in so many days.
"Oh god, Phoebs. What am I doing?"
Phoebe slid off her bed and crawled over to sit against Lacey's.
"First of all, everyone supposedly goes through a little unwinding in college."
Lacey turned her face toward Phoebe, "On the second day, with basically a stranger?" She said regretfully.
"Yep, and whatever, he was there too—" Phoebe shrugged, "I guarantee he's not thinking about it that way."
"You're right. I just, I don't know what happened. We were talking and we connected, he showed me his apartment. Damn he's so charming." Lacey rolled over to stare at the ceiling.
"Was it good at least?"
"Phoebs—"
"What?! I'm lonely, okay. Give me something—"
Lacey smiled big and covered her face with her pillow.
"Oh my god it WAS! You're so lucky, Danny is so fine. So, are you two like a thing now or?"
"We didn't talk about it at all. It was obvious we both needed it, we went there, it's over now."
"What did he say after?" Phoebe squinted.
"He invited me to his practice tomorrow."
"Why do guys think that's something special? I never understood that." Phoebe shook her head.
"It kind of is, once the season starts he'll have no free time. I think he's just trying to fit me in wherever he can before we'll both be too busy. He plays soccer too, so he'll be going from one sport right into the next."
"I guess."
"Come with me tomorrow? There will be lots of guys there." Lacey wiggled her eyebrows.
"Yeah, okay. I'm game."
Lacey headed out early the next morning. She wasn't trying to actively avoid Danny, but rather delay any awkward follow up conversation until after she got her hands on her first cup of coffee.
Lacey felt much more comfortable and confident starting her third day. She wore a black skirt and black booties. Her shirt was sleeveless with a dark abstract print, her favorite. She left her hair down and makeup in soft neutral colors.
As she walked across the courtyard toward the coffee shop on the edge of campus she did her best to center herself. Thoughts of the walk of shame lingered as she momentarily interpreted other's stares as judgment. Lacey's rational side won today, reminding her that these people had no idea what went down yesterday and that she had chosen her actions, no shame in her game.
Lacey smiled big as she passed by fellow students, taking back control of how this day was going to go. As she started up the hill toward the coffee stand she spotted some of the football team standing together by the library entrance. As more of the team came into focus, her eyes landed on Danny in deep conversation with a couple of the guys.
Danny's eyes connected with hers almost instantly and all the doubts and worry she had been harboring since the day before melted away. His gaze was kind, his smile loving. He wasn't going to avoid her like she secretly feared.
Danny excused himself and jogged over to catch up with Lacey as she stood in line.
"Hey." Danny said cheerfully.
Lacey smiled back, "Good morning."
"You look lovely."
"Thank you."
"Are you here for coffee? 'Cause let me tell you, this is not the place for that."
"Before 8 am I'll drink anything, good or bad."
"Anything?" Danny's eyebrows dropped low, his eyes intense.
Lacey smiled softly, looking down to break his intensity.
"C'mon, I'll show you where the good coffee is."
Danny picked up her hand and pulled her gently from the line to walk beside him. Lacey followed, pulling her hand back and looking around for this new coffee place.
Danny couldn't help but feel like he was being rejected when Lacey yanked her hand back from his. He needed to address it.
"Lace, yesterday was awesome. How are you feeling?"
"I don't know, okay I guess."
Danny walked around in front of her, stopping her from continuing, "Hey, I was there, we both wanted that—"
"I know, I agree—"
Danny lifted her face up until their eyes connected.
"Are we still friends?" Danny asked.
The question was light, Lacey finding the answer difficult to come by. Danny released her chin as Lacey's silence continued.
"I really need some coffee." Lacey said simply.
Danny nodded and moved to the side to continue walking. As they made it to edge of campus, Danny stopped and pointed across the street.
"That's Martha's, they have the best coffee."
"You coming?" Lacey asked as she took a step toward Martha's, Danny rooted in place.
"I hope you have a good day Lace, I'll see you around." Danny turned and began walking back the way he came.
"Danny, wait." Lacey sighed.
Danny stopped and turned to face her.
"I'm not good at this, okay? Making friends. I need caffeine to function, that's all. Can we talk about this later?"
"It's easy, we're either friends or we're acquaintances."
"No, it's not that easy. People aren't black and white to me. You're telling me there's nothing more than friends or less than acquaintances on your radar?"
Danny blinked a few times, "Of course, but you're definitely not less than an acquaintance. Are you saying maybe we're more than friends? Because I'd appreciate more clarity from you. Your cryptic answers exhaust me." Danny said flatly.
Lacey didn't like that, "Acquaintances then. See you." Lacey whirled around and marched away from Martha's and back toward the awful coffee stand closer to her dorm.
Danny watched her go, his heart twinging a bit. He had hoped maybe she would tell him how she really felt. He knew they were more than friends. Why was it so complicated?
Danny was used to girls falling for him quickly. He never anticipated someone actually giving deeper thought to it, especially after bedding her on the first try. He couldn't get her out of his head. Lacey was different.
Lacey sulked through her first class, unfocused and emotional. She tortured herself as she drank her shitty coffee, desperately trying to convince herself that it wasn't that bad.
The rest of her day went just as rough. She was unable to pull herself out of this funk, and was pissed she had let someone else succeed in making her feel like garbage.
