Ten Years Ago
Knock, Knock, Knock. Harrison Cooper grumbled as he heard someone beating on his bedroom door.
“Harrison, get your ass up. You’ll be late for class, and you know coach said if you missed the first day of class the entire team would have to run the football stadium stairs twice.” Rhett, his best friend and roommate said.
“Five more minutes…”
“No, dammit. Now. I’m not running because you were too lazy to get your ass out of bed.”
“Fine, princess. I’m up.” Harrison sat up in bed wiping away the sleep that still threatened to pull him back under. Damn, why did I choose such an early class in my last semester. Oh yeah, it was the only one that fit my schedule and baseball. Harrison sat there thinking about the last hurrah he was about to begin, but something felt different this morning. He couldn’t put a finger on it, but somehow, it felt like his life was going to change today. Dragging himself out of bed and into the shower, he readied himself quickly. Grabbing his coffee as he left, he smiled at all the possibilities that lay ahead.
Harrison slid into the back row hoping that none of the girls in the class saw him come in. I don’t need cleat chaser Barbie deciding that I’m going to be her spring semester fling. Maybe I can get those five extra minutes of sleep I was craving before class starts. Just as he was about to get comfortable when the door flew open and this angel fell out of the sky and into his lap after tripping on his chair. Even though she spilled coffee on him, he still managed to catch her.
The lecture never seemed to end. Syllabus this, expectations that, blah blah blah. Jesus Christ, this is the first day of class, we should have been here a few minutes at the most. Harrison had to talk to this girl, if nothing else just to make sure she was real. Reaching out his hand, he grazed her shoulder. Yep definitely real. He got a sense she was a bundle of nerves, and he wasn’t sure if it was him or the class. Class was finally dismissed, and Harrison bolted from the classroom hoping to catch this girl before her next class.
Harrison waited outside trying to avoid the cleat chasers and hoping to catch this angel before her next class. He was so excited when he was able to corral her into coffee at the Tate Center. After shaking her hand, he still felt the pure electricity that passed between their simple contact. Walking to the Tate Center, Harrison kept sneaking a few glances at Sarah, thinking how beautiful she was. He hoped that she didn’t catch him staring at her. She seemed a little timid and as skittish as a newborn colt. He couldn’t take his eyes off her though. He was mesmerized by her beauty.
After a couple of hours of conversation that seemed to fly by, Harrison knew he had to see her again, but when he asked her out, the unthinkable happened. She turned him down. Harrison stood there, mouth agape, wondering what just happened. Not since he was a gangly high school freshman and dared ask out the head cheerleader, had he ever been remotely turned down, but yet, here he stood knowing that is what just happened. The only promise he had was that he would see her again in class, and that was just too far away. He had never experienced anything remotely as explosive as when he touched her, his entire body lit up. The feeling was better than hitting a bottom of the ninth walk-off grand slam homerun.
Harrison realized that she must have been a little shy and bookish, but he had meant every word he had said to her concerning her beauty and brains. However, he couldn’t let it go as his mind screamed at him that everything happens for a reason, and she fell into his lap like an angel from heaven. Harrison was still standing there when Rhett Baker, his best friend and the catcher on the baseball team, came up and thumped him on the back.
“Yo, dude. What gives? I’ve been calling your name for like the last five minutes, but you’ve been staring at the door and not moving.”
“Wha…wha…what? No, I wasn’t staring at the door. The girl’s ass who just left maybe, but not the door.”
“Oh shit, bro. That’s it. You have that love-sick puppy dog look on your face. Sorry I missed out, because for you to look like that she must have been HOT HOT HOT.”
“Don’t talk about her that way.” Harrison snarled.
“Shit dude. Sorry. Why is this one so special? I mean you’ve thrown me your castoffs before, I was just going to get in line if she was hot.”
Exasperated, Harrison needed to punch something, because of all the confusion surrounding this girl in his mind, and Rhett’s general jackassery, he opted to use Rhett’s shoulder and nailed him as he turned to walk away. Harrison heard Rhett jogging to catch up with him, but tried to ignore him. The truth was, Harrison didn’t have any responses to the questions Rhett asked. He’d never been effected on such a visceral level before by a woman. Sure, he was a jock, and a stud, and had plenty of women in his life, but this one felt different. She was probably one of the few girls on campus that didn’t know who he was. That, he thought, was an added advantage. For once, he could be himself with someone and try dating without the other person having expectations of riches and stardom. Finally, stopping to face his friend, Harrison turned around and looked Rhett in the eyes. “To answer your question, I don’t know what it is about her. I just know it’s something. If you had asked me this morning if I would meet “the one” today I would have laughed my ass off at you, but I always remember my momma telling me the story of her and my dad. I always thought she was respectfully full of crap, but after meeting Sarah, I think there’s a lot of merit too, you just know.”
“Well, I wish you the best, but we better get our asses going, or coach will have us running the football stadium stairs for being late to the weight room.”
Harrison found himself anxious for the next day of class. He never felt this way, and he knew it was because this girl, no woman, had him all tangled up in knots.
Harrison watched as Sarah smiled and took the seat next to him. To say that he was shocked by her transformation would be an understatement. Who was this girl? The only thing that Harrison knew for sure right now was that he was going to get to know her better and hope that she was as interested in him as he was in her. Finally, class was over, he hurried out the door so that he could intercept Sarah before she could get away. As she walked out of the door, he sidled up beside her and whispered into her ear. “So, how about some coffee?”
Thankfully after their coffee, Sarah agreed to go out with him. Harrison was on top of the world and couldn’t wait for the weekend. He wanted to plan something special for her. Thankfully, she had been very talkative about the things she liked. He didn’t know if he would get another chance, and he couldn’t blow this with some cheesy date.
Harrison stood at third base on Monday afternoon. His mind was still consumed with the kisses that he shared with Sarah. For someone who had never been kissed she seemed like a pro. His mind was definitely not into practice. He was having trouble fielding the simplest groundball and hitting just wasn’t his forte today. Suddenly, he had to dive to the ground to miss a line drive hit straight at his head.
“Wake-up Harrison. Damn, you need to get your head in the game or it’s going to be missing.” Rhett yelled.
“Whatever, asswipe. That was a lucky shot.” Damn he had better get his head back in the game. He wished Sarah was here, but it was a good thing that she wasn’t watching him make an ass out of himself.
As the days passed, they became inseparable. Whether it was class or practice, she always seemed to be by his side. When they finally made love, his heart was attached to her for an eternity. He couldn’t imagine his life without her.
Classes had ended and Harrison decided it would be fun to take Sarah to his end of the year fraternity party. They were having a great time. He went to get them something to drink and as he returned, he was greeted with a vicious slap to the face.
“What the fuck just happened?” Harrison said as he rubbed the stinging spot on his cheek. He’d been slapped by several women in his life, not that he was proud of that, but Sarah had a helluva arm on her for such a little thing. Because he was momentarily stunned he stood flat footed before taking off to chase Sarah. Unfortunately, he was a step too slow and watched the bus pull away with Sarah on it.