She pushes her glasses up a little higher on her nose. “No, actually. I’m a Junior.”
“Great, me too!” I say, relieved. “So why are you switching dorms your junior year?”
“I had a few issues with my previous roommate and decided it was time to switch it up.”
My eyes widen. I really hope she isn’t going to be problematic.
“Oh no! Not like that! My roommate was the problem not me,” she says.
“Okay.” Though I’m not sure I believe her. I mean, why would she admit to being the problematic one to a new roommate?
“I know you have no reason to believe me, but my old roommate was a bit of a bully,” she adds, readjusting her glasses once again.
“Remind me never to play poker,” I mutter under my breath.
“What?”
“Nothing,” I say. “I’m sorry you had to deal with that.”
“Don’t worry about it. Hey, so I’ll be coming in and out of the room to move my things in today. I’m basically just walking them from one building to the other, so it’ll probably take me the whole day. Sorry I woke you up, but I don’t know how much sleep you’ll get with me settling in today,” she says without pausing to take a breath.
“Do you need any help?” I ask.
“No, I’m okay,” she replies, sitting down on her unmade bed. I have a feeling she’d like the help but is the type of person who doesn’t want to feel like she’s bothering anyone.
“I can help,” I insist, a little surprised I’m so willing to help out a stranger. Then again, we’ll be sharing this room, so we might as well start off on the right foot.
“Are you sure?”
I look at her—really look at her. She’s very pretty—tall, with long blonde hair that cascades over her shoulders.
I push the blanket down and get up. “Yeah, I’m sure. Just give me a few minutes to brush my teeth and throw on some clothes.”
“You’re a saint! I’ll do another trip while you get ready,” she says, already walking towards the door.
“I’ll be ready in five if you want to just wait for me?”
“Sounds good! I left another box downstairs with the RA. I’ll go grab it, and then I’ll be back in a jiffy.”
A jiffy? Interesting choice of words.
“Great,” I answer just as she walks out the door.
I head to the bathroom to brush my teeth and run the hairbrush through my hair. It isn’t anywhere as long as what it was before the cancer, but it’s growing. Sweeping it up, I secure it into a ponytail, change into shorts and a T-shirt, then exit the bathroom.
As I sit down to wait for Emma to return, my phone starts to ring.
I search all over my bed until I find it wrapped inside my blanket. I press the center button and see Jesse’s name and an incoming text.
I have practice today but we should grab food after. Sorry I couldn’t meet you yesterday!
He practices a lot from what I can tell. Last night, he apologized for not coming to welcome me. He’d had an out-of-town scrimmage with another team.
I’ll think about it… My new roommate is moving in today and I might try and do something with her.
Already replacing me, I see?
I smile.
Not yet, Falcon. I’ll see if she wants to do something and let you know.
I’ll be waiting.
I find myself re-reading his message a few times, but before I can respond, I hear the doorknob jiggle again and I get up to open it for Emma. She’s balancing a giant box in one hand and holding the keys with the other.
“I can help with that,” I tell her, grabbing the box and awkwardly setting it down on top of the vacant bed next to my own. “Jeez, what have you got in there?” I ask, shaking out my arms.
“Books!” she beams. “And thank you.”
“Are you ready to go?”
“Let’s get this over with,” she says with a chuckle.
JESSE
I put my phone in my pocket when I realize I’m not getting a response. Typical Zoe—always keeping me on my toes. I couldn’t help her move in yesterday because we had an away pre-season game, and by the time we got back, it was too late. Plus, the guys wanted to celebrate—and I couldn’t back out.
I guess it makes sense that she wants to get to know her roommate, but I can’t help wanting her to spend time with me. I haven’t seen her in about a week, and that’s starting to feel weird.
I take the stairs two at a time and join Zack downstairs. We walk out of the Football House together and start toward the field for practice.
“Dude, look at that fresh meat!” Zack says a little too loudly as we reach the quad. I have a pounding headache from all the drinks the douchebag dared me to have last night when we got home. I don’t know how he can drink so much, then wake up in the morning and be all jolly and shit like he didn’t get hammered the night before. In his defense, I could’ve turned down the dare.
He punches me in the shoulder. “Are you seeing what I’m seeing?” he asks again. I look around, seeing all the different girls walking around the quad. Yes, they’re pretty, but that’s not new, so I’m not sure what he’s babbling about.
“Dude, that redheaded chick is hot!” Zack says, pointing in a different direction, and my eyes follow. I can’t help but nod in agreement when I realize he’s talking about Zoe. I watch as she walks next to another girl I assume is her roommate. She looks so happy and carefree—like she belongs here, but she also stands out. Her red hair is a striking contrast to the other girls.
I clear my throat and look back at Zack. I see the way his gaze lingers on her, and I’m automatically on guard.
“What about the blonde one?” I ask, trying to distract him.
“The one with the glasses?” he asks in disbelief.
“Yeah, that one.”
“Reminds me too much of Natasha—Natalia—whoever the heck it was!”
“Oh, you mean one of your generic hookups?”
