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CHAPTER ONE

Levi

“I’m sorry, can you say that again?”

I must be dreaming. Literally in a waking dream. I’m surprised there aren’t butterflies and unicorns circling me at the moment. I pinch myself, wincing after, and dropping my jaw because this is real life.

But this can’t be real life because there’s no way that Asher Rashford—king of UA’s college football team, total dream hunk, a walking porno—just asked me out.

Me .

Asher chuckles, running his gigantic hand through his short brown hair, his blue eyes twinkling with amusement as he points at the ground. “You dropped your slushy.”

Yeah, my daily dose of cherry sugar coma can wait. I can feel the sticky red liquid pooling between my flip-flops, but I don’t give a crap.

Asher Rashford just asked me out.

“You want to—” I cough, choking on nothing but my own spit as I try to get my words together. “You want to go out with me?”

“Well, yeah,” he says, like it’s totally obvious and we’re not caught in the Twilight Zone. “I was thinking maybe we could go to dinner or something?”

“Um…” I squish my toes together, the slushy in between them making a near-pornographic squelch as I do. “You sure you’re not confusing me for someone else?”

He furrows his brows. “We take chem together, Levi. You corrected Professor Hertz the other day when we were talking about organic equations.”

“Well, he skipped a step.”

“I know, and I thought it was cute that you pointed it out.”

Asher Rashford just called me cute.

My cheeks flame as I remember that. I had gotten a few ugly snickers from my classmates after it happened but, now that I think of it, Asher wasn’t one of them. Lord, I practically need to fan myself at the reminder that this six-foot-three linebacker is getting his degree in biochemistry. It’s so fucking hot.

Do not get a boner. Do not get a boner. Do not get a boner.

“So? What do you think?” he asks, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. “Go out with me?”

Right. He needs an answer. Why am I still standing here like an idiot?

“O—Of course,” I sputter out. I’m sure I’m sporting the dorkiest smile ever, but can you blame me? I just won the lottery. “We can totally go out.”

His beautifully blinding grin nearly knocks me on my ass. How can he look so happy when he’s perfect enough for creme brulee and settling for an almond joy? “Great. Let me give you my number, and we’ll set a date.”

I hand him my phone with trembling fingers when he reaches for it. I’m still a bit dazed when he puts his number in and leaves to head off to practice.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t like, hate myself. I think I’m a pretty cool dude, but I’m nowhere near cool enough for something like this to happen to me. I’m what you would call a little below average. I like to play fantasy role-play games all night long, I spend most of my time studying, and when I’m not nerding out over the new superhero movie in theaters, I’m hanging out with my best friend.

Speaking of which, Mav is going to freak the fuck out when I tell him about this. Things like this just don’t happen to guys like us.

I hop on my scooter and leave the gas station, passing the quiet little downtown stores and making my way to my neighborhood. Arborville isn’t like most college towns. There’s not a huge party scene, and the only people here besides college kids are the elderly. I make it back to the little townhome I share with Mav. When I get there, I unceremoniously dump my scooter and race toward the door. I barrel through it, nearly tripping over my sticky flip-flops as I crash into our living room.

Mav doesn’t even notice me come in. He’s too busy with his fantasy RPG, so close to our flat-screen that his nose touches his Elven maid. His red hair is sticking up in every direction like he’s been pulling at it out of frustration, his glasses nearly falling off his face as he plays. Mav’s always very intense about his games. I’d think it was weird if I wasn’t the same way.

“M-Mav!” I shout, hunching over on my knees as I try to catch my breath. “Mav, pause the game.”

He doesn’t bother looking at me as he continues to play. “I’m in the middle of a quest, Levi. I’m just about to collect the final Ogger Stone.”

“Ignore the Ogger Stone for now. This is important.”

“And what’s important enough for me to forsake the clan?”

“Asher Rashford just asked me out.”

The controller falls to the floor. Mav whips his head at me, his jaw hanging slack. “Repeat yourself.”

“I said, Asher Rashford asked me out.”

“Where’s your slushy?” he asks, eyes narrowing as he looks at my empty hands. “Where’s mine?”

“That’s all you have to say?” I yell. “Did you not just hear what I said?”

“Oh, I heard you. I was just wondering if your blood sugar is low. Remember what happened last time?”

