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CHAPTER THIRTY

BECKHAM

We’ve been back on campus now for two weeks. It was chaos when we returned with a university parade, interviews, and parties. It didn’t seem like things were ever going to go back to normal. And maybe they won’t. All of us on this team have accomplished something so few ever will in their lifetime. I won’t ever forget that or take it for granted.

Playing football for the NFL is my dream, and if I have a good season in the fall, I’m hoping to enter the draft next spring. But it can all go away in the blink of an eye. One pull, tear, or broken bone can end a career.

And watching Liam pack up his things and clear out his locker two days ago was tough. He accepted a transfer to Michigan, of all places. Poor guy. But there, he’ll be starting again, and he’ll have a real shot to make it in the draft when he goes next year. I’m going to miss him. He’s been a good friend to me and a great leader on the field.

So, things have gotten quiet around here.

Casey seems to be hanging out with Noelle more and more. I can’t tell what the deal is with those two, and every time I ask him, he blows me off. He did tell me she got back together with Trey, but he’s in season now, so she doesn’t get to see him as much. But I don’t want Casey to be used by her as a fallback boy. He’s the best of the best, and he deserves a girl who will love him the way he loves.

Charlie’s room finally became available at the sorority house, but she decided to stay with me because it didn’t make sense to move her so close to the end of the year. There’s also a chance I might have begged her not to go. Her terms in order for her to stay here were for me to allow her to redecorate our room.

So, we returned the cot, which she’d only used for a month or so really. Then we pulled everything out of the room and painted it. Pink.

We’re permitted to paint the walls during our lease period, which we renewed for another year, as long as we paint it back to the color it was when we moved in. Fair enough. So, now my girl has her pink palace on the prairie.

Along the whole wall where her cot sat, she put a large group of peonies, like a wallpaper or sticker thing. I mean … it’s covered. Above my desk, which we now share, she framed new and old pictures of us. Some just the two of us, some with Casey in them too.

My Star Wars comforter has been replaced with a pink one, but she did let me keep my pillowcase with the Millennium Falcon on it. And there’s a huge picture above the bed; it’s an arial photo of the championship game that she had blown up to a canvas print. It’s awesome—I’m not gonna lie. Even though she had it tinted … pink.

If I thought she had all her stuff in the bathroom before, I was wrong. I don’t even remember seeing half of this stuff in the boxes in the closet before she completely unpacked. But it was all in there. We have glass canisters that hold some of her things and some that hold Q-tips and cotton balls and a fake plant. In the bathroom. Oh, and a picture hanging over the toilet that says, If you sprinkle when you tinkle, please be neat and wipe the seat . For the record, I don’t sprinkle when I take a piss. But she thought it was funny, so up it went.

She made some additions to the house as a whole, but thankfully didn’t go the pink route. But she did reorganize the kitchen, and we now have containers holding cereal, pasta, and oatmeal. Everything that should be in boxes is now in containers. Same with the fridge—God forbid someone sets the milk in the wrong place. Where she had hidden this creature before she officially moved in, we can’t figure it out. And, yes, she did all of this since we’d come home from Miami.

Surprisingly, her parents and my dad weren’t shocked that Charlie had decided to stay in our house. Tim knows I love his daughter, but I’m sure it was a little weird for him to know she’d be sharing my bed. I think it makes him feel better in some way, knowing Casey is here. And that maybe we aren’t banging on every surface of the house.

Spoiler alert: We are.

Speaking of my girl, where the fuck is she? She should have been home forty minutes ago.

I haven’t seen her since this morning. Between classes and the gym, our schedules don’t mesh well.

I hear the front door open, and I peek around the wall from where I’m sitting at the kitchen table with my afternoon mac ’n’ cheese. Now that we’re not in season, I’m a little more liberal with what I eat. At least until spring ball starts.

Archie comes through the door with a huge bag in his hand. It doesn’t look like his gym bag, but maybe he got a new one for his training gear.

He’s leaving for the combine in Indiana soon. NFL coaches, scouts, managers, and team owners attend. Players are tested on not only their physical abilities, but their mental abilities as well. It’s an intense four days. I wish I could go with him, but we’ll be able to catch some, if not all, of it on TV.