“Not generic. More like necessary maintenance.”
I burst out laughing at my teammate’s choice of words. “I don’t want to know,” I say, hoping to never have to hear one of his stories again.
“You already do. What can I say? The girls love it, and I have it. So, I use it.”
“You should be careful,” I warn him.
“I wear protection every time,” he says with a wink, and I shake my head. Zack will do what Zack wants to do, and there’s nothing we can do to stop it.
“What are you guys talking about?” Nick says, startling us.
“Fuck, Nick! Stop ambushing us like that,” Zack says.
Nick grins. “I can’t help that I have mad ninja skills.”
We continue to walk slowly towards the field.
“We were talking about Zack’s hookups,” I say, hoping this new conversation pushes away the old one.
“The hot redhead over there,” Zack answers, and I wish he hadn’t brought up Zoe because Nick stops to watch her too.
“Don’t tell me you already hooked up with her?” Nick asks Zack.
“Not yet,” Zack says with a shit-eating grin.
“Cut the shit, Hayes,” I practically growl.
Zack ignores me and says to Nick, “I haven’t seen those two around before.”
“The semester just started,” I say.
“Hey, ladies,” Nick shouts, causing the people sitting on the quad to turn and stare. The Hunter Effect is what we’ve come to call this. It doesn’t matter which Hunter is in the area, they somehow have the power to command everyone’s attention. Baby brother loves it. Older brother hates it. And well, the sister is somewhere in the middle.
“Not interested,” Zoe shouts back without missing a step. I stare at her until she looks at me, a knowing smile playing on her lips. My breath hitches. I smile at her discreetly and wave from my place behind the guys.
“See you around,” Nick adds, and I can tell he’s embarrassed that he wasn’t given the
time of day. I laugh out loud.
That’s my girl.
Shit.
Friend—that’s my friend.
“What are you laughing at, Falcon?” Nick asks, turning to me with a sour look on his face.
I smile wider. “Just at seeing you fail, Little Hunter,” I tell him, ruffling his hair. When I see the look of determination in his eyes, I realize he’s taken my words as a challenge. I curse under my breath.
“Not failing. She’ll warm up to me,” he says confidently.
Hell no, she won’t.
I’m about to tell him to back off when Zack says, “What are we doing tonight?”
Nick starts talking about a party he wants to go to and I take that moment to send Zoe a quick text.
Sorry about my teammates. Remember that long line of guys waiting for you? I told you it would happen.
Those are your friends?
I smile down at my phone.
Yup. I’ll introduce you to them at some point, just not yet.
Gotta wait to make sure I’ll stick around?
You’re not going anywhere.
I just want it to be us for now. As soon as the guys find out, they’ll either hit on her or assume her and I have something going on. I’m not ready to field questions. Zoe and I are just friends, but I have a feeling the guys won’t take my word for it.
I hear Nick say, “Let’s throw a party at the house!” just as I put my phone in my back pocket.
“We had one last night,” I say, trying to be the voice of reason.
“That was just us drinking. That wasn’t a party,” Zack states matter-of-factly.
I turn to Nick. “Do you think Big Brother will let you?”
“Big Brother is too cuffed to Mia to pay any attention. When was the last time he spent the weekend at the house anyway?” Nick says, sounding a little bitter.
“He was there yesterday,” I remind him.
“True, but I’m sure we can convince him.” Nick rubs his hands together like he’s coming up with a master plan. “We’ll just convince Kaitlyn to convince Mia to convince Colton.”
“That’s a lot of work,” Zack says, and I chuckle.
Nick shrugs. “You gotta do what you gotta do.”
“Speaking of having to do something, do you think Coach is going to make us run a shit ton again today?”
We all groan. Summer training has been brutal, and with kickoff starting soon, the practices are getting worse.
“You know he will,” Nick says.
Let the semester begin.
16
Caught
Zoe
The next day, I familiarize myself with the campus again, and by the time I return to my room, I’m exhausted. Stretching myself out on my bed, I try to get some rest.
“Hey,” Emma says, and I crack my eyes open a little to see her coming out of our bathroom with one towel wrapped around her head and the other around her body.
I point at the door. “Aren’t you glad we have a bathroom inside of our dorm room and not out there?”
“Yes! I’m so freaking relieved. My last dorm had co-ed bathrooms outside. I had to carry all my clothes with me, and you know, wait until really late to shower so I didn’t run into anyone else
I laugh. “The horror!”
“Seriously. You do not want to be walking around a co-ed hall in just a towel.”
“You’re right. I don’t.” Seriously. That’s too much exposure—way more than I’m comfortable with.
“Anyway,” Emma says, standing in front of her dresser.
“Yes?”
“I walked by your desk before, and a few papers fell… I picked them up from the floor…” she says, opening both doors on her closet and staring inside. “I saw one from the hospital. It was your discharge papers. I didn’t mean to…” She turns to look at me with guilty eyes.
Shit. I didn’t put them away. I was looking at the instructions at Mom’s insistence.
“Um…” My mind races, trying to cover the truth with a believable lie.