I roll my eyes, but I get it. Last time I missed my daily slushy, I thought I saw a popular fantasy writer at the grocery store. Turns out, following a random man around for twenty minutes is grounds for a restraining order. “I dropped the slushy when Asher Rashford asked me out.”

He chuckles, but his smile dies down and morphs into incredulity when he sees my face. “You’re being serious. You’re not joking?”

“Why would I joke about this?”

“Because you have a terrible sense of humor.”

“Fuck you.”

“Fuck you, too.” He chews on his bottom lip and then cocks his head. “He really asked you out?”

I take out my phone and wave it in the air. “And I have the proof to show for it.”

“Holy shit!” he shouts, finally giving me the reaction I was expecting. He rushes toward me, both hands on my arms as he shakes the living shit out of me. “This is insane! What did you say?”

“Well, I’m not an idiot, so I said yes!” But then I furrow my brows. “What’s the face for?”

Mav’s always been an overthinker, and I can see the gears churning away in his head. He pushes wire-rimmed glasses up his nose with his forefinger and takes a step back, tapping his foot as he looks at me. “Have you considered that he might have nefarious intentions?”

“Um, well, yeah,” I admit weakly, fiddling with my superhero watch, a nervous habit of mine. “But he seemed sincere?”

“Did he seem sincere or was he sincere?”

“I don’t know! It all happened so fast!”

I start to sour a bit. I mean…Asher was sincere, wasn’t he? It seemed like he actually wanted to go out on a date with me. It’s not like there was a hoard of mean girls standing over his shoulder giggling the entire time. He had seemed confused when I didn’t quite understand him, and overjoyed when I said yes.

But… it could just be a big joke.

Mav must notice the look on my face because he curses and reaches for my hand. “Shit, I’m sorry, Levi. I just…I’m looking out for you. That’s my job, right?”

I have to smile at that. Mav and I have been best friends since we were five, both of us getting picked on by the same bully on the playground. We bonded with our mutual awkwardness and love of all things dorky. We’ve been inseparable ever since, even deciding to go to the same college so we wouldn’t be apart.

“Yeah, I know,” I say softly, giving his hand a squeeze. “I guess I just got a little excited. I don’t need to text him?—”

“What? Of course you’re going to text him,” he rushes out, yanking my phone out of my hand.

My eyes widen as I see him unlock my phone. Fuck, why did I ever think it was a good idea to give him my password. “Wait, Mav! Don’t!”

“If you’re not going to do it, I will,” he says, running away from me when I try to rush him. He manages to get away from me by leaping over the couch like some sort of uncoordinated ballerina. “Oh my God , he put his name in as ‘Ash’.”

Damn my sticky flip-flops, they’re not fast enough to catch up with him as he races up the stairs. “Give me back my phone!”

“What’s better, ‘Hey, it’s Levi!’ or ‘What’s up, it’s Levi!’?”

“I’m going to kill you!”

“Not if you can’t catch me—Oomph!”

I tackle him face-first onto his bed and straddle his butt, reaching over his body for my phone. “Give it back!”

“Too late!” his voice muffled by the pillow. “I already hit send!”

I slap his butt for good measure before I hop off, scrambling through my phone to see what he sent. Turns out, he settled for ‘Hey, Ash. It’s Levi’. Not bad, I guess. I sit on my haunches, chewing at my thumbnail as I wait for those three little magic dots to appear, but they don’t.

“It’s not like he’s going to respond two seconds after you text him,” Mav says, flipping over onto his back and kicking me with his foot. “You have to give him time.”

I cock a brow at him and set my lips in a tight line. “And how would you know? You’ve never texted a guy before.”

“I watch movies,” he whines, kicking me again.

I sigh as I flop down next to him. Immediately, he hitches a leg around my hip and pulls me flush against him. It’s not weird. We’re a very touchy duo after being friends for so long. I turn my head and bite at my lip. “What if he doesn’t text back?”

Mav sighs along with me. He presses his forehead against mine and I can feel his shrug. “You’re awesome, Levi. He’d be lucky to have you.”

I nod, but I don’t feel that awesome. At least not awesome enough for someone as cool as Asher. But Mav has always been able to see something in me that I couldn’t see in myself. To him, I’m cool. I’m unique. I’m worthy, and I cling to that.

“You’ll see,” he whispers, giving me a quick peck on the cheek. “He’ll text back.”

And I can only hope that Mav just spoke that shit into truth.