Page 5 of The Hardest Fall

I bet he didn’t, I thought. I bet the lucky bastard wasn’t upset about it at all.

She started talking even faster, making it almost impossible to follow her thoughts.

“But then Lindsay’s friend, Molly, randomly pointed at you. You were talking to some guys across the room, and she dared me to kiss you. What’s so special about you, I have no idea.” I opened my mouth, but she held up her hand and continued without a pause. “So, I had to say I could because I’m not good with dares and bets. I get a tad bit competitive. Since I got away with just a peck with the last guy, they dared me to go full out with you. Again, I don’t know if you’re some kind of hotshot or something, but I guess there is something about you that makes you special enough for them to insist that much. Maybe you’re their type, I don’t have a freaking clue. I asked them to give me a few minutes and followed you here so I could ask your permission before I attacked you in front of everyone or at least attempted to attack you in front of everyone to basically suck your face. Now, after what I’ve seen…just to make sure…you’re not gay, are you? Because if that’s why they insisted so much…that’s cruel.”

When she kept looking at me expectantly, I straightened up and rubbed the back of my neck.

“This is probably gonna sound like a lie to you, but…” How to say this? “As much as I’d love to help you out with your dare, I have a girlfriend.” We’d only been out once, but still... “She’s late getting here, but she’s probably out there now, and I think I should—”

“Ah. Oh. Oh, of course. Okay.”

I watched her eyes bounce all over the place, her gaze touching me only once or twice, and even then, only for a second. Then she blindly reached for the handle, opened the door, and stepped out.

“I’m really sorry, you know,” she started, her voice slightly louder in an effort to be heard over the ruckus going on outside. Her eyes dropped down to my pants then came back up to my eyes. “About that…and everything else. This whole night has been weird…weird and stupid. I’m just gonna leave, and…” Another step away. “Yeah. Sorry,” she repeated, her eyes focused on my shoulder instead of my eyes as she kept backing away.

That’s when I realized her eyes were watering. Having a sister teaches you a thing or two about these things, and I knew this girl was seconds away from crying.

“Wait. Hey, wait!” I yelled, quickly walking after her before she could disappear.

She glanced back at me over her shoulder without stopping.

“What’s your name?” I yelled louder.

She gave me a small smile, something between sad and horrified, just as I watched that first tear slide down. Then she was gone, disappearing into the crowd before I could reach her.

Why I wanted to know her name, why my eyes looked for her every now and then the entire night…back then, I didn’t know.

Chapter Two

Zoe

One year later

The second time Dylan Reed saw me, I was trying to disappear into thin air. If we didn’t make eye contact, if I couldn’t see him, he couldn’t see me either, right?

Well…apparently, that’s not how it works.

A year before, when I’d made a complete fool out of myself, I hadn’t even known the guy’s name, and that had made it easier to just forget about the whole thing. If he had been just a nameless guy I’d randomly come across at a college party—admittedly, a very very sexy one—it would’ve been fine, but no, it wasn’t. Of course not—things were never that easy for me. The guy the mean girls from freshman year chose for me to kiss was one of the hotshots from the football team, the star wide receiver who was apparently one of the few players expected to make it into the NFL, and that made him pretty popular around campus. Sure, it’s a big campus, but not big enough for me to avoid him forever.

After a long day filled with classes, I was on my way to the apartment when I saw him—well, more like them. He had three of his friends with him, and I knew at least one of them was a teammate: the quarterback, Christopher Wilson. Who the other two were, I had no idea. Christopher Wilson, though…he was the big man on campus, as most quarterbacks always seem to be. I knew that much, and maybe a little more about him. It wasn’t as much as I’d have liked to know, but I knew a few bits. Even so, at that moment, seeing Chris didn’t even register in my mind. The person walking next to him had all my attention.