by Cassie Cole
In my peripheral vision, a figure came jogging around the corner of the building. He stopped short, which was when I glanced up.
“Danny?” I asked.
He looked exactly as he had in his house earlier, wearing orange Appleton sweatpants and a tight T-shirt. He grinned nervously, running a hand through his perfect blond hair. “Hey.”
I rose as he approached, and then jabbed a finger into his sternum. “You’re the quarterback of the Appleton football team!”
“Yeah, I am.”
“Why did you hide that from me?” I demanded.
“Well, I really didn’t.”
“During our game,” I said, “I guessed that you played football in high school. You said yes.”
“Because it’s true. I did play football in high school. And then I continued playing football here.” He tapped his knee. “I tore my ACL freshman year. I’m surprised you don’t remember. It was a big deal around campus.”
“Apparently I need to do a better job of memorizing the athletes at this school,” I muttered. “What are you doing here? Meeting with the director? There’s a photo of us tagged together on Facebook. I just got grilled about it.”
Danny groaned and sat down on the bench. “Coach is a little paranoid when it comes to our social media accounts. He’s afraid of someone embarrassing the school.”
“Have fun with that. I told him nothing happened, but I don’t think he believes me.”
But Danny was shaking his head. “I’m not here to see him. You left this at my place.” He pulled out my phone. “The email was still up on the screen. That’s how I knew where to find you.”
“Oh,” I said. He came running to give my phone back. “You didn’t have to do that.”
“No,” he agreed, “but I came anyway. Coach wanted to talk to you about the sports trainer position?”
I sat on the bench next to him and sighed. “First he accused me of applying just so I could flirt with all the cute boys. Then he offered me a secretarial job. As if keeping paperwork properly filed in a cabinet is just as fulfilling as keeping athletes healthy.”
“I heard his secretary quit. He’s been looking for someone to take over. You want me to talk to him? Put in a good word or something?”
I glanced at the handsome quarterback. “Do you really think it would help?”
“No,” he admitted. “Not really. They gave the job to some freshman named Brett. I heard his father’s a big donor to the booster club.”
“Great,” I muttered. “Who needs knowledge and enthusiasm when you’ve got family connections?”
Danny patted my leg. “The world sucks sometimes, Roberta.”
“Yeah.”
It was a small gesture, but him coming here to give me my cell phone, and then comforting me afterward, made me feel a great deal better. Like I wasn’t alone in all this.
It also reminded me of how I’d left his place.
“Sorry for rushing out of there,” I said. “When I got the email, I thought I was getting another chance at this job.”
Danny leaned back and put his hands behind his head. His biceps flexed against the inside of his shirt like they were trying to break free. “No apology necessary. Lance said you were probably freaked out because you have a boyfriend or something.” He glanced at me.
“I do not have a boyfriend,” I said to answer his unspoken question.
“That’s a relief, because I put my number in your phone.”
I arched an eyebrow at him. “A little presumptive, don’t you think?”
With his hands still behind his head, he shrugged. “From the noises you made in bed last night, I figured you’d want my number.”
“Maybe,” I said judiciously. “We’ll see how I feel. Us ladies are moody and hormonal when we get around cute boy athletes, you know.”
Danny chuckled. “That’s why you’re best kept indoors doing secretarial work. Can’t have you distracting the football team with your big breasts and batting eyelashes.”
We laughed together, using humor to deflect and take away the sting of the meeting with Mueller.
“I’m starving,” Danny said. “Want to grab some food?”
“You mean you didn’t make yourself waffles?”
“I was too busy making them for everyone else. Plus, I came right here when I saw you’d forgotten your phone.” He poked me underneath the armpit. “Come on. My treat. It’s backwards to have the date after sleeping together, but I want to get to know you.”
I glanced at the handsome, charming man whose entire attention was on me. I wanted nothing more than to sit down and spend some more time getting to know him better—especially now that I knew who he really was. But I was emotionally drained, and I knew I needed to recharge my batteries at home, especially with the fall semester beginning tomorrow.
“I’m going to pass,” I said. “I need to start looking for other jobs or internships to fulfill my work experience credit requirement. I might need to start looking in San Antonio, which means completely rearranging my class schedule. I doubt I’ll be able to graduate in May.”
“That sucks, but I understand.” He poked my phone. “But once you figure it out, give me a call. I don’t have a ton of free time during football season, but I’d like to see you again.”
“I would too.”
We smiled at each other, stuck in that awkward moment where we didn’t know whether to kiss, or hug, or shake hands. What I really wanted to do was kiss him some more. To run my thumb along his hard jawline, to slide my fingers through his feathery hair…
“See ya later, Roberta,” Danny said with a final nod.
I stared at his picturesque figure for a long while as he walked away.
9
Roberta
The senior dorm on the campus of Appleton State University was a six-story building in the shape of an X; four individual wings connected at a central lobby area. To be fair, it wasn’t really the senior dorm. Most seniors rented apartments off-campus. Whoever was left was placed on the third floor of this dorm, which was mostly occupied by sophomores and juniors.
