Romance: Young Adult Romance: The Perfect Game (A Highschool Football Romance) (Bad Boy Nerd New Adult Romance) (2 page)

Chapter Two

Rachel hoisted herself up onto the stool, slinging her backpack under the lab table. There weren’t many students in the classroom
yet,
so she set her book down and opened it to the chapter they were currently studying. They had
been warned
that an assignment would be handed out today that would mean a good portion of their final grade. She wanted to be ready if it was some
kind of
impromptu test. She’d spent most of the weekend studying, giving herself a short break to go for a run with Bree on Saturday evening and church on Sunday. Otherwise, she spent her time studying. She and Bree shared a small apartment near the
college,
so she had plenty of quiet time. Bree never bothered her when she
was concentrated
on her studies.

She was somewhat surprised when she saw Dallas come in. He was holding a
book,
and he made a beeline for her table. They
generally
didn’t sit
together,
and she dreaded the fact that it looked like
he
was going to change that today. He did take the stool next to hers, dropping his book onto the table with a loud thud.

“Hey, Rachel. How
you
doing today?”

She looked up from her book and nodded at him. “Hello, Dallas. You’re here early today.”

He nodded. “Yeah, saw Mr. Flynn at the game and he made sure to tell me to be here on time today. Said we got a major assignment coming
up,
and if I don’t pass it, I might not be able to continue playing football.”

“Is that because your grade is low in this class?” Rachel tried not to sound condescending. She didn’t know what he expected if he wasn’t going to participate in class or bother to show up in the first place.

“Yeah, I guess. I haven’t
really
been able to
show up
to class and sometimes I’m
kinda
tired when I come in. But my grade is
okay,
and I’m trying hard. I just know that if I don’t concentrate on this assignment we’re getting, I might not pass. That wouldn’t be good.”

“Got to play football, right?” She hated that she
was being
sarcastic with
him,
but he had readily admitted that he didn’t care about the class. She found it difficult to feel sympathy for him.

He looked at her and nodded. “Yeah, I
really
hope to go pro.”

“Lots of money in that.” There was a lot of money in medicine too. If he bothered to pay attention, he could have a much less physically destructive career. She assumed he was keeping the medicine as a
back-up
career if football didn’t work out. She tried to hide her scorn. Medicine meant a lot to her. She didn’t think it should take second place.

He just stared at her for a moment. He understood the look on her face. He picked up his book and said, “Yeah, there sure is. I…uh..I see Danny over there.
Gonna
go sit
with him. Have a great day, Rachel.”

She instantly felt bad and hoped her cheeks weren’t red. “Okay, man. See
ya
. You too.”

She watched him walk away, regretting her condescension. She hated it when she wasn’t nice. It made her feel like a snob, which she detested. She sighed and looked back down at her book, unable to
really
see or comprehend the words she was reading, silently berating herself in her mind.

Dallas didn’t look at her for the rest of the class. He had chosen a table up front with his friend Danny and would have had to turn all the way around to look at her. But he was in a prime spot for her to see him and she watched him all the way up until their teacher finally got around to telling them their assignment.

“All right, guys, here’s the deal.
In order to
pass this class, you’ve got to know some of the key terms and phrases we use in medicine. I am going to pair you up. You will need to give an oral presentation with documents and other visuals to help your audience understand what you’re
talking about
. You need to present it as if you are talking to people who have no idea what you’re
talking about
. I’m giving out the arrangements so please don’t ask for a specific partner.” Mr. Flynn held up a piece of paper and read
from
it. “Carter, Daniels. Langdon, Brazen. Johnson, Alexander. Macon, Smith. Arrington, Reynolds.”

Rachel’s heart sank. She had been paired up with Dallas. He looked back at her over his shoulder, smiling slightly. He saluted
her,
and she nodded back with a smile. She still felt bad for
berating
him earlier but couldn’t manage much more than the smile she gave him. She felt two inches tall.

After class, he came to her table and leaned on it with both arms, clasping his hands together in front of him. He smiled.

“Looks like we’re working together, Rache.”

She pressed her lips together. “Looks like it.”

“What grade
you
getting in this class so far?”

“An A. I assume you are what, around a C or something?”

He lifted his eyebrows. “Yeah, I guess that would be about right.”

“Do you know where your books are? Do you know how to do any research?”

“Well, I…” He looked hesitant and doubtful. Both expressions irritated Rachel. She didn’t want to get a failing grade because this guy couldn’t be bothered to do the work he was assigned. She would rather do it all on her own than have to work with him. “I know where my books are, sure.”

“So you don’t do research?”

“I haven’t
really
had a lot of time to do research. Not a lot of experience at it.”

“I guess football has to be first with you.” She closed her book abruptly and gathered her things together in a rough manner, shoving them into her book bag. “Look, don’t worry about it. I’ll do the work. I’ll just let you know what we’re doing when we present it to the class.”