“Are you… Err, do you…” Emma’s unable to form a coherent sentence, and I know exactly what she wants to ask.
I sit up, resting my back against the headboard.
Her face flushes. “So, you don’t have cancer anymore.”
I shake my head. She walks towards me, crossing the invisible line between her side of the room and mine, and takes a seat on the edge of my bed. Slowly, tentatively, she extends her hand toward me.
“Is that why you took a year off?” she asks, her voice low as if speaking to a wounded animal.
I clear my throat. “Yeah.”
“Are you okay?”
“Yes, I am.”
“I’m sorry.” She says those words that everyone automatically says when they find out.
I remove my hand from her hold. “Please don’t be. Cancer sucks, but it happens. I’m not the first person to have it.” And sadly, I won’t be the last either.
“No, you’re not, but that doesn’t make it any less serious.” She gets up, retreating to her bed. “What kind do—did you have?” she asks, no longer beating around the bush. That’s another quality I’ve come to admire in the last week.
“ALL.”
“Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. How long has it been? I know the five-year survival rate for children is eighty-five percent, and for adults it’s sixty-nine.” She spews the statistics like it’s her major and she’s been studying it forever.
“Wow, you’ve done your research.”
She shrugs. “I like researching. Also, sorry if that was insensitive. I just…when did you find out?”
I love that she goes from feeling bad for me, to throwing stats my way, to being concerned again.
“I got diagnosed a year ago. I did the whole stay in the hospital, the chemotherapy...”
“Did you get a bone marrow transplant?”
I’m taken aback by how much she knows. “No,” I reply. “It hasn’t been necessary.”
She nods, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose. “You’re in remission now, then?”
“Yep. If I relapse, then I’d need a bone marrow transplant.”
“It won’t come to that,” Emma says with absolute certainty.
“I know a little girl in the hospital who is currently going through the process,” I say. “Her name’s Maria. She’s four years old.”
“Man, fuck cancer,” Emma says, jumping up from the bed.
“Woah, did you just swear?” I ask
She shrugs. “Sometimes I do. It just depends on how angry I am.”
“I never thought I’d hear that word come out of your mouth.”
She shrugs again. “Cancer deserves it.”
I move to swing my legs over the side of the bed. “Thanks for being understanding, by the way.”
She sits back down. “Anytime. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I wanted to start fresh. I didn’t want anyone to pity me.”
“I wasn’t... I don’t… I didn’t mean to—”
I give her a knowing look, and she closes her mouth. “I’m sorry.”
“People don’t intend to pity me, but it’s a gut reaction. I’m beating cancer. There’s no need to be sorry for me. I’m alive.”
“I’m glad! You’re a pretty darn good roommate, and it would have taken a while to find a replacement,” she says with a smile, and I feel the remaining tension dissipate.
“Wow, back to not swearing, huh?”
She grins. “I’ve met my swearing quota for the week. Stay tuned for next time.”
“I’m anxiously waiting for it,” I reply and then add, “So, are you putting clothes on anytime soon, or are we implementing a no-clothing zone?” I tease, knowing exactly how she’ll react.
Her cheeks redden immediately. “This is a clothing zone at all times! I’ll put on mine.”
She gets up from my bed and makes her way to her closet once again. “Hey, Zo,” she says, turning to fa
ce me once again. “I know we haven’t known each other for more than a week, but if you ever need to talk, I’m only, like, two feet away.”
“Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind.”
“So now that we’ve had the heavy emotion conversation, I’ve been meaning to ask you about that guy.”
I pretend to have no idea what she’s talking about. “Which guy?” I ask.
She throws a pair of pants onto her bed before continuing to rummage through her closet. “The handsome one from the quad.”
“The one that called out to us? I don’t know him,” I reply.
“No, not that clown. I’m talking about the one behind him. The one that waved and smiled at you. The one who I’m pretty sure was texting you immediately after, if you smiling down at your phone was any indication.”
I can’t believe she noticed all that! I still act clueless though.
She gives me a knowing look. “The dark-haired guy next to the redhead and blonde? I saw how he was looking at you.”
I shift uncomfortably. “You must’ve been seeing things.”
She finally takes out a shirt and shuts the closet doors. “Things were very clear from where I was standing. I’m just saying.”
“Could you just put some clothes on, lady?” I say, trying to distract her.
She grabs her pants. “Stop avoiding the topic. You know I’m not going to drop it!”
“I didn’t know you were boy crazy,” I tell her, finally giving in.
She walks into the bathroom to change, calling out, “Not at all, but you should know I am crazy about romance books.”
“Noted!”
“What are we doing today, anyway?” she asks.
“What we do every day, Pinky; try to take over the world!” I respond, following it up with my rehearsed devilish laughter.
“You’re such a weirdo!”
“I think I’m pretty normal.” I lay on my stomach. I’m still exhausted, but I know I won’t be falling asleep anytime soon. “When you finally put clothes on, do you want to go for some coffee?”
Fighting For You (Bragan University Series Book 2) Page 9
