Worth the Chance (Watertown University #2)

14. Garrett

Chapter 14

Garrett

I wake up on Thursday to the smell of something sweet and fruity coming from downstairs. Eliza must be at it again. It makes me smile though, to know she’s feeling good enough today to do her favorite thing, it’s been just about a week now since she’s gotten sick and it wasn’t the best week for her. I throw on a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt before padding down the stairs.

Eliza’s hair is pulled into a messy bun, her speckled glasses sit on top her nose and there’s batter smudged on her cheek. The morning wood that I had just willed away, stirs to life again at the sight of her. Her thick, creamy thighs are on display in the little pink ruffled pajama shorts she likes to wear. Fuck. She’s beautiful. I know I said I don’t fall in love and I believe that to be true but if I was going to fall it would be with someone like her.

“Morning.” My voice is still a little raspy with sleep. Eliza looks up from what she’s doing and smiles brightly at me.

“Good morning.” Her voice is cheery and bright. I move more into the space, rounding the corner of the peninsula and over to the coffee machine. I grab one of the many colorful mugs that decorate the cabinet before popping a pod into the machine and letting it work its magic.

“Whatchya making?”

“White chocolate raspberry muffins.”

“Yum. Feeling better?”

“A bit, yeah. Definitely not good enough to eat these so I need you to be my taste tester again.”

“That is not a problem. I have practice later this morning too, the boys would be stoked if I show up with a tray of these.” That puts a full, dimpled smile on her face.

“Perfect. Let me know what they say, I tried a slightly different recipe than normal. I’m hoping they won’t be as dry.” El loves when I bring her concoctions to the team to get their feedback. Though, their feedback isn’t the most helpful I don’t think because it’s usually just them saying how good it is. I mean they aren’t wrong, everything she makes is amazing.

While Eliza works on the muffins, I eat some yogurt and granola that I finish in five minutes. I have no reason to sit down here and wait but I can’t find it in me to go back up to my room. Not when I have a front row seat to Eliza singing along to the playlist she has on. I don’t even think she realizes she’s softly singing as she works her way around the kitchen.

“Here we go.” El puts a muffin in front of me, her hazel eyes filled with hope as she places it in front of me. I gratefully accept the treat ready to dive in since everything she makes is heavenly.

“El. Oh my god.” I’ve barely swallowed the first bite. “These are amazing.” Her eyes light up even more and her mouth pulls into her full smile revealing my two favorite dimples.

“The guys are gonna go feral for these.” I take another bite, holding back a moan. Dang can this girl bake. After eating two muffins and spending the morning chatting with Eliza I eventually have to pull myself away to get ready for practice. For some reason talking to El is surprisingly easy. I quickly get ready and jog out the door when I see the time on my phone, not wanting to be late. If Coach Williams can’t stand one thing? It’s tardiness.

“Are those muffins?” Alex jogs across the locker room, looking at my hands.

“They are.”

“Damn, that girl of yours is an angel. Can you fuck it up already so I can swoop in?”

“What makes you think I’m going to fuck it up?” I’m not going to lie, I feel a little offended at his statement. Even if this is all fake, I think I’ve been doing a good job at pretending to be a boyfriend.

“I don’t know. Rumor has always been you’ll be single forever and that you don’t believe in love so I just assumed at some point you’ll end it.”

“Hm.” I grunt in response. He’s not wrong. That is what I’ve always said. “Anyways, let me know what you guys think of these. My girl’s working on a new recipe and wants some feedback.” I put down the container on the bench for the guys to dig into and just like I figured all the muffins are scooped up in seconds.

“Holy shit.” Bryan practically moans with a mouthful. “These are amazing.”

“Tell El I’ll marry her right now.” Alex’s eyes roll to the back of his head.

“Ditto.” Bryan and a few of the other guys chime in.

“Get your own girl.” The words come out almost as a growl. A wave of jealousy washes over me. None of these guys are good enough for Eliza to date let alone marry.

After the muffins are devoured we start with a dynamic stretching session led by our captain, Bryan. The guys also use this time to annoy me with more questions about Eliza and I’s relationship .

“So does Ryan know you're dating his sister?” David, another senior on the team asks.

“Uh, no. We haven’t told him yet.” There’s a chorus of sucked in breath’s and “oohhs” exchanged among the guys.

“I’d love to see his reaction.” Bryan quirks an eyebrow and throws a smirk in my direction. While he knows and understands our charade, Ryan might not be so understanding if we told him. He’s not an aggressive guy off the ice but he’s fiercely protective of his little sister, his whole family really. Thankfully, as our warmup comes to an end, coach comes into the room, shifting the focus off of me.