Aly and I shared a two-bedroom suite with a common living room and kitchen. To my surprise, she was reclined on the couch watching Gilmore Girls when I walked through the door.
“Hey there, champ,” I said in a soothing voice. “You made it home?”
“Lance drove me,” she replied.
“That was sweet of him.”
She paused the TV and twisted on the couch. “It’s not what you think! He’s not like that at all! He took care of me last night, making sure I got out of the party safe and giving me water and stuff.”
I smiled and dropped into the chair across from her. “I saw the video he took. His roommates told me he does that at most parties: finding girls who get a little carried away and making sure they get home safe.”
“He told me he’s like Batman.”
I laughed. It was cute that Lance was now wearing that moniker proudly. “Just like Batman. But with less spandex.” I reached over and touched her foot. “Aly, I’m so sorry I left you at the party. You seemed totally sober when I checked on you. If I had known…”
“Stop it,” Aly said with a weak smile. “I was sober when you checked on me. Then I made the mistake of switching to jungle juice. I don’t blame you for leaving, especially since…”
Her eyes widened like she’d suddenly remembered something.
“You went home with Danny!”
“I was wondering how long it would take you to bring that up,” I mumbled.
“Danny Armstrong! The adorable fucking hunk dreamboat! The captain of the football team, and their star quarterback!”
I frowned. “Really? He told me he was the water boy.”
Aly smacked me on the arm. “Look at you, shooting high! I thought it was brave enough of you to just talk to him at the party, let alone…”
“Honestly, I didn’t realize it was him,” I admitted. “I thought he was just a
cute guy hitting on me at the party.”
She stared at me, waiting to see if I was joking. “Seriously?”
It seemed really stupid in retrospect. The way all the other girls had looked at him at the party. The chiseled body and the ACL tear. Hell, the ribbons and trophies in his room should have tipped me off, but by then I was too busy thinking about getting him naked.
“Swear to God,” I said.
Aly gave me a skeptical look. “There’s no way you didn’t know. I thought you were big into sports and stuff…”
“Yeah, yeah, I know,” I cut her off. “I’ve already been ridiculed about it once today.”
I caught her up about the email from the athletic director, and the rushed meeting I’d had. Aly’s frown got deeper and deeper.
“Secretary?” she said, acid dripping from every word. “Secretary? Does he know you’re in the master’s program?”
“He didn’t seem to care.”
“I would have dumped his coffee in his lap and told him to go fuck himself.”
“Well, he didn’t have any coffee.”
“Then I would have gone to the campus Starbucks, acquired a coffee, and then dumped it in his lap.”
Seeing her so upset on my behalf made me less angry at her for posting the photo on Facebook and tagging me. She couldn’t have known Coach Mueller would use it against me.
“Forget about that dick,” Aly said with a grin, “and tell me more about the dick I want to hear about. Danny’s.”
Laughing, I told her some of the juicy details from last night. How Danny and I played a sexy stripping game to get to know each other, and then how he went down on me, and all the sexiness that happened after, ending with the waffles this morning. I typically didn’t like to talk about that kind of thing, but Aly never would have stopped pestering me if I didn’t tell her some of it.
Besides, it felt good to brag a little.
Aly laid back against the couch and silently mouthed the word wow. “If you’re going to have a one-night stand, the captain of the football team is a heck of a place to start. You fulfilled all of my high school fantasies, Roberta!”
“I had a thing for the chess team in high school,” I told her. “Zack Spanick, to be exact. There’s nothing better than a sexy smart boy with glasses.”
“Uh, yes there is,” Aly argued. “A football player wearing tight pants that show off his cute little butt!”
We giggled at that image.
“Well, I hope you got your money’s worth,” Aly said. “Danny Armstrong is famous for focusing entirely on football once the season starts. You scored that touchdown right as the clock expired.”
I couldn’t hide my grin. “Actually, he invited me out on a date. But I turned him down.”
Aly bolted upright and screamed, “YOU TURNED DOWN LUNCH WITH DANNY FUCKING ARMSTRONG?”
I leaned away from her ridicule. “I have a lot of work to do.”
“You should be working your ass all over his crotch to keep him happy enough for a second date!”
I held up my phone. “He gave me his number. Told me to call him.”
Aly took the phone from me and gazed down at the number like it was the Holy Grail. “I’m stealing this.”
“No!” I snatched the phone from her hand. “Get your own cute football player.”
“I tried,” she said with a smirk. “But I screwed it up by getting drunk, and then he ended up being a perfect gentleman.”
“You sound unhappy about that.”
“I am!” she said, waving a palm over her crotch. “I wanted his pretty face in and around all of this area.”
*
We giggled and joked about who was the hotter of the two football players, and ended up agreeing that all of them were tens, even Feña the third roommate. “Especially him,” Aly said. “I’d love for him to eat my taco for breakfast.”
“Don’t be racist,” I said, though I was laughing just as hard as she was.
