Page 7

SEVEN

As I make the drive to the dorms to pick Rowan up, I think about all the opportunities I have to embarrass her if she decides to leave me hanging. I'm not above throwing rocks at windows and lifting a boombox Say Anything style. I know most of the girls I've gone out with would be thrilled for me to do something like that, but something tells me Rowan would hate it. People would look at her, and her entire body would turn bright red from embarrassment.

Do I want to embarrass her? No. But I will if I have to.

She's not getting out of this date easily.

Luckily, I won't have to throw any pebbles or climb any windows because she's sitting on a bench outside of the dorm in a pair of sweatpants and an oversized band T-shirt. Her brown hair is thrown up in a messy bun, and she's not wearing any makeup. Compared to my khakis and button-up shirt, she definitely looks disheveled. But there's something adorable about it that I like.

I park my car and get out to walk to her like a gentleman. She doesn't trust me, and I don't fully understand why, so I will do everything I can to earn her trust tonight.

“Don't you look ravishing,” I say, walking over to her with my hands in my pockets. She looks at me and stands up, gesturing to her clothes. “I'm so glad you decided to dress up for this. I worried that you might think this wasn't a serious date.”

“It's laundry day. What can I say?” Rowan says, shrugging casually. “I guess we should probably reschedule or something.”

Of course she would dress like this just to get me to call this date off. That's not going to work on me, though.

“No, you're not getting off that easy.” I pause and laugh. “Unless you play your cards right.”

She blushes and nervously looks away from me, no doubt remembering what happened in the library earlier this afternoon. I've been thinking about it nonstop, and I've practically had a semi ever since. I want her more than I can describe, and I know she wants me too. I'm not going to stop until both of us are satisfied.

I hold my arm out for her to take, and she reluctantly grabs it, following me to my car. I open the door for her and close it as soon as she sits in the passenger seat. She stares at me with a surprised look as she buckles her seat belt.

“So what's the plan? Fingering in a museum?” Rowan asks with faux excitement in her voice.

“You'd like that, wouldn't you?” She can't help but crack a smile. “We're going to Le Fleur, actually. I wouldn't count your blessings for fingering, though, this is a classy establishment. Sorry to disappoint.”

I put the car in drive and pull away from the curb, but she immediately looks back toward the dorm with a panicked look. “Wait, that place is super fancy. I can't go there like this.”

It's true, she definitely can't. It's one of the most high-end restaurants in the city, and she's wearing sweatpants and flip-flops.

“Sorry, I have reservations, and we’re already cutting it close,” I say, almost enjoying the pained look on her face. At least now she knows this is what happens when she tries to mess with me. Two can play at her little game.

The restaurant isn't far from campus, so we get there in a little less than ten minutes. I hop out of the car and run around to her side before she can open the door. She hesitates in the car for a moment, and I feel bad for bringing her here, knowing she feels self-conscious.

“It'll be fine, I promise,” I say and hold my hand out to her. She takes a deep breath and grasps it, walking with me toward the front door.

She doesn't let go when we walk inside and see a dining room packed with well-dressed diners. My face falls when I see that the hostess is Jessica. She smiles when she sees me, then looks at Rowan standing beside me, her eyes scanning her from the tip of her messy bun to her unpainted toenails.

“I'm so sorry, we actually have a dress code here,” Jessica says, walking around the podium to stare at the two of us. “Sawyer, if you would like to come to the table, I can take you there now. But you'll have to go, geek.”

Jessica smirks, twirling her hair between her fingers and staring at Rowan with contempt. I look at Rowan and see just how embarrassed she is. Her entire face turns red, and she looks like she might be on the verge of tears.

“Apologize,” I say to Jessica, nodding my head to Rowan. “Apologize to her, or I'll tell your manager you are calling customers names.”

“She's not a customer,” Jessica immediately retorts, rolling her eyes at me before landing them on Rowan and glaring. “We would never let somebody like her in here.”

“Why do you have to be so mean?” I ask, remembering how she poured her drink on her at the party and how possessive she was of me. I know the answer. I just want her to say it.

“I'm just upholding the restaurant's policies,” Jessica says, getting defensive as she realizes I'm not going to take her side in this battle.

“Is it because I wouldn't sleep with you on Friday?” Rowan's mouth hangs open as I say it, and Jessica looks terribly offended. She lets out a fake laugh as if to tell me I'm ridiculous, but the look in her eyes tells me I'm right.

“As if you could get me if you wanted to,” Jessica replies, tossing her hair over her shoulder. “Now if you two could get out of here so I can free up your table, I would appreciate that.”

I grab Rowan's hand and lead her to the door again, walking to my car fuming with anger. I've gone out with plenty of girls like Jessica, and their attitudes are always why I can't be in serious relationships with them. But hearing her talk about Rowan badly as if she wasn't standing there infuriates me.

I open her car door and close it for her, sliding into mine as soon as I'm done. I grip the steering wheel tight as I look ahead and pull out, fearing this date is already going downhill for her.

“Thanks for sticking up for me,” Rowan eventually says, looking at me with a meek smile. “I really didn't mean to cause any trouble for you. I dressed like this to mess with you because I didn't think you would have anything like that planned.”

“Why not?” I ask, taking a few deep breaths to soften my demeanor. I try to think about what else the two of us can do now that my original plan is out, and when the idea hits me, I make a U-turn to go to Benny's Diner.

“I mean, that place is super serious. People go there when they want to propose. I didn't think it was going to be a first date, especially when it's not something serious,” Rowan says, laughing it off.

