"I don't remember asking you for your observations. If this is how your going to act then you might as well leave now." He stares at me before shaking his head.

"I'll try my best to keep the observations to a minimum," he says with a smirk. He grabs the manila folder off the table and holds it out for me. "I'm supposed to give you this."

I unzip my backpack. "I have my copy."

"That's just great," he says and rolls his eyes. "Try not to judge me too hard." He pulls the chair out, spins it around, and sits down. His knees peek out from the side of the table and his body dwarfs the small chairs inside the room. I try not to laugh as I sit down across from him.

I need to keep my distance from him. Not because I'm scared of him or anything. I'm more worried about what I'll do to him. There are a number of feelings and thoughts coursing through me. Each naughtier than the last.

All I know is that the closer that David is to me, the less I can concentrate. I open the folder and pull a random assignment from inside. It doesn't matter which one I choose. David looks at it for a second before turning his head away.

"I'm not here to judge your past mistakes. I'm here to make sure that they don't repeat and we get you back on the field." David's ears seem to perk up at my words and his eyes glimmer for a second. He pulls the chair in closer to the table and leans forward. "Let's forget about today and start fresh. When are you free to start?"

David reaches into his backpack and pulls out a crumpled piece of paper. "Right now I'm required to be in four classes. Otherwise, I won't be considered a full-time student and I can't play. But that seems like the least of my problems right now." I grab the piece of paper from his palm. A shock of electricity shoots through me as our fingers touch and I clear my throat. David stares at me with those deep, intense eyes of his, and I start to lose my bearings.

Distance might not be the only thing that I have to worry about with him. I don't know how we're going to be able to get any work done at this rate. I press the piece of paper on the table, straighten it out, and scan it. A few of them are familiar, which will be good for both of us.

"This should be doable." I point to the bottom of the page. David reaches over to smooth the piece of paper, our fingers touching. My eyes shoot up at him and he meets mine. "Mrs. Rowling seems like a hard ass at first, but if you write what she wants to read, then it's an easy A."

"That shouldn't be too hard." David bends over the small table, his shoulders almost touching my head. He has no sense of boundaries, always in my personal space. And I haven't decided if I like it or not.

Ever since I came to college, I haven't had the time to enjoy any of the fun that comes along with it. I put that life behind me when I left high school. I haven't indulged in the frat parties and football games like everyone else.

I let my eyes linger on David for longer than need be as he takes in my words. For the first time in a long time, I'm reconsidering my decision. Maybe I should have a little more fun in college. It wouldn't hurt to relax and see a game once in a while. It wouldn't be the worst thing that could happen.

"I can meet tomorrow after class," David says and points to the open block in his schedule. "I have practice in the evening. Coach wants me on the field going through plays. That way when I start passing my classes I'll be on top of my game."

"That works for me." I start to gather my stuff and David waits by the door. I try to ignore the fact that he's staring at me the whole time. I make my way to the door and he opens it for me.

"Do you want to grab lunch?" he asks as I'm about to step out the door. His words don't register with me at first.

"You want to grab lunch with me?" I ask to make sure that I heard him right. That should make it pretty clear to him how often I've been asked out. He tilts his head to the side and stares at me for a split second before he smiles.

"Yeah, that's why I'm asking you. I thought you were supposed to be smart," he laughs. "I know the perfect place." His hand falls around my shoulder before I have a chance to answer him. I let him lead the way.

After all, what's the worst that can come from an innocent lunch break?

We stop outside of a place at the back of campus. I bring a hand to my forehead to block out the sun.

"Luigi's Pizzeria?" I squint my eyes and look up at David. "Are you sure about this place?"

"Best pizza in this town. Without a doubt." He smiles at me and I lose my concentration. I decide to take his word for it. I'm not one to eat out a lot. Cup of ramen noodles from the store around the block are what's been keeping me going through college so far.

The pizzeria is nestled between two big modern buildings, almost hidden in plain sight. I'd never noticed this place before. I must have walked past it dozens of times, but never looked at it once. There's a small, broken-down sign that doesn't light up. The entrance is a big black door that doesn't scream like it's a welcoming place. It looks more like a beaten down nightclub than a pizzeria.

A small bell above the door rings as David holds it open for me. I walk inside, and when I look back at him, his eyes are firmly on my ass.

"Now we're even."

I open my mouth to argue with him, but I see no point. He caught me fair and square last time. And at least he'll admit that he was staring at my ass and not playing around with me. "Yeah, we are." The flush to my cheek is hard.

Are we flirting with each other? It's been so long since anyone's given me any attention that this feeling is almost foreign to me. It's not that guys don't flirt with me, it's just that they lose attraction when I'm not gushing over their every word. Men don't want to work on building a relationship like they used to, not when there are plenty of girls with lower standards on campus.

