Page 6

A blaring alarm beeped in my ear as I tried to shove my head further under the silk pillow.

Silk? What the fuck, these were not my sheets.

I looked at the other side of the bed and saw a lean body tucked under the light pink sheets.

From what I could see she was a blonde. Makes sense.

.. that was usually my type—especially after I've drunk whisky.

This time of year was always the hardest—well, on my liver. We're just about done pre-season training so every damn night the boys find some reason for us to bond as a team. Give me a break. That inevitably ends with some idiot coming up with a way for us to haze the rookies or find girls.

Last night was clearly a night we decided to find girls.

A hazy memory flashed of us stampeding up to a sorority house and demanding they let us in.

Of course, they did because...well not be douchy but it's us.

Girls saw football players and basically dropped their panties right then and there.

I learned that in my freshman year and have been testing the theory for over two years now. Still works like a charm...

The girl next to me stirred so I grabbed my clothes and high-tailed it out of there before I had to deal with morning-after conversations. Did I have fun? Sure... Do I want to do it again sometime? Maybe... Do I want your number? Not at all.

Once I got outside on Greek Row I quickly jogged back to the football house.

I had to shower and eat before my classes started at 10.

Professors tended to not like it when I showed up late, especially on the first day.

For a long time, I put the bare minimum of effort into my classes.

I mean why bother? I'm already getting attention from NFL scouts so why do I need a business degree?

But at the end of last year, my grades were at an all-time low, and my parents got a letter warning them that I was about to be put on academic probation.

My dad was pissed of course. But I can't remember the last time that man wasn't pissed.

Besides he only cared that they could kick me off the team.

My mom though... fuuuuck. She cried.

I consider myself a pretty strong man but seeing my mom cry because I had disappointed her?

That fucking stung. So I promised to try.

Try being the operative word. I couldn't pull a miracle out of my ass but I'm naturally pretty smart—it shouldn't be that bad to get my grades up.

My morning passed uneventfully. I went to my two classes then headed to the cafeteria for lunch before my afternoon practise. I was walking down the path to the Caf building when I noticed a small figure sitting under an oak tree a few yards away.

They tucked themselves almost completely out of sight of the path but the wispy black curls caught my eye.

Charlotte? I walked over to take a peek and sure enough, it was Charlotte.

She was sitting at the base of the tree with her knees up by her chest and her head tucked down.

Now I'm no expert on female body language, but she definitely seemed upset. Or tired?

"Uuuhh Charlotte?" Her head snapped up to look at me and her eyes told me everything I needed to know.

Yep... upset. Her large brown eyes were glassy and rimmed red.

I instantly regretted walking over here.

What the fuck was I supposed to do if she was upset?

I'm not good at this shit and I'm probably the last person she wanted to talk to.

She seemed to be wondering the same thing because instead of speaking she just stared up at me with a confused frown.

Sighing, I decided to bite the bullet and try to be decent. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine thanks," She replied curtly, obviously expecting me to accept that and walk away. Which is what you should do dipshit... But then a flashback of Mrs. Avery sprung into my head.

She had pulled me aside at our family's picnic and asked me to watch out for Charlotte.

Her sharp nails had clung to my arm while she stared up at me with tears in her eyes.

Fuck... what was with these women and making me do shit with their tears?

I didn't know what to say and I really just wanted the whole interaction to be over, so I had agreed.

"Look," I said as I sat down in front of her, "It doesn't seem like you're okay... So if you need to talk or some shit just... say it. I might be able to help." I said all of this while staring at the grass because me and meaningful conversation really didn't mix.

When she didn't respond right away I looked up and saw her staring back at me.

Her nose scrunched up a little and her eyes were narrowed like she thought I had ulterior motives.

Fuck, remind me why I'm trying so hard to help this girl?

I could be eating a burger by now. But instead, I just stared back with both eyebrows raised clearly signalling that I was waiting.

"Well..." she started with a soft, light voice, "it's stupid really.

I had my first two classes this morning and they both just went horribly.

I thought I was ready for college but I don't know.

