“Hot girls in tight skirts?” Alex rests his pool cue on the ground and uses it to support him as he leans forward. “Who wouldn’t want to be surrounded by all that?”
Kevin high-fives him and Noah holds out a fist to bump. There are days I question why I’m friends with these idiots.
“You do know the majority of those girls are jailbait, right?” These guys act like there isn’t a plethora of pussy at their disposal on the reg. Given the bye week bash stories I heard when I got back from Kentucky, this certainly still holds true.
“Doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy the show,” Kev asserts, and they are back to blowing it up with their fists.
What started out as me pumping Livi for information on the competition so I could surprise my girl evolved into a field trip for our whole crew.
“No fair.” Noah smacks the back of his hand on the Cheer is her world and she is mine written in white across my chest. “Why does yours get to be different?”
I level him with an Are you for real? look. Noah has Official Cheerleader Bodyguard #NJA printed on his blue camouflage tee, as do Kev and Alex.
“Come on, No.” Kev ambles down the stairs with a swagger only he can manage. “You know Nova is still trying to woo his girl. Let him have his moment.” He claps me on the shoulder, the force behind the action enough to have me taking a step forward. There are days I swear that dude doesn’t know his own strength.
We hang out by the front door, waiting for the others to join us. With the team playing a night game, the victory party didn’t really get underway until after midnight, so most of the house is still asleep recovering.
“Man…am I glad I’m no longer a pledge,” Grayson says, kicking his way through the Solo cups littering the floor. The Alphas are known for having the nicest house on Greek Row, but that’s never the case the morning after a rager.
“Aw, man.” Noah throws his hands in the air, coffee spilling out the lid of his to-go cup and onto the sticky beer-covered floor. “Why do you get a different one?”
Grayson chuckles, plucking at the collar of his Sorry dudes, the cheerleaders are with me shirt. “For one”—he lifts a finger—“I was already going to this thing before y’all decided to join. And two”—he ticks off another finger—“Smalls got me this one last year for when I flew down to see her teams compete at Worlds.”
The old staircase creaks as Alex thunders down with the same speed he exudes on the field. “Let it go, Mitchell,” he advises Noah. “I don’t want to listen to you bitch the whole way down.”
“For reals.” Trav bites back a huge yawn as he walks a pretty co-ed to the door. “You trying to hurt my feelings or something? I thought I was clever as fuck when I was ordering these babies.”
“Fuck you, McQueen.” Noah shoulder-checks Trav as we make our way out the door.
Trav yucks it up, taunting Noah with his Don’t you wish your sister could cheer like mine? tee. Kay isn’t going to be the only one to freak when she sees our shirts. Livi is going to lose it when she catches sight of the Livi’s ‘Brother’ written on the bottom of Trav’s. “When you find the Etsy shop, you can pick the design. For now…deal with it.”
As much as I love driving the Shelby, today she gets a break to accommodate us all.
“Just wait, No,” Grayson shouts over to Noah before he can get in Kev’s SUV with Alex. “CK has a special one from Smalls, too.”
Trav chortles as the three of us load into his truck to Noah flipping us off. Time to take this shit-show on the road.
“I’ve never seen so many bows in my life,” Alex comments as we follow the flow of people into the arena hosting the UCA Northeast Championships.
“This is nothing. You should see what it’s like at Nationals,” I say, thinking of when the family all flew out to Dallas to see Livi compete with her old gym a few years ago.
“Cheerleaders eh-ver-ee-where, as far as the eye can see.” Trav holds up his hands, spreading them out as if to indicate a billboard reading Take a look at all the cheerleaders. “Thousands and thousands of them.”
“Why haven’t we come to one of these things sooner?” Kev asks, taking in the scene around us with wide eyes.
“Because the most time any of us have actually spent with cheerleaders before this year was limited to the bedroom,” Noah states proudly. Unlike myself, most of the guys have sampled from the cheerleading waters.
The competition is already underway, one of the lower level teams for another gym performing on the blue mat when we step inside the arena. Only about half of the three thousand seats are filled, but I know from experience they will be full by the time they get to the higher level teams.
Grayson scans the stands for Em and Quinn—the two of them came down with Kay and NJA—motioning for us to follow when he finds them. It comes as no surprise that they each sport their own funny t-shirt. Who they are sitting with, however, is a shock.
My mom rises, running a hand down her shirt, smoothing down the silk before leaning forward into our row in front of them to pull me in for a hug. “I’m so happy you came.” She pulls back, cupping my cheek in that way only a mom can. “The twins haven’t stopped talking about how excited they are since you told Livi your plans.”
I wonder what Grace Nova-Roberts would have to say if she knew the real reason you chose to come is to earn you bedroom brownie points.
I ignore my inner coach. Shocker. Yes, the decision might have partially been made in the hopes