I walk up to the counter with David at my side. I almost jump into the air a little when his hand grabs hold of my waist and stays there. I'm about to give him a piece of my mind when a lanky man pops his head from behind the counter. His eyes light up the moment he sees David. "David, what are you doing here?" His words are drenched with a thick accent. At least, I think it's Italian. "And who's the pretty lady?"

"The pretty lady is my tutor. And we're starving." David rubs his belly and takes a menu off the counter.

My cheeks burn with his words. Does he really think I'm pretty or is he just saying that?

"Just give us two slices of your best pepperoni." David slaps the table and pushes me to the back of the small pizzeria. There are only a couple tables and even fewer customers. David picks at table at the back and pulls out the seat for me, pushing it when I sit down.

"Didn't expect for you to be so well-mannered. If you just work on your time management and studies, you might actually be a decent guy."

David laughs, which makes the muscles around his neck tighten. I get a weird urge to lean over the table and take a bite of it. To see if it's as muscular as it looks. "Just a decent guy? How hard do I have to try to impress you, Casey Boone?"

"I'm not here for you to impress me. I'm here to make sure that you pass your classes, and that's all I care about." I grab a napkin from the table and start to rip at the corners. A nervous habit that always got me through awkward times.

David holds his hand up to his side. "Good, because I'm only here to study. You don't know how tiring it can be when all the girls want you. All because of some gossip on campus." He takes a sip of his drink, but his cheeks rise and I can almost see the whites of his teeth.

"It must be so tiring, huh, Big Jock?"

David's ears get red and he tries his best to hide it. "So you've heard."

"Here's your pizza." Luigi puts down two plates. Each plate has the biggest piece of pizza that I've ever seen. The cheese is practically dripping off the plate and the smell of pepperoni fills my nose. I'm practically salivating by the time Luigi gets back to his counter.

"This looks good." I try to grip the pizza with my small hands but it slips out. I look over at David, who is halfway done with his.

"Here, let me help you. The trick is to fold it." He grabs it by the crust and folds the pizza in half and holds it out for me. I grab it and let the cheesy goodness slip into my mouth. I close my eyes and take it all in. When I get to the crust and open my eyes, David is staring at me. "So?"

I take a napkin and wipe the oil from my hands and mouth. "It's ok," I tease.

"Just ok? I'm going to tell Luigi about this." His hands push off the table, making his biceps flex, and he gets up. My chair nearly tips over as I reach out and grab him by the wrist.

"Ok, I lied. It's the best pizza that I've ever had."

"I knew it." He pulls his chair a little closer to me. The bell above the door rings and I almost fall back in my chair. David follows my gaze and his eyes light up. "Dwayne! Over here." He waves over for Dwayne to come.

This isn't good. This isn't good at all. I grab my backpack from the chair and throw it over my back. "I need to go. I'll see you tomorrow after your class." I keep my head low and to the side, making sure that Dwayne can't see me.

"Casey, where are you going?" David shouts as I open the door and escape outside.

That was a close call. It's been a long time since I've seen Dwayne and I'd like to keep it that way.

By the time I make it to my dorm room, my cheeks are hurting. I slam the door shut and stare at myself.

"You need to stop smiling right now," I say to myself, but it doesn't work.

The smile won't go away. A week ago, if someone'd told me that I'd be having lunch with David Cooper and that I would have a good time, I wouldn't have believed them. I let my body fall on the bed and close my eyes.

I don't think I can get any work done today. Not with him on my mind.

4.

David

"You're what?" Dwayne slams his hands on the table, his chair falling down on the floor. A couple of people turn their heads toward us and Luigi tilts his head.

"You need to keep it down. This isn't something that I want getting out." I pick up Dwayne's chair and sit him down. The whole time, he's shooting daggers in my direction. This is going as well as I thought it would.

Dwayne leans over the table and I follow his lead. He looks around the room to make sure that nobody is listening in. "Let me get this straight. You're suspended from all games until you get your grades up?"

"That was my tutor. She's going to help me get my grades up and I'll be back on the field in no time," I say, but my mind is somewhere else. I look out the window and try to catch a glimpse of Casey before she rounds the corner. My eyes scour the street for that petite and curvy frame of hers, but I don't see her. I must have just missed her when Dwayne had his outburst.

I shake my head.

What the hell is wrong with me?

I'm never like this. I'm not the one who chases girls. They come to me. Always have since I became the star quarterback. Yet, there's something different about Casey.

She's smart, and quirky, and she doesn't care that I'm the star quarterback. It also helps that she's drop dead gorgeous; curvy in all the right places, long curly brown hair, and the most blue eyes I've ever seen.

I smile to myself, hiding it from Dwayne behind the can of soda. It's been a long time since I've had to work for a girl. And I'm always up for a challenge. I smirk and turn my attention back to Dwayne, who is shaking his head.

"What?" I take a sip of my soda, lock my hands behind my head, and lean back in the chair.

"You like her, don't you?" He still hasn't stopped shaking his head the whole time. If I didn't know Dwayne so well, I thought he would be having a seizure.

"Who?" I try to play it off.

