Reese
I head into the cafeteria after my test in my International Political Economy class. After spending the weekend with the parents and the their rich entitled friends, watching Eric destroy his liver and then sleeping through the females of the wait staff, football practices, a game, and then studying for this test, my brain is fried and I am in need of carbs. I just want to load up my tray with as much food as possible and then veg out on my couch before football practice this afternoon.
Eric is standing outside of the cafeteria doors with Abby. I don't have time for her advances today. He has his arms crossed and cocks his eyebrow at me as he watches me approach. Abby turns her head and looks me up and down. Not being subtle about the fact that she likes what she sees.
"Hey man," Eric nods. Then he mimes giving a blow job behind Abby's head. "You missed out Saturday night. It was quite the blow out."
"You know I stayed at my parents house. We had breakfast the next day." I remind him. Abby turns her body all the way around. It's a good thing too because Eric gestures as if he's shoving a huge dick in his mouth and choking on it.
"Reese, it was so much fun. Eric was able to make it. He even managed to stay until the early hours into the next day. You really missed out." Abby pouts. She even sticks her breasts out a little more. She has a low cut top on and they look dangerously close to falling out.
"I bet it was, but like I said I had plans for breakfast with my parents the next day." I watch Eric mime as if he's getting sprayed in the face. He's got his tongue out. It's hilarious and disturbing.
Eric smirks and puts his arms around Abby's neck. "Breakfast, huh? Well, I recall feeding Abby something delicious in those early hours into the next day."
Definitely disturbing.
"Eric," Abby draws out his name and then giggles. I'm not sure if she's seriously stupid or if she thinks hearing about the fact that he is constantly getting blow jobs from her is going to get me interested. I don't think she has a firm grasp on what guys really want.
My eyes meet Eric's and he's smirking at me. I shake my head at him. "Maybe I'll check out the next party." I realize too late that was the wrong thing to say because Abby's eyes get really big. I watch as she pulls herself out of Eric's arms and heads towards me.
"That's the best thing I've heard all day." She puts her palm against my chest. I try not to think about the fact that it's her right palm and that she probably used her dominant hand when she was sucking my best friend off yesterday morning.
Eric face palms behind her and then rubs his face. When he looks up, he wiggles his eyebrows at me. "I'll see you inside. You're in excellent hands out here." He mimes another blowjob and then turns to head into the cafeteria. I don't get how he's okay with Abby blowing him one minute and then pawing me the next.
I try to sidestep Abby, but she steps in front of me and puts both palms on my chest this time. "You know if you needed a date Saturday, you could have just asked."
I step back and shake my head. "I didn't."
Abby pouts and I look longingly at the cafeteria doors where food is located. I need to get away from her. I need some carbs. I need to see Lavender toes again. At this point it's debatable which one I want more.
Unfortunately, Abby had other plans. "Your game this weekend is a home one. I'm so excited to see you play."
I nod. "Cool." Maybe short, curt answers will deter her.
"I bought my tickets forever ago. You'll be able to see me from the field. I even have this great outfit picked out. I thought of you when I picked out every piece." She brushed her blonde hair back from one shoulder and brings her hair around to the other shoulder. She has this smile on her face like she thinks I'm intrigued, but I'm not even a little bit.
"Okay." I respond and move to step around her again.
Abby gets in my way again. "If you want I can try the outfit for you the night before."
"Nope." I finally move around her by feigning left, and then go to the right. "Bye." I say without glancing back. I hope she isn't going to follow.
I head to the food line and pile the food onto the my tray. Thankfully, Abby didn't follow this time. I look around and hope that she's not lurking at the usual table waiting for me.
The cafeteria is full and I spot Eric sitting with a brunette that I don't recognize on his lap. I don't know how he finds these girls so quickly. There are other guys from the team sitting with him. They are talking to one another as if she's not on his lap. She's got her face in his neck looking like she's going to town and he looks bored as fuck. That's pretty much one of his normal looks though, fierce on the field, smirking like a douchebag, or numb and disconnected.
