Bryant shrugged. “Movers barely cost anything.”
“No they don’t. They’re super expensive. If they weren’t, don’t you think everyone would use movers instead?”
I felt a twinge of annoyance knowing how in so many ways, Bryant still did take money for granted. I knew I felt glad to have him use his money on helping me, but I didn’t want him to think that that was all there was to life, that he could just buy people off because it didn’t cost that much to him… or his father’s credit card.
He got the hint, and stayed silent for the rest of the drive.
I switched the radio on, letting some popular pop songs fill the silence, while I looked out the window. In all my time here, I had rarely gotten a chance to really travel outside of campus, keeping mostly to a small circuit between my dorm and my classes.
Classes still had to come first for me. I came to college wanting to make a big difference to my future journalism career, so I wanted to make sure this semester was the strong foundation for all the ones in the future.
Part of me regretted that I had to deal with so much drama so early into my life at Florida University, but a more optimistic side told me that at least that probably hinted that the drama would mellow down and drop off by the time I got into my stride, academically, at least.
Bryant started perking up, humming to some songs. “Yo, so I’m really excited for some of these burgers. I might have two. One for now, one takeaway.”
“You could get takeout burgers for the rest of the guys at the house, too,” I pointed out. “I bet they’d love you for it. Marvin, especially. And who are the others?”
“Yeah. There’s Russel and there’s Tyrone. Aside from the room that’s going to you, we’ve actually got another room available, so I might consider offering it to someone else on the team who might be interested,” Bryant replied.
“Who’s that?”
“Guy named Antonio. He’s a running back, a bit of a quiet guy. I don’t know him as well as the other guys, but he’s smart as fuck. You’d like him,” he said, starting to grin. “He’s a nerd with glasses too.”
I raised my eyebrows. Not at his playful insult, but at his teammate’s name. “Antonio’s my dad’s name. Funny. I think I like him already.”
“Shit, maybe I shouldn’t offer him that place, then. Wouldn’t want him to like, ruin my chances with you. He’s pretty good looking, in a more, like, Latino lover kinda way. I guess there might be competition here.”
“Well now that you say it like that… I’m definitely sure there’s competition,” I said, smiling as I teased him.
He chuckled and then placed his hand on my knee, patting it once before resting it there.
It felt… really sweet.
The burger place was busy. All the seats were taken up, and we couldn’t even find a table we could maybe squeeze in and share spots with. Even the seating by the walls and windows, which had stools facing out, were all taken up. I even saw a guy standing alone eating a burger and drinking a milkshake with his free hand, somehow trying to swap between drinking and texting in between sips.
“You’re right, I guess hype really got to this place,” I laughed, shaking my head. “Bryant, is it crazy if I said we don’t actually have to eat here? Let’s go somewhere else instead.”
The quarterback rejected my idea at once. “No way. That drive was like forty minutes, Mia, we’ll wait it out. At least the queues not too long. What the hell is going on, anyway? Did Beyoncé and Jay-Z just take a photo of them eating here or something?”
I laughed again. “That would make sense. I’m the one who hasn’t eaten, though.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Bryant said. “We’ll just order takeout, yeah? Do you know what you want?”
Shrugging, I told him to just pick something for me. I wasn’t much of a picky eater, anyway.
“Oh yeah, I’m texting the movers now. I’ve got that team meeting at two, so I could drop you off at your old dorm then? And have the movers be there waiting for you?” Bryant said, glancing down at his phone.
I watched his hands as he texted away, thinking that I liked the band he wore around his right wrist. Now that I realized it, he always wore it. I think he was even wearing it the day of the college acceptance letters, when he and Sam ended up in Florida and I ended up… having to rush home to a house that burned down.
Ugh. I didn’t need a bad memory like that to ruin what was shaping up to be a perfectly decent day, otherwise. So far, Bryant was being nice. Last night, I felt he was too intense — like sex had somehow unlocked his urge to go full alpha male and claim me, not necessarily in a sexual or romantic way, but like I was his to take care of.
He wanted me to move in, and of course I couldn’t handle that. He had literally just pulled so many strings to get me a new place at short notice, and even if it was going to be expensive, at least I could probably figure something out.
I watched him text and idly browse social media while I stood by him, silently. He was a good guy. I knew that much. I was already undoing all the years of negative prejudices I had held against him, but I didn’t like that one of the main sticking points that soured me about him was still true: unlike me, he had a more casual, carefree way about the value of a dollar, and that made me think he could be condescending and dismissive about why it’s important to me to actually be responsible for my own needs.
He probably thought I was being unnecessarily prideful. But I didn’t see it that way. Taking care of my independence, now that I’m living away from home for the first time in my life, was something I wanted to make sure only I would be in charge of that.
“Hey, excuse me,” someone said, pausing as he looked at Bryant and me. “Are you… Howard, the Florida Renegade #11? Quarterback who played last night against Kentucky?”
Bryant grinned. The guy asking was a balding man in his early forties, so not someone who went to our school — not likely, at least. “Yeah, man. That’s me.”