He stood up straight and gave her a hurt look. “No, I…I want to help. I can do some of it, too. You can show me how to do research.”

“I won’t have the time to teach you how to
research
, Dallas.
Seems
to me
that’s something a good college student should already know. But I know how important football is to you.”

“That’s not it, I…”

“Don’t worry about it, Dallas. Just concentrate on your football scores.” She turned on her heel and walked out of the class, leaving him to watch her with disappointment and hurt written all over his face.

At the end of the day, Rachel met Bree by the little coffee shop on the corner where they always met up. Bree got coffee,
anyway
. Rachel enjoyed an iced green tea chai latte. She saw Bree already sitting at their
normal
table. Her friend had ordered her drink as well and was sitting with her head
down,
and her eyes focused on her phone. Her thumb was moving at a quick rate over the surface of it. Bree didn’t look up until Rachel slid into the chair opposite her. When she looked up, Rachel was slightly taken aback by the angry look on her friend’s
normally
joyful face.
She
’d only seen Bree upset one time in the past year. She raised her eyebrows.

“What’s up, Bree?”

“What did you say to Dallas?”

Rachel blinked, swallowing. “I…I’m sorry? You mean in anatomy and physiology today?”

Bree leaned forward, narrowing her eyes. “Look, we’ve been friends for a long time now, Rachel. I know you pretty well. I have to say I was stunned to hear that you were so incredibly rude to Dallas earlier. Rico told me all about it. I couldn’t even defend you! What were you thinking? Why were you so rude to him?”

“I…” Rachel blushed furiously. “I just know that…well, I mean, we were paired up for an
assignment,
and I know that he never does any of his work and all of his time is devoted to football. He doesn’t bring his books to
class; he
isn’t getting an A…sometimes
he
doesn’t even show up, I mean, it doesn’t seem like he’s very dedicated to medicine.
It’s like
he can only think about football.”

Bree huffed and looked at Rachel, shaking her head. “That shows how much you know, Rachel.” She grabbed her drink in one hand and her bag in the other and stood up. She leaned over to finish what she was saying, looking into Rachel’s shocked eyes directly. She pointed her index finger at Rachel, jabbing the air as she spoke. “Dallas is
a
nice guy
. He’s no
dumb jock
. I’ll have you know that the reason
he
sometimes doesn’t make it or is tired or doesn’t seem to be focused on the work is because he takes care of his grandma who has Alzheimer’s. She’s in the last
stages,
and sometimes she doesn’t even know who he
is,
and because he’s so big, he scares her so he has to be
really
gentle and patient with her. He can’t just drop those responsibilities for his classes
…or
his football! You
really
hurt his feelings, Rachel! I’m
sorry,
but I
really
don’t feel like talking to you right now. I’ll text you later.” She stomped away.

Rachel stood up, putting one hand out to her friend. “Wait, I didn’t know!”

Bree spun around and continued walking
backwards
, sending eye darts at Rachel. “The fact that you didn’t bother to find out is what bothers me so much, Rache. You shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions and been so…ugh, so
rude
!!” She spun back around and stomped off. This time, Rachel was left behind. She sat down and put her head in her hands, ashamed.

For the rest of the day, Rachel thought about what she’d done. She couldn’t think about anything else or get the disappointment in herself out of her mind. She hadn’t even considered that Dallas might have some noble reason to be away from class or to not pay attention to his studies. On a more positive note, the thought crossed her mind that he must have
really
been a natural at football because he was a star in the game, one of the MVPs the school wished they didn’t have to graduate. He was in his second year, she
knew
and realized that he must be in a
first-year
class because he’d had too many responsibilities with his home life during his first year and was making up the classes he missed during that time.

Her rudeness weighed heavily on her. She wondered if she should try to get in touch with Dallas somehow. The logical thing would have been to get his cell number while they were together in class but she had certainly not given him the opportunity for that.

Rachel pondered whether or not she should text Bree first and ask for his number so that she could apologize but she wasn’t sure Bree had it. She could text
Rico,
but she already felt embarrassed enough and didn’t want to be further humiliated by Bree’s cousin, who could be extremely blunt. She’d just decided to wait
for Bree
to text her when she got a message from her.

STILL MAD AT YOU the text said.

She hurriedly texted back, having to backspace a lot because she kept making mistakes.

PLEASE DON’T BE. I’M GOING TO MAKE IT UP TO HIM. PLEASE SEND ME HIS NUMBER.

She waited a
bit; her
eyes focused on her phone.

I DON’T HAVE HIS NUMBER. MEET US AT THE
BAKIN’
SHOP TONIGHT AT 7. YOU BETTER MAKE UP FOR IT.
SO DISAPPOINTED.

