The Wrong Way: Hanson University: One

by McKenna Kerrick

  “Uh, that wasn’t where I was headed with this,” Killian blushes, something I hardly ever see happen to him. “I meant the whole dating but not dating thing we’re doing.”

  “Ah, the thing you don’t like,” I nod my head in understanding.

  “The thing I would like to be doing,” he says. “You called us a couple earlier.”

  I did? Oh. “Well, we kind of are.”

  “I would really appreciate it, if you took the ‘kind of’ out of that statement.”

  That makes me gulp. “Okay, so we're a couple.”

  Killian blinks. “Can you say that again? I don't think my brain fully processed that.”

  I roll my eyes. “I said we're a couple,” I enunciate. “There, did you process that?”

  “Hang on,” Killian leans towards me. His eyes squint and search my face, but for what I don't know. “You're serious.”

  “Uh, was I supposed to be joking?” I frown. “Because you're the one who wanted me to say it again.”

  “No, I wanted you to be serious. And you were.”

  “And that's surprising?”

  “That you agreed? Hell yeah it is.”

  “Killian,” I snort and push him back a little with my hand to his chest. “You're being crazy.”

  “Can't a guy be glad that he's part of a couple now?” Killian grins.

  “Sure,” I roll my eyes. “But you don't need to be glad four inches from my face.”

  “What if I was going to kiss you? Then could I be glad being four inches from your face?”

  I laugh. “I don't think scrunching up your face like I'm a bug under a microscope makes it seem like you want to kiss me.”

  “So does this mean what I hope it means?”

  “That you want to kiss me?” I question with a soft chuckle.

  “Well, yes. But that's not what I was talking about.”

  “Killian,” I snort. “I hate to be the one to tell you this. But the world does not live inside your head, so no one out here has any idea what's going on in there,” I say and point from the room to his forehead.

  “Smartass. I meant as a couple, we're exclusive.”

  “I thought we were exclusive from the beginning?”

  “Hang on, I'm not finished,” Killian says and holds his hand over my mouth like that'll stop me from talking. “So, as I was saying before you rudely interrupted, is that we're exclusive because we're seeing each other. Like boyfriend-girlfriend.”

  “Mmmf ugh drff.”

  “What?” Killian says while removing his hand. “I don't think that was English.”

  “I said okay boyfriend-girlfriend it is.” I roll my eyes. “Goodness, you didn't have to manhandle me.”

  All of a sudden, my book bag falls over from where it was sitting between us as Killian drags me over until I'm practically falling off his lap.

  “What are you doing?” I screech and grab a hold of his shoulders as I about topple over on to the floor. “Are you insane?”

  “If by insane you mean insanely happy, then oh yeah, I'm completely insane right now.”

  “Killian, put me down!”

  “You're not going to fall,” he grins and starts placing little kisses all over my face. “I've got you.”

  I grip a hold of his shoulders tighter. “I swear to God, if you drop me right now I'm calling your mother.”

  Killian starts to shake with laughter. “Is this how our relationship is going to go? I'm going to annoy you and you're just going to threaten to call my mom on me?”

  “Yes,” I answer defiantly with a lift of my chin.

  “Yeah, okay, whatever,” he snorts. “That's a two-way road you know, because I can call your mother, too.”

  “My mom would talk your ear off.”

  “And mine wouldn't?” he challenges.

  I go to open my mouth to say something but Killian’s front door gets thrown open and I tilt my head back to see an upside-down version of Ian and Alex come walking into the apartment holding cases of beer and takeout food.

  “I'm extremely pissed still,” Alex says, “but I'm sure you are too.” Both of the guys pause. “What the hell are you two doing?”

  “Did we interrupt you?” Ian asks and glances back towards Alex.

  “Screw if we interrupted them,” Alex scowls and marches into the living room. He pauses and stares down at us. “Uh, hi Lila.”

  I wiggle my fingers at him that are still gripping on to Killian’s shoulders since he's still leaning over me causing me to dangle off the couch.

