I lift the top of the frying pan and let the smell of fried chicken coat the inside of my nose. Casey is going to love this. There’s nothing like a man showing that he can cook to win a girl over. That was something that my mother always told me. It’s apparently how my late father won her over many years ago.

I grab my tongs and pull a piece of chicken out of the oil, turning it over and looking at the crispy brown outer edges. It’s cooked perfectly and not a moment too late. I turn over the other pieces of chicken and a couple of oil droplets fly into the air and land on my hand.

“God damn it.” The hot oil burns into my hand and I shake it out in front of me. I rush to the sink and let the cool water run down the burns. The welcoming sound of a knock on the door draws my attention and I look at the Mickey Mouse clock hanging above the refrigerator. She’s early, just like I expected from Casey Boone. I grab a towel and make my way to the door, not wanting to waste another moment. “Who is it?”

“Casey Boone,” she answers nervously. I watch her look up and down the hallway before staring into the peephole. I open the door and I’m almost left breathless. And that hardly happens on and off the field.

Casey is wearing a blue dress that hangs just above her knees. Her hair hangs passed her chest, covering her breasts. It splits in front, making her tits part like the Red Sea. My mouth hangs out in front of me and Casey smiles, brings a hand up, and shuts it for me.

“Aren’t you going to invite me in?” She swings from side to side, making her long hair sway and cover those beautiful eyes of hers. If I didn’t have to finish cooking the rest of dinner, I would take her right here in the hallway. Hitch that dress above her head and go to town on her. Instead, I resist the urge and open the door, holding my hand out behind me and letting her pass. “What smells so amazing?” She walks over to the kitchen, sniffing the air.

“An old family recipe that’s been passed down for generations. My mother would kill me if she knew I was making this for you.” I walk over to the stove and grab the last pieces of chicken out of the frying pan. I lay them down on a sheet of paper towels for the oil to drip on. Casey walks over to the end of the counter and grabs the printed recipe.

She looks it over and up at me. “Well, your mom will be extra mad if she finds out that it’s online.” She laughs as she reads through the instructions.

“Caught me red-handed.” I take the platter of fried chicken and watch her eyes fall on me. She runs her tongue along those luscious lips of hers. “Is that for me or the chicken?”

Her cheeks turn a deep red and she starts to stutter. “The chicken.” I grab her by the hand and take her to the living room. The lights are dimmed and there’s soft music playing in the background. Her eyebrows furrow as she looks at me, but I ignore her. I set down the platter of wings and fries on the table and pass her a paper plate. She sits down next to me. Far enough that our bodies aren’t touching, but close enough that I can smell the strong fragrance of her perfume.

I don’t eat anything. Instead, I wait for her to take the first bite. I’m interested in knowing what she thinks of it. This is the first time that I’ve actually cooked for someone besides my family. I don’t go out of my way to impress girls; usually just knowing who I am is enough to take the next step.

That doesn’t work with Casey and I’m glad. I forgot how much I enjoy the thrill of the chase. The deep wrenching feeling in my stomach has me on the edge of my seat.

Will she or will she not like my chicken?

She turns the chicken over with those small fingers of hers and brings it to her lips. She takes a big whiff of it and her body shudders, her eyelids flickering. So far, so good.

Casey digs her teeth into the drumstick and there’s a hard crunch that fills the air. She chews it and runs her tongue along her lips. I can’t wait any more. I need to know.

“Well, what do you think?”

She sets the drumstick down and wipes her hands on a paper towel. She chews a couple more times and swallows before she turns to me. “I don’t know how to say this.” She reaches out and places a hand on my lap like she’s about to give me the worst news of my life. If someone walked in right now, they might think Casey was about to tell me someone in my family died. I’m about to toss my towel across the room with frustration when there’s a subtle flicker of her lips. “That has to be the best chicken I’ve ever had.” She pats me on my thigh and my cock comes alive.

That’s the closest her hands have ever been to my crotch. I’ve seen the subtle glances at my cock and I’ve called her out on numerous occasions. It was almost like a little game that we played. I stole glances at that heavenly body of hers and she tried to see if the rumor was true or not. I know that’s what she’s been trying to do because sometimes when she concentrates real hard, I can hear her murmur ‘Big Jock’ under her breath. I don’t think she knows that she’s doing it and I think it’s too adorable to mention.

I let out a sigh of relief. “Well, that’s good to hear. You had me going there for a second.” I throw the towel over my shoulder and take a hard bite of the chicken. It’s cooked to perfection. The skin is nice and crunchy while the inside is moist and full of flavor.

We eat in silence for the most part. We go through the whole small talk bit. The usual the weather outside is nice and our upcoming schedule but nothing of real substance. And that doesn’t matter to me. Right now, I’m just happy that I’ve managed to bring her this far.