I glance around the cafeteria and spot Lavender as I have been calling her in my head. Her face hasn't strayed from my thoughts all weekend. I am pretty sure that she's been avoiding me because I haven't seen her since we ran into each other last week. I'm frozen where I stand as I take her in. I forget that I was hungry and tired from a long weekend and an hour long test.
Her hair is curly today. The dark curls framing her face. She's concentrating on her notes and books are on the table in front of her. Earbuds are in and she's bobbing her head to music. She has a pen in one hand and a highlighter in the other. I am riveted as she touches her lips with the pink highlighter. Then she drops the highlighter on the table and rubs her eyes. She brushes her hair over one shoulder and brings it over the other. Much like what Abby did earlier. However, when I see Lavender do it, I am fascinated. Her hair looks silky and soft.
There must be an especially confusing passage that she is reading because she pouts. On Abby, it looks annoying. On Lavender? It makes her lips look plump and even more irresistible.
It doesn't make sense to me.
I've been around beautiful women. I've dated and slept with my share of very beautiful women. My mother even paraded some daughters of her friends hoping to get me to go on a date with one of them over the weekend. Normally, I will get one of their numbers in hopes to appease my mother. Unfortunately, this weekend I wasn't willing to sacrifice even a couple of hours making small talk over dinner with someone I didn't want to be with.
I don't understand how I am so twisted up over someone I barely know. Hell, I don't even know her name. My one encounter with her has been brief. I don't know what it is about her that pulls me in. However, the pull is strong because I don't walk over to the usual table where my friends sit.
I head towards the girl I can't stay away from. The girl whose name I don't even know. The girl with gray eyes sitting oblivious to how deep my need for her goes.
Darcy
Books are scattered in front of me. My half-eaten cheeseburger lays on the plate. The fries have long been eaten because, let's be real here, I need the additional carbs to get through studying. I am definitely not thinking about where these extra carbs were going to go, namely my ass. I have my earbuds in and listening to my mellow music. I do well in my classes, but I have this fear that the ball is going to drop so I always make sure that I am on top of my game. I have to achieve my goal of school, great job, and nerdy accountant. Failing out of school is not an option.
In my periphery I see a tray placed on my table. I see at least 2 cheeseburgers, a slice of pizza, a container of fries, 2 rice Krispie treats, 3 brownies. My first thought was I wanted those fries like I wanted to breathe. I definitely need more fried potatoes. The next thought I had was, this is not Lexi's tray. My eyes take in the content of the tray and see a gray shirt proclaiming Quincy College. A gray shirt that is taut against an impressive chest. My eyes go higher and see a set of dimples framing a huge smile. And then I see gorgeous blue eyes.
Reese is sitting at my table smiling at me as if the cat got the canary. Read he was the cat and I was the canary.
"What are you doing here?" I yank my ear buds out of my ears and glare at him.
"Eating lunch." To make his point, he grabs his cheeseburger and takes a huge bite.
My girly parts tingle. They are so messed up right now because that was so sexy. "Seriously? There are tons of people you could sit next to." I look around the room and see some of the jock/frat boys that he was hanging with the other day.
"I wanted to see if you could solve something for me." He pops a fry in his mouth. And I am so jealous. I don't really know if it's of the fry or not. I really want a fry. And I really want to touch his lips.
"What's that?" I watch him pop another fry in his mouth.
"Well, I met this girl the other day." I bring my eyes to his blue ones. They are twinkling with delight. Such a fiend. "She bumped into me actually. She made the most adorable sound when she was falling down." I snorted because really this guy. "She's a brunette, gray eyes, beautiful smile. Witty, gorgeous, and her toes are lavender."
"Lavender, huh?" I asked cocking my eyebrow up. I drop my pen and wiggle my fingers at him. "These match my toes." They weren't lavender today.
