Eden

 

There he was. Connor stood not ten feet away and he was surrounded by half the football team and most of the cheerleaders. The first bell wouldn’t ring for another ten minutes. Plenty of time for Allie and me to come up with some reason to talk to him while he was joking around with all those gorgeous boys. Plenty of time for Connor to introduce me to Marshall Simpkins.

Marshall Simpkins. I’d spent most of Sunday gazing at the program from Friday night’s game. Why, you ask? Well, I’ll tell you. Because in the center of the program was a full page, color photo of the football team. While checking out each of the guys on the team for several hours on Sunday afternoon, my gaze kept being drawn to none other than Marshall Simpkins.

Marshall was a senior and played defense. He was six feet, two inches of rock solid muscle who didn’t take crap from anybody. He wasn’t traditionally handsome. He looked more rugged and tough than model-like pretty. Honestly, I didn’t usually think guys like him were my type, but I was willing to take a chance on Marshall. Why? Well, because last year when he was a junior, he dated a freshman. He was obviously not afraid of dating a younger woman. And let’s face it, he was good looking, popular, drove a nice car...so, why not?

Taking a deep breath, I turned to Allie who’d gone so pale I wondered if she was going to faint on the spot.

“Breathe, Allie, sheesh. It’s not like you don’t know Connor. For heaven’s sake, he was laying on your bed most of the day on Saturday.” We had no time for second thoughts.

“Sunday, too, but this is different. You know I don’t like hanging out with Connor at school. Those girls,” Allie’s voice trailed off.

I shook my head, disgusted. Allie didn’t know it, but she could take those girls any day of the week. She was beautiful and funny and just plain awesome to be around. She was the most loyal and best friend anyone could ask for. The only thing she lacked was confidence.

And maybe a decent wardrobe.

“Let’s go.” Before I lost my nerve. I acted tough, but even I was intimidated by the crowd surrounding Connor. Clamping my hand down on Allie’s elbow, I towed her toward Connor.

Connor’s eyes widened as he watched us approach before narrowing knowingly. He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back against the locker behind him, looking as though he planned to enjoy the show.

I quirked a brow at him eliciting a grin. His gaze shifted to Allie, his lips softening into an affectionate smile.

“Hey, Connor,” Allie squeaked, fidgeting uncomfortably when all conversation around us stopped.

“What’s up, Al,” Connor asked. He would never leave her hanging or give her reason to feel any more uncomfortable than she naturally did under the circumstances.

“Hey, Al,” JJ, Connor’s best friend greeted Allie, raising his fist for her to bump, which she did with a little giggle.

“JJ, don’t forget to come to the training room before practice. Coach wants that ankle taped.” Allie pinned JJ with a look. If there was one thing Allie was confident about, it was training. It wouldn’t surprise me if she ended up working for a college or professional team in the future. She loved the game, loved the athletes, and had a knack for getting them to trust her.

“Dude, she’s bossing me around off the field now.” JJ pointed to Allie while turning to Connor with wide eyes.

Allie, in her element talking to football players, smacked JJ’s shoulder with the back of her hand. “You just do what you’re supposed to, and everything will be fine.”

“You guys know Eden, right,” Connor asked, gesturing toward me.

Working to keep my expression neutral, I glanced around at the popular people surrounding us. There was JJ and his on again off again girlfriend, Jasmine. This witchy girl, Kayla, who was gazing at Connor as though he was a god even though his girlfriend, Brittany, held his arm like it was an extension of her own body. Other guys from the football team were there, too. Clint Moore. Brennan Trumble. James Snow.

And, of course, Marshall.

Marshall leaned casually against the lockers on the edge of the group. He was the only senior standing around Connor’s locker. I tried to play it cool, but my gaze kept straying to where he stood.

He was largely built with thick muscles. His biceps strained against the confines of his long-sleeved Henley. His shaggy dark blonde hair hung low over his eyes, so his head was always leaning to the side to keep his hair out of them. His deep-set light brown eyes took in the scene around him with caution. He had a bad-boy look I suddenly found irresistible.

I let my gaze rest on him longer than what was acceptable, barely paying attention to the conversation going on with Allie and the football guys. The bell was about to ring, and I didn't know when I’d have another excuse to get this close to Marshall.

Suddenly, he looked straight at me. Heat rose in my cheeks under his unwavering gaze. Throwing back my shoulders, I took the two steps to stand directly in front of him.

“Hey, I’m Eden.” And then I waited. He made me suffer for a minute before nodding.