  “Up you go,” Killian sighs and hauls me until I'm sitting upwards in his lap with my feet on the seat next to us.

  “We came to cheer you up,” Ian says while eyeballing me. “But I think Lila covered that already.”

  “Well I didn't come here to cheer him up, I came here to drink,” Alex shrugs and flops into one of the reclining chairs.

  “We were going to study, actually,” Killian says.

  “So study and eat at the same time,” Ian shrugs. He glances down at the textbooks all over the floor in front of the couch. “I guess you're taking what Coach Stephen’s said to heart.”

  That makes me wonder what he's talking about. “What did your coach tell you?”

  “That school is just as important as football,” Killian says absently as he stares at Alex. “I'm sorry, you know.”

  “Yeah, I know,” Alex blows out a breath. “I suck at losing, okay? You should know that from high school.”

  Boy, did we ever.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Killian

  I shove open the door to exit Fine Arts after walking Lila to class. It was my free period now, so I head towards the Union for an early lunch. There's bound to be at least a couple of people there from the team.

  Like Lila loves to point out, it's the only place in town that can feed the lot of us.

  It’s not surprising in the least to see Alex sitting at a lone table. He’s been isolating himself from the team since Saturday’s game. Not that I want to tell him to get over it because that won’t fix anything. But good grief, it’s not the end of the world.

  “Hey,” I say and drop into the lone chair across from him.

  “You didn’t get any food,” is all Alex says as he picks at his plate with a fork.

  “Are we cool?” I ask him.

  He finally looks up at me. “We’re fine.”

  “Right, because you sound so convincing right now.”

  “It’s not you,” Alex shakes his head and drops his fork. “Honestly, we’re fine. You missed and shit happens. I get that, I really do. And I know you could give a rats ass if you couldn’t play anymore.”

  I cut off Alex before he can say anything else. “I could too give a rats ass. The way I look at it, I shouldn’t think I’m above somebody else just because I’m good at football. If I make it to the NFL, that’s great. If I don’t, it’s not the end of my world. But I give a damn, because I can still play.”

  “That’s not what I meant,” Alex sighs in frustration. “It’s just that you would be okay staying in this town. But it’s just not my home.”

  Ah, now I think I get it. “You want to play big so you can move on from this place.”

  “That’s a shitty thing to think, isn’t it?” he frowns. “My parents moved out here to take over the farm. And don’t get me wrong, working on the farm is great and I love to pitch in and help, but it’s not the life I grew up with. I don’t love it the way others do. It’s a proud thing to be a farmer, but I’m not a farmer.”

  “You’re a football player first,” I nod my head. “I get that.”

  Alex opens his mouth to say something but the loud screeching noise of chairs being dragged against the hardwood floors stops us. A few girls slip down into them, surrounding us. Never mind that it’s only a two person table now being seated by six.

  “Ladies,” I say tightly.

  Alex just shakes his head again. “We were having a private conversation.”<
br />
  “You can still have it,” one of them answers.

  The girl closest to me sets her hand on my thigh and I jerk my leg away from her touch. “Look, I have a girlfriend,” I huff out.

  “You didn’t a few weeks ago,” she smirks. The girl leans into my side so far that she's practically trying to climb into my lap, and no amount of moving away seems to be deterring her.

  Is this some type of game? Do girls really think guys just throw out I have a girlfriend like it’s some sort of challenge? I glance at her for a moment and realize she’s vaguely familiar. It’s something I’m used to feeling towards the girls on campus.

  “You don’t remember me,” the girl sighs and settles against me even when I try and dislodge her, she's stuck like glue. “We were in the game room at the frat house.” She rolls her eyes. “Your little friend came and interrupted us. You were supposed to call me and never did.”

  Right. The girl that I couldn’t remember when Lila asked me. The same girl, now that I look at her, that got in a tizzy when Lila had been dumped by that assface of a boyfriend.