“Why wouldn't it be serious? I asked you on a date because I wanted to go on a date with you,” I say, stopping at a red light and looking at her as she stares at me. It's finally setting in for her that I'm not just messing around or trying to get in her pants. Of course, I want nothing more than to sleep with her, but that'll come in time. I can wait for that.

“I guess I just didn't realize you were being honest,” Rowan says, looking away from me down at her hands in her lap. “I've just had problems with jocks like you in the past, and I thought this was some kind of joke. Like maybe you and some of the other players decided you'd try to date one of the band geeks and tell everyone else about it.”

We pull up outside of Benny's Diner, and the bright blue neon sign fills the car. Rowan looks at it and squints her eyes, seeing that there is no restaurant inside for us to go to, though there are some picnic tables outside. A few moments after arriving, a woman in roller skates stops next to my window and leans down to take our orders.

I look at Rowan, and she has a wide smile on her face, clearly having never been here before. Benny's Diner is a staple in our city, and the rest of the guys from the team and I almost always come here after a rough practice.

“You eat meat, right?” I ask before I place our orders for both of us. Rowan nods, and I turn to the server and order two Benny burgers and hand-spun vanilla milkshakes for both of us. When the server leaves, I roll the window up and turn back to Rowan. “Normally, I wouldn't place an order for a girl, but if you didn't have this, we would have had problems.”

“I'll trust your judgment on this one.” Rowan laughs, leaning back in her seat and relaxing for the first time all night. “So, since this is a date, I suppose we should get to know each other a little bit.”

“What do you want to know?”

“What are you planning on doing with your life?” she asks, raising an eyebrow with a genuinely interested look.

“Well, I do have dreams of making my football experience more than just a college hobby, but I’m also a realist. I'm studying marketing to make sure I can provide for myself and my family in case the whole NFL dream doesn't pan out,” I say, shrugging my shoulders.

“I don't know. I've seen you on the field, and you're pretty talented. Granted, this is the only football I've really watched since high school, and I don't have much to compare it to because my school was notoriously bad,” Rowan says, rambling a bit as she blushes. “But I think you're talented enough that you could have a good future ahead of you after college.”

I look at her with pretend shock on my face. “Is Rowan Peebles saying something kind to me? What has happened to the universe?”

“If you want, I can go back to being standoffish. Your choice.” She shrugs.

“No, let's not. I liked the other version of you, but this one is great too.” The server knocks on the window shortly after and brings our food. I open it and excitedly hand Rowan her burger and shake, watching as she takes her first sip. Her eyes open wide, and she nods, immediately going back for another.

“That's delicious.” She moans as she takes another sip, and it immediately reminds me of the library. I don't think the sound of her crying out from pleasure and having to cover her own mouth to hide it will ever leave my mind. I could listen to that everyday for the rest of my life.

“What about your big dreams?” I ask between bites of the burger.

“I want to be a music teacher,” she says with a soft smile. “I've always loved music, hence being in the band. I'm dual majoring in music composition and early childhood education right now.”

I have to say, I'm impressed by that. Dual majoring is incredibly difficult. I can imagine that's a lot for her to handle, especially with band on the side.

“What makes you want to do that?”

“When I was in third grade, my dad died in a car accident, and it was the worst thing I ever experienced.” She sets her food down on her lap and clears her throat, clearly trying to fight back the emotion she feels talking about it again. “It was a really difficult time, and my mom didn't know how to handle me because I was so upset and misbehaving. Eventually, we went through a rotation in our art lessons at school for music. The teacher gave me a recorder and taught me how to play ‘Auld Lang Syne,’ and that sparked my love for music. After that, I was sent to music camp, and it's helped me all through my life. I want to be able to help other kids like me.”

A wide smile grows as I stare at her, weirdly proud of her. She's intelligent and kind, and she has a good head on her shoulders. “That's really sweet. I know you'll do just that, too.”

We finish our meals, and I reluctantly drive back to the dorm. If I could, I would stay out with her all night long and get to know every detail of her life. I want to ask her what her earliest memory is and ask her to recount every detail she remembers so I can know everything about her. Unfortunately, we have classes tomorrow. I'm not particularly studious, but I even care about that.

When we get to the dorm, I once again jump out of the car and open the door before she can open it herself. I walk her inside and linger by the metal elevator doors as we wait for it to open, wishing I could go upstairs with her.

“I don't know if you think what happened in the library means I'm going to sleep with you, but I'm not,” Rowan says, her voice soft as she stares up at me, biting her lips softly.

I smirk at her and shake my head, reaching my hand to cup her cheek. “Actually, I wasn't planning on that. I was only going to kiss you good night.”

I lean toward her and press my lips against hers. She doesn't hesitate with this kiss like she did the first time. Her lips swish against mine and part, hungry to taste more of me again. I hold her close, grabbing her waist and pulling her toward me, wishing neither of us had said what we did about not sleeping together.

Rowan's tongue explores my mouth, gently tapping on the roof and tickling me. I could do this all night, easily. But Rowan's words are heavy in my mind, and I don't want to push this too far. The last thing I want is her to think I'm taking advantage of her, so I reluctantly pull away. Her head is still tilted upward, a pleading look in her eyes silently asking me to kiss her again.

“I should probably get going,” I say just as the elevator door opens and a few students scramble off, their conversation coming to a halt when they see the two of us embracing. Rowan's face turns red as she climbs on the elevator, looking at me.

“Tonight was surprisingly fun,” she says, waving at me as the doors close.

“Don't worry, it won't be the last time I take you out,” I promise just as the doors close, separating the two of us.