Walking back to Joy’s house, I smirked at Johnny’s face as I left. I was pretty sure he thought he would have me all hung up on his junk like the rest of the brainless bimbos around here. He’d have a long wait until I fell into his bed.

As I entered the house, Joy paused in her knitting. She looked worried and I hated seeing that expression on her face.

I smiled warmly at her, hoping to alleviate her worries. “They’re going to turn it down.” I pointed my thumb behind me.

I walked into the kitchen, turning the kettle on and adding some chocolate powder to a mug and a teabag in one for Joy. I could still hear the music blasting. If anything, I could have sworn it’d gone up.

I tapped my fingers against the worktop, my patience starting to thin. I cocked my head, listening. Slowly the music started to go down. It wasn’t low, but it was no longer pounding through the windows. I quickly poured the drinks and took them in. Joy was happily knitting again so I took my place back on the floor, resuming my sketch of her.

This was my passion.

I normally preferred doing landscapes, but live drawing was something I knew I would have to practice. I loved capturing emotions on people’s faces and I don’t think I’d seen Joy look as happy as she did right then. In her spare time, she knitted baby hats and mittens for the local hospital. She never charged for it, but she would often go in and chat with the mothers and have a baby cuddle in return. She loved it.

* * *

Sitting in the campus gardens the next day, I was tense. I had my first oil painting class that afternoon and I was nervous. I’d never experimented with paints before and new things always made me nervous. I huffed, leaning my weight back until I was lying down. Taking some deep breaths, I tried coaching myself to remain calm.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

In. Out.

My nerves settled, and I began to breathe normally again. It was so comfortable lying there that I didn’t want to get up. Opening my eyes slowly, I frowned at the sight that greeted me. Logan stood by my head, looking down at me.

“She kick you out already?” He grinned, teasing me.

I rolled my eyes and held my hands up for him to help me up. “Not yet,” I replied when I was back on my feet. “I thought you’d have more faith in me than that.” I smirked, letting him off the hook. Grabbing my backpack, I started walking toward the path that would lead me to my art class.

Logan quickly fell into sync beside me, slinging his arm over my shoulders. “So,” he started, keeping his eyes on the path. “I heard a rumor that you and Johnny may have a thing for each other.”

I laughed, tossing my head back against his arm. “And what idiot told you that?” I cocked my eyebrow at him, waiting for a response. “We’ve only hung out a few times and that’s always been with other people around.” I giggled, wondering what the hell he could be thinking.

“That one.” He nodded his head forward.

My eyes quickly followed the path and landed on Sammy. Before I could question Logan any further, I realized we had arrived in front of my class.

“Just don’t go falling in love with him. Okay?” He grinned at me. “Or me. We have a habit of breaking the female population’s hearts”

I laughed, at a loss what to say. “Why do I have to fall in love with anyone? I’m perfectly okay all by myself.”

“I know.” He nodded his head, raising his hands in defense. “It’s just, ladies have a habit of getting all girly feelings for me.” He rolled his eyes. “And you’re cool. I like that we can just hang out.”

It might have sounded like he was joking, but there was a hint of seriousness on his face he didn't try to hide.

I nodded, turned and walked away.

All through class, I didn’t even bother to try to pay attention; I was too absorbed in Logan's parting words.

Was he serious and gently trying to warn me off? Or was he worried that I was starting to become too familiar with him?

I shook my head, confused: Logan was a friend; that was all. I didn’t have many of those in my life and I knew that Logan was one of the good ones. He didn’t have to worry about any romantic feelings developing there.

My mind then wandered to his comment about Johnny. Was he worried? And more importantly, why the hell did he bring it up?

To be honest, I had no romantic interest in anyone. Especially not Johnny. I was new, but I'd been there long enough to hear the rumors. Johnny was off limits to anyone that didn’t want their heart trampled on. He had a different girl every weekend and I had no interest in becoming a notch on his bed post.

Class ended, and I shook my head at how much attention I didn’t pay. I’d make sure to get caught up with the notes before next class.

On my way home, I popped into the grocery store to get the groceries that Joy had written down on the list she’d stuck to the fridge that morning.

I chuckled to myself when I read over what she had written at the bottom: something chocolatey for a girly night in.

I chose chocolate ice cream and a pack of wafer sticks. She may have looked elderly, but Joy was young at heart.

Walking into the house once I was finished, I frowned when I heard how silent it was. I called her name on the way to the kitchen just in case she was upstairs.

No response.

Looking at the fridge, I saw she had left me a note.

After packing the groceries away, I decided a shower was needed before starting on the essay that was due by Monday.

Entering my bedroom, I slid my sneakers and jeans off and pulled my t-shirt off. Unclasping my bra, my eyes trailed to the window. I froze for a few seconds before shrieking and running to the side so that I was out of view of the window, hiding behind the curtain.

