Morning Breath, Bedroom Eyes on a Smiling Face

“Morning Jordan,” the girl next to me turned and whispered right in my face, directly under my nose.

“Morning,” I bit back a disgusted look at the smell of her awful morning breath.

She smiled and I couldn’t help but wonder how in the hell I ended up with this one. She was gorgeous, even with her makeup smeared all around her face and under her eyes. She was blond and had soft blue eyes; she was far too beautiful for me.

“So, last night was…amazing,” she breathed as her hot pink nail traced my jawline.

“Yeah,” I tried my best to act.

“Round two?” she wiggled her eyebrows.

I turned and looked at my phone for the time, “Sorry, practice.”

She pouted those perfectly pink lips, “Oh, boo.”

“Yeah, sorry,” I mumbled something that I thought was her name.

“It’s okay,” she sat up in bed, letting the sheet drop from her chest.

Fake, definitely fake, I thought to myself.

“I heard Taylor mention that you guys were going out tonight too,” she stretched her arms, “Same
place?”

“Probably,” I nodded as I found my pants and shirt.

“Mind if I join?”

“Uh, yeah, sure,” I nodded, “I’ll text you,” I told her.

And then push you off on someone else, I thought.

“See you later Jordan,” she leaned over and puckered her lips.

“Yeah,” I gave in, but only because she was so beautiful, “See you soon.”

I ran out of her apartment building and hailed the first cab I saw. The ten minute ride to my place
was filled with thoughts about how to ditch the girl tonight, how to avoid her, and how in the hell I
managed to get something like that.

When I walked into my apartment my roommate, Taylor Hall, groaned at me, “That girl last night…”

“Not interested,” I shook my head at him, “She wants to go out with us tonight, you can have her.”

“Gladly,” he smiled at me, “Why don’t you want her? she was fucking hot.”

“Yeah,” I got a bottle of water, “But she’s not…”

“That girl from home still got your panties in a twist, eh?”

I chewed at the inside of my mouth but nodded, “Sure does.”

“Let me tell you something buddy,” Taylor sat next to me, “Love sucks. It’s all a fucking bullshit lie.
All it does is confuse you and fuck with your mind. This girl,” he flicked his fingers at my head, “This
girl is getting into your head, man. The worst part is, she doesn’t even know it. You’re letting some
chick into your head and she’s not giving you anything in return.”

I ground my teeth together, “Maggie and I text.”

“What do you talk about? Her semester? Your game? Jordan, come the fuck on dude.”

“What would you know,” I shoved my seat back and stood.

“I know that the girl you fucked last night is hot, she’s fun, and she’s here. If you’re going to fall for
some chick, why not fall for someone who’s actually around?”

He made a point, but I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of knowing that, ever.

Taylor was a wannabe player, someone who talked a big game but rarely got all he claimed to. I
rarely got anything though, but I never went around talking like I did. Taylor didn’t do it to be an
ass, to make himself come off as some macho, womanizing man whore, he did it so the guys would
stay off his back. If you weren’t married, weren’t in a long term relationship, or at least dating a girl
who could potentially be wife material, you were a pussy if you didn’t whore around. I knew the
guys respected the way I played, but most didn’t respect my personal life too much. A lot of the
older guys did, they thought it was great that I wasn’t sleeping around and that I was picky, just
waiting for the right girl, but a lot of the other guys thought it was pathetic. Tyler was just watching
his own ass, so I couldn’t really blame him.

On the surface, my roommate and best friend on the team was an ass. We were seen as opposites
and a good duo that balanced each other out most of the time. Underneath the surface, Taylor and
I were very similar. Career wise, play our best, help our teammates, and become the best team in the league; personal wise, we both did want that good girl, and as much as he claimed he didn’t,
Taylor believed in all that sappy “bullshit lie” he spoke against.

I went to my bedroom, set my phone on the charger, and climbed into bed. We didn’t have a skate that morning, actually we had three days off, which never happened.

