It wasn't until I was leaving class on Wednesday afternoon that I saw him again. I had pushed through the doors of the lecture hall in a hurry to meet Chloe at FIX. She wasn't in the hallway when I got out like normal, but I couldn't blame her for not waiting for me as my professor had accidentally run over on time. We had been going to either FIX or the dining hall together every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday after our classes were done for the day. As we were both ended those days at the same time in the business lecture hall, it was convenient. She had canceled on me on Monday due to a project she had been working on. Considering this was the longest we had gone without talking in two years, I was beyond excited to see her again.
Chloe hadn't been around the room for anything more than to sleep each night, and she was out again bright and early each morning. For a small part of my Monday night, I had sat in our dorm room fuming as I stayed up way later than normal in hope
"So, what's with Jones?" I asked with curiosity as we walked between the buildings to get to the quad, where FIX was located. Caleb's head turned to me faster than I had thought possible, and the smile dropped from his face as his jaw clenched. "What do you mean?" The irritation in his voice was evident. It made my smile grow wider as I saw him shove his hands into the pockets of his windbreaker forcefully. The obvious jealousy filled me with pride as I realized that I was not the only one feeling a little territorial. I wanted to ask him about what Diana said so bad, that I had to physically bite my tongue to stop the words from coming out. Besides the fact that he had asked me out a few times now, it was none of my business if they were had been talking about getting back together. I had seen with my own eyes the way that he was holding her last week after she confronted me. It was very apparent that they still had feelings for one another, and I didn't want to be
On Wednesday, Chloe received an angry text from me when she canceled on hanging out again. At this point, it seemed to me that we had become nothing more than roommates instead of best friends. She had stopped responding to my messages (unless she was canceling our plans), she was never in the dorm unless she was sleeping, and I rarely ever saw her around campus anymore. I was alone most of the time, and while I enjoyed having some time to myself, I was starting to curse my inability to make new friends. That was never something that I had been good at. There were groups of people all around me that I could walk up to and try to talk to, but it was also extremely intimidating. Instead, I sat under the tree on the edge of the quad by myself. My phone was shoved violently into the front pouch of my backpack. I didn't want to wait to see what excuse Chloe had come up with this time. My dad may have been mad at me. I may have been alone. I may hav
For a moment, I felt like I was embarrassing myself. I sounded like a clingy girlfriend. "I didn't think anything of it either until I saw that she had left her backpack and laptop in the living room. It would be kind of hard to do homework if your laptop and books aren't with you." I threw the stray blades of grass that I angrily ripped from the ground out in front of me. A huff of frustration left me, and I felt defeated. "It's not even about her canceling. It's that since she started dating this guy, she just disappeared. I mean, I'm happy that she is happy, but I also miss her, you know?" A glance over at him had me blushing under his unwavering gaze. "I can understand that. The solution is easy though. You and I will just have to hang out more so that you won't have time to miss her." I couldn't help but giggle. This man had turned me into a weak, pile of pudding. "What if I don't want to hang out with you more?" Was I flirting? Abort! Abort! "Well, then
I sputtered as I tried to find a response. Caleb didn't seem to want to take no for an answer. He was like a little kid, always asking why. At the same time, I wanted to give him an answer. He wasn't alone in wanting to be together. Unfortunately, based on what Diana had said, I wasn't the only woman that was pining after him. His position in the school and on the team would require blind trust. As it is, everyone had a different story about Caleb or about me. I would need to be able to completely trust everything that he said and would have to block out the noise from everyone else. That would be difficult for anyone. I normally don't get involved with emotions, and the fact that I was already struggling with juggling them was frustrating. How people jumped from one emotional relationship to the next, baffled me. "Do we really have to talk about this? I thought you said we were good being friends." I turned my head away from Caleb and scanned the guy that we
The walk back to her dorm came and went faster than I had wanted. It would have been nice to get more time with her. Unfortunately, the sun was already setting, and it was getting too cold for us to stay outside. If I could guarantee that nothing would come of it, I would have invited her back to my place to hang out. That would have scared her though, and I knew it. She had just decided to give me a chance. There was no way that she would uphold her agreement to us being friends if anything physical happened between us this soon. I needed to give her time, no matter how much I hated it. Right from the beginning, I knew that I would do anything to be hers. It almost made me angry to think that we had been at the same school for over a year, and that party was the first time that we had interacted. Granted, I would have been in a relationship at the time. She was the kind of girl that I would have immediately dumped whoever I was with for. The first time that I saw he
He glanced over at me with a shrug that made me think that he could care less. Even if he tried not to show it, I knew that it bothered him from his previous reactions. "Violet can make her own choices. Whatever she chooses, I have her back. That means if you fuck her over, I get to do the big brother's job and fight you. You and I being friends, won't affect that. If you're good to her, then it is none of my business what happens between the two of you." "If she gives me a chance, I'll be good to her." I cringed as I watched the miniature version of myself on the screen throw a piss-poor pass that was easily intercepted by the other team. "We lost this game by a lot! Do we have to watch this crap?" Jones stomped down the stairs like a pouting child and smacked Tyler upside the head as he walked past and plopped back down onto the couch. "That is exactly why we have to watch this crap. We can never play like that again, it was all kinds of embarrassing. My p
I couldn't help myself from wearing Caleb's hoodie to class the next day. It was big, soft, and warm. The fact that I was dozing off during class, had more to do with the soothing piece of fabric that still smelled like him rather than the teacher's boring lecture. I was happy with my decision for us to just be friends. We got along really well, and it would be nice to have someone other than Chloe to hang out with. If I even still had Chloe. Jones was an oddball, but I could see him becoming a good friend too. It just might take some time to understand him. He seemed to be a very unique guy. If Caleb liked and trusted him, then I could too. Leaving my lecture, I wasn't expecting to see Caleb standing outside of the building, and my breath hitched when I did. "You know, some might say that you have stalker-like tendencies." I teased as I walked up to him. "Yeah, yeah. I'm crazy. Glad I caught you though." I watched as he fidgeted with a piece
"Well, I was thinking about telling her how much I appreciate when my friends and family come to my games to support me." He shoved his left hand into his back pocket, leaving the right to swing freely with the jersey in his fist."That's a good start, but you didn't actually ask her." My instinct was to reach over and nudge his arm, but I fought against the impulse to touch him."I was getting to that." He nodded. "Then, I would ask her if she was going to the game this weekend.""Of course, she would be going to the game this weekend. It's going to be the biggest game of the year so far. The entire school will be there." My dad had bitched about our rivals for the past two years. He always complained about how during most of their plays, they always left a gap in their coverage that led directly to their quarterback. Yet, they continued to win game after game. He said they were careless, untrained, unprepared, and lucky.He was a firm believer that you