Fame, Love, and other Lessons

by Frances, Jo

  When she got to the suite, it was already filled with most of the team---except for Chase. Trying hard not to show her disappointment, Jamie concentrated on talking to Luke's latest girlfriend Savannah--a gorgeous brunette, and watching the game.

  After several minutes of making awkward small talk, the two of them heard, "Hey Savannah." Savannah turned, her green eyes lighting up at the sight of Chase.

  "Oh hey there, you gorgeous hunk." She stood up and gave him a full body hug, complete with a kiss on the lips.

  Nice, Jamie thought, as she looked around for her brother.

  "Hi Jamie."

  Jamie nodded at Chase coolly as he walked around Savannah and pulled up a chair next to her.

  "Where's Austin?" She turned to see him with a half smile on his face.

  Jamie was used to being teased by everyone else, but for some reason, it hurt when Chase did it. Especially when it was about a date. Or, in her case, the lack of it. Does everyone think I'm some reject who can only hang around with her big brother's friends?" She stood up and walked away from him.

  A surprised Chase followed her. "Hey, I'm sorry! The guy was a goof, Jamie!" He put a hand on her arm, turning her towards him. "Were you guys together or something?"

  Her anger disappeared at the sight of his face. He really thinks I'm mad at him, she thought. "No, we weren't together. I'm just…feeling awkward, that's all."

  "Well…" he smiled. "As the only other freshman here, I can understand how you feel." He led her to a sofa away from the windows.

  "But we can't really see the game from here!" she protested.

  Chase shrugged. "Fine, go ahead and squeeze in between the couples." With a smile of her own, Jamie sat next to him. "I feel like we're at the little kids table during Thanksgiving."

  "Wouldn't that be more fun?" he asked mischievously.

  At the end of the game, several of the girls suggested going to a bar. The owner of the suite had strict rules about alcohol not being allowed, and so after three hours, some of them were ready to drink. Luke nodded towards Jamie. "I'll meet you guys there, I have to walk my sister back." Savannah could barely hide her disappointment at this development and shot Jamie a dirty look.

  Jamie shook her head. "No, I'll be fine! There are thousands of people here---I can walk by myself."

  Luke shook his head firmly. "Drunk guys walking around in packs---and you're going out there alone? No way."

  "I can't drink either, so I'll walk Jamie back." They all turned. It was Chase Reston.

  A relieved Luke nodded his thanks, even as Jamie started to protest. "For god's sake, I'm not someone that needs a babysitter---"

  No one was listening. Chase took her hand as the group headed towards the exits. "Come on, let's go this way."

  They turned in the opposite direction of the parking lots and walked with the throngs of fans. Chase was hard to miss, and every few feet or so, someone would say hi. Jamie noticed that even after they had left the stadium behind, he was still holding her hand.

  "Are you hungry?" he asked her.

  As she looked shyly up at him, Jamie thought about how Chase was frequently teased by the rest of the team about his looks. While he didn't have the sexy look of the back up point guard, Markus Thomas; or the Slavic bone structure of Dmitri Krinekov, what Jamie saw when she looked at him made her a little bit weak at the knees. Whether it was his large, muscular body or something else, Chase had a masculine, aggressive quality about him that most women found irresistible. That, and the rumors about his prowess in bed caused Jamie to blush before answering.

  "Not really, but, um, if you want to get something to eat, go ahead, I can walk home by myself."

  Chase smiled, not buying it. "You're going to make me eat by myself?"

  "What am I supposed to say?"

  "You're supposed to say, 'if you want something to eat, I'll go with you'. Come on, you're as rude as your brother!"

  Jamie took the obvious bait. "OK, then, to prove you wrong about my family, I guess I'll have to go with you."

  He gave her hand a squeeze. "Good. I've been wanting to hang out with you for a long time."

  Chapter 2

  Pappas, the falafel place Chase led them to, was crowded with revelers and loud with the sounds of partying. After getting their food, they stood eating, bodies pressed against each other. His choice was not an accident. He had been thinking about Jamie since he had met her, and after trying to convince himself that it would not be a good idea to start anything, he decided to just go for it.