  “Well considering that friend is now his girlfriend, I’d say she’s doing far better than you,” Alex says tightly. “And she’s a good person, so show some respect.”

  “And I’m not a good person?” the girl scoffs.

  “Considering I don’t even know your name, you’re just not that high of a priority,” I say evenly.

  “Yeah, well, you’ll be crawling back to the fold when you’re little girlfriend realizes what an asshole you are and that you aren’t capable of being the relationship guy,” she huffs while finally leaning off of me and then proceeds to storm off. The rest of the girls pause and look around at each other before silently following, who I’m assuming, is their leader.

  I lift my hand in a sarcastic wave goodbye and lean back in my seat. Some people are just completely crazy. And apparently, I have been too drunk to accurately assess how crazy some of these girls probably are.

  “That was brutal,” Alex blows out a deep breath.

  “Thanks for sticking up for Lila with me,” I say before pressing my lips together.

  “It took you a while to finally come around that you like her enough to want to be with her, like hell am I going to let you throw that away,” Alex shrugs. “But thanks, for also coming over here to check on me.”

  “Well if I didn’t, then who would?” I smirk. “I don’t see Ian around or anything.”

  “True,” he laughs. “But we’re good, man. I promise.”

  “We’ll beat the next team on Saturday.”

  Alex rolls his eyes. “Whatever you say, butterfingers.”

  “You really want me to hit you, don’t you?” I sigh loudly. “Coach would be so pissed if that happened.”

  “I’m the face of the team, that’s why.”

  “Screw you, you are not.”

  “You’re just jealous,” Alex grins. “But it’s okay. I don’t think Lila’s into me that way, so you’re safe.”

  “Oh, gee. How lovely of you to leave my girlfriend alone because she’s not interested in you,” I laugh.

  “Did you just say girlfriend?”

  “I did.”

  “When the hell did that happen?”

  “When you and Ian decided to break into my apartment and interrupt me. I’ll be needing that key back by the way.” I smirk and hold open my palm. He stares at my hand with a scowl before I shrug my shoulders and fold my arms over my chest. “Fine, keep the key. I don’t want to hear about your eyeballs falling out when you see something you didn’t want to see.”

  “Dude,” Alex scowls. “Keep it in the bedroom.”

  I roll my eyes at him. “We aren’t moving that fast, jeez. Learn to have a sense of humor.”

  “You?” Alex points a finger at me. “You’re not moving that fast? Since when? You’re the one who usually hooks up on the weekends.”

  “Hello,” I raise my hands in the air like it’s an obvious answer, “I got the girl.”

  “Finally,” he smirks. “Took you damn near long enough.”

  “I guess she’s been it for a long time,” I sigh. “You know? Lila was always there, just never thought we’d end up here. Together. It’s almost surreal.”

  “But it’s not. Want to know a little secret?” Alex says, but doesn’t wait for me to respond before he continues talking. “We all knew. Anyone who’s been within two feet of you can tell. It’s painfully obvious, and you’ve lived in that bubble for so long that it was bound to pop. I’m just glad you were both on the same page when it did burst.”

  “It couldn’t have been that obvious. It’s been over a decade since I met her.”

  Alex stares at me. “I’ve known you since we were in eighth grade when my family moved here. It was obvious then, too.”

  “No one told me that.”

  “Are you insane? Why would we tell you that? You would’ve done something stupid like ask her out.”

  “Hey,” I scowl. “I asked her out now.”

  “You’re ready for a real girlfriend now. Back in high school, hell even last year, all you wanted to do was see how much attention you could get from females. And I’m not judging you,” Alex says calmly. “You know as well as I do that when my girlfriend split in high school, I started doing the same exact thing you’re doing.”

  “Except you’re still doing it,” I point out.

  “Haven’t found a reason to stop.”

  Well, he’s got me there. I found my reason. Someday he’ll find his, too.

  “Listen, I’ve got to head to class,” Alex says and offers me his hand to fist bump. “I’ll catch you at practice later.”

