Fourth Down - 2. Chapter 2

Looking into his Ice blue eyes, I come to the realisation that I have kinda been staring, and maybe a little slack in the jaw. Shaking my head, I smiled and extended my hand, cause my mother did not raise no ill mannered hick. I greet Dale.

Dale. That’s his name, it’s cute. Ok I need to focus. Sitting down next to Dale, he begins discussing how the tutoring program works. That I will be meeting him about 3 times a week, to do homework, and past assignments that I did not do well in. All to get me to see what I did wrong, and how I can improve. Seems simple enough, that is if I can keep focused and not get too distracted by my secret crush.

“Ok, so it looks like the only grades we need to work on are the classes we take together.” he informs me.

“Oh.” I am a little confused at this. “I thought I was struggling in every class.”

“No, you actually seem to be doing quite well in your other classes. Your coach only gave me these ones that you seemed to be struggling in.”

Wow, have I been so distracted by him, that it was affecting my grades? Shit. Ok, this is just a crush. It’s not going to get me anywhere. Sure he is hot and captivating, but this is my future. Football is not forever, I’ll need something I can fall back on.

With all this in mind, I ask, “Ok, where do we start.”

Settling in, we begin. We go for a few hours, me asking questions on things I don’t know, or am unfamiliar with. Which as it turns out is quite a bit. Dale, to his credit, just patiently explains things and points out things as needed.

“Thanks for this.” I say to him as I start packing up my things. “I really feel like I have learned a thing or two.” I smile at him.

He laughs it off, and smiles shyly, “Yea, no biggie. It’s what I am here for. Well we should head off, and I’ll see you in class tomorrow.” Grabbing a piece of paper. He then quickly scribbles something onto it, and hands it to me. “My number… In case you wanted to get a hold of me. You know in case you had any questions and such.”

Oh wow. He gave me his number, I am SO squealing on the inside. I take the slip of paper from him, and say “Thanks, and I will.”

With that we head our separate ways for the evening. Looking at the slip of paper in my hand, I can scarcely believe he gave me his number. After inputting his number into my phone, with a simple message saying, “Thanks”. I fold it neatly and secure it in my wallet, as if it is the most precious thing in my possession.

Being on cloud nine and reminiscing about the evening, even if it was spent studying. I could have not enjoyed myself more. Just being in his presence, did something that was almost indescribable to me. The way he explained things made so much sense now.

I didn’t even realise I was home when I heard, “Out late I see.” Oh great it’s Mayson, my ever so lovely, not, roommate. He’s sitting on the couch infront of the tv, watching whatever the fuck catches his interest, I could really care less to be perfectly honest.

“Who ever she was must have been desperate to sleep with dumb ass like you. Cause, let’s be honest, we all know that no self respecting girl would even think about taking that,” he says snidely while indicating my body. “ to bed.”

What an asshole. I mean really. I had a good night, and not even five seconds home. I have this shit starting in on me. So choosing to just ignore him, I make my room after grabbing a drink from the fridge, closing the door so I don’t have to look at his ugly face.

I am not sure what it is, but he seemed like a cool guy when he first moved in. We hung out all day that day just kicking back, playing a few games on the PS4. He was really good at Mortal Kombat, and offered up a decent challenge.

Laying in bed I grab my wallet and pull out that shiny new object it now housed. Dale’s number. Smiling to myself, I think how lucky I was to get him as my tutor. Being in the safety of my room, I allow my mind to wonder. I close my eyes, picturing his beautiful face, his voice. Imagining him whispering sweet nothings into my ear, as he penetrates my very being. I gasp. My hand seems to have a mind of its own. It has traveled down my body, and into my shorts, taking advantage of my aroused state. Back arched, eyes closed, thinking of the very person who unintentionally causes such a reaction out of my body.

Sighing, I clean myself up, put the piece of paper away in my wallet, switch off the light, then closing my eyes, I sleep.

***

Waking to my alarm the next morning, I feel good. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, life is good. Well as good as it can be, with Mayson as a roommate. Getting up I head to the bathroom, and begin to get myself ready for the day. After my morning shower, I notice I have a text message from madox. He is wanting to know if I wanted to grab breakfast with him and Olivia this morning. Sending a quick reply in the affirmative, I get dressed, grab my things and head out the door.

Sitting down I greet my friends at our usual table in the cafeteria. Madox has one arm wrapped around Olivia’s small waist. They were really cute together. Looking at them, I could not help but feel like I was a third wheel.

“So how did the tutoring go” Olivia asks, as she takes a bite out of her breakfast.

“Good. The guy teaching me has really helped me understand the work we are doing. It also helps that he is in the same classes I am needing the most help in.”

“Ah the nerdy type I presume.” Madox says with a smile. “They can be quite cute.” He says this while looking straight at Olivia. At that, Olivia playfully shoves him, pretending to be annoyed but struggling to hide her amusement.

“Yea he’s a bit nerdy.” I am wanting to say more, like how he participates in lectures without coming across as arrogant. How insightful some of his theories are. How he captives me just by existing. I don’t say those things however, cause I don't want to potentially out myself to them and possibly lose them in the process. The last one especially would reveal what I need to keep hidden.

My first class of the day goes smoothly, it’s one of the few I don’t share with Dale. I make more of an effort to concentrate, and take notes. Both on the things that I understand, and a few I am unsure of. Making a plan to bring them up with him, in the hopes he can help me to understand them in one of our sessions. After lunch with both Madox and Olivia, I head to my next class which just so happens to be one shared with Dale.

With trepidation, fully intending to sit in the front, so I am not distracted by the ever so lovely Dale, I step inside the class. I see both him and his girlfriend sitting in their usual seats in the middle of the class, when Dale catches my eye.

“Hey Hunter!” he calls out to me.