  Normally, it would have been easy because most of the time, women chased him. Occasionally he would ask someone out, and once in awhile, they would turn him down. But he never had to wait to be with a girl before.

  The main reason, of course, was her brother. Clearly, Luke Cameron didn't want her going out with anyone on the team. Not that they were all jerks; but it was tough for any of them to be in a relationship. So he had to ignore her most of the time, but the more he stayed away, the more she grew on him. She could hang out with the boys without turning into one herself. She was smart without being obnoxious about it; and most surprising of all, she didn't use her obvious beauty to manipulate or control.

  Now that he could actually stand as close to her as he wanted to, Chase decided he liked the way she seemed to fit against his body, her face inches away from his collarbone. When she leaned into him, her body felt as tight and toned as he had imagined. As more and more people crammed into the small space, the closer they stood until they were practically entwined.

  After he had finished eating, Jamie looked up at him expectantly. "Do you want to go?"

  Chase showed her his drink cup and shook it. Still full. "Can I finish my drink first?" he yelled in her ear. It was a weak excuse, but he wasn't ready to let her go just yet.

  She nodded, and tried to move a little further away from him. Chase wrapped his arms around her.

  "Stay."

  Jamie felt her heart begin to pound. She realized that this was what she had wanted to happen all along; all those weeks of watching Chase out of the corner of her eye, pretending indifference. When what she really wanted was to be held against his granite body, her mouth inches away from his.

  For several moments they stood in silence, each aware only of the other.

  "Are you OK?" he asked her. Jamie nodded, her eyes focused on the vein throbbing in his neck. She felt his hands cupping her chin and tilting it towards him.

  "Why won't you look at me?" he asked with a knowing smile. Without waiting for an answer, Chase leaned into her and touched his lips to hers. Softly. Gently.

  Our first kiss, Jamie thought. He pulled back and looked into her eyes. They held each other's gaze for a long time before Chase began to kiss her again, his lips gently probing hers until Jamie began to kiss him back. He drew her closer to him, and Jamie felt his arm around her waist, as if inviting her to feel his hardness.

  She pressed herself against him and was met with a murmur of approval from Chase. Their kisses became more impassioned until Jamie became aware that several people were now staring openly at them.

  Oh my God. Am I really going to make out with Chase Reston at a bar like this? What's next, a quick trip to the parking lot to have sex? The thought brought her back to reality, and she pushed him away firmly. "We should stop."

  He held her for a second longer, then sighed deeply before letting her go. "Don't run away. I promised your brother I'd walk you home, and I'm going to do that," he shouted over the din. Jamie looked at him skeptically, and Chase raised his hands up in surrender. "I'll keep my hands to myself."

  They had just walked out of the eatery when Jamie's phone vibrated with a text message from Luke: "U K?" After she texted him back that she was, Chase took her hand again.

  "Your brother's a nice guy."

  Jamie intertwined her fingers with his. "He really is. I don't think he'd be too happy knowing we're holding hands right now, though."

  "No." It was a
simple statement, and they said nothing more.

  As they got closer to her dorm, Jamie thought he would drop her hand, especially as many people were now staring at the two of them together. Instead, they walked that way, until he kissed her on the cheek at the door and said goodnight.

  Jamie was relieved to find her roommate Jenna in their room when she got in. Jenna looked up from computer, giving a friendly but distracted, "hi."

  Jenna Martinez was the most ambitious student Jamie had ever met, declaring she would graduate at the top of their class before orientation had even begun. At the same time, Jenna was also one of the nicest people Jamie had known, and the two had become fast friends. After a moment to register Jamie's beatific expression, Jenna's head popped up from her laptop and she asked, "Oh my God, what happened to you?"

  Jamie plopped down on her bed. "What'd you mean?" she answered coyly. An urgent knock on the door interrupted them.

  "Come in--" before Jenna could finish, the door burst open and two of the other girls on their floor, Zoe and Rachel, came in.

  "We totally saw you!" Zoe said.

  "He is so HOT!" Rachel declared.