I’M SORRY, BREE. GNA MAKE IT UP TO HIM, I PROMISE.

YOU BETTER.

She looked up from her phone with tears in her eyes. She was going to make it better. She didn’t think she could feel worse than she did about her
own
behavior. She was going to make sure Dallas knew it. She would beg for forgiveness if she had to. She wasn’t a rude person.

Not all the time.

Chapter Three

The
Bakin’
Place
was packed
. She recognized most of the patrons from seeing them around college but didn’t know them personally. It was typical for a college town and the area she
lived in
. She hadn’t seen Bree at the apartment getting ready. She assumed she’d gone to Rico’s, where her aunt and uncle were.

She opened the door and went in, looking around for her friends. She saw them sitting in one of the booths and went toward them. Bree looked up and nodded at her. She patted Rico, who was sitting next to her, on the arm and gestured for him to
scoot
out. He
did,
and Bree followed behind him, pushing him away from the booth, pointing at Rachel. Rico looked over and saw her. The look on his face told her he wasn’t mad at
her,
but his usual smile wasn’t there.

Dallas saw them getting out of the booth and looked to see Rachel, too. He turned his head to look out the window as soon as he saw her.
He
looked like he was blushing. She wondered why he would be the one who looked embarrassed when she was the one who had made a fool of herself.

Rachel nodded at Bree and Rico as they went toward the ordering counter. She strolled to the booth without looking around her at the other customers. She didn’t want to draw any attention to herself.

She slid into the booth across from Dallas and set her bag down next to her on the seat.

“Hey, Dallas.” She said.

He looked at her. “Hello, Rachel.”

“I owe you an apology.”

“Oh?”

She was the one blushing now. She lowered her eyes and stared at the table in front of her. “I…” She looked back up. “I was terribly rude to you today. I…I have no excuse. I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions.”

“No.” He said, bluntly. “You shouldn’t have.”

She pulled in a quick breath and held it for a second. He was mad at her. But could she blame him?

“I want to say how sorry I am. I know that…I know about your
grandmother,
and I’m sorry you
are having
to deal with that…”

“It doesn’t matter.” He cut her off.

She shook her head. “It does matter, Dallas. I was rude. It shouldn’t have made a difference what reasons you had for…for being…”

“Lax in class?” He supplied.

She nodded. “Yes, for that stuff. I shouldn’t have been rude either way. You don’t owe me an explanation for why you do the things you do or any of that. I was rude.
I am so sorry.”

He stared at her for a moment. “I can accept your apology, Rachel.” He paused. “I guess…actually, I guess being someone like
you; I
would have reacted the way you did, too.”

She raised her eyebrows. “Someone like me? What do you mean?”

He gave her a teasing look. “You know, someone like you. Someone who is always reading, gets good grades, a goody-two-shoes, you know. A church-going Christian. A nerd.”

“You equate going to church with being a nerd?” Rachel had to giggle. She was grateful that he smiled back at her.

“No, I mean, only
you
, you know.
You
are…” He paused and tried not to laugh.

“A goody-two-shoes. You know I’m not that much of a goody-two-shoes.”

“Oh yeah? When was the last time you smoked a cigarette?”

“How can you say that?” She was amused. “You don’t smoke either. Does that make you a goody-two-shoes?”

“No, I’m a dumb jock, right?” She blushed
furiously,
and he laughed. “I’m teasing ya. And I’m far from that, in fact, I think the guys on the team might say the opposite.”

“You aren’t a bad boy, are you?” He didn’t have the reputation for being a lady’s
man; she
knew that. In fact, when she thought about it, she hadn’t heard any rumors about Dallas. She’d only been going on her
own
observations of him in class. Rico got more negative attention in that area than Dallas did.

He held up his hands. “No. I’m not
really
a bad boy. I know what you’re thinking.
Jock
gets all the ladies he wants and all that. But not me.”

“You could have any woman you wanted.” She couldn’t believe she was talking about this with Dallas.

He nodded and looked at her very seriously. “Yes. I am that good.”

They both laughed.

“No, seriously, I just…well, I’ve got standards, you know? I
know what I want
to do with my
life,
and I don’t have time to let someone else dictate any of it. I don’t let my parents tell me what to do. I’m not going to let a girl do it either.”

“Well, dictating isn’t
really
something that works well in a relationship
anyway
. What about your grandmother? I don’t mean to bring up a sensitive subject…Bree said that you
take
care of her.”

“I do. And all I have to do is keep on what I’m doing until she passes away. It’s not
easy,
but it’s something I have to do.”

“I understand.”

“What about you?
You have
a boyfriend I don’t
know about
? I don’t think Bree has mentioned one.”

“No. I don’t have time either. I’m always busy.”

“With what?”

Rachel shrugged. “The usual. School. Church. Family.”

“What family do you have? They live here?”