I’m trying to ignore the fact that I’m excited for today’s home game because it means I get to see a certain someone wearing my jersey in the stands. I never cared much if the game was at home or away. It didn’t matter to me. A game is a game. But, today I woke up with a smile on my lips.

It’s only been a week since Eliza got ‘glutened’ as she calls it but she assured me yesterday that she was feeling well enough to come to my game. I couldn’t help the grin that took over my face when she told me that. It’s kind of nice to know someone is going to be there for me, that’s all.

I go through my regular game routine, a good breakfast followed by a light workout to prepare my muscles for the strenuous activity they’ll go through later. Then, I decompress with a few video games or a tv show before eating dinner and heading to the rink for warmups. Except as I’m heading downstairs to leave for warmups I’m distracted by Eliza singing along, off key, to some pop song. Her door is open so I take it as an invitation to the show. As I lean against the door frame, I watch as she rakes through her closet looking for god knows what but she must be having a hard time finding it based on the pile of clothes on the floor behind her.

“Ugh.” Eliza stops singing for a moment to sigh, throwing another article of clothing to the floor.

“What did that shirt do to you?” Eliza whirls around, hand on her chest at my words.

“Geez Garrett, give a girl a heart attack why don’t you.” Her eyes rake over my body, sending a heat through me. “It did nothing. I don’t even know why I have it, it’s too small.”

“So what are you looking for in there?”

“Something to wear tonight. The long sleeve I wore last time was good but it was a little cold so I’m trying to find a hoodie that matches.” She gestures to the pile on the floor. “Except I own a bunch of pink, red and purple so nothing really matches with the navy letters in the jersey.”

Wordlessly and without a second thought I turn back to my room, grabbing one of the navy hoodies I have hanging in the closet. I have a few from the different years on the team.

“Here.” I’m back in Eliza’s doorway in seconds. “You can wear one of mine.” She finally turns back to me.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, can’t have my girlfriend freezing up there in the stands.” I hand her the sweatshirt. “It might be a little big on you.”

“I doubt it.” She mumbles like she doesn’t want me to hear the words but I do so I grab the sweatshirt back, tugging it over her head.

“What in the world are you doing?” She questions me as I pull down the fabric and what do you know it’s perfectly oversized on her.

“Looks perfect to me.”

“You weren’t supposed to hear that.” I should leave it alone. Walk away. I proved my point but there’s something about the way she mumbled those words that doesn’t sit right with me. I don’t think she knows how beautiful she is. How tempting her curves are. So against my better judgment I don’t walk away, I look down trying to get her gaze to meet mine.

“That’s the second time I’ve heard you make a comment about your body and I gotta say I don’t love the way you talk to yourself.” Her gaze finally meets mine as her mouth parts slightly.

“We don’t have to do this. No one’s here.” I raise my eyebrows confused at what that has to do with this conversation. She sighs, “no one’s going to catch onto us here. You don’t have to pretend that I’m some beautiful girl you might actually date.” Her gaze flicks to the floor. It hurts to see her like this. I’ve seen glimpses of it before, I know she has her own insecurities but I’m so used to getting strong and sassy El.

“Eliza.” When she keeps her gaze still trained on the floor like the rug she’s decorated this room with is the most interesting thing on earth, I reach out putting two fingers under her chin and guiding her gaze back to mine. “I’m not saying this because I need anyone but you to hear it. You’re stunning. Your eyes draw me in with their little golden flecks and those damn dimples. But that’s not what you’re insecure about is it? You’re insecure about this.” My hand whispers against her legging clad legs. “These delicious thighs. Do you know how hard it was to keep my cool the first morning you came down wearing that oversized sweater? God, Eliza it looked like there was nothing underneath it.” Now that my thoughts have started coming out, there’s no stopping them.

“And how you parade around in your little skirts and dresses, if I didn’t know better I’d think you were trying to torture me cupcake.” I continue to run my fingertips up and down her thigh, staring into those eyes as she tries to process everything I’m saying. It would be so easy to kiss her right now. To just lean in, take that sweet and sassy mouth in mine.

“Garrett I -” Her words die as my phone rings, pulling us from the moment. I want to ignore it, throw it out of the room but I already know who it is. I check the screen and sure enough it’s Bryan.

“Hey Bry.” I answer and Eliza steps back from my touch. I miss it instantly. “I’m on my way.”

“You're never late Garrett, is everything good?” Bryan’s voice asks from the other end of the phone.

“Yep. All good.” I hang up before he can answer. “I’ve got to go.” I look at Eliza who just nods. “I’ll see you in the stands El.”