"Pink?" He questions and takes another bite of cheeseburger. Then he grabs a fry. I eye that fry. I think I actually want it more than his lips. He sees me eyeing those fries and takes the container and places it between us. His perfect lips are in shaped in a huge smile.
I lick my lips before I grab a fry. I wasn't not going to take what was being offered. "Let me entertain you."
"Excuse me?" He says with a chuckle.
"That's the color." I put the fry in my mouth and bring my eyes up to meet his. I notice that he is watching my lips. Interesting. I lick my lips again and his blue eyes meet mine.
He smirks at me. He knows he's been caught. He doesn't seem embarrassed at all. Instead he pops another fry in his mouth. Then he leans back in his seat."What type of name is that?"
I shrug. "Ask OPI, that's the brand I buy."
"What happened to names like pink or bright pink"
"It's actually fuchsia."
"See, that's a better color name."
"What's wrong with the original name?"
"It's ridiculous and doesn't give you a clue about the color."
"For $12 a bottle, they can choose whatever name they want."
"$12 a bottle?" He feigns a heart attack and clutches his chest. "Why would you spend as much on nail polish as you would lunch?"
"I like nail polish." I tell him as I glance down at my nails. Admiring how pretty and fun they look.
"How many colors do you have?"
I try to picture my boxes, shelves, and containers full of nail polish scattered around my apartment. I don't think I even know at this point. I shrug at him. "A few I think."
He quirks his eyebrow at me like he wants to call me on my bullshit, but won't. What a gentleman. I merely shrug at him again.
"So what's the mystery?" I ask trying to get back to the subject at hand.
"Oh right." He moves his tray out of the way and leans his elbows on the table. He clasps his hand together on the table and I can't help, but notice how muscular his arms look. Never mind about the fries. Those are tasty morsels right there. "So did you hear me say that this girl who formerly had lavender toes is gorgeous, witty, and has a beautiful smile?"
I so totally did, but I chose to ignore it. I was swooning for this man and I definitely couldn't afford to do so.
"It was hard to understand you as you shoveled food in your mouth. I only heard the word lavender."
"You're full of shit." Okay so maybe he wasn't that much of a gentleman.
"It's true. I could see the pieces of undigested food in your mouth. Distracted me from whatever you attempted to say."
His grin was slow, but potent. My heart stalled as the full force of it aimed towards me. Perfect lips and dimples.
"Giiiiiirrrrrrrllllll," Lexi states as she sits down next to me and takes a fry. "You would not believe the day I had. It started with this stupid pop quiz, but I aced that because I'm amazing." She grabs her books out of her bag and sets it on the table. "I need carbs. I need coffee. I need both. On that note, let's get out of here." She starts to put her books back into her bag. She also goes on to pack up my stuff.
Reese glances over at Lexi and then back at me. There's a question in his eyes. I shrug my shoulder as if to say, yes, that's Lexi.
"Anyway, then this guy hit on me as I was going to my next class. I mean I am fucking incredible to behold." Reese is chuckling now. I nod my head at him as if to say, yep, I told you that's Lexi. "That's not what upset me. It's the fact that he didn't remember we hooked up last semester. What a total douche." I glance at Lexi, who is still packing up my stuff. She has my pens and highlighters and she's placing them carefully in my pen bag. She knows me so well. If she messes up putting my stuff away then I will have to repack it. That would prolong her journey to coffee.
"I turned him down of course." She has my books and pens packed up. She reaches for my earbuds and places them in the pouch I have designated for them. "You don't forget an encounter with one Lexi Jones. That's not even a possibility. This means that his IQ has to be in the 50s. I will not hook up with someone with the mental capacity of a fruit fly."
"Then I got saddled with this bitch in my child development class that is still pissed that I made out with her boyfriend freshman year." She stuffs another fry in her mouth and takes a long drink of water from my water bottle. "I mean come off it. If you weren't such a disease-ridden hoe-bag, then maybe you could be loved. I was just merely doing the guy a favor by showing him that he could hook up with someone better. He did. Dumped the giant STD and has been going out with Mindy. Do you remember John and Mindy?"