Just as I was lying down I checked my phone again, to make sure I didn’t say anything dumb to any
of my teammates the previous night. when I came to the last text that was sent to Maggie at three
in the morning, I cringed, “Fuck me.”

I opened it up, praying I didn’t confess my undying love for her, didn’t let her know I was going
home with some skank, or tell her some lame secret I’d kept bottled inside.

Me: Have you ever been in love?

Maggie: Once, I think. Have you?

Me: I feel like if I ever fell in love, I would know right away. like not that love at first
sight bullshit, but the second I felt it, I would know. I shouldn’t drink and philosophize lol.

Maggie: No, no one should. But I am interested in your take on this topic. BTW, there’s
a guy at Chester’s who’s dressed like a pirate…is it Halloween?

Me: LMFAO seriously??? Wow, your night wins! I don’t know if I can explain this love
thing, but I feel like it’s nothing what everyone says. Does anyone really feel that stuff? I mean like
come on, can you picture your mom and dad frolicking through a field of daisies?

Maggie: NO. I was brought to them via stork, thank you. So you don’t believe in love?

Me: I do, but like how does it feel?

Maggie: I think you just know. With Brad, I just kind of felt it…idk how to explain it.

Me: That’s the answer I hate! There had to be some definite thing to make you realize it.

Maggie: Not with him, but I’m starting to feel different about this other guy. Like he’s an
absolute sweetheart and I’ve always had a little crush on him, but I never really thought we could
work. now I’m talking to him and I keep hoping that he’s going to slip up and tell me he feels the
same, but he hasn’t and probably won’t . I just get the feeling when I talk to him, butterflies,
giddy, a ridiculous smile on my face…From what people say, those might be the first symptoms.

That must have been my reasoning for going home with that blond. Maggie had met someone and was feeling whatever it was that people in love feel. I gave up, lost hope, and took it out on the first female I saw.

I fell asleep and woke up to my phone ringing, “Hello?” I answered.

“Jordan,” Maggie’s voice was soft, “I got worried that you fell into a pot hole or something when you didn’t text back. You always text goodnight, no matter what.”

“Sorry, must have gotten distracted or something,” I wasn’t sorry.

“Oh,” she sounded sad, “I was going through our conversation last night and figured you got mad at
something I said.”

“Why would I, Mags?”

“I don’t know. Maybe you…maybe you felt like I was…I don’t know Jordie.”

“Who is he?” I tried to sound happy for her.

“Who is…Oh,” I could tell she was blushing through the phone, “He’s just the nicest guy I’ve ever met. So sweet, funny, usually smart,” she sighed, “He’s…it’s…he’s great Jordan. I wish he weren’t so far away.”

“Where is he?”

She was silent and I took that as I probably knew him and she didn’t want to let me down. She knew I was falling for her and she didn’t want to upset me.

“Sorry Dad,” I heard her say, “Jordan, can I call you back later? I guess my dad needs me to go with him to the store, this could take years.”

I chuckled, “I’ll talk to you later Maggie.”

With that, our conversation was over. she didn’t call back the rest of the day and I decided to go out again with my teammates, like we had planned. I didn’t text the girl from the night before, this time I was just out to be out with my boys.

Around 2 AM Taylor and I left, both of us alone, and both of us hammered. The night had been a success, we had all had fun and I had forgotten all about Maggie…up until my head hit a pillow.

I opened up our conversation and typed up a few things that were floating around in my head:

I don’t really know what love is and I’m not sure if I’m even coming close to describing it, but is it when you can’t stop thinking about the other person? Like you go out, trying to forget all about them and then the second you’re alone or lying in a cold, lonely bed you think about them? That might be a booty call to most, but I think it’s fucking love. I spent the whole night out with the guys, drinking and having fun, but now that I’m home and replaying the night, it wasn’t fun. I hate that you’re not here and I fucking hate that you get that giddy feeling for some other guy. This sucks. Now I do know what love is, love is bullshit.