Still riding on the high of cheering at my first ever football game, I agreed to meet some of the girls on the squad at an all-night café, ‘The Night Owl.’ I really needed to study, but I wanted to celebrate a little with my friends.

It was a day I would always remember. Back at the dorms, I took my cheerleading uniform off almost reluctantly. I ran my hands across the stitched letters, ‘LSU.’ It was a true honor to wear it and cheer for Louisiana State University.

In the shower, I hummed the song, ‘Eye of the Tiger,’ a song we cheered on a third down. The cheesy song always put me in a great mood.

“It’s the eye of the tiger. It’s the thrill of the fight,” I laughed at myself as I crooned.

I got ready quickly, in my bouncy mood, while listening to Taylor Swift. I put on a light pink tunic to wear with my dark grey leggings and black knee-high boots. Pink was my absolute favorite color.

Every time I wore pink, I liked how it made my blue eyes take on a softer shade. I decided against wearing a pink bow in my hair, instead opting for a natural hair down tousled look. My blonde hair had slight waves to it. I loved how it looked down across my shoulders, but I was always on the go and relied on a quick and easy ponytail for my daily look.

For a finishing touch, I put on my Bubble Gum Pink lip gloss. I wasn’t much of a makeup girl, only for special occasions. Lip gloss was the only makeup I wore daily. Admittedly, I had fifteen different shades of pink lip gloss. I didn’t care what anyone said, but they are all very different colors to me. I needed every one of them.

When I got there, ‘The Night Owl’ was not yet packed, but quickly getting there. The café offered coffee, wine, and beer, but I had never been much of a drinker. Besides, I had Chemistry I still needed to study for. There was no use in getting hungover and wasting the entire day tomorrow.

Peering through the glass of the bakery display, I weighed my options between a beignet or a macaroon. Both desserts were to die for here. The beignets looked crisp and were covered in powdered sugar while the macaroons looked scrumptious in their bright hues of pink, greens, and lavenders.

Such a sucker for pink, I ordered three white chocolate raspberry macaroons and a cinnamon latte. Naomi and a junior cheerleader, Gloria, were seated at a table near a front window.

I made my way to them, smiling and feeling so excited to be having the college life I had always dreamed of: going to late night cafes and drinking lattes.

I took a seat at the table. “Where is everyone else?”

Gloria, who was perusing through her phone, put it down on the table. She flipped her long brown hair back off her shoulder. “Mostly everyone on the squad who has a boyfriend, is with her boyfriend.” She smiled, lifting up her mug. “But, who needs boys, right?”

We all clinked mugs, laughing. Gloria had a boyfriend, Dean, but he graduated from LSU last year. He was in medical school in San Diego. They were trying to make their long distance relationship work, but I could tell Gloria was having a difficult time adjusting to being alone.

“How’s Dean?” I asked.

“He’s okay. Studying. We skyped earlier.” She exhaled slowly. “I miss him.”

I reached for her hand and squeezed. “I know you do. I’m sorry.”

Naomi gave her a pat on the shoulder. “Long distance relationships blow.”

Naomi had been going out with her boyfriend, Steve, since sophomore year of high school. Naomi had always wanted to go to LSU, but Steve got a full ride to the University of Texas in Austin. They struggled with their long distance relationship also.

In fact, I was the only girl on the squad who wasn’t attached in any kind of relationship. The only boyfriend I ever had was in my junior year of high school. I really liked Frankie, but there wasn’t any time for a boyfriend with my schedule.

In high school, I knew that if I wanted to up my game for a cheerleading scholarship, I would need to improve my gymnastic skills. Gymnastic lessons weren’t cheap, but I picked up tutoring after school and the weekends to pay for my lessons. There was no way I was going to let my parents foot the bill.

On top of all of that, by my junior year, I was in all honors classes. The workload was intense, and I was determined to get good grades.

Frankie and I met in ECO Club. There wasn’t an environmental club at my high school so I started ECO Club, which stood for: Education, Community, and Outreach. My idea was to take one of the tons of empty lots around New Orleans and turn it into an urban farm.