I nod my head. She's on one of her tirades. You can't stop her. It's like waking up a sleepwalker. You never, ever wake up a sleepwalker. So she continues to power through. "I introduced the two. I knew that I could trust him with Mindy because he was a decent kisser. And you can't let your friends date shit kissers. That's just not a thing to do."
"Ooh a brownie." She reaches for one of the brownies and takes a bite. This is when she finally notices Reese. She chokes a little on the brownie and guzzles down the rest of my water bottle. Her eyes are huge as she takes him in. Then she gives me a sidelong glance. She whispers to me, "Dude, why is Reese Jordan sitting at our table."
"Wait, what?" I look over at her and then at him. Reese shrugs like he's not surprised. "How do you know Reese?"
Lexi scoffs at me. Then she covers her mouth and hisses at me. "It's Reese fucking Jordan. Every woman with a pulse and under the age of 65 knows who he is."
"How?" I ask. I look over at him. "Did you sleep together?"
"No!" Reese states. "Not that you aren't gorgeous," he directs this to Lexi. Then he turns to me. "I haven't slept with her."
Lexi sighs wistfully, "Only because I have yet to cross your path." Then she whispers to me. "I would totally bone him. Reese Jordan is hot!"
I totally concurred. The fact that they haven't slept together made me elated. I tamped that momentary emotion down because I didn't have time to acknowledge it. "Reese Jordan is also not deaf and he is sitting here listening to you go on about him."
Lexi looks over at Reese and flips her red hair over her shoulder. She is gorgeous. She's like movie star gorgeous. Her face is heart-shaped, her red lips a cupids bow. Green eyes sparkling. She's got lashes out to there that she's fluttering at Reese. That momentary elation turns to an ugly green ball of jealousy because how could I compete?
"I'm a fan," she says as she rests her chin in her hands.
"A fan of what?" I was so confused. Hot guys? I don't believe this is something to broadcast around.
"Football," Lexi states, but she makes the word sound breathy. I roll my eyes and snort. "What? I am!" She turns and looks over at me.
"Lexi, you are a fan of the tight pants they wear." I tell her. I look over at Reese who is silently laughing at both of us.
"That's so not true." Lexi pretends to look offended, but I am not fooled.
"What position does he play?"
"Quarterback," she answers quickly.
"What does the quarterback actually do?" I ask.
"Well," she takes a deep breath, "I believe that a quarterback of a football team has a plethora of duties."
"Go on," I wave my hand to indicate that she could keep going.
"He or she, should it be a female or co-ed team, is an important facet to any American football league." Lexi looks over at Reese. I think she wants him to wade in, but he's laughing out loud now. "As a quarterback, like our very own Reese Jordan, is as I have stated."
"You haven't really stated anything, Lex," I point out.
Lexi blows her bangs out of her face. I can see the wheels turning in her head, as she furrows her eyebrows. "I mean clearly the quarterback, you know, backs up, you know, like a quarter of the team."
Reese is laughing so hard now that I swear he just wiped his eyes. Lexi looks over at him then at me. She's a sneaky one. I know that calculating look in her eyes. This little show was a test. I am thinking he passed. That means she's thinking there's way more to him sitting at the table with me.
"That's not even close." I say to her. I feel my chest tighten as I start to panic. Lexi Jones calculating is never, ever a good thing.
"Okay, fine. Tell me why is Reese Jordan sitting here with you?"
"You know what, you're totally right. Quarterbacks totally backs up the team. Football lesson over." I say and stand up. I reach for my backpack, but she quickly grabs it and pushes it across the table so it lands in the seat next to Reese. She's so flipping juvenile sometimes. Stealthy, but juvenile.