“Yo,” he says, dropping his bag and walking into the kitchen.

“Sup, man?” I nod to his bag. “You just coming in from training?”

“Uh, yeah. And then I had to go pick something up for a friend of mine. I’m just stopping here for a few before I need to head out again.”

“Dude, you’ve hardly been here at all lately. I know you’re not out partying, and you aren’t training all night. So … where are you spending all your time?”

He looks at me for a minute, and I can’t read his face. Like he kind of wants to tell me something, but he’s not really sure if he should.

“I’ve just been spending some time with a friend, is all.”

“Aha! A girlfriend?”

He huffs, “She’s a girl, and she’s my friend. I’d like her to be more, but she’s not there yet. And with me about to get drafted, well, it complicates things a little bit.”

I’m too in shock to reply. Archie has a girl. One girl. Who he likes.

Seriously, what has been happening here lately?

His phone starts ringing; it plays our fight song, and every time it goes off, it makes me jump. Not because I don’t like it, but because it’s loud as shit. He pulls it out of his pants pocket. He doesn’t answer it, so I assume it’s not a call, but a text. Fucker has that song set for both.

“I gotta run, but I’ll see you later, my man. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” He pats my shoulder as he walks out.

“Which leaves a whole lot of trouble.”

He picks up the bag and goes to his room. He must toss it in there because, seconds later, he’s walking back out the door with a wave.

Twenty minutes later, Charlie finally walks in the door. “I’m so sorry I’m late! I stopped by the house after class and found Lily crying in her room. I couldn’t just leave her. Arbor wasn’t back from class yet. So, I stayed with her and got to hear all about the drama she’s having with this guy at the Lambda Xi house. I mean, that should have been her first clue, but what do I know?”

She walks over to me, and I scoot my chair back slightly to give her room to sit on my lap.

She wraps her arms around my shoulders when she sits and leans in for a kiss. “Hi.”

“Hey, you.”

“I missed you today. Did you have a good day?”

“Uh, yeah. Just class, and then I went to the gym. Finally saw Archie. He stopped in for a hot second. When I asked him where he’d been lately, he kind of acted weird, then told me about a girl.”

“SHUT UP! Archie has a girlfriend? No freaking way.” Her mouth is hanging open.

“Well, not really, I guess, but he wants her to be. He bolted out of here within a few minutes of getting a text, so I assume it was her. He’s gotta leave soon for the combine and then the draft, so I guess that might be causing a problem or something.”

“It’s funny that you bring that up. What are we going to do if you enter the draft next year? I’ll have one more year of school left. And once you get drafted, you’ll pretty much leave right away, right?”

She bites down on her lower lip. I want to pull it out and kiss it.

“I don’t know. I guess I’ve never really thought about it. I mean, I know we’re always going to be together, so I just assumed you’d go with me or come as soon as you could. Either way, it has to be your decision. You know I want you with me all the time.”

She scrunches up her face. It’s both adorable and disturbing. So, I reach out and brush my thumb along her nose and cheek, across the freckles that are lightly scattered there.

“Oh! Speaking of the draft, I thought we could have a draft day party. I was thinking I could invite Arbor and Lily so I had someone to talk to while you guys watched.”

“You don’t want to watch?”

“Of course I will, duh. But I mean, you guys start talking about plays and all kinds of stuff that I don’t know about.”

“What are you talking about? You know more about football than any girl I know and even some guys.”

“You’re cute for saying that, but that’s not true.” She shakes her head a little. “Okay, maybe I do know more than the average girl, but I still want friends here too.”

“Fair.”

“Okay, yay! So, I think it would be fun if we watched?—”

“ Draft Day .”

“Yes! Like we always did. And I’ll make some snacks, we’ll get some beer or whatever you guys want, and we’ll watch some of our friends have their dreams come true.” She smiles and kisses me. “Sound good?”

“Whatever you want, babe. I’ll see if Casey wants to invite anyone over, but I’ll probably invite Callaway and a few other guys.”

“Perfect.” She kisses me. “So, tell me, what was the best part of your day?”

I stand with her in my arms. “How about I show you instead?”

As soon as we get to our room, I drop her onto the bed, where I do, in fact, show her what the best part of my day is. Her coming. On my tongue.