"Casey Boone." Dwayne grabs a napkin off the table and crumples it up. He takes aim at the trash can across the room and throws it. He misses by a country mile. "Good thing I'm a football player," he laughs.

I fall down in my chair and press my hand down on the pile of napkins before he grabs another. "How do you know about Casey?" I don't remember ever telling him about my tutor. Or ever seeing her with him at any point. I might have let it slip last night in my drunken stupor, but I doubt it.

"She and I used to go to the same high school," he answers. He lifts my hand off the pile of napkins and makes another paper ball. He takes aim and throws it in the air, only for me to smack it down to the ground. "Hey, what the hell was that for?"

"I need your attention on me right now." I grab the pile of napkins and crumple one up for him. "You answer my questions and I'll give you a shot." Dwayne tilts his head, his eyes going from the ball and my face.

"Deal. So you have the hots for Casey?" Dwayne smiles. He brings his hands together, rests his palms, bats his eyelashes, and lets out a large sigh. He looks at me and breaks into laugher. "Come on. Admit it. You have the hots for your tutor."

"I'm the one asking the questions here." I squeeze the paper ball a little tighter. Even if I did feel something for Casey, I wouldn't tell Dwayne. Not now, at least. He wouldn't understand. "So, what do you know about Casey Boone?"

He holds out his hand and I drop the ball into it. He pulls his arm back and fires across the room. The ball falls into the middle of the trash can. "She's too much trouble for you, David. My advice is drop her and just get that aggression out with some other girl."

Too much trouble?

What does he mean by that?

Nothing about Casey rang any bells for me. She seemed like a normal bookworm who would rather be stuck between the pages of a book than out partying. That might be weird to some people, but not to me.

"I don't want any other girl." Dwayne looks at me and smiles. "And I don't want Casey," I lie.

"That's good, cause she's not worth the trouble."

I grab a handful of napkins and twist them under the table. There's an anger boiling deep inside of me. Dwayne might be my best friend on the team, but sometimes he lets his mouth run a little too much. I take a deep breath and readjust myself before I clock him upside the head.

I don't even understand why I want to punch him. I've just met Casey. I shouldn't even care what Dwayne has to say about her. Yet here I am, waiting on his every word.

"What do you mean?" I try to play it off and toss a crumpled ball into the trash can.

Dwayne looks at me and sighs. He knows that I'm not going to drop it until he answers all my questions. "You're not going to like what I have to say." He waits a little bit for me to answer, but I don't say anything. "Casey and Hannah are more alike than you know."

I almost spit out the soda in my mouth. "There is no way that Casey and Hannah are anything alike. Hannah is all high and mighty, while Casey is the complete opposite." I shake my head. Dwayne is wrong about that. There's no doubt in my head.

"Well, I don't know Casey now, but when we were in high school she was just like Hannah. The most popular girl in school. Always at the football games and head cheerleader. Until that one night-" Dwayne takes a sip of my soda and loses focus as he stares across the room.

I wave my hand in front of his face. "Earth to Dwayne. Earth to Dwayne." His pupils dilate and he turns his head to me. "What night?"

"I don't know the whole story since I wasn't in the room when it happened. But there was a homecoming party at someone's house. Everyone was having a good time until all hell broke loose." Dwayne stops and looks at me. "Are you sure that you want to hear this?"

I nod. It can't possibly be that bad. Casey doesn't seem like the kind of girl to get involved in anything too awful.

"All I know is that one moment she's fine and dancing at the party , the next, she's on the floor. From what I heard, nobody knew what to do and someone called the paramedics while she lay on the ground." Dwayne shakes his head and grabs a napkin from my hand. "She almost died 'cause nobody knew what to do. She's just not worth your time, David." Dwayne tosses the ball across the room and Luigi walks up and swats it to the ground.

"I won't have you throwing away perfectly good napkins." His words come out deep and accented, his face redder than spring tomatoes. He picks up the napkins from my hands and shakes his head as he walks away.

"Sorry, Luigi," Dwayne shouts. He looks at me and then at the wall behind me. "Oh shit, I'm going to be late for practice." He grabs his bag off the ground. "He's going to have my ass running all night if I'm late. Aren't you coming?"

"Yeah, I'll be right there." I throw my backpack over my shoulder and rush out the door with him, throwing a twenty on the counter for Luigi. "See you later." Luigi nods his head and waves us off.

I sit back on the bleachers and watch the team huddle up. They've been going over the same play for the last hour. Coach Vaughn has pretty much lost his voice. They've run more laps this practice than the whole season. And it doesn't help that they've been throwing dirty looks my way.

Me not being on the field is throwing them off. We've spent a season working together and now I'm messing with their flow. And it's not like I don't want to be out there. I would give anything to be on the field. Even running laps. And I hate running.

Coach Vaughn blows his whistle and team forms up for the umpteenth time. It's time for me to check out. I can't do anything for them right now. My mind goes straight to Casey and Dwayne's warning.