Worth the Chance (Watertown University #2)

4. Garrett

Chapter 4

Garrett

“ G reat work out there today boys.” Coach William’s voice booms through the locker room. “You guys can have tomorrow off for the first day of classes but I want to see you all back here Thursday ready to go. There’s only a few weeks left until the first game of the season. Heard?”

“Heard, coach!” My voice choruses with those around me. Coach nods to all of us before turning on his heels and heading back to his office.

“Moore, looking good out there.” Our captain and goalie, Bryan, claps me on the back.

“Thanks man, not looking too bad yourself.”

Bryan is a fellow senior and beat me out of the captain spot because he's much more personable than me. I’m totally fine with that though, enough is riding on this year and the added pressure of captain isn’t exactly something I need.

“You all moved into Ry’s old place?” Bryan asks, taking his bag out of his locker.

“Yeah, got settled yesterday. It’s a great place.”

“Gonna throw any parties there?” He teases knowing throwing one would be my worst nightmare. Attending one every now and then, I’m all for but playing host? No thanks.

“I don’t know about that man. I’ve got a roommate.”

“Anyone I’d know?”

“Uh, no, probably not. It’s Ryan's sister.”

“Oh shit. She ended up transferring here?” Does he know Eliza?

“She did.” I grab my gym bag out of my locker, placing it on the bench. I strip out of my practice jersey.

“Isn’t she kinda hot.” I whip my sweaty jersey at him.

“Shut up.”

“That’s a yes.” I roll my eyes at him. Yes, she’s beautiful but that doesn’t matter for either of us.

“Anyways. I’m going to hit the showers. I’ll see you later.”

“A subject change, nice Gar.” He smirks, slinging his bag over his shoulders and chuckling on his way out of the locker room. Note to self, don’t leave Bryan alone with Eliza.

I make my way to the showers. I used to just wait until I’d get back to my place but I don’t think Eliza would appreciate the smell of me right now. Speaking of her, something seemed off this morning. I mean I know we’re not exactly friends but we can be acquaintances right? We are kind of stuck together for a whole year.

As I get into the shower my mind is still stuck on the cute brunette. She came downstairs in these neutral but multicolored glasses this morning, I had no idea she wore glasses but damnit if they weren’t the cutest things I’ve ever seen. Then her thighs. Oh god, those thick thighs were on display and with that oversized sweater she was wearing, it almost made it look like there was nothing underneath. I swallow. I cannot be thinking of my roommate in this way. She is off limits.

One cold ass shower and a fresh set of clothes later, I make it back to my new home. I take a centering breath before opening the front door, pushing all inappropriate thoughts of Ryan and Liam’s little sister aside. Reminding myself exactly who she is. When I walk into the space I’m greeted by the scent of lavender and the sound of some kind of music playing from across the house. I toe off my shoes, leaving them at the small shoe rack in the entryway and drop my bag next to the stairs. I move further into the space, down the small hallway. I pause on the threshold of the living room and the kitchen, spotting her mouthing the lyrics to the song that’s playing while scrubbing the sink in pink gloves that go up to her elbows.

“Eliza?” She jumps as soon as her name leaves my lips. “Sorry, I uh- I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“It’s okay,” she moves to press pause on the music coming from her phone, “was just in the zone.”

“I can see that.” I nod, taking in the space around her. Cups, plates and bowls are scattered around the counter. The piles and cabinets each have sticky notes on them. I squint trying to make out what they say from here. “What exactly is going on here?”

Her cheeks flush slightly at my question and I have to look away because of course it makes her look even more beautiful. “I’m deep cleaning.” She motions to the piles around her and the bin of cleaning supplies. “This is going to sound silly but you were eating pancakes this morning and I know Ryan told you I’m allergic to gluten but it’s deeper than that. I have an autoimmune disease so one little crumb of gluten can make me feel sick and basically makes my body attack itself. Anyways, I figured we could have separate dishes and cabinets. So the ones labeled gluten are for you and gluten free are for me.” She lets out a deep breath, a nervous look taking over her face as I take in her words. Okay, this is more serious than I thought but no big deal. I can eat gluten free here. The pancakes I made this morning said gluten free on them anyways.

“Okay. Um, the pancakes I made this morning were gluten free.” I move around the peninsula and into the kitchen space with her. Opening the small pantry on the left wall and pulling out the mix I used. “Is this okay?” I hand the bag to her to look over.

“Oh.” She examines the bag. “Yeah, this is perfect, actually. This is one of my favorites.”

“Perfect. Then that’s settled.”

“What’s settled?”

“I’ll just eat gluten free.”

