The Wrong Quarterback: Chapter 3

“Ishouldn’t have had that third espresso,” Nat moaned as we walked across campus, weaving through the steady stream of students heading to their first classes. She was hopping every third step, talking really fast, and she looked a little green…but otherwise she looked beautiful. Her blond hair was down in beachy waves I’d never be able to do on myself, and her makeup looked like something out of a magazine.

“How did you drink three that fast?” I asked. I was still holding my mostly full first cup, feeling too nervous to add much caffeine to the mix.

“It all happened so fast,” Nat whispered as she brought her fourth espresso up to her lips.

I snorted, glad for the distraction. I hadn’t slept at all last night worrying about today. And how it would feel starting classes at the university Ben was supposed to attend.

This was supposed to be him walking along this path, him grabbing coffee at the Student Center, him taking the campus by storm. Knowing Ben, he would have already had tons of friends in the three days of orientation.

It should have been him here.

Not me.

“Hey, smile, Roomie. I’m the one that’s supposed to be puking this morning,” Nat teased, nudging me with her elbow. I hadn’t told her about Ben yet, but I’m sure it hadn’t escaped her notice that I was prone to melancholy. So far, though, she’d been kind enough to ignore it.

“Sorry,” I huffed. “Just nervous, I guess.”

Nat bit her lip as she studied me for a minute. “I think this is going to be a very good year for us, Casey Larsen. I just have a good feeling about it.”

I had to grin back.

The morning air was cool, and I was still getting my bearings on the campus layout. I’d been the awkward turtle who had walked my whole class schedule yesterday so that I didn’t get lost on my way to class…only for Nat to decide to go a completely different direction.

We turned a corner, and I came to a halt when I saw a massive concrete building that looked like it had been plucked from some dystopian movie up ahead. Strange symbols were carved into the stone, giving it a dark, secretive vibe that didn’t match anything else around campus.

“Wow. What is that?” I asked, tilting my head as I stared up at the ominous structure.

Nat snorted, shooting a look like she was half-annoyed, half-intrigued. “That? That’s the Sphinx.”

“The Sphinx?” I repeated. I didn’t think that I’d heard of that in any campus tour or catalog.

She nodded. “One of the secret societies on campus. They have chapters at a bunch of colleges around the country, but supposedly they’re the most exclusive. Basically every president, every famous athlete, every famous actor…all members of the Sphinx during college. I think it started at Darkwood College.” She pursed her lips. “Or something like that.”

Nat pulled me forward, so we were walking again. “Want to hear something weird?”

“What?” I asked curiously.

“They have the biggest water bill in the state.”

I raised an eyebrow, looking back at the building. “Why?”

“Good question,” Nat said with a shrug. “Nobody has a clue. Part of the mystery, I guess. You’ve never heard about the campus secret societies before?”

“Nope. Guess the tour left that part out,” I murmured, still eyeing the place over my shoulder. Just standing near it gave me chills.

We kept walking, and as we rounded the next corner, all thoughts of the creepy Sphinx building disappeared. A massive banner hung over one of the main campus buildings, and plastered right in the middle was the most gorgeous face that I’d ever freaking seen. The banner said: This is our year. Are you ready? Parker Davis was written in block letters at the very top.

I stopped dead in my tracks, just…staring.

Yes. Yes, I was ready.

He was…beautiful. Not in the guy-next-door way. He was the kind of pretty that made your jaw drop. Strong jawline, cheekbones sharp enough to cut glass, and a cocky smirk that told you he just knew what to do…with his hands.

And those eyes. I mean that had to be photoshopped, right? There was no way eyes like that existed—blue, piercing, with a line of gold around the pupil and flecks of gold dusted across the blue like stars in a night sky.

Okay…he was literally making me wax poetic looking at him.

There was a light shadow of scruff around his jaw that gave him an edge. And his hair…I had the sudden, weird craving to drag my fingers through it. The rich brown color was streaked with gold like the sun followed him around.

Something twisted inside me, and there was a strange heat building in my stomach. My reaction was embarrassing. It wasn’t like I hadn’t seen good-looking guys before. But I’d been wrapped up in Gray for so long that I’d never given someone more than half a glance.

But it was impossible to do that with this guy.

Nat’s laugh snapped me out of my lustful trance. She elbowed me, grinning like a mad woman. “Do we need to go back to the dorm…get you a change of panties?” she asked innocently.