Casey sets her plate down and clears her throat, bringing me out of my little daydream. “You must be wondering why I don’t go out to party?” She stares at her legs and moves her hands along her skirt, smoothing out the wrinkles that have formed. She fixates on one particular spot at the side of her thigh.

I shrug my shoulder. “I figure that you just want to concentrate on school. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

Her fingers grab hold of a piece of string that’s sticking out of her dress. She coils it around a finger and pulls on it until the blue strand rips from the dress. “It’s that and more.” She rubs the string into a ball and rolls it between her finger tips. “I used to be more fun. I loved going to parties and being the life of them. Drinking, laughing, and just having fun.” Her eyes shine for a moment as she looks up at me and bites down on her lip. “And it was a good time until that one night.”

I know the night that she’s talking about, but I don’t say anything. I feel like she needs to bring this out on her own. Let her explain what happened on her own terms.

Once she sees that I don’t question her, she looks back at her dress. “I was at a friend’s house. Their parents were out of town, so of course we were having a party. Underage drinking, loud music, dancing, and bright lights.” Her smile breaks as the last words linger in the air. “I was in the middle of the dance floor when it happened. I-I just lost control of my body.” She holds her hands out in front of her like she’s afraid that it might happen this very moment. “Before I knew it, I was on the floor shaking and looking up at the ceiling before the crowd started to form around me. Everyone was just looking at me, and I wanted to scream for someone to help, but nobody did. They just watched me writhe in pain.” She grabs the sides of her dress and squeezes tight.

I move a little closer and bring my hand to the side of her arm. She doesn’t move away from me. I run my hand down her arm and wait for her to continue.

“At the time, I didn’t know what was happening to me. All I knew was that I was going to die on that dance floor.” Her voice breaks for a split second before she clears her throat. “That is, until the paramedics showed up and rushed me to the hospital. It was there that I found out that I had an epilepsy attack. The doctor explained to me that it wouldn’t interfere with my life too much. And I believed him until…” She stops herself and reaches for my hand, squeezing it hard.

“Until what?” I whisper.

“Until I got back to school. Everything changed. Nobody wanted to be my friend. And on top of that, they all mocked me. People who used to be my friends would make fun of me, even drop down on the ground and pretend to be having an attack.” A tear rolls down her cheek and she quickly wipes it away with her hand. With my free hand, I grab hard on the cushion to my side. High school kids can be so cruel and full of themselves. I look over at Casey and there’s a subtle shake to her body, like she’s getting an enormous weight off her chest.

Right then and there, I make myself a promise. That I’ll never do anything to make this girl feel that kind of pain. The only pain that I want her to complain about when she’s with me is from her cheeks hurting too much from smiling.

“Every day for the rest of high school, I was ridiculed and I never felt so lonely. When I graduated, I promised myself that I would never let anything like that happen to me again. I didn’t want to be the weird girl with the epilepsy attacks.” Her voice gets low and soft. “I’d rather just be the anti-social, shy girl who spent too much time studying. At least that way I have a choice over how people treat me.” She lets out one final breath and the tension in her shoulders leaves. She hunkers over and places her forehead on my chest, which starts to shake as she starts to laugh. “I didn’t think I would be so open with you.”

“I’m glad that you feel comfortable enough to share that with me.” I let my hand move down the side of her arm and take hold of her hand. There’s a slight shake in it and I rub her hand between my two palms. I need to be honest with her. Show her that I can trust her as well, especially after she just let all of that out. I let out a sigh that draws her attention to me. “I need to be honest.”

There’s a slight pull from her hand, but I hold it in place. She stares at me through half opened eyes, suspicious about what I’m about to confess. “I’ve known about your epilepsy.” Her hand tilts to the side and her mouth opens a little, but nothing comes out. “Dwayne told me after you left from Luigi’s.”

Her body relaxes a little when she hears that. “And that didn’t scare you off?”

I look into those blue pools of hers and can feel myself drawing closer to her. Each blink of her eyes breaks me from my trance for a moment, before I’m pulled right in once more. And to think I would have never gotten to know her if I weren’t flunking my classes.

Maybe doing bad in school isn’t that bad of a thing.

“Not one bit. It actually made me want to be closer to you,” I confess. There’s a flicker of a smile on her face and she looks at me, batting those long black eyelashes of hers.

“How so?”

“It made me realize that we aren’t that different. We’ve both had to change in our new environment.” My body grows rigid and I can feel the tension taking over. I’ve never been this honest with anyone before. It’s just not something that you share with people. Better to just keep it inside myself. Deep inside.

Casey grips my hand a little tighter but doesn’t say a word. This time, it’s my turn to be honest with her. To tell her what I’ve been holding back. As I look into those eyes of hers, I can’t help but think about how quickly things have progressed.

Just a couple weeks ago, I was on top of the world. Winning games and getting with any girl that I could have wanted. Not that it ever meant anything. It was always just meaningless one night stands that were over the next day.