What a perv!

Johnny was standing on his patio with a big smirk on his face, tossing a football up and down in the air. He obviously saw the strip tease that I had performed for him, completely unaware.

I groaned, grabbing my towel and wrapping it around me before heading for the bathroom.

After taking a shower, I felt a little calmer. Thankfully, he hadn’t seen everything. I needed to remember to close the curtains.

Drying my hair, I could hear Joy moving around downstairs. Tossing my hair in a bun, I made my way downstairs and headed for the kitchen.

I froze at the doorway when I saw who she was with.

Could my day get any worse?

Johnny was sitting at the table having a cup of tea with her, chatting her ear off.

My eyes narrowed at him, making him smirk at me in response.

“There she is.” Joy greeted me, standing up and giving me a small hug and a kiss on the cheek. “We were just talking about you, sweetie.”

“You were?” I asked surprised.

She turned to take her seat again and I gave Johnny a pointed look, trying to threaten him silently.

I took a vacant seat opposite Johnny but next to Joy.

“Yes.” She nodded. “I was just telling Johnny how much of a help you’ve been living here with me.”

I smiled, relaxed. I wanted to mentally roll my eyes at myself. What was I expecting him to say to her? That I’d been flashing myself to him from across the street?

“So, what are you doing here, Johnny?” I knew my tone wasn’t polite, but did he really have to be over here after perving at me?

He smiled innocently, acting like the perfect little schoolboy. “I was just asking Joy if she still needed her upstairs landing decorated.” His eyes left me to glance at Joy. “The boys and I can come over and do it for you.”

“Such a sweet boy.” She was crooning at him now. “I would like it done,” she replied, nodding her head. “I have some color charts here somewhere.” She stood up and moved behind Johnny to search in the drawer. “I'd like a nice color as we have a lovely view. Maybe something cream or coffee colored.”

“Gorgeous view,” Johnny replied, smirking. His eyes remained on me, slowly flickering down to my chest and back up.

I crossed my arms, shocked he was doing that with Joy around. I subtly nodded my head toward Joy. He rolled his eyes, probably thinking I was completely crazy.

Joy quickly joined us back at the table, showing off her color charts to Johnny.

I leaned over, pressing a quick kiss to Joy’s cheek and left them to their discussion. Jogging up the stairs, I quickly changed into a fresh pair of jeans and top, grabbing my hoodie and sketch pad.

“I’m going out for an hour,” I called as I left the house.

Turning left, I headed up the street in the opposite direction to the campus. Looking around, I was hoping something would catch my eye—something new and fresh I could escape into.

I was several blocks away when I heard voices yelling and laughing and wheels moving. It almost sounded like wheels of a bicycle. Turning the corner, I could see several large ramps behind a fence. Just behind, there was a beautiful green field.

Jogging across the street, I entered through the gate and made myself comfortable against a large oak tree. From here, I had the perfect view of what I could now see were skaters hanging out there, performing flips and jumps.

Looking up, I focused on one of the boys with a skateboard. He was standing, it would seem, at the beginning of the ramp track, holding his arms out and widening his stance, no doubt demonstrating to the younger skaters how to stand and position their arms.

I smiled at how sweet this action was.

It felt like I had only been drawing for a few moments, but it was obviously much longer than that when compared to the amount of detail I had managed to get down.

I saw something move to the side of me that caught my attention. I turned my head and jumped out of my skin. Sammy was sitting right there. How the hell had he managed to sneak up on me?

I laughed, holding my hand to my chest.

“I’m so sorry,” he apologized, looking at me with a concerned expression. “I didn’t mean to startle you.” He chuckled under his breath with a faint blush on his cheeks.

“That’s okay.” I smiled warmly at him, hoping to make him feel better. “How are you?” I hadn’t really had much of a chance to speak to Sammy, but he seemed nice enough.

Looking at his profile, I smiled at how he looked. He was a few inches taller than me with short brown hair; longer at the front. When he bent forward, it’d flop forward. His smile was dangerous. He had the sweetest smile. He was super cute in the ‘boy next door’ kind of way.

“Can’t complain.” He shrugged his shoulders dismissively. His eyes slowly trailed down to look at my sketch. “You’re pretty good.” He pointed his finger at the scenery behind the figure in my sketch.

“Thanks.” I smiled, embarrassed. I still wasn’t comfortable at accepting compliments on my art. It was something I hoped to get used to.

His eyes slowly trailed back to watch the skaters and I half-heartedly focused back on my sketch. I was never able to sketch if I had company— with the exception of Joy—so it didn’t have my full attention, but I managed to get some more done.

My eyes trailed over to Sammy, noticing how much he was fidgeting. He kept clenching his hands into fists as though he was nervous. Surely, he wasn’t nervous because of me.

Looking up at his face, I saw he was looking at the exact same place I had been looking since arriving: the skate instructor.