"Hey!" Phoebe called out as they crossed paths en route back to their dorm.
"Hey." Lacey replied.
"We heading to practice?" Phoebe said suggestively.
Lacey shrugged, "I couldn't care less."
"Ooo, ouch. You must have talked to Danny then?"
"I don't want to talk about it."
"Let's go. There are lots of other guys and we should be more social."
"Fine, whatever. I'm changing first."
Lacey made her way into their room and began stripping off her outfit, trading it for black leggings and a black hoodie.
"How can you throw sweats on and still look hot as hell?" Phoebe asked with genuine irritation.
Lacey rolled her eyes and threw her hair into a high ponytail.
"Let's get this over with." Lacey grumbled as she pulled on her Nike's.
Phoebe was filled with electricity as she marveled at the athletes pouring out onto the various fields around them. Homecoming was two weeks away and every fall team was prepping for their first home game of the season.
The girls took a prominent seat in the stands along the football field as the team trickled out of the locker room. Lacey focused on the team as a whole, watching peripherally as Danny noticed her sitting there. She watched as he paused, quickly deciding to leave it alone and join his team.
The team worked hard. Lacey realized that Danny was on the varsity team after warm ups were over and the JV team took a seat on the benches, Danny remaining on the field. As the varsity team completed some plays, the girls' attention was drawn to clapping and cheering coming from the locker room entrance. Cheerleaders.
"Oh shit, I hope you brought some pep." Phoebe whispered seriously to Lacey.
Lacey giggled at that, "Fuck."
The varsity squad made their way in front of the bleachers to run through their routines. Lacey watched the whole JV football team lose focus on why they were there and get sucked into watching the spirit team practice.
As the coaches for each team worked to keep the sexual tension to a minimum, the cheerleaders turned it up a notch. They began stunting and flipping, engaging the stands in a chant. Even the varsity football team took notice this time, pausing to clap for them.
Halfway through practice Lacey watched as the guys switched out for other teammates to have a chance to run plays. Danny walked toward the sideline near the stands only to be accosted by one of the cheerleaders.
"Hey Danny!" She giggled.
She was petite, pretty. Strawberry blonde hair, bright smile. Danny acknowledged her, his eyes flipping over to Lacey's as he accepted a hug. Lacey couldn't look away, watching as his hands circled her waist, coming to rest near her bottom.
Danny whispered something to the blonde before accepting a hug from another cheerleader. The girls dragged him over to help with stunting. Danny happily helping to base individual girls so they could work on scorpions.
"Danny's popular. He's a fuckboi, isn't he."
"It appears so." Lacey said regretfully as she watched his hands hold up every girl's ass on the spirit team, one by one.
"Gross."
Danny helped each flier on the team complete their scorpion safely and successfully before heading back to join his team, earning praise from the crowd that formed.
Danny's eyes searched for Lacey's every moment he could. After each girl landed, he stared at Lacey. As the blonde returned to him over and over, he stared at Lacey. Lacey remained void as she stared back, watching as he continued building up the girl's confidence. He was a master at that.
Lacey realized that Danny and the blonde had a deeper connection. It was obvious they knew more about each other off the field. She wondered how many of these ladies knew Danny that way. In the end, Lacey checked her creeping jealousy, reminding herself that Danny was nothing to her. They were acquaintances.
After practice, Lacey and Phoebe hung back to talk with several players. Phoebe had caught the attention of a few guys on the JV team and they were trying to teach her how to throw spirals.
Lacey gave in and decided to just have a good time. About a half hour later Danny was back, showered and in track pants and a Syracuse t-shirt. He pulled the football away from one of the guys and launched it toward Lacey. She caught it easily and heaved it back.
"Not bad." Danny shouted.
Lacey shrugged, watching as the blonde walked up behind Danny and covered his eyes. She watched him smile and guess and turn to greet her. It was an easy pairing, each of them happy to see the other. She imagined that's what Danny wanted with her too.
Now without a football Lacey turned and walked back toward Phoebe.
"Lacey, come here and meet someone?" Danny said sweetly.
She pretended not to hear him, walking faster. Danny grabbed the blonde's hand and pulled her toward Lacey.
"Hey, Lacey, I'd like you to meet a friend of mine."
Lacey turned around nonchalantly, "Oh, hey Danny."
"Hey." Danny's body buzzed being next to Lacey again. Her casual look was effortless, Lacey radiating beauty and warmth as always.
"I wanted to introduce you to a friend of mine. This is Regina Crane, Regina this is Lacey…." Danny's eyes whipped up to hers, he didn't even know Lacey's last name.
"Porter. Lacey Porter, nice to meet you." Lacey shook her hand and smiled politely.
"You too! Are you a pledge?"
"No."
"Oh, okay. Danny, come by later?" Regina turned away from Lacey and asked Danny expectantly.
Lacey grinned and turned away more, trying to help Danny through his awkward moment. Danny sighed, "Yeah, I'll be by." He said softly, grunting as she surprised him with another hug before bouncing away.
Danny turned toward Lacey whose back was now fully facing him, "Lacey, can we talk now?"
Lacey twisted a little to address him, "I think we cleared everything up this morning." She shook her head and let out a humorless chuckle, "Have fun tonight."
Lacey turned back and left Danny to his own thoughts.