With Every Heartbeat

“Excuse me.” Caroline set her hand on his forehead and shoved him back before framing her desktop with her arms. “This is my desk. My space. Get back.”



He shot her an irritated scowl before falling back into his seat and rubbing his hand over his face. “This is going to be one long-ass semester.”



I didn’t mean to, but I glanced at Quinn. We shared a look where we both lifted our eyebrows as if to say this was actually going to be an entertaining semester.



“You guys sure are quiet over here,” Reese said, making us jump and tear our gazes away from each other.



Quinn cleared his throat. “Sorry,” he said just as the teacher arrived and started class.



Ten went back to closing his eyes and folding his arms over his chest as he rested his head back, while Quinn, Caroline, and I pulled out notebooks for note-taking. Reese, however, tugged a stack of wedding magazines from her bag and began to flip through them, the glint from her engagement ring reflecting light into my face every time she turned a page.



And so began my first college class.



Blood pumped fanatically through my veins as I a dodged a linebacker and hurdled a fellow teammate who’d wiped out in front of me. Tucking the pigskin more snugly against my ribs, I sprinted up the field, free of the entire defensive line. Feet pounding behind me told me there were more on my heels, though. With fifteen yards left to go before making a touchdown, I bowed my head and plowed forward.



The cheering of my practice scrimmage team told me when I’d crossed into the end zone. A piercing whistle split the air.



“Good job, Hamilton,” the coach’s voice boomed, only to start yelling at the defense for letting me slip through.



Sweat clouded my vision as a hand pounded me on the back. “God damn, Ham. You’re in rare form. What’d you eat for breakfast? Or should I say...who? I’m thinking it can’t be the same nasty Cora you have every day.”



I ripped my chinstrap open and pulled my helmet off to glare at Ten. “Not funny. That’s my girlfriend you’re disrespecting.”



He lifted both hands as if to surrender, but his grin was still as cocky as ever. “I’m just saying, man...you have a lot more energy than usual.”



“Whatever.” Turning away, I jogged back toward Noel where he was having the team huddle up for another play.



Hot August sun poured down on us, making my heavy pads wet from my own sweat and sticky with every movement. I did feel more energized than usual, though it had nothing to do with what my irritating roommate was suggesting.



The idea still made me uncomfortable, though. I hated how he’d just put the image of Zoey into my head. Mere months ago, I didn’t even know what it meant to eat out a girl, and now...I knew how it tasted. I didn’t want to start wondering what another flavor would be like. I liked the flavor I had. I was faithful to my taste buds. Dr. Pepper was my drink. Strawberry was my ice cream. Pepperoni was my pizza. And Cora was my girl. What was Ten trying to accomplish by tempting me toward something else?



I didn’t appreciate it.



“Change of plans,” Coach called. “First stringers take four laps and hit the showers. Everyone else line up for a couple more plays.”



Ready for a hard run to help jog off the sudden tension I was feeling, I took off toward the track circling the field. A lap later, I found myself running alongside Ten and Noel. Needing to exhaust more energy today than usual, I wondered if Noel would be able to stay a couple minutes longer with me after we ran. Coach had told me that if Noel kept working with me one-on-one to be a quarterback, I might even take over the spot of the second-string quarterback. That was the position I really wanted, so it’d be a double bonus if I asked Noel for a few tips before we finished for the day.



In my opinion, he was a better coach than Coach. He was more patient and could pick out a person’s strengths and weaknesses. He knew exactly what kind of things I needed to work on the most to improve. The guy really was my mentor; I looked up to him more than about anyone I knew.



Case in point: when he’d realized his younger brothers and sister Caroline were being neglected by their mother, he’d driven hundreds of miles down to where they lived and gathered all three of them up, then brought them back to Ellamore to live with him. That was exactly the kind of family devotion to earn my respect. Made me wish I’d had a big brother when I was growing up.



But as the three of us jogged side by side, I noticed Noel was particularly quiet today. Usually, he and Ten carried on the conversation while we finished our end-of-practice laps. But Ten was the only one talking, describing this girl he was pursuing in his history class, and Noel wasn’t responding at all. I usually only listened, so Ten wasn’t too concerned about my lack of input, but he finally did scowl at Noel.