Off Limits On Purpose
435 Views · Ongoing · Mercy Charles
I was exactly three seconds away from giving Alexander Carter everything he wanted when I heard the truth.
I was the girl nobody could touch. Star Davis. Nineteen years of armor, zero minutes given to any guy on campus. But Alex wasn't like the others. He didn't look at me like a prize; he looked at me like a puzzle he had all the time in the world to solve. He memorized my schedule. He fought with me over literature. He made me forget I didn't do this.
Until I stood outside the locker room, holding his jacket.
"She's a virgin," Cam laughed. "The whole campus knows it."
"That's why it's interesting," Alex's voice replied, calm, certain. "I get Star Davis to fall for me. Completely. If I lose, I cover everyone's tab for the semester."
My heart did something I hadn't given it permission to do. It stopped. Six weeks of careful conversations, of late-night diners, of him looking at me like I was the only person in a stadium of eleven thousand people—all of it was a play. A calculation. A bet with a December 15th deadline.
I didn't cry. Crying was for girls who didn't know how to weaponize their own armor. Instead, I pushed the locker room door open. The entire first-string football team froze. Alex's eyes locked onto mine, the smug confidence draining from his face in a fraction of a second.
"December 15th, right?" I said, dropping his jacket on the wet tile. "Game on, Carter. Let's see who breaks first."
I was the girl nobody could touch. Star Davis. Nineteen years of armor, zero minutes given to any guy on campus. But Alex wasn't like the others. He didn't look at me like a prize; he looked at me like a puzzle he had all the time in the world to solve. He memorized my schedule. He fought with me over literature. He made me forget I didn't do this.
Until I stood outside the locker room, holding his jacket.
"She's a virgin," Cam laughed. "The whole campus knows it."
"That's why it's interesting," Alex's voice replied, calm, certain. "I get Star Davis to fall for me. Completely. If I lose, I cover everyone's tab for the semester."
My heart did something I hadn't given it permission to do. It stopped. Six weeks of careful conversations, of late-night diners, of him looking at me like I was the only person in a stadium of eleven thousand people—all of it was a play. A calculation. A bet with a December 15th deadline.
I didn't cry. Crying was for girls who didn't know how to weaponize their own armor. Instead, I pushed the locker room door open. The entire first-string football team froze. Alex's eyes locked onto mine, the smug confidence draining from his face in a fraction of a second.
"December 15th, right?" I said, dropping his jacket on the wet tile. "Game on, Carter. Let's see who breaks first."
















































