David laughs, which makes the muscles around his neck tighten. I get a weird urge to lean over the table and take a bite of it. To see if it’s as muscular as it looks. “Just a decent guy? How hard do I have to try to impress you, Casey Boone?”
“I’m not here for you to impress me. I’m here to make sure that you pass your classes, and that’s all I care about.” I grab a napkin from the table and start to rip at the corners. A nervous habit that always got me through awkward times.
David holds his hand up to his side. “Good, because I’m only here to study. You don’t know how tiring it can be when all the girls want you. All because of some gossip on campus.” He takes a sip of his drink, but his cheeks rise and I can almost see the whites of his teeth.
“It must be so tiring, huh, Big Jock?”
David’s ears get red and he tries his best to hide it. “So you’ve heard.”
“Here’s your pizza.” Luigi puts down two plates. Each plate has the biggest piece of pizza that I’ve ever seen. The cheese is practically dripping off the plate and the smell of pepperoni fills my nose. I’m practically salivating by the time Luigi gets back to his counter.
“This looks good.” I try to grip the pizza with my small hands but it slips out. I look over at David, who is halfway done with his.
“Here, let me help you. The trick is to fold it.” He grabs it by the crust and folds the pizza in half and holds it out for me. I grab it and let the cheesy goodness slip into my mouth. I close my eyes and take it all in. When I get to the crust and open my eyes, David is staring at me. “So?”
I take a napkin and wipe the oil from my hands and mouth. “It’s ok,” I tease.
“Just ok? I’m going to tell Luigi about this.” His hands push off the table, making his biceps flex, and he gets up. My chair nearly tips over as I reach out and grab him by the wrist.
“Ok, I lied. It’s the best pizza that I’ve ever had.”
“I knew it.” He pulls his chair a little closer to me. The bell above the door rings and I almost fall back in my chair. David follows my gaze and his eyes light up. “Dwayne! Over here.” He waves over for Dwayne to come.
This isn’t good. This isn’t good at all. I grab my backpack from the chair and throw it over my back. “I need to go. I’ll see you tomorrow after your class.” I keep my head low and to the side, making sure that Dwayne can’t see me.
“Casey, where are you going?” David shouts as I open the door and escape outside.
That was a close call. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen Dwayne and I’d like to keep it that way.
By the time I make it to my dorm room, my cheeks are hurting. I slam the door shut and stare at myself.
“You need to stop smiling right now,” I say to myself, but it doesn’t work.
The smile won’t go away. A week ago, if someone’d told me that I’d be having lunch with David Cooper and that I would have a good time, I wouldn’t have believed them. I let my body fall on the bed and close my eyes.
I don’t think I can get any work done today. Not with him on my mind.
4
David
“You’re what?” Dwayne slams his hands on the table, his chair falling down on the floor. A couple of people turn their heads toward us and Luigi tilts his head.
“You need to keep it down. This isn’t something that I want getting out.” I pick up Dwayne’s chair and sit him down. The whole time, he’s shooting daggers in my direction. This is going as well as I thought it would.
Dwayne leans over the table and I follow his lead. He looks around the room to make sure that nobody is listening in. “Let me get this straight. You’re suspended from all games until you get your grades up?”
“That was my tutor. She’s going to help me get my grades up and I’ll be back on the field in no time,” I say, but my mind is somewhere else. I look out the window and try to catch a glimpse of Casey before she rounds the corner. My eyes scour the street for that petite and curvy frame of hers, but I don’t see her. I must have just missed her when Dwayne had his outburst.
I shake my head.
What the hell is wrong with me?
I’m never like this. I’m not the one who chases girls. They come to me. Always have since I became the star quarterback. Yet, there’s something different about Casey.
She’s smart, and quirky, and she doesn’t care that I’m the star quarterback. It also helps that she’s drop dead gorgeous; curvy in all the right places, long curly brown hair, and the most blue eyes I’ve ever seen.
I smile to myself, hiding it from Dwayne behind the can of soda. It’s been a long time since I’ve had to work for a girl. And I’m always up for a challenge. I smirk and turn my attention back to Dwayne, who is shaking his head.
“What?” I take a sip of my soda, lock my hands behind my head, and lean back in the chair.
“You like her, don’t you?” He still hasn’t stopped shaking his head the whole time. If I didn’t know Dwayne so well, I thought he would be having a seizure.
“Who?” I try to play it off.
“Casey Boone.” Dwayne grabs a napkin off the table and crumples it up. He takes aim at the trash can across the room and throws it. He misses by a country mile. “Good thing I’m a football player,” he laughs.
I fall down in my chair and press my hand down on the pile of napkins before he grabs another. “How do you know about Casey?” I don’t remember ever telling him about my tutor. Or ever seeing her with him at any point. I might have let it slip last night in my drunken stupor, but I doubt it.
“She and I used to go to the same high school,” he answers. He lifts my hand off the pile of napkins and makes another paper ball. He takes aim and throws it in the air, only for me to smack it down to the ground. “Hey, what the hell was that for?”