“Marshall.”

I giggled. “I know who you are.” But who the heck was I? I’d never been so forward in all my life. But this was the new Eden. The Eden that got what she wanted. And what this Eden wanted was a hot, popular, senior boyfriend with a car. I wanted Marshall.

Marshall smirked, his eyes traveling over me from head to toe. “You do, huh?”

And just like that, he walked me to my first period Algebra class. Of course, I didn’t see him again that day. He was a senior after all and didn’t have the same lunch as Allie and me. But the next morning after a ride to school in stony silence with Dylan whose only acknowledgement of me was to frown at my outfit- again- I dragged Allie back to Connor and his friends hoping with all my heart yesterday wasn’t just a fluke and that Marshall would be holding up the same locker with his back.

He was.

Allie was a little less nervous and a little more suspicious this time around especially when I headed directly for Marshall as though the rest of them didn’t even exist. I did, however, register the slight look of disapproval from Connor, but whatever.

This time I waited for him to say something first. He didn’t disappoint.

“Those boots are pretty hot.” His gaze stayed on my legs a little longer than my brother would have appreciated, but that was the point, right?

“Thanks.” My cheeks felt hot.

“No, thank you,” he grinned.

The warning bell rang, and everyone started moving in the direction of their first period class. Out of the corner of my eye, Allie’s eyes flitted between me and Marshall, indecision plain on her face.

“See you later, Al. Marshall’s gonna walk me to class.” It was brazen and probably assuming too much, but I wanted to test the waters. Basically, hoping I came across confident, like I knew what I wanted and not too eager.

Marshall quirked a brow, a small smirk drawing up one side of his mouth making him look dangerous and sexy. But he pushed off from the locker he leaned against and began walking toward Algebra.

“So, you’re Josh’s sister, right,” he asked as we threaded our way through the hall.

“Yeah.” I tried not to roll my eyes and wondered if I would ever be known for myself and not for my quasi-famous brother who was only famous here.

“Where’d he go to school again?”

“Syracuse.” What was the obsession with my brother? Did Marshall have some kind of man-crush going on?

“Syracuse? That’s far away isn’t it?”

Oh, goodness. “Yeah, it’s in New York.”

Marshall’s shoulders relaxed, and his lips slid into an easy grin. “Far is good.” And he grabbed my hand.

This was it, I told myself, not even trying to stop the smile splitting my face in two.

 

Three days later, Marshall kissed me for the first time. We were standing out by the football fields after school. He had about an hour before he had to be in the locker room to get ready for the game. I texted my mom to let her know I didn’t need a ride until later because I was working on a science project. It was an experiment. One that I needed the results of desperately. Hypothesis: If I am wearing leather boots and drag Marshall behind the bleachers, figuratively speaking, he will kiss me within five minutes.

It took him less than thirty seconds.

“Geez, Eden, you know what those boots do to me,” he groaned, his lips trailing along my throat.

He was kind of an aggressive kisser. I convinced myself I could get used to it. It wasn’t a bad kiss. It was hot, really. Just a lot to deal with for a first kiss.

“Good things, I hope,” I breathed as his lips made their way back to mine.

“Come for the game.” It was more a demand than a request. I was beginning to sense it was a pattern for Marshall. He knew what he wanted, and he knew how to get it. I had to respect that in a guy because I was the same way.

I nodded because my lips were otherwise occupied for the next thirty minutes. Finally, Marshall broke away, his lips red and swollen. His eyes were heavy after our make out session. It was a long first kiss.

“Can you hang out after the game?”

This one would be tricky, and I’d been considering how to make this happen. If things were going to progress with Marshall, certain things would be expected. Especially the ability to hang out after games. Problem number one - Josh. Thank goodness he was hundreds of miles away in New York. Problem number two - Dylan. Thank goodness he graduated and the likelihood of him attending the game tonight was low. Problem number three - my parents. Things with Josh were different. He was a boy and not my mom’s baby. I, on the other hand, was the baby. This had its ups and downs. The ups being the fact that she would almost always take my word over Josh’s and she gave me a generous wardrobe allowance. As well as the unwavering faith that I would follow the rules.

The down- overprotectiveness.

Which meant I was going to have to lie.

“Yes,” I answered.

“Awesome.” With a final demanding kiss, Marshall turned to make his way into the locker room.

As he jogged away, I hoped he would turn around and at least smile at me before going through the door. My heart began to sink the closer he got without turning around, but, then at the last possible moment, he did. No smile. A smirk and a wink would have to do.