“Oh, Garrett. That’s really nice but you don’t have to. I know people find it annoying and I don’t want you to not be able to eat things you enjoy.”

“It’d make it safer for everything to be gluten free in this house, right?”

“I mean yes but -”

“Okay, then that's that.”

“Garrett…”

“Eliza.”

“Are you sure?”

“Your health is important.”

“Thank you.” A shy smile tugs at the corners of her lips. I just nod, not one to take well to acknowledgements. We stand in the kitchen, unmoving, slightly too close together. It would be so easy to lean down and kiss her. I should not be thinking that. Instinctively I take a step back and turn for the pantry to put the pancake mix away. When I’ve turned back around, Eliza has moved back over to the sink, scrubbing at a plate. “Don’t worry, I’m going to get this all cleaned up. Shouldn’t be too long now since I don’t need to separate everything.”

“Don’t worry about it. Need any help?” I should just let her do it, I shouldn’t want to spend more time around her but that half smile of hers is adorable and has me itching to see her full fledged one. I remember it from the one time we met earlier this year. She was smiling and laughing with Emilia, her two dimples drew me right in and I couldn't help but stare. It’s a wonder Ryan didn’t notice.

“Oh, sure. That’d be great.” Her response snaps me out of my thoughts and has me realizing I’m staring at her a little too intensely. I avert my gaze and step around her to the counter that has the plates scattered over it.

“Do you have a system or just whatever works?”

“Umm, whatever works is fine for the dishes. I’m just going to organize my baking stuff.”

“You bake? Isn’t that kind of all gluten?” Her laughter carries through the room like the summer breeze. That’s a nice sound. I have to keep the corners of my mouth from turning up.

“Stereotypically, yes but you can adapt pretty much everything. I love baking and trying new recipes so be ready for lots of desserts around here.”

“That is something I definitely won’t complain about.” We work in silence for a bit, getting everything put away. I put away the silverware in the drawer, then move to the plates, bowls and mugs arranging them in the cabinet. Trying not to place anything too high since Eliza can’t be taller than five-five. Eliza uses one of the bottom cabinets and top one to organize her baking supplies. She has a lot. I swear I’ve seen her pull three different cupcake trays out of her moving box.

I finish clearing the rest of the counter, putting the utensils into a pale pink utensil holder that's covered in pastel polka dots. Looking around the space I see quite a few new touches to the place. The dish towels are white with little flowers on them and the couch has some new pink and white blankets on them. Ryan was right, she was going to make this place girly.

“There.” She puts one last thing in the bottom cabinet before closing the door and standing up. Except when she does she stumbles backwards a bit. Instinctively I jut my arms out to steady her. “Woah. ”

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah. What time is it?”

I flick my eyes over to the stove. “Almost five.”

“Oh.” Her eyes widen.

“Oh? What do you mean, oh?”

“I may have only eaten a banana today.”

“Eliza.” I scold and she winces, which has me regretting my tone immediately. I know what it’s like to wince at the sound of a threatening voice.

“I know, I know. I just got in the zone. I’ll make something now.” She moves around me to the pantry, grabbing a box of pasta and a jar of sauce. I steal them both from her.

“Sit. I don’t need you passing out on me.” Her cheeks flush slightly but she obliges taking a seat at the barstools. She watches as I make her a simple pasta dish. Thankfully, I brought a few groceries over so there’s some ground beef in the fridge that I cook and make a meat sauce with to get some protein in her.

“Here we go.” I put a heaping bowl of food in front of her and a matching one next to her for myself. She stares at it like she’s unsure what to do. Then it dawns on me that I didn’t even ask if she was a vegetarian or something. “Shit. Are you a vegetarian?”

“No.” She chuckles. “This bowl is just massive.”

“Well you didn’t eat all day and you exerted a lot of energy. You need some fuel.”

“Thank you, Garrett.” We both dig into our dinners, comfortable silence enveloping us until we’re finished.

“So roomie, how do you want to do this whole thing?” Eliza brings her now empty bowl over to the sink, rinsing it out and placing it in the dishwasher. “Should we grocery shop together or separate? Do we need a chore chart or can I trust you to clean up after yourself?”

“I think we’ve proven I can clean up after myself just fine.” I stand, doing the same thing to my dish as she did to hers. “But we can go grocery shopping together. I think that’d be easiest. Plus you know the safest foods for you to eat.”

“Okay, that’s good. Do you want to go tomorrow? I have morning classes but in the afternoon I’m free.”

“Yeah, I have class until two but I’m off practice tomorrow so once I get back here we can go.”

“Great. Well, thanks Garrett, for everything.” She motions around the kitchen with an appreciative smile on her face.

“No problem.”