“I’m the manager here. Wow. I watched your game, and I thought you played so well. I’m a big fan of college football. You mind if we take a picture? Also, you shouldn’t be in the queue here, let me open a second counter, ease the long wait for you and the rest of the people waiting.”
The little act of goodwill got lots of people happy, after we had been overhearing grumbles of how long they had been waiting to order, and how much longer they were expecting their food to arrive.
“Oh, man,” Bryant laughed. “I told you things would work out.”
He took a selfie with the manager, then they chatted for a while, talking about football stuff I didn’t really understand. Plays, win-lose records, pass rates and percentages… I just smiled.
I was smarter at other things, so that was fine. But it was nice to know that Bryant’s interest in football wasn’t just a physical talent, but a lifelong interest. He lit up when he talked about his sport.
In a few minutes, not only did we order, but we had our food in six takeout bags. He had ordered two of each of the three different specials, including the expensive wagyu burger he was raving about, and when we got to the car, I couldn’t help but think about how hungry I was.
It didn’t help that everything smelled so delicious, too.
“Well, I guess this was a mission well done,” I said, smiling. “So, look at you, huh? Star quarterback.”
Bryant smiled, but his smile dropped quickly. “I never asked for the fame or the attention. And it feels like these days, the attention tends to be more negative than positive… so a moment like this is a nice surprise. It’s not always like that, though.”
He went quiet, but I knew exactly what he was talking about. I had actively ignored social media after last night, but not before I had seen tweets and comments about the girl who Bryant Howard was “in love” with.
Fiona hadn’t posted a vlog about our drama yet, not to my knowledge, but she had already posted the full unedited video of Sam blowing up at me. I knew this
because people, even people I didn’t even know, were already tagging me.
We drove straight to Bryant’s house, and he was buzzing, telling the guys that he had food for all of us. We huddled around the dining table. I remembered that one for being a surface covered in literally dozens of red plastic cups full of beer from the night of the party. Thankfully, this time it was clean — tasteful, even, now that I could see the glass and steel design.
“Bryant, you’re gonna be a star,” Tyrone said. The tight end was a more quiet guy, unlike Marvin, who loved to talk. “Coach Frost even had a bit of champagne and told us that what we did against Kentucky was exactly what he wanted us to keep doing. Anticipate their plays, figure out a strategy quickly, counter, and beat them. You did amazing, bro.”
Bryant grinned, taking a bite of his burger. “I try, I try.”
I sat back, letting them talk football. It wasn’t all football, at least. Marvin and Tyrone talked about girls, being respectful enough not to talk in the coarser locker room talk I was sure they indulged in normally, since I was there, but when they turned their attention to me, they asked me if I was looking forward to moving in.
“Yeah, I guess I am,” I smiled. “I don’t know if I can afford my share of the rent, though. How do you guys do it?”
Marvin smiled, rapping his fist against the table. “You’re funny. Oh God, no scholarship in the world could make me afford this. That’s all you, Bryant. You know how to take care of us guys.”
Bryant beamed.
I knew he had that overpowering urge to take care of his people. I guess this made me one of his people too?
Afterwards, with about an hour to go before I had to start overseeing the move from my old dorm room in the Washington Building, I figured I could probably catch up on some homework.
Bryant followed me instantly, just as I started to move down the corridor.
“Oh, hi there,” I said, turning around as I reached the door, looking at him.
He looked like he was expecting an invite inside.
I shook my head, with a small smile. “I have to do homework, Bryant.”
He got the hint, this time.
14
Bryant
Not being able to hook up with Mia made me a little horny, so I had extra energy I needed to work out in my morning workout session.
I understood where she was coming from, and the last thing I wanted her to feel was that she somehow owed me physical attention just because we were living together now… but I wasn’t used to being denied by anybody, let alone someone like Mia.
It was a strange feeling, but it made me want it more — it was like a sort of delayed gratification.
This denial also gave me the clarity to focus on my own body instead, to get me in peak performance now that it was the start of a new week.
Monday morning. This semester I had intentionally selected the minimum number of classes I had to attend, expecting I would need to focus more on my football. That was working out right, but now that I had earned my place on the team, I could at least think about focusing on actual school too.
Or at least, it meant I could try and get a better idea of what mattered to Mia. Maybe I could figure out if there was a class we could both share…
It was funny that I wanted to spend so much time with her. In a sense, we had spent the whole weekend together ever since the football game, but despite sex that night, we had kept ourself at a flirty, comfortable but not very physical level. There was definitely an awkwardness to things. I had to work on that at some point. She deserved better than to have to deal with all this awkwardness.
“Yo, Marvin,” I said, watching my teammate emerge from bed, going downstairs and making his way straight to the fridge.
I was feeling like a liquid breakfast, so I had made a fruit smoothie, sipping on it slowly. Marvin liked his breakfast cereals.
“New week, new game. New Bryant too?” he asked.
“Nah, man. Same Bryant. What you see is what you get,” I assured him. “I’m working out, do you wanna spot me?”