“I need your attention on me right now.” I grab the pile of napkins and crumple one up for him. “You answer my questions and I’ll give you a shot.” Dwayne tilts his head, his eyes going from the ball and my face.
“Deal. So you have the hots for Casey?” Dwayne smiles. He brings his hands together, rests his palms, bats his eyelashes, and lets out a large sigh. He looks at me and breaks into laugher. “Come on. Admit it. You have the hots for your tutor.”
“I’m the one asking the questions here.” I squeeze the paper ball a little tighter. Even if I did feel something for Casey, I wouldn’t tell Dwayne. Not now, at least. He wouldn’t understand. “So, what do you know about Casey Boone?”
He holds out his hand and I drop the ball into it. He pulls his arm back and fires across the room. The ball falls into the middle of the trash can. “She’s too much trouble for you, David. My advice is drop her and just get that aggression out with some other girl.”
Too much trouble?
What does he mean by that?
Nothing about Casey rang any bells for me. She seemed like a normal bookworm who would rather be stuck between the pages of a book than out partying. That might be weird to some people, but not to me.
“I don’t want any other girl.” Dwayne looks at me and smiles. “And I don’t want Casey,” I lie.
“That’s good, cause she’s not worth the trouble.”
I grab a handful of napkins and twist them under the table. There’s an anger boiling deep inside of me. Dwayne might be my best friend on the team, but sometimes he lets his mouth run a little too much. I take a deep breath and readjust myself before I clock him upside the head.
I don’t even understand why I want to punch him. I’ve just met Casey. I shouldn’t even care what Dwayne has to say about her. Yet here I am, waiting on his every word.
“What do you mean?” I try to play it off and toss a crumpled ball into the trash can.
Dwayne looks at me and sighs. He knows that I’m not going to drop it until he answers all my questions. “You’re not going to like what I have to say.” He waits a little bit for me to answer, but I don’t say anything. “Casey and Hannah are
more alike than you know.”
I almost spit out the soda in my mouth. “There is no way that Casey and Hannah are anything alike. Hannah is all high and mighty, while Casey is the complete opposite.” I shake my head. Dwayne is wrong about that. There’s no doubt in my head.
“Well, I don’t know Casey now, but when we were in high school she was just like Hannah. The most popular girl in school. Always at the football games and head cheerleader. Until that one night-” Dwayne takes a sip of my soda and loses focus as he stares across the room.
I wave my hand in front of his face. “Earth to Dwayne. Earth to Dwayne.” His pupils dilate and he turns his head to me. “What night?”
“I don’t know the whole story since I wasn’t in the room when it happened. But there was a homecoming party at someone’s house. Everyone was having a good time until all hell broke loose.” Dwayne stops and looks at me. “Are you sure that you want to hear this?”
I nod. It can’t possibly be that bad. Casey doesn’t seem like the kind of girl to get involved in anything too awful.
“All I know is that one moment she’s fine and dancing at the party , the next, she’s on the floor. From what I heard, nobody knew what to do and someone called the paramedics while she lay on the ground.” Dwayne shakes his head and grabs a napkin from my hand. “She almost died ‘cause nobody knew what to do. She’s just not worth your time, David.” Dwayne tosses the ball across the room and Luigi walks up and swats it to the ground.
“I won’t have you throwing away perfectly good napkins.” His words come out deep and accented, his face redder than spring tomatoes. He picks up the napkins from my hands and shakes his head as he walks away.
“Sorry, Luigi,” Dwayne shouts. He looks at me and then at the wall behind me. “Oh shit, I’m going to be late for practice.” He grabs his bag off the ground. “He’s going to have my ass running all night if I’m late. Aren’t you coming?”
“Yeah, I’ll be right there.” I throw my backpack over my shoulder and rush out the door with him, throwing a twenty on the counter for Luigi. “See you later.” Luigi nods his head and waves us off.
I sit back on the bleachers and watch the team huddle up. They’ve been going over the same play for the last hour. Coach Vaughn has pretty much lost his voice. They’ve run more laps this practice than the whole season. And it doesn’t help that they’ve been throwing dirty looks my way.
Me not being on the field is throwing them off. We’ve spent a season working together and now I’m messing with their flow. And it’s not like I don’t want to be out there. I would give anything to be on the field. Even running laps. And I hate running.
Coach Vaughn blows his whistle and team forms up for the umpteenth time. It’s time for me to check out. I can’t do anything for them right now. My mind goes straight to Casey and Dwayne’s warning.
I can hear his words clear in my head. They’re loud and clear but don’t mean anything to me. All I know is that I want to see where things go with Casey. I can’t just drop her because of some stupid high school drama.
She and I are more similar than she thinks. The hard work she puts in. The dedication to her studies and doing her work. There was a time when I used to be like that.
A time before I got drawn into all this.
The whistle blows and Coach Vaughn spins his finger above his head. There’s a groan from the players as they start another set of laps around the track. A couple of them stare me down, but I just smile and wave.
She works so hard and has so little time for fun. I used to know what that was like. How lonely it can be.
Well, that’s about to change. If she’s going to help me get back on the field, then I’m going to help her have a little fun. I know she’ll hate me for it at first, but I think she’ll turn around. Especially now that I know she has a party animal inside of her.