"Not ready to leave yet." Lexi sits back in her chair and looks at Reese then at me. "Answer me, why is Reese Jordan sitting here?"
"The bigger question is why are you first and last naming him?" I cross my arms and stare down at her.
"I already told you, I am a fan." She points her index finger into her chest as if I wasn't sure exactly who she could be referring to. I roll my eyes and try to reach for my backpack and she slaps my hand. Reese chuckles and shakes his head at her antics.
"I don't really know why he's here. Maybe he got hit in the head too many times backing up his team and got lost." I say.
"Whoa," Reese says with another chuckle. "I am definitely not lost. I'm exactly where I want to be sweetheart."
Lexi quirks an eyebrow at me. Nope, she did not miss the endearment. "Then Reese Jordan, why are you sitting here?" She leans over the table towards him.
"She's helping me solve a mystery." Reese leans forward also. "I ran into her the other day and she's refusing to tell me her name."
Reese, the rat bastard, smirks at me. He thinks he's got Lexi in his corner.
"Interesting." Lexi states. She taps her fingers on the table in front of her. "I do love a good intrigue. So is this the mystery?"
Reese nods. Lexi angles her head towards me and smiles. Dammit, I think I'm going to be betrayed by my best friend. "What would you do with such information?"
"A plethora of things." Reese begins.
Lexi giggles.
Uh oh. Lexi doesn't giggle.
Mayday. Mayday.
I go around the table for my backpack, but before I make it over to the chair Reese grabbed me around me waist and somehow maneuvers me into his lap.
Damn this guy.
Mayday. Mayday. Mayday.
"Okay, you can stop this now." I say as I twist to look at him. I push against his chest, but he won't budge. I turn and look over at Lexi like she planned this all along. Foiled by my very best friend.
"Tell me your name." His arms tighten around my waist.
"Let go."
"Name?"
"Lavender toes work."
His adjusts me in his lap and somehow manages to get our faces closer together. One hand leaves my waist and cups the back of my head. He shakes his head at me. "You've got me all screwed up thinking about you these last couple of days. I need a name for face that I've done nothing, but think about."
My hands curl into his shirt. His blues eyes look into my gray ones. His eyes so deep and blue, I'm drowning. "Reese, no one talks like this you know. So it must be a line. A good one, but it won't work for me."
"Then what do you have to lose if it's just a line?"
I gulp. He doesn't know me from the hundreds of girls on campus. He doesn't understand the price I've already paid. "If I tell you will you let me go?"
"Not a chance." Reese whispers. His breath hot against my lips.
"Oh my god." Lexi exclaims. "This is so hot." Her words yank me back to the present. A lifesaver thrown into the deep blue sea of Reese Jordan's eyes.
I close my eyes from his because being in his arms, surrounded by his scent was overwhelming. He brings his lips across my cheeks and against my ear he whispers. "What's your name, gorgeous?"
I want to give him my name, my body, my soul. Surrounded by these arms makes me want things I didn't know I wanted other than my goals of school, great job, and accountant husband. It's dangerous wanting something this badly. I've learned early on what happens when you desire something so badly.
"She is tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt me." I whisper a quote instead.
Reese smiles at me and shakes his head. He looks over at Lexi and asked, "Are you going to tell me?"
"No way, this is better than a telenovela." Lexi states as she is snacking on his brownies and obviously watching us.
Reese laughs and kisses me on the nose. "Okay fuchsia fingers, make your escape. I'm going to find you again and I'm going to find out your name. Then your phone number and come next Friday, you're going to wear my Jersey to the home game."
I quirk my eyebrow at him. This guy could not be believed.
"Why are you trying so hard?" I ask.
"Because it wouldn't be half as fun or worth it if it wasn't." Reese releases me. I don't dawdle. I grab my backpack and make it around the table. I grab Lexi's backpack and her hand. I don't look back. I keep going because my heart is hammering 100 miles an hour and I need distance from a guy that makes me want something outside of my goals.