He shook his head. “Not today, bro. I have to rush to a morning class. Can’t miss this one, the prof’s taken notice of me. It’s just some history thing, I don’t know why it was mandatory for me this semester.”
“History’s not so bad,” I shrugged. “I don’t know if I’ve done that class. Coach Frost wants the offensive line to do drills this afternoon, what are the defense guys up to today?”
“All day in the gym,” Marvin said. “I was gonna head there now before the class, left my textbook in my locker. Want to go together? You look like you could do with gym time instead of just home morning workouts.”
I shook my head. “Before the drills, sure. For now, this is fine.”
Marvin smirked. “I get it. You want Mia to wake up to you doing pushups, drive her crazy like that. You’re a dog, man.”
Laughing, I promised him that was not it. “Just taking care of my own body.”
“Usually you don’t do that in the living room, bro,” Marvin smiled. “Okay, fine. I’m off. I just wanted you to drive me to the gym, I guess I’ll have to walk there.”
“Jog, man,” I told him. “Makes you less lazy.”
Marvin shook his head, chuckling. I found my usual workout spot in the living room, and began to do push-ups.
It didn’t hurt that this was directly in the line of sight of the corridor Mia would exit into from her bedroom.
Grunting as I counted my pushups, I started to focus on my body, trying to identify problem areas. Resting on Sunday was a good thing. Pigging on fast food… not such a good idea. Not having sex with Mia also meant my body was probably hormonally wack. I guessed that was what happened when you were an athlete with this much testosterone to spare…
“Wow, looking good,” a voice interrupted me. It was Mia.
I glanced up, still holding my pose. I decided to turn it into a half minute of planking. “Hey. Good morning.”
“My morning’s already looking good,” she said, smiling softly.
I could tell she was turned on just looking at me do my push-ups. This was good: I knew I was hot, but I wanted her to feel that way. Part of me felt this weird insecure feeling that she was overcompensating for all the years when we had been enemies. Sure, I made fun of her, and sure, she would often get sarcastic and sassy right back, but that had gotten pretty intense — and I still wondered if my attraction to her now was because we hated each other before.
If that was the case, I was sure that I would get over her pretty quickly, once we had fucked a few times.
But that wasn’t happening. If anything, the opposite was taking place.
I was getting incredibly close to her. There was this bond. I even thought back to the time yesterday when she joked about how she might be attracted to Antonio, warning also that that was her dad’s name.
That wasn’t just flirting. That was a real connection.
“Hello?” Mia asked, prompting me out of my thoughts.
“Oh, right. Hey,” I said. “Um, want breakfast?”
“I’m fine,” she said. “But I checked your fridge last night and saw that you were embarrassingly understocked. Not everyone in this house wants to live on a diet of protein powder and steaks, Bryant.”
“Well… good thing we now have a female touch,” I said. “Not that I would ever suggest your place was in the kitchen.”
“I’m a pretty terrible cook,” Mia shrugged, before smiling. “Good thing you won’t have to experience that much. I’m not really here to cook for a bunch of football players with huge appetites.”
Feeling teased, I raised an eyebrow. “So what are you here for, then?”
Mia tried to be serious, but I could see a playful glint take over her blue eyes. “I’m here to study. I have a lot of work to do on that. It’s almost as if moving three times in a couple of weeks makes you lose all the time you need to spend studying.”
“Well, it’s not been that ba
d, surely,” I said.
She shook her head. “I was at my old place yesterday, the movers did a great job. Thanks for that, Bryant. But Sam was hovering around, and as soon as she saw the movers I could tell she had already guessed what was going on.”
“Samantha knows you’re moving in here?” I asked. I didn’t want her to lead to more trouble. I was even ready to tell Marvin he should probably find some other girl.
“Well, that wasn’t her initial guess. First she thought you had gotten a place for me, but then she decided that was unrealistic, seeing as I barely had any time to get any of that done. So it could only possibly be one thing. I was moving into your house,” Mia said, making a face. “Too much drama.”
“I’m sorry about that,” I told her.
“Well, so am I.”
I thought that was going to be it for our conversation, since Mia started pacing around the living room and I began to do crunches, but then she turned around and looked at me.
“Can you do that somewhere else from now on? All the grunting and sweating and looking muscly and hot is… distracting. A fantastic distraction, but really distracting all the same,” she said, teasing me.
“Sorry, honey. It’s my house.”
She smiled. “Okay, fine. I shouldn’t be here anyway. Girl’s gotta go to class sometime too.”
“Oh yeah,” I nodded. “What have you got today?”
She checked her phone. “I have History of Media Law with Professor Saltzmann at ten. That’s a class I’m pretty excited about.”
“Oh, that’s interesting. Okay, cool, uh… see you.”
She turned back to her room. Ten — that was still a couple of hours away. I had a plan.
I was going to sign up for that class, transfer into it. I didn’t know Professor Saltzmann, but I imagined he wouldn’t mind too much. After all, it was still early in the semester.
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