I know that Dwayne meant his words as a way of turning me off from her.
Instead all he did was make me want her more.
I want to bring the old Casey out. Make her comfortable to be around me. So that she can bring that fun side of her out.
5
Casey
“How does this look?” David holds out his most recent assignment. Our fingers momentarily touch and I can feel my cheeks blushing as the electricity courses through me. I scan over his work and I can’t help but smile.
I’ve been tutoring David for the last two weeks and it’s been easier than I could have ever imagined. When Melissa handed me that thick manila folder, my stomach dropped. And when David was late for his first session, I didn’t think that we would make any progress. But every day, he’s surprised me more and more.
He’s been coming in early and ready to show me his work. He doesn’t argue with me about scheduling our tutoring appointments, only nods his head and agrees with everything I say. I never expected this kind of work from him. Not in my wildest dreams.
“Everything looks great.” I hand him the assignment and let myself take him in as he stuffs it into his backpack. He’s donning a tight workout shirt that melds to his body. I can see every curve of his chest and biceps. I can barely keep my eyes off him.
I close my eyes and take in a breath. This needs to be professional. I can’t do anything to jeopardize the relationship. No matter how hot he is or how horny I am.
“Is that everything for today?” I grab the checklist that I’ve prepared and check off the last box.
“That’s everything. David, can I ask you a question?”
None of this makes any sense. Every session that we’ve spent together the last two weeks confirms to me that he’s not that bad of a student. If he even put in half the effort he does with me, he would be at least passing all his classes. Enough for him to be on the field and putting in the minimum work.
David leans in his chair and brings his feet up to the table. My eyes involuntarily fall down his body until they lock in on his crotch. I can see the thin outline of something there, but I try not to stare too long.
“Shoot.”
I pull out a sheet from my backpack and lay it face down on the table. David’s eyebrow raises and he brings his hands behind his head, trying to seem casual about it all. Since I’ve started tutoring David, I’ve had each of his teachers send me a grade report at the end of each week. Just to make sure that everything is going to according to plan.
And so far, it has been. If David keeps this up, he’ll be able to be back on the field in a matter of weeks and only miss at most two or three games. And if he gets back to the field, that means that there will be little reason or sense for me to be tutoring him anymore. After all, I’m not here to make sure that he’s getting straight A’s. He just needs to do well enough for Melissa to give the nod, even if it means that he’s barely passing.
“How are you struggling with your grades?” I turn the sheet of paper over and pass it across the table. David looks at it and smiles. “You can obviously study and do well in your classes. You’ve hardly needed me for anything.”
The chair thumps down on the ground as he brings his lumbering body over. He grabs the piece of paper and looks at it more intently, nodding his head as his eyes dip down. “You’ve been more help than you know. And it helps that I have someone cute and pretty here to keep my company.” He signs the bottom of the page and slides it back to me.
I grab it quickly and dip my head below the table, trying to hide the intensifying blush on my cheeks. Did he really just call me cute and pretty? I bite down on my lip and look across from underneath the table, only to be met with his green eyes.
“You can’t hide under here.” I slowly raise my head above the table and grab hold of my hair, rolling the thin strands between two fingers. I try to bring my eyes up to him but I can feel my uneasiness take over and dip them down in front of me. David reaches over the table and his hand touches the top of mine, forcing me to look at him. “Hasn’t anyone ever said that to you before?”
I look at him
and get lost in his features. The green eyes that pull me in. The dimples on either side of his cheeks that only come out when he smiles and shows the top of his teeth. The chiseled jaw that would make any A-list move actor jealous.
I move my hand through my hair and tuck it behind my ear. “I’ve been called pretty before,” I lie. The truth is that I’ve only been called that by my father. And I don’t think that counts for very much.
“Just not by someone as handsome as me?” He smirks at me and his hand leaves my side. He gets up, picks up his chair, and sets it down next to me. “You must be awestruck right now,” he teases.
And just like that, the moment is gone. David’s cockiness comes out in full blast and I want to smack that smile off his face. And yet, I don’t. There are a dozen things that I want to do to him and slapping him is not one of them.
“You need to get over yourself.” I grab my backpack that’s conveniently between his legs. When I dip down to shove my folders inside, I try my hardest not to stare at his crotch. I manage to last two seconds before my eyes dart toward it, catching the slight outline of his cock.
After all the stolen glances, I still can’t believe how big it is. I’ve never seen anything like that before. His nickname ‘Big Jock’ might be more fitting than I first thought.
“And to answer your question, it has nothing to do with me not studying.” He grabs his literature book from the other side of the table. He slaps the cover. “I just don’t care about any of this stuff. All of my classes are boring subjects with even more boring teachers who half the time almost put themselves to sleep with their monotone voice.”
I hold back a laugh. He has a point. I’ve taken classes with some of his teachers and they aren’t the liveliest individuals. And when I took those classes, I didn’t find any of the information stimulating but that didn’t matter much o me. I did what I had to do to pass my classes and move on.
Daddy's College Roommate: Bad Boy and Virgin Forbidden Romance Page 21