It took me a second to realize what she was insinuating, and I blushed as soon as I did. “It’s just a…I mean it’s a big—” I glanced at the banner again, my eyes sliding over the huge bulge in his football pants. Definitely photoshop, right? “It’s a big sign,” I hurriedly finished, intentionally avoiding her eyes.

She snorted. “Right. It’s a big sign. I’m just saying…it wouldn’t be weird if Parker Davis got you going. I’m pretty sure he’s every student’s fantasy around here. Even the professors get tongue-tied around him.”

“And how do you know this already? Do you know him?” I asked casually, feeling strangely…jealous that she’d possibly talked to him.

“I wish,” she sighed, keeping her gaze on the banner as we walked by. “Alas, all of my knowledge comes from stalking all the fan websites devoted to him before I started school.”

“Fan websites? Or fan clubs,” I said with a grin.

“I may have paid the twenty-dollar membership fee,” she said haughtily, a blush now spreading across her cheeks. “But you’re not going to be making fun of me when I let you look at the two pictures they send a week.”

“How do they have new pictures every week?”

She shrugged. “I mean I’m sure the whole campus stalks him, so he probably always has cameras taking pictures of him.”

My eyes widened. It was hard to imagine being in college and being…famous. But I guess that’s what he was.

“You can take your own pictures at the game tomorrow,” Nat purred, elbowing me like she could see right into my head.

“Casey!” Gray’s voice called from nearby, and I heard Nat sigh as I turned to find him walking toward us. I felt…guilty. Because for the first time since I’d met him I wasn’t thinking he was the hottest guy I’d ever seen.

“Hi,” I said, smiling when he came up and hugged me. I hadn’t seen very much of him during orientation. It was rush week for his fraternity. He’d had to cancel our first dinner because of a rush thing that came up. So besides a quick breakfast on one day and one other lunch, I hadn’t seen him at all.

“You look pretty,” he said, his eyes widening as he looked me up and down. I still never knew what to say when he said it like that, almost like he was surprised every time. I couldn’t have looked that bad before. He had kissed me after all.

Nat huffed next to me again, and I side-eyed her. I was starting to get the feeling that Gray wasn’t her favorite person. I’d been really disappointed when he’d canceled dinner on my move-in day, and she’d seemed to hold it against him ever since.

“Thank you. So do you.” Crap, this was awkward. I couldn’t talk to a guy on a normal day, and that guy being Gray made it even worse.

I could only imagine what I would say if a guy like Parker Davis ever talked to me. Okay…not thinking about that.

“Want to have lunch with me after class? What do you have today again?”

My insides sank a little at that. I had sent him my full class schedule as soon as I got it, and I still think he’d asked me that same question at least ten times over text since then. I mean it was ridiculous to think that he should have to memorize it. But that would have shown he was interested, right? I’d memorized his schedule.

In the two times I’d seen him on campus he’d been really touchy-feely, hovering over me so his frat bros didn’t get too friendly with me. But I still wasn’t sure what this was.

“I have History of the Roman Empire and then Calculus II,” I told him. He shivered in mock horror, and I grinned. Gray still hadn’t declared his major, even though he was a junior this year. At this rate he was going to be on the ten-year college plan if he didn’t decide soon.

“We’d better get to class, wouldn’t want to be late,” Nat said in a sweet, fake voice.

Gray lifted his hat up and ran his hand through his hair. “Alright…well, text me when you’re done?”

Before I could answer, he swept in…and kissed me. It was just once, but it caught me so off-guard, for a second I was afraid I was going to faint. He started walking away, acting like what he’d just done was no-big deal.

And then he really did me in.

“Ben would have been proud of you, Case,” he called over his shoulder before he just walked away.

My whole body shivered, and I hunched over, wrapping my arms around myself and trying to hold in the tears.

“Casey?” Nat said softly. “Are you okay? Who’s Ben?”

“My big brother,” I whispered. “He was Gray’s best friend. He died in a car crash two years ago. We were both with him.”

She didn’t ask anything else after that, just wrapped her arm around my shoulders and guided me toward the building where both our first classes were as I moved on autopilot.

Nat walked me all the way to the entrance of my class and turned me to face her, already showing she was a better friend than anyone else I’d ever had in my life.

Besides Ben.

“For the record, I still think this is going to be a great year, Casey Larsen,” she said, trying to get me to smile. I reluctantly smiled back, feeling bad I’d gone zombie-girl on her when she’d only known me for a few days.

“I agree,” I said softly, and I tried to feel the words in my bones.

For Ben.