Pole Position

by H. M. Montes

  “You wouldn’t know me, I’m from Kansas I just moved here.” I told him.

  “Do you have a name or should I just call you Kansas?” he asked his eyes were locked onto mine.

  I rolled my eyes, “Call me Kansas as far as I’m concerned, I don’t talk to creepy guys that think it’s okay to invade my personal space.” I said then kicked him in the chest and jumped off the wall.

  He stumbled back, “I just want to know your name.” he yelled. I walked away from him and never bothered to look back at him.

  When I got back to the dorm, Asher was talking on her cell phone when I walked in. I went straight for the bathroom to shower, a few minutes later Asher was tapping on the door then she walked in.

  “Chass you looked pissed off when you came in did something happen while you were out for your run?” she asked with concern.

  I rinsed my hair, grabbed a towel off the rack then got out of the shower;

  “That Jay guy, the one that was making out with that chic in the hall way Saturday night, remember him?” I asked.

  She smiled, “Oh yes, Mister Hottie McHottie!”

  I rolled my eyes at her, “Yeah well, he found me at the track today, apparently he thinks he knows me or something. He tried to demand that I tell him who I am. He might be hot, but that really pissed me off.” I told her.

  She wrinkled her eyebrows “Why is it bad that he wants to know who you are?”

  “Well he could ask nicely instead of picking me up and cornering me against the damn wall for one and the next time he yanks my ear bud out of my ear I’m probably going to throat punch him.” I told her, then walked out of the bathroom to my bedroom.

  “He did WHAT?” she practically yelled behind me. I explained it all to her “Well I’ll do some asking around and see who he is, I don’t want some freak getting ahold of you.” She told me.

  After getting dressed I told Asher that I was going to go the grocery store to get a few things and to the pharmacy to get my birth control pills refilled. I know you probably think I’m crazy, why does a virgin need birth control? My periods were almost unbearable so the doctor suggested to my mom to have me put on birth control to help relieve some of the problems. Asher was on her phone, she gave me some money to pick her up a few things from the grocery store as well, then was back talking on her phone. I walked out to my car to find Lance leaning against it, he smiled big when he seen me walking towards him;

  “Hey there beautiful, Asher was on the phone with Mitch, I overheard him talking about you going to the grocery store. I need to pick up a few things too so I figured I’d see if I can catch a ride with you?”

  I smiled, “That’s fine but I have to make a stop at the pharmacy too.” I told him.

  I unlocked my car, once we were both inside Lance let out a long whistle, “Sweet ride! It’s not going to start throwing me forward in my seat a spewing anti-freeze in my face like Bumble Bee did in Transformers, is it?” he asked with a laugh.

  I shook my head and laughed, “If it does you will be the first person that it has happened to.” I told him. On the way to the store we talked about my car, the start of school on the following day and where each of us was from. Lance was a sophomore from Wyoming on a full ride football scholarship, he was the only boy in his family and had two older sisters and one younger sister. I told him that I am an only child and that my dad passed away when I was five years old, he didn’t press on details so I didn’t say much more.

  When we made it to the grocery store, I had my list in hand pushing the shopping cart not paying attention to where I was going. Next thing I know I had ran right into the back of somebody, “Son of a bitch” the guy said and whipped around to see Lance and me standing there.

  “I’m so sorry…” I trailed off when I recognized the guy was Jay. He looked at me then to Lance with a crooked grin he turned and walked away without saying a word. When he was gone I asked Lance if he knew who Jay was or anything about him.

  “Uhh, he kinda lives at our house.” Lance said sounding very irritated. I told him about what happened earlier in the day, Lances jaw muscles tensed, “I’ll have a talk with him. He can be a dickhead.”

  After I was finished shopping Lance carried the groceries out and loaded them into my trunk. I followed Lance’s directions to the pharmacy, to say that I was embarrassed that Lance went inside with me, would be an understatement. I tried to tell him he didn’t need to but he insisted. When he realized what I went in for he turned and walked out and waited for me in the car. I’m pretty sure I was blushing bright red when I walked out, Lance laughed when I got in;

  “Why are you embarrassed?”