Eventually I took a shower, changed clothes, and settled down in my room with my laptop. There was no use procrastinating further, especially with classes starting tomorrow.
It was time to look for another internship.
Yeah, it was stupid of me to not have a backup plan in case I didn’t get the physical trainer position. But I was the only kinesiology student who applied, so I assumed that being the most qualified person would make me a shoe-in.
I’d never make that mistake again.
First I confirmed that no other Appleton options had magically sprung up in the last month. The physical therapy place across town confirmed that they still weren’t hiring. There were no other businesses in my area of expertise either—not even a gym where I could be a personal trainer for credits. The vast majority of people in Appleton were enrolled at the university, or worked there.
Groaning, I widened my online search to the San Antonio area. Dozens of places immediately popped up on the map. I made a spreadsheet of all the best ones. Momentum Physical Therapy, AthElite USA Sports Training, Nix Physical Therapy Outpatient Clinic, Texas Physical Therapy Specialists. In addition to their names and contact info, I mapped out which ones were closest to Appleton. For example, Momentum Physical Therapy was the closest as the crow flies, but AthElite USA was a shorter drive since it was just off Route 90.
Once I had a dozen top places researched, I started submitting resumes online. I had a cover letter prepared, which I tweaked for each specific place to make it seem more personal. Once the resume was submitted, I followed-up by calling the office and speaking to the manager to let them know I had applied, what my credentials were, and how I needed a job for credits for my degree. “We’ll take a look,” was the canned response everyone gave me before hanging up.
From start to finish, each application took me about half an hour. By the time I’d gone through nine applications my brain felt like mush and I was starving, so I took a break to heat up a frozen burrito and lounge on the couch. Aly was snoring softly in her bedroom even though it was five in the afternoon. Poor thing was still recuperating.
I pulled out my laptop to submit a few more employment applications. But instead, I went to the Appleton State University website, and then navigated over to the Athletic Department website. From the drop-down menu at the top I selected Football, then Roster.
They were listed alphabetically. While munching on my burrito, I clicked on the first name on the list.
Name: Daniel Armstrong, #8
Position: Quarterback
Height: 6’3”
Weight: 205 lbs
Year: Senior
Hometown: Wayne, TX
High School: East Wayne
Danny’s photo was like a model’s headshot. A flawless white smile, eyes sparkling with just the right amount of light. And that’s the guy I fucked last night.
I giggled to myself and scrolled down until I found another face I recognized.
Name: Lance Overmire, #10
Position: Wide Receiver/Punt Returner
Height: 6’6”
Weight: 220 lbs
Year: Senior
Hometown: Hampton, VA
High School: Bethel
Lance’s photo was a lot goofier. He was grinning too much, with his eyes too wide, like a serial killer. Now that I’d seen a little bit of his personality, I was certain he’d done it as a joke.
I had to scroll down to the bottom of the list, then back up, before I recognized the third roommate.
Name: Fernando Martinez, #40
Position: Kicker/Punter
Height: 6’1”
Weight: 190 lbs
Year: Senior
Hometown: Santiago, Chile
High School: Alameda
I didn’t immediately notice him because Feña was totally unrecognizable. In the photo he had long curly hair, like a bad 1980s perm, and a face full of teenage acne. Totally different than the short-haired, suave-looking man I’d seen this morning.
“You’ve
blossomed since whenever that photo was taken,” I muttered to myself. Not that I had room to talk—I’d been an acne-covered mess when I graduated high school. Thank God for growing up.
My phone buzzed in my pocket. I moved my burrito to my other hand so I could fish it out.
Danny: Hey, you busy tonight? I want to talk.
I grinned at the screen. After talking to Aly, part of me was afraid Danny had only given me his number to be nice, rather than wanting to actually see me again.
Me: Don’t the rules say you’re supposed to wait 3 days before texting a girl? You’re seeming kind of desperate ;-)
Danny: You’re going to want to hear what I have to tell you :-) Can we meet up?
Me: Uh oh. You’re not pregnant, are you? Is it mine? I want a DNA test.
But as satisfied as I was with my charming text-message banter, the next text Danny sent made me drop my burrito.
Danny: Your big problem with the work credits for your master’s degree? I think I found a loophole.
10
Roberta
Texas was a tough place to live in the summer, which lasted from April until about November, give or take a week. The hottest part of the day was 6:00 or 7:00 in the evening, when the sun-baked ground released all of its heat back into the air even after the sun was dipping on the horizon. Fortunately it wasn’t very humid out, so the 92 degrees actually felt pleasant with a slight breeze. When people claimed it was a dry heat, they weren’t kidding.
I read Danny’s text over and over. A loophole. I wondered what that meant. I’d done tons of research into the work experience credit requirement for my degree. It wasn’t something I could test out of. I needed actual experience in a kinesiology related field, signed by my manager and with a 20 page paper detailing my experience at the end. I couldn’t think of an easy way to get around that.
But what if Danny had?
I was halfway across campus when Aly called me. “Where’d you go? Are you grabbing food?”