I wave back, then make my way to one of the available front row seats, when he calls out to me again. Smiling at me, with that smile of his, he indicates the seat next him. Wait. Does Dale want me to sit next to him? Is that even a good idea? I am supposed to focus on the lecture. Surely sitting right next to him will distract me to high heaven. After noticing my deer caught in the headlights response. His girlfriend gave an amused smirk, then got up and made her way over to me. Without realising it, she’s grabbed my hand and led me over to their seats. Pointing at the seat next to Dale.

“Sit.” She said in an amused tone, laughing slightly while making her way back to her seat.

“Hey.” I nervously greeted him, as I took the seat offered to me, and got prepared for class.

“Hey.” He smiled back, his girlfriend just rolled her eyes at us, that amused smirk still plastered on her face. “I thought, since I was tutoring you, it would be a good idea for us to sit together. You know in case you need help with anything.” At this his girlfriend leaned over and whispered something into his ear. What? I do not know, all I know is that whatever she said to him, caused his face to turn a couple shades closer to a tomato.

Surprisingly I was able to stay focused during the lesson. Taking notes like I did in the previous class. Having seen what I was doing with the query notes. Dale took them from me just before we were about to leave. He then scribbled something onto another sheet of paper. Handing me both my notes and the new page he’d scribbled on. I noticed that he’d written concise and easy to understand notes, of the things I was unfamiliar with. He is such a good guy. If he does this for his girlfriend, who I found out is named Victoria and goes by Vicky. Then she is one lucky gal. I hope she appreciates him, she seems to, so that is good.

“I’ll see you tonight in the library after your football practice.” He says to me as we prepare to leave.

“You got it, and thanks for these.” I smile at him, waving the page of notes he had given me.

“Sure no problem.”

“See ya Hunter. Don’t be a stranger.” Vicky calls out, as both she and Dale head in the opposite direction.

“See ya!” I call out, receiving a wave over her shoulder. Well she seems nice. I can see why he likes her.

Football practice was particularly brutal that afternoon. A couple of freshmen decided that it would be a good idea to goof around. Which is not a good idea, let me tell you. First it pisses off Coach Carter, which in turn pisses off the more senior players, as in, if they stuff up, we all get punished. It’s supposed to bring us closer as a team, by making the ones who stuff up feel guilty for getting the entire team punished. So they try to never do what they did again. Fortunately it seems to work, cause hey, why would you want the entire football team on your case. It also makes us look out for each other, and keeps us all in line. So after doing a couple drills as punishment, we headed off to the showers, dirty and sweaty, and just all round nasty. As I got to my locker, I grabbed my phone and saw that I had half an hour to get to the library.

“Hot date tonight?” asked one of the newer players. He had a friendly and easy going smile.

“Na, just a tutoring appointment.” I informed the new guy.

He looks at me, “You been struggling?”

“Yea, but the guy they have tutoring me is pretty good, makes it all look so simple, compared to how some of the professors teach.” I responded

“Well good, I am glad he is helping you. I may be new but even I can tell how much the rest of the us depend on you.” He says relieved

With that, he grabbed his shower supplies and headed toward the showers. After I showered, I wished the boys a good night making my way towards the library.

On my way there I stopped at the local coffee shop, thinking it would be good to get some caffeine into my system. So that I am a little bit more awake to study. On thinking about it, I decided it might be nice if I rocked up with an extra coffee just for Dale, you know, as a way to say thankyou for teaching my dumb ass. Now not knowing how he liked his coffee, I got a basic coffee order for him, and took a few items so he could doctor it the way he prefered.

As I was approaching the doors to the library, I noticed a sign next to the door saying, “No drink, or food to be consumed inside”. Well fuck. I am not going to be drinking two coffees before I go in. I wouldn’t even be able to sleep tonight if I did. Taking a seat on the steps, just to the side, so I don’t block the foot traffic. I placed Dale’s coffee on the ground, fished out my phone from my pocket, and dialed his number.

“Hey, Hunter. Are you running late?” he greeted me as he answered his phone.

“No! Ah no, well not running late per se, just I can’t enter the library at the moment.”

“Oh? Is everything ok?”

“Yea. Things are good. I just happened to see the sign that says “No drink, or food.” So now I am sitting here with two coffees” I told him, my face must be glowing.

“Two coffees? Why do you have two coffees?” he laughs, “ Are you that addicted you need two?.” I could hear his teasing smile in his voice. Damn he sounds cute.

“Well I do like my coffee, but two at the same time? That’s just a bit too much, even for me.” I laugh. “So was just wondering if you’d like to, you know, help a buddy out?”

I hear him make a light chuckling noise before he responds.” Sure, just give me a sec, and I’ll see you outside.”

A few minutes later he comes out of the library. After sitting next to me I hand him his drink. Smiling, he whispers “thanks.” After he has taken a sip, I offer him the few items I had grabbed earlier for his coffee. Thanking me again, he mixes a few of them into his coffee. Letting out a satisfied sigh after taking his next sip.

“Thanks, I needed this.” he says softly.

I just smile at him, and say it was nothing. We just sit in comfortable silence, watching the world go by while sipping our coffees. Every now and then his knee would brush up against mine, or he would put his hand one the floor with his pinky finger just lightly touching my thigh. Loving the contact I didn’t move. I also assumed it was just unintentional, that he was unaware of it during our people watching.

Finishing our coffees, we throw away the cups then head inside for my session. We left a few hours later with a smile and a promise of seeing each other the next day. Walking into the apartment, Mayson was once again making snide comments about my smile. Saying that whoever I am sleeping with, I must be paying a good fortune for. As that would be the only way, apparently I would be getting laid. Choosing to ignore him I went into my room and got ready for bed, excited for what the future may hold.