  “Well because I don’t really know you and you just followed me into get my birth control refilled.” I told him then backed out of the parking stall. Lance was quiet most of the way back to the dorms.

  When I pulled into the parking stall he looked over at me;

  “So, I think we need to go out on a date and actually get to know each other.” He said with a smile.

  I let out a small laugh, “What about Carey, I don’t want some crazy ex chasing me around.”

  He waved his hand, “Eh, I’ll take care of her, I’m hoping she’ll find some other sucker to stalk this year.”

  I chewed on my bottom lip for a few seconds, then I agreed to go out Friday night with him.

  Lance helped carry the groceries up to the dorm, when we got inside Mitch and Asher were in the midst of one hell of a make out session. “OH MY GOD, GET A ROOM WILL YA!” I yelled trying not to laugh.

  Asher tried to sit up to fast and ended up head butting Mitch in the nose, immediately it started bleeding. Mitch jumped off the couch, “Son of a bitch Asher!” he said as he tipped his head back and pinched the bridge of his nose.

  Asher ran to the kitchen and got him a wad of paper towels, “I’m SO sorry…uggg, Chass have you ever heard of knocking? JEEZ!” she yelled as she held the paper towels to Mitch’s nose.

  “Nope I live here, shouldn’t you have tied something on the door knob or something to let me know you were “busy” (I said in air quotes) or better yet…USE YOUR DAMN ROOM!” I told her then walked to the kitchen. Lance was laughing so hard he couldn’t even talk, he would stop laughing then look at Mitch and start laughing all over again.

  Mitch flipped him off, “Fuck you man, that hurt!” he said as he dabbed the blood from his nose. Asher kept apologizing repeatedly then she would turn and glare at me.

  After I put the groceries away, I walked over to Mitch, “I have a couple light absorbency tampons we can shove up there to stop the bleeding.” I told him in the most serious tone I could without laughing. That caused Lance to start laughing even harder, then Asher started laughing, then I started laughing.

  “Fuck all of you!” Mitch said, then threw the bloody paper towels at Lance. “See it’s done bleeding.” He said.

  Since both Lance and Mitch were sophomores they told us they would take us around and show us what buildings our classes were in. Asher kept apologizing to Mitch until he finally shut her up by kissing her until she was breathless. “At least you didn’t knee me in the nuts, or I’d still be back there crying like a little bitch.” He told her. I blushed as they stood there hugging each other whispering lord only knows what to each other.

  “You sure do blush easy, but it’s so damn sexy.” Lance leaned down and whispered in my ear. He grabbed my hand and walked with me pointing out each building. I had no doubt that I would end up being late for some of the classes until I got use to the layout of the campus. The four of us walked back to our dorm building, Lance never let go of my hand until we were at our door. “I’ll see you tomorrow for the first day of training”, he said then leaned down and kissed my cheek. Asher and Mitch were in a full blown make out session again Lance grabbed Mitch by the shirt, “Good lord I think her tonsils could use a break.” He said then pulled Mitch away. We watched them walk away, they were both drop dead handsome and obviously being college fo
otball players they were nothing but solid muscle.

  Once inside Asher flopped down on the couch and sighed, “I’m such a slut, aren’t I?”

  “Uhh...I don’t think so unless you’ve screwed him already.” I said jokingly. She looked at me out the corner of her eye “OH MY GOD ASHER Really?”

  “No, god Chass, give me some credit, I just keep thinking how amazing our first time together will be.” She said as she leaned back against the couch.

  I sat down beside her, “I’m sure it will be amazing, he’s a very handsome guy. You two have been inseparable since the party.” I told her with a smile.

  “Just promise me Chass that you’ll wait for the right guy, don’t just give up your virginity to the first hot guy that makes you feel all giddy.” She said. I nodded my head that I understood, I had yet to even feel giddy from kissing a guy though. We decided to make some lunch then get our bags packed for the first day of school.

