When I got back to my dorm, I collapsed on the couch. Gia came running out.

“Sasha’s been trying to keep me updated, but I need more details. Tell me everything.”

How do you pack all of the day’s events into one neat summary? There were so many things that we said and did.

“How was the sex?” Gia asked before I could even start.

“How did you know about that?” I asked.

“I was in that dorm all day,” Sasha said. “You weren’t quiet about it.”

I blushed. I thought I did a good job keeping the noise to a minimum.

“It was amazing,” I gushed. There weren’t any other words for it. Just amazing.

“I’m so happy for you guys,” Gia said. “And Sasha and Reg. It will be nice not to be the only one in a relationship around here.”

“So,” Sasha said. “When are you going to break the news to your parents?”

I groaned. I hadn’t even really thought about that. “Not now,” I said.

I tried to put the thought of my parents out of my mind. Otherwise, it would spoil a perfectly good night. I took a shower, finally able to work on the rat’s nest that was my hair.

I can’t believe Martin spent a whole day with me looking like that! Instead of putting on my regular pajamas, I pulled his big sweatshirt over my head. I pulled the neck of the sweatshirt up to my nose and took a deep inhale. It smelled heavenly.

I think I would have slept all day if I didn’t receive a phone call around ten o’clock.

“Good morning,” Martin greeted.

“Hey, what’s up?” I asked, cheerfully.

“I want to see you sometime today. What’s your schedule look like?”

“I have classes from noon to five. You?”

“I’m going to work out with the football team today. Do you want to come watch? We can get food afterward.”

“Sounds good. We can get sushi,” I laughed.

“We’ll see. I’ll see you around five o’clock in the field house.”

This was our first official “date” if you could call watching someone else work out a date. I liked any opportunity to watch sports, so if dating Martin meant more of that, it would be fine with me. I wondered if he was going to tell anyone else about me.

It’s not like I needed our relationship to be kept a secret. There was no reason why people couldn’t know. I just didn’t want it to be widely discussed across campus. It was personal, and I wanted to keep him all to myself. Also, the quieter it stayed, the smaller the chance of my parents finding out and giving me a call.

I would have to tell my parents eventually. Even though my mom told me not to come home over the summer, I figured we would talk at some point in the near future. It sucked—I wanted to share my excitement with them, but it would only make things worse. I had to keep this to myself.

I also needed to figure out what the future would be like for Martin and I. Sasha invited me to stay with her family this summer in Chicago.

I was thankful to have a place to stay, but it meant being away from Martin. Long distance relationships were hard, and I didn’t know many who could pull it off.

After my last class, I walked to the field house. Martin waved at me the second I walked in. I found an empty area along the wall and sat down on the soft turf.

I hated when we had cheerleading practice in this building. There was always another team or two in here, making noise and taking up our space. One time, I was hit with a soccer ball while I was being lifted into the air. We changed our indoor practice spot after that.

The guys started running speed drills while Coach Wilson watched. I loved watching Martin run his drills. Outside of football, he constantly joked around and pulled pranks on people. He was hardly ever serious. When it came to football, he was a completely different person. He was focused and intense. He encouraged his team and pushed others to work hard.

It was odd seeing the team practice without the graduating seniors. Martin and Sam were the only ones from their class there, since they were the only ones entering the draft. I was confident Sam would find a home in pro football. He was a top recruit coming out of high school.

I knew that Martin wanted to be drafted to his hometown team, but I selfishly hoped he’d be drafted to a team nearby wherever I ended up.

“Hey Martin,” I heard Donny yell. “Did your girlfriend really come watch you work out today?”

I felt uncomfortable. I didn’t like hearing other people talk about me. I put my head down and pretended like I was busy with something on my phone.

“Yes, she did,” Martin said nonchalantly.

I could tell this wasn’t the answer Donny was looking for.

“Ooh,” Donny mocked. “Hey everyone, Martin’s got a girlfriend.”

“We know, Donny,” Sam said. “It’s not a secret.”

This made him even madder. For someone who thought he’d become captain, no one liked him enough to fill him in on new information.

“Do you love her?” he continued to mock. “Do you? Do you?”

“Yes,” Martin said, exasperated.

I blushed hard. I grabbed a book from my bag, and flipped through the pages, pretending like I couldn’t hear the conversation.

“I’m happy for you, man,” Donny said. “If the draft doesn’t work out in your favor, she’s always good for a paycheck. Why even bother playing, if she’s got you set for life?”

This struck a nerve. Martin lunged at him and Donny ducked, sending him into a padded wall.

“You have to know it’s not going to work out,” Donny panted. “You’re trailer trash. She’ll never love you back.”

