“I know you aren’t in our sorority, but you’re going to the dance with us, right?” My friend Francesca said, hopping on the bed behind Trinity. She yanked Trinity’s hair into a ponytail and Trin squealed. Francesca was one of Trinity’s sorority sisters and my classmates. She had a tendency to come over and experiment with hairstyles.

I spun around in my desk chair. “I don't really have a reason to go.”

“Yeah, and Tristan didn’t just send you an invite to an invite only party,” Trinity said and I blushed.

Tristan had asked me a week before and wanted me to think about it. I thought about it for a while. I thought about whether I liked him enough to go out with him or if he was just being nice. I definitely thought about him still being my teacher's assistant. “I'm not sure if I want to go with him or not.”

“How? The man is fine as fuck. I’d go.” She winked and Francesca laughed.

“He’s her teacher's assistant. She can't go with him. It’s against the rules.”

“Girl, that's just a title.” Trinity had a devious look on her face and Fran rolled her eyes. “Besides, what are rules even? I’d still go out with him.”

“Yeah, you're all for guys like him.”

“Girl, he's been pining after you since you got here. The man obviously doesn't care about his title. So why should you?” Trinity wiggled her body and grimaced when her hair was yanked again.

“Because he’ll get fired?” Because he isn't my type, I thought. Trinity loved forbidden romances. They were her guilty pleasure. If there was a challenge, she’d dive right into it. I was apprehensive. Keirsten would run away.

Francesca stopped fiddling with Trinity’s hair for a moment. “There's a guy named Damien that thinks you're cute. Maybe you could go with him?”

“But is he cute?” Trinity pointed her finger at Francesca.

“I think he's cute.” Francesca’s voice was soft as she spoke. “But he's not butter melting on abs cute, or I guess your type of cute.”

“Pass,” Trin and I said together.

“But are you going or not? It’s not like he’s going to be your T.A. forever and if anything, going with him is an excuse to leave the house.” Trinity squirmed in her spot on her bed. Francesca almost flopped over from Trinity’s movements. It looked like she was building a bird’s nest on top of her head. “Just go. Have fun. If he ends up being a weirdo, you can always make new friends and we’ll kick his ass.”

Trinity’s look of determination said she wasn’t going to budge. She’d probably bother me until I agreed to go. I sighed. “Alright, might as well. I have nothing else better to do.”

“Yes! I win! Send him a message like right now.”

I spun my chair towards my desk and typed out a quick message. He responded in less than a second. God this guy moved fast.

TRISTAN: Great! Want to meet up tomorrow after class? We could meet outside by the trees and choose a place to hang out at.

This guy was way too eager for me. He was already planning rendezvous points. All I did was agree to go to the fraternity dance. That was it, but I would give him a chance. Maybe he just wanted to be comfortable with the person he was going to go dancing with?

* * *

Was it just me or had this guy been eyeing me the entire class? I’d catch Tristan stealing glances at me whenever he did something. He watched me the way people watched the last slice of bacon on a platter. Making sure to catch it if it came in their direction. I was afraid if I moved he would strike. Most people in the class would’ve felt flattered by his looks. I couldn’t decide if I should run or not.

Class was dismissed early, and I headed outside to the stupid tree Tristan wanted to meet at. Why did he want to meet under a damn tree? A bench would’ve been better than a tree.

Ten minutes later, he jogged over to me, a large smile on his face. “Sorry if this spot freaks you out. I’m not trying to eat you or anything.”

Was I that obvious?

“I just thought this would be a private place to talk, seeing our positions and all.” He gestured to no one around us and I nodded.

“Maybe try a bench next time?”

He smirked. “I’ll keep that in mind.” A group of girls passed by ogling him. I noticed him stand a little straighter and a cocky grin slip onto his face. The grin fell back into the nervous one he had been giving me and his stance returned to its awkward state. I wondered if the nervousness was all an act and if he was actually cocky. “You wanna take a walk?”

“Sure.” He used his hand to guide me to another side of the building that had a pathway of arched trees. He walked a little too close to me for a guy who wanted privacy.

“So, let me get to the point.” He put his hands together behind his back. “I like you a lot, Serena. I know you don’t know me well, and I don’t know you outside of classes, but I think we could get along fine.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.” The nervousness returns when he places a hand behind his head. “You seem easy to talk to. You’re comfortable.”

“I don’t know if comfortable is a good thing,” I said and chuckled. Comfortable sounded like a settlement. Comfortable sounded easy. When was liking someone ever easy?

“You’re right. That came out wrong.” He dropped his hand back to his side and moved closer to me. “How about I tell you a random fact about myself? Is that okay?”

“Yeah.” A real smile forms on my lips. That was much better. I could handle that.

“I want to be a lawyer, but I haven’t decided what kind yet.”

“Really? I kinda assumed you wanted to be a teacher.”

“No.” He laughed and waved his hand at me. “Its extra money, and I got a perfect score in the class. Teaching is my backup plan. I love kids, and I’d like to have a bunch of my own one day, but maybe I can be a custody lawyer. You’re an English major, right?”

I nodded. “I’m actually interested in teaching literature. Like on a university level.”

“Oh.” His tone felt condescending. He didn’t think it was okay for me to be a teacher, but he could be one.

“Why’d you choose teaching as a backup plan?”

“I figured it would be easy, being a teaching assistant’s pretty easy.” He shrugged.

“Of course, adults are easy.” Adults were supposed to know how to take care of themselves. Adults could sit through boring hour long lectures and still manage to get their homework in on time. You didn’t have to constantly remind adults to do things or to be quiet in class. Of course adults were easy.

Wait, was he laughing? He put his hand on my shoulder and another on his belly. “You’re funny, Serena.” He dropped his hand and checked his watch. “I’ve got another class to go to, but I’ll catch up with you later. I’ll pick you up on Friday around 7:30.”

He was running across the grass towards another building before I could say anything.

* * *

I placed my laptop on the coffee table in the living area of my suite style dorm. I shared the place with Keith and another teammate of ours and with the amount of shit everyone had, it was a miracle we had legroom.

“So your next game is in my town, right?” Trinity spoke in between slurps of noodles.

“Yeah. Like Saturday afternoon.”

“Come visit me!” She stuck out her bottom lip and pretended to punch the screen. “I’m already planning to come next month for fall break.”

“Yeah to see that weird rock band. And then you’re going to leave.”

“I’m staying the whole weekend! I promise.”

“Alright. Alright. I’ll see what the coach will let me do, and I might say hi to my sister.”

“Turd.” She stuck her tongue out and I smiled. My smile fell a bit when I heard rustling in the background.

“How’s she doing?”

“Good.” Trinity picked up her bowl and began drinking the liquid and set it back down. “Great actually. Why haven’t you spoken to her?”

“I don’t know.” I should have. One summer wasn’t long enough to forget about her. A bunch of women definitely wasn’t enough to forget about her. She was only two fucking hours away. Two hours was easy, but I couldn’t bring myself to send her a message. “Is she going to be there?”

“Depends on when you show up. If you actually come to visit.”

“Okay.” I knew my coach wouldn’t let me leave the team for even a second. I had to come up with a good reason to leave early. I needed to see her again. If she had already forgotten about me and moved on, I needed to know, so I could get her out of my mind.