  “Yeah, I’ll see ya,” I nod. “And don’t worry, I’ll bring my A-game tonight and make sure I don’t miss.”

  “Finally,” Alex smirks and snags his plate before leaving the small table behind. Leaving me to sit for lunch alone, which seems to actually be a nice idea versus the rowdy table on the other side of the room.

  It’s been four hours since lunch. So it’s been five hours since I’ve seen Lila. I’d like to say I’m one of those guys who cares enough to let his girlfriend be her own person. I thought that I was one of those guys, actually.

  I’m not.

  She hasn’t been responding to my messages since I walked her to class this morning. All of these terrible thoughts start to swarm in my head without pausing to let me catch my breath or talk myself down off the cliff I’m suddenly, metaphorically, standing on.

  What if her wrist was hurting her and she went to the doctors by herself and her phone died?

  What if she needs me?

  What if she found some sketchy guy selling milkshakes out of the back of a white van and tried to buy one?

  What if something happened to her?

  Usually, I like to think I’m a pretty rational person. Unfortunately, my overprotectiveness doesn’t just go away when you’re dating your best friend. It actually seems to just get worse.

  I’m pretty certain that she didn’t meet some stranger selling milkshakes, but I wouldn’t put it past her. Even if it’s something that would be highly unlikely in this town.

  There’s a lot of what if’s floating around in my head right now. I’m trying to pay attention to Coach’s parting speech. Something about how well we’re doing without actually having played a game since my epic disaster on the field.

  Something he conveniently leaves out of his motivational speech.

  As soon as we’re dismissed, I make a break for the locker room to check my cell phone. This sudden paranoia makes me think of all the times Lila would ask me if being ignored by her then-boyfriend meant something was the matter or if she was overreacting.

  I’d like to say that I told her that something was the matter, because it was pretty apparent that it was. But no, I was the schmuck who didn’t want to let her hopes get crushed and instead was the jackass who told her she was overreacting.

  Definitely not an o
verreaction.

  “Woah, Killian,” Ian says besides me as I wait impatiently for my phone to boot up. “What’s the rush?”

  “Have you heard from Lila?” I ask.

  “Why would I have heard from Lila?” Ian retorts.

  I pause and look up at him, feeling the panic bleed into my voice when I say, “She’s not answering me.”

  “Calm the hell down. She’s probably just focused on her art project or something.”

  “It got turned in. Her class is peer grading it for finals. They’re collecting all their pieces for the year now and redoing one’s they think need to be improved.”

  “Maybe she’s redoing something, then.”

  “No,” I shake my head adamantly. “She swears all of her stuff is perfect by the time she turns it in.”

  “What’s going on?” Alex steps over to us.

  “Romeo here is freaking out that Lila isn’t answering her phone,” Ian says calmly. “And he’s about to fall off the fucking wagon worrying.”

  “She’s probably hanging out with Nina. Maybe Jackson and her got into it and Lila’s trying to comfort her. You’re freaking yourself out over nothing.”

  “Jackson!” I holler over toward the large lineman.

  His head pops up and a tight line forms around his mouth. We’re not exactly best buds, but if Nina and him got into it, then at least my nerves would ease knowing that Lila was dealing with her roommate.

  “Are you and Nina okay?” I ask once he gets closer to my locker.

  “We’re fine,” Jackson frowns. “Why?”

  “Lila’s not picking up,” I tell him and wave my phone around. Why isn’t she picking up?

  “I wouldn’t either if I were her,” Jackson answers bluntly.

  What the fuck? “Excuse me?” I scowl.

  “Nina saw you,” Jackson shrugs. “Seems like your own bed that you made and have to lie in.”

  “What do you mean Nina saw me? Saw me what?” I demand.

  “At lunch. She saw a group of girls get cozy with you at lunch,” Jackson states flatly. “Then I guess one of them came up to Lila or something. Nina said they saw you.”

  “Hold on a minute,” Alex frowns. “He had lunch with me.”