  Asher and I had almost all the same classes except for two, we had the same days off though. She was worried that once we got to college we wouldn’t see each other very often even though we lived together.

  ~~~~

  When we got to our first class the professor introduced himself then had us all go around and introduce ourselves. There wasn’t very many in the class maybe twenty-five and only a handful were women. I introduced myself after Asher, you would think that the class thought we were foreign exchange students when we said we were from Kansas. Lance was sitting beside me tapping his pen against his notebook as the professor went over the outline of the course.

  The next class was Anatomy and Physiology 1, I was less than thrilled to be taking this but it was a requirement. Again, Asher and Lance sat on each side of me, I could feel somebody staring at me though. I turned and glanced around the room to find Jay staring at me with a sly grin on his face. I rolled my eyes and turned back to face the front, Lance turned to see who I was looking at.

  “Is he becoming some kind of super stalker or what?” he asked with a laugh. I just shrugged my shoulders and took notes on my laptop as the professor went over the course outline. Before class was over the professor asked us if we had all done the introductions, most of us nodded letting him know we had.

  Jay spoke up, “I think most of us went through the introductions in the first class but there are some in here we haven’t had a chance to meet yet.” He told the professor. I rolled my eyes when the professor told us to introduce ourselves. I so badly wanted to give a fake name just to throw Jay off but instead I just said, “Chass and I’m from Kansas.” I didn’t pay attention to the others as they introduced themselves. The professor gave us a small homework assignment, we had to write a report about why we chose the Sports Medicine field and what our expectations and goals were. The entire class groaned and complained as we walked out of the class.

  Next on our schedule was lunch, Asher insisted we go to the cafeteria so she could see Mitch since she wouldn’t get to see him until practice. Mitch met Lance, Asher and I outside the cafeteria doors, I couldn’t help but ask him how his nose was feeling. “Nice to see you too Chass, you’re not going to let me live that down are you?” he asked with a laugh. I shook my head no as we started walking inside, my cell phone rang. I looked to see that it was my mom, I told the others to go ahead that I would meet them in there as soon as I was done talking to her. She wanted to make sure that my day was going good, that the dorm was nice and NO boys were living in the dorm. She started to tear up when I told her that so far everything was great that Asher and I had met a few people, I did however leave out that they were men. I didn’t want her freaking out that I was going to put “boys before school”, she told me to make sure I called her after practice was over so I could give her full details about my schedule. “Yes mother, I’m going to hang up so I can go eat lunch with Asher. If I’m not too tired I will call later. I love you.” I told her then we hung up. Asher had text me while I was talking to mom to let me know where they were sitting *@ the table on the East side w/all the hunks sitting at it* I smiled at her text then put my phone in my pocket. I was just getting ready to open the door when a strong hand blocked me from opening it, I turned to see Jay standing there with a smile. I rolled my eyes;

  “Are you a fucking stalker or what? Because honestly you’re creeping me out asshole.” I told him as I crossed my arms over my chest.

  “STALKER? CREEP? ASSHOLE? You wound me CHASS , (he emphasized my name), was I really asking too much to know your name?” He asked looking down at me. Then he leaned down, “I fucking know you from somewhere and I will figure out just how I know you.” He told me. My body tensed up, I shivered at the goose bumps that were now covering my entire body. He let out a deep rumbly laugh against my neck, “I see you’ve got the same problem I do when we are this close.” Then he pulled the door open and motioned with his free hand for me to go in before him.

  I practically ran from him into the cafeteria to find Asher. With my tray in hand I spotted her in yet another lip lock with Mitch. Lance watched me walk towards them, when I sat down he asked “Are you okay? You look kind of pale.” He said.

  I smiled, “I’m fine, mom just isn’t taking me being four hours away very good, I feel bad to be honest.” I told him. Asher pulled away from Mitch and narrowed her eyes at me, I lightly shook my head letting her know I didn’t want to talk about it right now. We finished our lunch, Lance and Mitch told us they’d see us later as Asher and I walked towards our next class.