On the outside, I was the happiest guy that ever was. Every guy on campus wanted to be me. And every girl wanted to be with me. And yet, none of that mattered, because inside of me, I knew that it wasn’t who I really was. The fun and buzz of partying every night and spending the night with random girls wears off. It doesn’t have the same appeal that it does in the beginning.

And that’s because that’s not who I was. Not who I wanted to be. And that left a void inside of me that I didn’t realize until I met Casey. And in less than a month, everything changed.

“I didn’t used to be like this. Never cared much about football. I was fine with just being good at it and that’s all. It was just a way to get a nice adrenaline rush and that’s it.” I hold my breath and think of the days when I was younger and would spend my time in the library reading every book that I could get my hands on. How during my lunch breaks I would be the first to finish so that I could rush to the library and read. “I used to read a lot. The kind of books that weren’t assigned just for class. I loved it all. And that’s what made me the outcast.”

My eyes narrow and I remember the times that I used to be picked on in middle school. How I was called a book worm. How the kids would take my glasses and throw them across the cafeteria, making me search for them blindly on the floor. “I found out at a young age that kids can be cruel. And the strangest thing is that when I did well on the field, everyone loved me. Couldn’t stop being around me. The better I got at football, the less I got picked on. And over time, it was just easier to be good at that and give people what they wanted.” The rage builds inside me and I can feel my nostrils flare with heat.

Casey moves a little closer and rests her free hand on my thigh. She lowers her head and places it on my shoulder, her other hand stroking at the hairs on my hand. I don’t say a word. Neither of us do. We just let our confessions soak into the room and the silence takes over.

It’s strange being so honest with someone that you hardly know. There’s nothing stopping either of us from going out and telling the whole world our secrets. And yet with Casey, I know that I never have to worry about her telling some campus wannabe-journalist about it. There’s a trust and bond that I feel with her. That I felt the moment she bumped into me on the first day we met.

I look down at her. All of a sudden, I’m fully aware of how hard my heart is beating. Casey runs her hand through her hair and brings it behind her ear. She looks at me and then down to my lips, running her tongue along hers.

My hand rises and cups the side of her cheek. For some reason, I think that she’ll move away from my touch, but she doesn’t. Instead, she closes her eyes and pushes against it. Her mouth opens a little and there’s an audible gasp.

My head moves toward hers. It feels like time has stopped and I’m desperately trying to get to her before it’s too late. The closer I get, the more I can smell her perfume. And the more I can see the subtle features of her face.

The little freckle just above her right lip. The tiny scar at her right temple. Her perfect, luscious lips parting to welcome me.

My lips crash against hers. At first, neither of us move. We let each other grow comfortable with the other. I open my mouth a little and run my tongue along her lips, taking in her taste.

Fuck. She tastes so good. I can feel the hunger building inside of me. It wants more than the taste of her lips. It wants the sweetness between her legs. My cock presses against my jeans, begging to be released.

Her tongue moves out and touches against mine, sending shivers down my spine and making me lose my breath. The blood is all rushing to my cock. If this continues like this, then it won’t be long before I fall on top of her unconscious, with my cock erect like a flagpole.

I hold her face still and let our tongues grow familiar with each other. I dip into her mouth and listen to the sweet moan that leaves her lips.

Fuck! She can’t keep doing this to me. Doesn’t she know how much I want her?

I move a hand from her cheek and place it on her knee. Slowly, I part her legs and move toward her warmth. She doesn’t fight my touch and opens her legs for me, falling back on the couch. I press my body against her and those big blue eyes of hers look up at me. She bites down on her bottom lip and runs her hands down the middle of my chest, stopping to feel the ripple of my abs.

My fingers are halfway up her thighs when she grabs hold of my hand. “We can’t do this,” she says out of breath. “We need to be professional about this.” My hand doesn’t move and she holds it still. I can feel the heat between her legs beckoning for me to take her right here. Rip off that pretty little dress of hers and show her some fun.

“Fuck being professional,” I mutter and pinch at her thigh with my fingers. “I need you.”

She looks at me and runs her eyes down the middle of my body, stopping at the bulge. Her mouth opens a little and a soft murmur leaves her lips. It almost sounds like she’s cursing under her breath, but I can’t hear ‘cause there’s a loud buzzing in my ears. I’m not going to last much longer.

I need her right now.

I sink my head into her neck and run my lips along her skin. Her shoulders round and she presses against mine, her breathing heavy.

“We just can’t,” she whispers, and before my blood deprived brain can understand what’s going on, she’s at the door. I get up to chase after her, but my legs don’t hold my weight. I fall to the ground and bring my hands up to brace my fall. I manage to land on my side. The last thing I see is her blue dress as the door slams behind her.

The world gets dark and I close my eyes. Through the darkness, all I see is those beautiful eyes of hers.