  Jamie buried her face in her pillow and let out an excited scream. She was soon joined by Rachel and Zoe, who didn't have the benefit of a pillow to muffle their shrieks.

  Jenna covered her ears. "Stop! Tell me what happened?!"

  Rachel, a petite brunette who was rapidly becoming known as the dorm's resident groupie, answered. "Chase Reston---and Jamie! And they were holding hands like a real couple!"

  "Who is Chase Reston?" Jenna asked.

  "He's this super buff guy on the basketball team! Duh!"

  Ever practical Jenna tried to sort out something more substantial. "I've never heard of him. Is he cute?"

  There was a brief pause as the two girls looked at each other, then Rachel and Zoe burst out laughing at their unspoken thought. "No! But his body is smokin' hot!" Rachel answered.

  Jamie threw her pillow at them. "Stop it!" she said. "He's nice."

  Composing herself, Rachel took a deep breath and arched an eyebrow at Jamie. "Honey, that is NOT what I've heard. He's one of the biggest players on campus, and I'm not talking about basketball."

  Zoe nodded, concern on her face for Jamie. "You don't--I mean, do you like him, or something?"

  The room was suddenly quiet.

  "I guess not," Jamie said. She suddenly realized they had actually done very little talking that night. She was romanticizing everything, when all he probably wanted was to get laid. At the thought of being so stupid, Jamie reddened with embarrassment.

  "Oh no. You didn't--" Jenna mistook Jamie's reaction for guilt.

  "No!" Jamie cried, then repeated it again firmly for emphasis. "NO. Nothing happened." She smiled at her friends. "I think I'm just crushing on him."

  "Here he is." Jenna had brought up the team's roster pictures on his computer. "Hmm."

  The girls crowded around her. A picture of Chase was on her screen, along with his bio. "Height, 6"9, weight 270 pounds." Jenna read aloud. "Oh my god, he's huge!"

  "So I've heard," Zoe said knowingly. "Hometown, Tallahassee, Florida," she continued. They took in his dark brown hair and cafe-au-lait eyes, each girl assessing him like a pair of shoes. "He's...well, his features are kind of oversized to be cute, don't you think? But he isn't bad looking," Zoe added diplomatically.

  "Not that it matters, but what is he?" Jenna asked.

  Rachel, as the resident expert on athletes, answered. "I'm not sure. He's mixed, I heard, but with what, no one knows."

  "He's definitely unusual looking."

  Jamie playfully slapped Jenna's arm. "I think he's cute." Her phone buzzed. Jamie's heart skipped a beat, hoping it was Chase, but it was her brother instead.

  "Hello?" she answered.

  "Who is it?" Rachel said in a stage whisper right into the phone.

  Jamie held her at arms length. "My brother." Then, to Luke. "Hey...uh, what's up?"

  Hearing the muffled giggling, he said, "What's going on there?"

  "Nothing, we're just being stupid."

  Luke had nothing to say about that. "OK, well I just wanted to make sure you got home OK. Someone said they thought they Chase at Pappas, and I wanted to make sure he didn't just ditch you."

  Now it was Jamie's turn to let that comment go, afraid he would ask more questions.

  "No, I'm here."

  In the background, she heard Savannah kissing Luke, and a mumbled, "come on, baby, get off the phone so I can get you off."

  "Whoa, TMI!" Jamie said, grateful for the excuse. "I'm hanging up now." She hung up and made a face. "Nothing like hearing your brother get propositioned while you're on the phone with him."

  Rachel leaned across Jenna to bring up Luke's picture. "Now HE is cute."

  "Rachel, you are such a slut. That's Jamie's brother." Zoe said.

  Rachel shrugged, undeterred. "So? Maybe Jamie can fix us both up with him."

  * * *

  The team left the next afternoon for a road trip, so it was easy for Jamie to avoid seeing her brother or anyone else on the team. What was harder was to avoid thinking about Chase, and it affected her own performance. During practice, her timing was off and shots that should have been easy to block flew past her. After the third mistake, Coach Lee blew the whistle and sat her out.