I think I'm too dumb or too immature. Everyone else seemed to have so much to contribute and then when the professors called on me I just panicked and barely got a few words out.

I sounded like such an idiot... I don't know how I'm going to survive this semester let alone finish my whole degree. "

Well, fuck me... This is the most I had heard Charlotte speak in years.

Had her voice always been this nice to listen to?

I mean shit—I knew she was upset but if I laid down I'm pretty sure she could put me to sleep.

I realized a little late that I was supposed to be helping her so I scrunched my face, looking up at the sky, and tried to think of advice for her.

"Look you're in freshman classes right? I don't care what those idiots pretend, no one has a fucking clue what they're doing when they first get here.

Some people just fake it better than others.

" I looked down at her to see if I was helping at all.

The tears in her eyes had dried up so I guess, at the very least, I wasn't making it any worse.

"Plus, you were smart enough to get in here, so you're smart enough to stay.

I'm not particularly fond of talking to people either,"-that made her smile a little-"so, I always try to make a few notes when I'm doing the readings and find stuff I feel comfortable talking about.

Then when the prof starts a discussion just put your hand up early and say your piece from your notes.

The classes are so big that most profs call on new people every time.

" I finished with a half shrug, "So if you get it out of the way on a topic you know then you'll be set for the rest of class.

" Fuck... give me a damn pedestal, that's what I call a speech.

Her face brightened a little and she smiled timidly. It was a little disconcerting how much pride swelled inside of me when I realized I maybe actually helped. What the hell was going on?

"Thanks, Archer... I think I am actually going to try that.

" She picked up her backpack to leave when she suddenly stopped and looked back at me.

"By the way... I'm uh... sorry about yesterday.

I was frustrated but I shouldn't have yelled at you.

It wasn't nice. I'm just a little sensitive I guess about people thinking I'm too much of a kid to take care of myself. "

I smiled a bit that she thought her tiny little outburst had been not nice. She should listen to Coach yell at us after we messed up an easy play. That's not nice.

"It's all good. And for what it's worth," I said as I rubbed my jaw awkwardly, "I uh... don't think you're a kid." She gave me a genuine smile and thanked me as she stood up and began to walk back towards the dorms.

By instinct, my eyes dropped down to check out her ass as she walked away. Fuck. She's got some nice curves on that tiny frame of hers. Nope... definitely don't think she's a kid.

After my little detour with Charlotte, I didn't have enough time for lunch so I ran straight to the football field for practice. I was one of the first guys there when I went to my locker to get ready.

"Oh hey, Archer! How's it going, man? You excited for drills today?

" Looking up I saw that kid who had been with Charlotte twice now.

What was his name? Matt? He's a chatty mother fucker who doesn't ever take a hint.

Every other rookie learned right away in training camp to leave me alone—but this kid just keeps coming back like we're best fucking friends.

"Who the fuck gets excited about drills?" I snapped.

"Ignore him, Emmett. Johnson here gets a little grumpy when he drinks too much whisky. Honestly, he's grumpy when he doesn't drink enough whisky too. Wait fuck. Johnson, you're just always grumpy?" The fake ass shock on James' face made me roll my eyes.

He knew damn well I wasn't a people person.

We had roomed together freshman year in the dorms. Since I had managed to tolerate him for the most part we got rooms next to each other in the football house, sophomore year.

He still annoyed the fuck out of me but he's not as much of an idiot as some of the others.

"Do you have to be so damn close to me?" I complained as James sat his ass on the bench practically on top of me.

"Kiss my ass Johnson you know you like it.

" I was about to wipe the floor with his smug face when Coach came in and yelled at us to hurry up.

He also reminded us all about the mandatory Pep Rally we'd have to show up to on Thursday before our first home game.

Great... as you can imagine I'm just filled with god forsaken pep.

I gave both James and Matt one last annoyed glare, then turned around and quickly got into my gear.

As I ran out of the tunnel and onto the field I let a small smile appear on my face.

I'm not going to admit it to some idiot rookie, but football—even just running drills—was one of the few things that did make me happy.