Sammy had a blush on his face and he kept nibbling on his bottom lip. Was Sammy interested in him? He was looking at him the same way that half of the campus looked at his brother.

“Everything okay?” I asked. I pressed my hand to his, interfering with his hand that was repeatedly clenching.

His posture straightened at the contact, causing a frown to take over his face. He cleared his throat, nodding his head. “Sure.” He gave me a tense smile. “Yeah, I’m good.”

I gave him a gentle smile, hoping he truly was okay.

It was moments later before he started fidgeting again, only this time, he had an apple in his hands. I grinned at the loud crunch that came from him.

Shading in the shadow details of my subject, I smiled in surprise at how comfortable sitting with Sammy was. He seemed fine with no constant conversation. Personally, I couldn’t stand those people that had to always have something to say. They stressed me out.

Finishing my sketch, I scribbled my name at the bottom right with the date and held it up. “Ta dah!” I chirped, holding it up for Sammy to view.

His eyes widened, taking my sketch pad from me. His eyes flickered between the sketch and subject, his mouth opening several times

I cringed, secretly loving and hating the shocked expression on his face.

“It’s so accurate!” he enthused, still looking between the drawing and subject. He handed the sketch pad back to me and I wasted no time in ripping it from the binder.

I began to crumple it up in my hand, intending to throw it in the first bin I came to.

“What are you doing?” he yelled, shocked at my actions.

I shrugged my shoulders, stopping my actions. “I don’t really want to keep a picture of a random stranger on my wall,” I replied sarcastically. I chuckled, hoping to take the sting out of my words. I stood up, resuming my scrunching up of the paper.

Sammy smiled at me and held his hand out for the paper. I frowned, confused. He took it, making a quick jog to the bin.

I bent down, grabbing my pencil and shoving it in my jeans pocket. Sammy joined me as I exited the park, falling in step with me. We fell into a comfortable silence as we strolled home, both lost in our own thoughts, I guess.

As we got further up our street, I chuckled as I saw a few boys outside Sammy's house throwing a football back and forth to each other.

Boys and their toys.

“So, when is your first game?” I asked, nodding my head toward them.

Sammy followed my line of sight, grinning when he saw them. “Not until the end of October.” He frowned, the smile vanishing from his face. “I’m just a reserve.”

I frowned with him. He seemed gutted; it was obvious he was a lover of the game and he had to sit on that bench, just waiting to be called up.

“You’ll get there.” I gave a pathetically gentle punch to his arm, trying to show my support.

We were outside Joy’s house and I stared down at my sneakers, feeling awkward. Did I give him a hug? Shake his hand? I hated being social with people.

I raised my hand, opting for a wave but my attention was quickly taken when Logan threw the ball in our direction. He called Sammy's name, but Sammy was too slow to turn to catch it in time.

I half-gasped, half-shrieked and threw my arms up to shield my head from getting hit.

Nothing happened. I wasn’t knocked to the ground by the ball, and I wasn't hit by the object either.

I slowly lowered my hands and peeked up.

I gasped when I saw Johnny was standing at my side, with his arm extended in front of my face, holding the ball.

He glared across the street before looking down at me. “You okay?” he asked gently, looking concerned.

I nodded, feeling tense. If that ball had hit me in the head, I would have been on the floor. “Y-yeah,” I stuttered. I hugged my sketch pad to my chest, acting as if everything was okay.

“Be careful where you’re throwing the ball!” he yelled, tossing the ball back to Logan.

“Sorry, Till,” Logan called back, before resuming throwing the ball back to his team mates.

Sammy gave me a small wave and jogged across the street to join his friends.

“You sure you’re okay?” Johnny cocked an eyebrow at me, as though he was expecting me to give him another answer. “You look a bit... freaked.”

I gave him a warm smile. “I’m okay,” I nodded, trying to inject some positivity in my tone.

“Well, I had better go." He pointed across the road. He obviously had a lot on his plate living with team mates.

I gave him a small smile before moving past him into Joy’s garden.

After a few steps, I spun around. “Johnny!”

He turned, looking at me seriously.

“Thank you.” It was sincere. Since I had been little, I had only ever had my Dad to look after me. It was always just me and him.

He smiled warmly at me, nodding his head before continuing his walk across the street.

I turned back, walking in to Joy's home, my new home, feeling lighter than I had since arriving here.

Maybe Johnny wasn’t so bad.

Sure, he could be cocky and an asshole jock, but beneath that... beneath that, I had a feeling there were a lot more layers than people realized.

If I was honest, if I could pick between ‘Johnny: the asshole jock’ or ‘Johnny: the boy who stopped me getting hit by a flying ball’, I’d pick the latter.

Which would be bad.

For me.

I didn’t have the strength or energy to hold on to a guy like that.

I was better off alone.