  "You're playing like you're half asleep out there," she yelled in Jamie's face. "If this had been a game situation, you would have cost us some critical points, and I am not going to have players who WILL LOSE THE GAME. Do you understand me?" Jamie could only nod and hang her head silently. She was used to coaches yelling, being angry and just about everything else. But she wasn't used to feeling that she had let them down.

  Jessica, one of the older girls on the squad, slid over and nudged her with an elbow. "You're not going to cry, are you?" Jamie looked up at her, dry eyed. "Good. Because if you're even thinking about crying, she'll never play you again."

  "Got it." Jamie said. "Thanks." She took a long swig from her water bottle to get herself together.

  Later that night, when she was already in bed, her phone rang. It was Chase.

  "Hey." His voice was low and soft. "Are you asleep?"

  "Almost. How was your flight?"

  "Uneventful."

  There was a pause as both of them settled in. Jamie listened to him breathing, comfortable with the silence.

  "How was your day?"

  Jamie sighed. "Terrible. My coach bawled me out today."

  "Aww. Why?"

  Because I was thinking about you, she wanted to answer, but instead she said, "My timing was off on defense. It--it was my fault."

  "Well, you can't psych yourself out. Because you're going to turn a bad day into some kind of permanent mental block."

  "Is that what you do?"

  "Yeah, once I understand why I made a mistake, I stop thinking about it. I don't beat myself up about it, I don't replay the scene in my head. There's no point."

  "No, I guess there isn't. But, I keep thinking about how I'm here on a scholarship and how I'm playing at a collegiate level---"

  "Stop thinking. You can't put that much pressure on yourself."

  Jamie snuggled deeper into her covers. "You're right. So what do you think about, Chase Reston?"

  Chase laughed. "Well right now I'm thinking about you."

  "If you ask me what I'm wearing, I'm going to hang up on you."

  "This isn't that kind of phone call?" He asked teasingly.

  "Definitely not." There was a pause, then Jamie asked, "but are you thinking about me?"

  "Yes." Chase was afraid to say more.

  "I'm glad." Jamie thought about this for a few moments, then said, "I'm thinking about you too. How long are you going to be gone?"

  "Five days."

  They both fell into silence, the days stretching out in front of them. Chase spoke first. "Can I call you every night?"

  "I'd like that."

 
"Good night Jamie." She could feel him smiling.

  "Good night Chase."

  Jamie hung up and put her phone on her desk. On the other side of the room, underneath her own covers, Jenna sighed dramatically. "You are gone, girl."

  * * *

  When Chase returned from his road trip, the first thing he did was to see Jamie. They had spent the past five nights talking, and even though neither of them said anything about what would happen next, by the time he get off the plane, Chase knew he wanted to be with Jamie.

  The team bus was rowdy and loud as they drove towards campus, the players celebrating their victories. They had won all four of their games, including one to a team ranked in the Top Ten. Chase was a key factor in that win, and his spot on the starting lineup was now secure. He loved feeling like one of the guys, but more than that, he thrived on their belief in him. Whenever they fell behind during a game, his teammates would perhaps unconsciously turn to him as if he had superhuman powers. The fact that he was able to do just that made him feel invincible.

  Right now, though, all Chase wanted to do was get off the bus and see Jamie. Already, he had gotten used to thinking about her, talking to her before he fell asleep. The only thing that was missing was the physical. He took his bag from the bulkhead of the bus himself, took a quick shower and jogged across campus to see Jamie.

  Just as he was about to knock on her door, he wondered if he should have called first, but he wanted to see the expression on her face when she saw him. That brief instant would tell him whether she felt the same way about him, or if he was being played.

  The door opened. At the shock of seeing him at her door, Jamie's face lit up and she jumped into his arms like a child. "Oh my god, you're back!" He carried her easily inside, slamming the door behind them.

  "Let me look at you." He put her down and they stood facing each other without touching. There were no words between them, just a happy realization that they felt the same way about each other. Slowly, Chase leaned over to kiss her, his lips tender against hers. He wanted to take in everything about her: the coolness of her skin, the silkiness of her hair, the intensity of her mouth against his own. He found that she matched his passion and soon there was nothing except their hunger for each other.