Martin grabbed Donny and put him into a headlock. He took him to the ground. Coach Wilson grabbed Martin by the back of his t-shirt and pulled him off of Donny.

“Blocking drills, now!” Coach Wilson barked at the team, who had made a circle around their fighting teammates. “Thomas, Jackson, with me.”

Their coach pulled them to a secluded corner. Unfortunately, this was even closer to me. I ducked down even lower, hoping the coach wouldn’t notice or recognize me.

“What is going on?” Coach Wilson asked. “This is not the kind of behavior I want to see from my former captain and future captain candidate. Donny, if you can’t be trusted to keep the peace, how can you be the next captain?”

Donny’s smirk dropped from his face. I chuckled to myself.

“I haven’t announced it yet,” Coach Wilson continued. “This is my last year as coach of this team. My wife is sick and I want to be able to spend more time with her. I want to finish my career at this school on a high note. I need support from my past and future players to make that happen. Do you understand?”

Martin and Donny nodded quietly.

“Do you have anything you want to say to each other?” Coach asked.

“I’m sorry,” Donny said. “I shouldn’t have said those things to you.”

Martin nodded. “I hope you learn how to be a team player. You’re good, but your attitude will get you nowhere.”

“Good,” Coach Wilson said. “Now let’s get back to work.”

Martin looked back at me as he ran to rejoin the huddle. He looked apologetic. I smiled back. No harm done.

I waited around on the empty field while he showered and changed clothes after practice. I was bored, so I did a few cartwheels and round offs.

“Looks like you’ve still got it,” a voice said from the door.

I ran over to Martin and gave him a kiss.

“I made reservations for a sushi restaurant a few blocks away,” I said.

“Oh, great,” he said sarcastically.

“Keep an open mind, I bet you’ll love it!” I said, linking my arm with his as we walked out to the parking lot, toward his car.

When we got to the restaurant, I ordered some of my favorite rolls for him to try. He picked a piece up, hesitated, and dropped it into his mouth. I waited patiently while he chewed.

“That’s not half bad,” he concluded. He piled more pieces on his plate.

“You should trust me on these things,” I said.

“I trust you,” he said. “Did you see what happened during practice today?”

“Yeah, I heard everything,” I admitted.

“I’m sorry. I’m embarrassed that you had to see that. I’m going to miss the team, but I will not miss Donny.”

“Me neither,” I said.

“I know we didn’t have a lot of time to talk about the boyfriend/girlfriend thing, but I thought we could now,” he said, stuffing another roll into his mouth.

“I’ve been thinking about it too,” I said. “Graduation is coming up, and I’m planning on staying with Sasha since I’m not welcome home. I want to make things work, but it will be really hard if we’re apart.”

“Why don’t you come with me?” he asked.

“We would be moving really fast,” I said hesitantly.

“We don’t have to decide today. I just want you to know that’s an option.”

I nodded. I hadn’t really thought about staying with Martin over the summer. It seemed crazy that we would move in together after just a few months of dating. I knew I wanted to spend all of my time with him, though. Maybe it wasn’t the worst idea.

“If you decide to stay with Sasha,” he continued, “I’ll try to visit you as much as I can. But, you should know that I might be really busy over the summer. I don’t know how much time I’ll be able to spend with you.”

“It’s always good to have options,” I said.

We put off dating talk for a while and switched to his upcoming pro football combine. He would be working out and showing his skills to football scouts at the end of the week. I could tell he was really nervous.

That made me nervous for him, but I tried to fill him with confidence. He had a great season, but since we weren’t a big school, it was hard to catch the attention of scouts. He really needed to do well on Saturday to be a top pick.

When the check came, I instinctively reached for my credit card to pay the bill. Instead, I only had about twenty dollars in my wallet.

He noticed. “I’ll pay for it,” he covered.

“We’ll split it,” I compromised. After hearing about his money problems, I couldn’t let him start paying for all of our dates.

He walked me back to my dorm and pulled me in close when we reached my front door.

“Are you sure you don’t want to come in?” I asked again.

“I have homework and I should get some sleep,” he sighed. “Don’t be a bad influence on me.”

I giggled and kissed him goodnight. I grabbed his arm, stopping him before he walked away.

“Did you mean what you said to Donny?”

“That he’s a bad teammate? Yeah, absolutely.”

“No, the other thing—that you love me.”

He smiled and cupped his hands around my face. “Yes, I mean it. I love you, Alexa.”

I beamed. “I love you, too.”

He kissed me again and went home. I felt like I was floating above my body.

I know we promised that we wouldn’t fall in love, but I couldn’t help it. I wanted that to be the only promise I ever broke to him.