She shook her head. “My folks and my little sister live in Houston.”

“Really? Mine too! What part?”

“The outer edge, out near the airport. Not too close but the mall is, like, ten minutes walking distance.”

“You aren’t serious. That’s a pretty affluent area. My folks are out that
way,
but they aren’t as wealthy as some of the homeowners there.”

“Really?”

“Yep.”

“Cool.”

They stopped talking when Bree and Rico came back. Bree gestured to Rachel with her head because she was carrying two trays, one in each hand. “Get up and slide in next to Dallas, Rache. I see you guys have made up. I don’t want these guys to have to sit next to each other.” She narrowed her eyes and looked at the boys. “Might start rumors.”

“Aww now, don’t be like that.” Dallas laughed. “There’s nothing wrong with an alternative lifestyle, right?”

Rachel slid out of one side of the booth and into the other, pushing Dallas over a little with her hip. She smiled at him. “Some might disagree with you.” She said.

“And we aren’t even gonna go there, are we?” Rico said. He set one of the trays he was holding down in front of Bree and the other in front of himself.

“I see no reason
to,
” Rachel smiled and picked up her fork. “Baked apples tonight then?”

“This is just the first course,
girl,
” Bree said. “We’ve got plenty of food coming, don’t worry.”

Rachel shook her head. “I wasn’t worried. I love this place.”

Before they left the restaurant, Dallas gave Rachel his cell number and told her to text him the next morning if she wanted to start working on their project. He promised to make time for it. She and Bree spent the rest of the evening in front of the TV, their legs up on the couch under them, a big bowl of popcorn in between them. They put in The Land of the Lost and laughed for an hour and a half. It was ten thirty before they separated
to their rooms
to get some sleep. Bree didn’t have a class in the
morning,
but she did have practice for the symphony and would be getting up much earlier than usual. Rachel had a class at 8:30.

She yawned and stretched, ready to change into her pajamas and crawl into bed. She wanted to sleep so much.

When she pulled the soft blanket up over her, she realized her eyes were wide
open,
and her brain was still running at full force. She recalled the events of the day, feeling
bad
for her behavior in class and trying to console herself with the fact that everything had worked out okay in the end. She ended up
actually
liking Dallas, who wasn’t anything like she had thought he was. Before, she had known him as Rico’s teammate. Now she realized they were best
friends,
and she could consider him a friend, as well.

Rachel thought about him, seeing his face in front of her eyes, even when she closed them. He was handsome, tall and much more intelligent than she’d thought he was.

Just goes to show,
she thought.
You can’t judge a book by its cover
. The phrase was too
true
and she felt like she should have known that. She’d always prided herself on being a nonjudgmental person and look what she’d gone and done. She let herself feel
bad
about it again before pushing away her regret. Dallas wasn’t hurt anymore.

She hoped that he would never think of it again.

She woke the next morning with no clue when she had even fallen asleep. She went through her
normal
breakfast routine. The apartment was quiet because Bree had left much earlier. She enjoyed not rushing through her shower, making an egg with two pieces of toast and sitting at their small table to eat, scrolling through her Facebook on her phone for the latest news and updates from her friends. The clock on her phone said she had fifteen minutes before she had to leave
in order to
get to class on time. That was more than enough time. She and Bree had specifically requested this apartment because it was walking distance to school.

She searched for Dallas
in
Facebook and found him. She sent him a friend request but doubted he was online. His profile picture showed a
very old
woman wearing a pink nightgown in a wheelchair. Her heart melted. His grandmother. The old
woman
was smiling into the camera, despite the medical equipment that surrounded her and the obvious pain she was feeling. Her hands
were clenched
together. Rachel wanted to reach into the picture and give her a hug.

The cover photo behind his profile picture was a landscape view of the football field, an action picture from one of the games. She spotted him immediately and realized she had been watching him whenever she went to the games.

Rachel didn’t want to lose track of time. She pushed the button on her phone to close out the screen and stood up from the table. She drank down the last few swallows of the orange juice she loved so much and put her glass and plate in the sink.

“I’ll get to you guys later.” She murmured, turning back to finish getting ready. All she had to do was brush her teeth and get her shoes on.

An hour and a half later, she was able to check her phone again. She didn’t usually go on Facebook during the
day,
but she wanted to see if he’d accepted her friend request. He hadn’t. She tried not to be disappointed. Maybe he went online even less than she did. She remembered that he’d said to text him if she wanted to start working so she went to her messaging and typed in his number.

WHEN WILL YOU HAVE TIME TO DO SOME RESEARCH WITH ME? WANT TO MEET AT THE LIBRARY AFTER CLASS? I HAVE TWO MORE THEN I WILL BE FREE.

She stared at her phone, anticipating a response. When she didn’t get one, she got a little worried. Was he still mad at her? She
really
hoped not.