I contacted NOFFN, the New Orleans Food and Farm Network. They helped me get ECO Club’s urban farm space started. The food we grew was directly donated to homeless shelters.

Frankie was a great guy and offered a ton of help in getting ECO Club off the ground, but with my cheerleading, gymnastics, tutoring, and classes, all the time we had together was only when I was working on the farm. It wasn’t much of a relationship since I was constantly preoccupied.

Nonetheless, Frankie had given me my very first kiss. In our garden, as a matter of fact. After a full day of planting tomatillos, zucchini, and squash, Frankie kissed me on the lips. I had dirt on my face, no doubt, but it was a sweet kiss.

It was the only kiss I’d ever had.

Frankie and I became great friends despite things not working out between us. Senior year, he started dating, a girl, Molly, who wasn’t as busy as I was. Last I heard, they went to Tulane together, which was wonderful news.

Guys had never been much of a priority for me. In high school, I had been so focused on being able to get into and afford college to get an environmental engineering degree. Now that I was in college, I still felt like there just wasn’t enough time for guys.

While we sat chatting, Ryan from the game earlier, arrived. He didn’t have on his LSU hat, revealing his dark brown hair that made his green emerald eyes pop. He was so gorgeous.

Too gorgeous.

Our table was in the front of the café so I knew Ryan saw me right when he walked in. I even caught him looking over at me, but he never came over to talk to us.

In the concession stand line, Ryan was pretty awkward. It surprised me that all of sudden he was right there next to me. What was weirder was that he asked me what I was doing after the game, and then spazzed out when I said I was hanging out with friends.

Did he think I wouldn’t already have plans that night?

I expected he would ask for my number or something, like most guys would, to ask me out again in the future, but he didn’t. He didn’t ask for my number or Snapchat name at all. With a weird feeling, I walked away from him, wondering what had just happened.

It seemed to me that he came down there to specifically ask me out, but he hadn’t actually asked me out. Not properly, in any case. If I was going to go out on a date, I’d like for a guy to treat it as something he had thought about and planned for. Ryan asked me out in an offhand kind of way, like a second thought. It was disappointing.

Naomi whispered, motioning with her eyes to where Ryan sat with some of his friends. “That guy is here.”

I nodded, suddenly embarrassed. “Ya. He’s here.”

“He was kind of weird.” Naomi said sipping her cocoa. She looked over to him and said, “He’s cute, but maybe a weirdo? He just like came up to us without really saying anything for the longest time.”

Gloria looked over at Ryan. “Oh, you mean, Ryan Romero? Ohmigod! Stay away from him, girls. He is such a player.” She rolled her eyes, crossing her arms. “Don’t let him fool you with his charm and his good looks. He’s a complete ass.”

Glancing over at him, I saw him high fiving another guy and laughing. There were two pretty girls sitting in their group, who were looking at him in awe, but Ryan wasn’t giving them much notice.

Was Ryan as bad a player as everyone said he was? Noted, he was completely ignoring those two beautiful girls.

Actually, Ryan was ignoring me too. He hadn't come over to say hi. Plus, earlier today at the concession stands, he only seemed to be asking me out in a half-ass sort of way.

And then, when I said I was busy, it seemed to take the wind out of his sails, but I wasn’t sure why. Maybe he wasn’t used to girls saying no to him. If he couldn’t handle a little rejection and keep trying to gain my affection, then he wasn’t the guy for me.

“Helena said the same thing about him,” I said to Gloria. “A total player.”

Gloria nodded emphatically. “Helena would know. She knows everybody.”

Two warnings about this guy in twenty-four hours? It was a definite sign to steer clear of him.

But, what kept making me want to sneak glances at him?

Why did he intrigue me so much?

Ugh. I pushed away my thoughts and forced myself to focus on hanging out with Gloria and Naomi for the rest of the night. Ryan was gorgeous but dangerous. I had to keep telling myself that.