  “Okay so spill the beans what was your deal at lunch? I know it wasn’t your mom.” She told me as she put lip gloss on her lips.

  “That Jay guy, caught me as I was walking into the building, I called him a stalker, a creeper and an asshole. He didn’t even get pissed, instead he whispered in my ear that he knows me from somewhere and that he’s determined to figure out from where. Asher I swear when he was that close it felt like my body was instantly on fire but my body was covered in goose bumps. That’s a bad sign right?” I asked her as we walked up the steps to the next building.

  She grabbed my arm, “Uhm NO, it’s not…well to me it’s not...Just be cautious around him until he figures out that he doesn’t know you.”

  We sat through Introduction to Psychology and were again told we needed to write a short essay about what our goals were for taking the Sport Medicine program. I seriously was considering a degree change after hearing that. The rest of our class schedule we went separate ways, I did have Lance in one more class. Needless to say Carey was right beside him practically sitting on his lap so nobody could get near him. I smiled and gave him a small wave as I found a seat towards the back of the room. He kept trying to push her desk away from his but she would just give him a pouty look and scoot closer to him.

  The rest of the afternoon flew by thankfully, then Asher and I headed to the football stadium with the rest of the Sport Med students. I wasn’t sure what to expect besides standing around watching the football team practice. Did I mention we stayed for three hours though? In those three hours, we learned how to do a basic wrap for a sprained ankle, knee, or wrist. One guy managed to dislocate his shoulder so we stood back and watched as the lead trainer put it back in place, then put a sling with an ice pack on it the last hour.

  After the players left the field, some of our classmates were standing around visiting, the cheerleading squad came out for practice just as we were leaving. Carey came running up behind us, “Hey, uhm you, HEY” she yelled. Asher turned around first then me, Carey walked up to me. “I’m only going to warn you one more time, Lance is MINE he’s NOT up for grabs so you need to stay away…Understand?” she asked with one eyebrow raised.

  “You see Carey, he says something totally different, but that is between you two. I can’t stay away because of the course I’m majoring in Sports Medicine, I have to be available for the players during practice AND games.” I told her nicely.

  She rolled her eyes at me, “Well you better hope I don’t s
ee you sitting with him in class and at lunch again because I’m done ignoring your flirty little advances on him.” She told me then spun around and walked back over to the rest of the cheerleaders.

  On the walk back to the dorms I told Asher that I thought I should cancel the date that Lance and I had planned for Friday night. “No way, don’t let that little bitch dictate who you can and cannot date Chass. Talk to Lance and see if he is being honest about her being an ex.” She told me.

  I let out a frustrated sigh, “You would think I’ve never dated a guy before but I’m pretty sure Matt and I dated for close to a year, then there was Jeremy for a few months…”

  Asher interrupted me, “I’d still like to know how in the year that you dated Matt you two didn’t bump uglies, he’s pretty sexy and can smooth talk his way into any woman’s panties.”

  “That was part of the problem Asher, he was getting it from Michelle remember? Plus I just wasn’t ready.” I said with a shrug. Just as we were about to walk into our dorm building Asher’s phone rang, I could tell it was Mitch so I kept walking. Asher yelled at me, “Mitch is coming to get me I will be home later okay?” I nodded my head and waved over my shoulder.

  I no sooner stepped into the dorm when my cell phone rang with a number that I didn’t know. I hesitated to answer it but when I did it was Lance calling. I smiled big when I heard his deep baritone voice say my name.

  “I was going to see if you wanted to go grab something to eat? Or we can just cook something at your place since Mitch and Asher are over here.” He said.

  “I’m ready to relax and watch some TV so why don’t we just order some pizza and have it delivered here.” I told him. We agreed on what we wanted he said he would be over shortly. About five minutes later there was a knock at the door, “That was fast.” I said to myself. When I opened the door it wasn’t Lance it was Jay. He was wearing blue jeans, black puma shoes, a Summit Racing t-shirt, and a black Summit racing hat. I groaned and rolled my eyes before asking him why he was at my dorm.