Anywhere With You (3 page)

Ace laughs, “Did you expect anything less?”

The waiter brings our food, we talk while we eat. I tell Ace about Hailey, how much we have in common, how nice it is to have a girl for a friend. He fakes being hurt by this, but I know he understands where I’m coming from. He talks about football and how excited he is that his team has gone undefeated the last two years. He talks about his hopes to carry that on this year, being it was his last year at UNC and on the football field. That is unless the draft comes through for him. If not, he will be a free agent which makes his chances slim for getting picked up by an NFL team. He always has is degree of Sports Medicine to fall back on.

I want to tell Ace that Hailey’s sexy as sin brother is on his team as well, but decide against it. I know that Ace would know him, and I don’t want to deal with the teasing and or lecture that will follow my admission.

As we finish our dessert, a hot fudge sundae that we split, I remember that I had promised Hailey that we would all go out tomorrow night. “Hey, do you have plans tomorrow night?” I ask Ace.

“Nope.”

“Great, Hailey wants to meet you. I’ve talked about you so much she wants to see if you live up to all the hype,” I tease.

Ace chuckles. “I’m down, I’ll see if Mac wants to go as well.”

“Awesome sauce, sounds like we both get to meet each other’s roommates for the first time tomorrow night. Where should we go?”

“Let’s meet up at The Warehouse. A guy on the team’s dad owns it so we get VIP treatment.” He winks at me. “Meet you guys there at eight?”

I nod in agreement.

We each pay for our respective meals, and head out to my car so that I can give him his care package from his mom. With a farewell hug, we go our separate ways.

When I arrive back at the dorm, Hailey is fully engrossed in her kindle, yet another thing we have in common. I fill her in on the plans for tomorrow night before taking a quick shower, making a quick call to the Emerson’s and Gran then going to bed. It has been a long and exhausting day.

As I climb into bed, Hailey informs me that tomorrow night is country night at the Warehouse, and that she and I are hitting the mall tomorrow to ensure that we are dressed appropriately. I fall asleep with a smile on my face. I’m getting to live the normal life that my peers have been living. I miss Gran, and I love her for pushing me to do this.

After dropping Blitzen off at his place, I decide to hit the gym. I had already been there first thing this morning, but I need a distraction. All day long I have been thinking about Allison. The attraction I feel for her is like nothing I have ever experienced. I can’t wrap my head around it. I only spent two hours with her and she is consuming my thoughts. I work out for a couple of hours, hit the showers and head home. There is no way in hell I can act on this attraction I’m feeling for her. She’s my sister’s roommate, Hailey would kill me.

I pull into the lot of our complex at the same time as Aiden, aka Dash, my roommate does. Dash is our running back and “speed” is his thing, hence the nickname. “Hey man! I thought you were meeting up with Ash tonight?”

“I did, we had dinner at Longhorn. She gave me this,” he says smiling as he lifts a large basket filled with goodies. It looks just like the one that Allison brought up to her room earlier today.
There I go again
.

“Is that from your mom?” I ask. My mouth is already watering. Aiden’s mom is an amazing cook and always sends the best treats.

“Why yes it is. Can I possibly interest you in banana bread, buckeyes, or a peanut butter cookie, perhaps?”

“Dude, stop teasing and share the love,” I whine. “I’m starving, I haven’t had dinner yet.”

“You should have come with me, you could have met Ash.”

I raise my eyebrows at him, “I would not intrude on your date man, not cool.”

“How many times do I have to tell you? It’s not like that with Ash. She’s like my little sister. Her parents died in a car crash when she was ten. She came to live with her Gran who lives next door to my parents. She was shy and scared and my parents fell in love with her immediately. It’s really kind of hard not to. Anyway, they asked me to take her under my wing look out for her at school and things. She became my best friend. I love her like my little sister. I have never had romantic feelings for her.”

“You just said it’s hard to not fall in love with her,” I remind him.

“Yes, it is and when you meet her you’ll know why. There are many different types of love. She’s family that’s all.”

“Okay, I hear what you’re saying but you warned all of us off of her like she was yours man.”

“That’s because, she’s different.” He runs his hands through his hair, obviously struggling with something. “Listen man, I don’t want the other guys to know this. You are my best friend other than Ash, so I know that I can trust you. I don’t want those other vultures to get wind of this.” He takes a deep breath. “Ash is innocent, man. She’s never been on a date, she’s never been kissed. Her parents were both college professors, so she spent all of her time studying and making grades. It was her way of honoring their memory and making them proud. Any spare time she had, she was taking care of her Gran. She is old and her health is failing fast. Ash took care of her. They took care of each other. Granny Hagan is her only family. My parents and I adopted her into ours. My dad calls her sis and we’re all that she’ll have left when something happens to Gran.”

We sit in silence for a few minutes. “Wow, she has no other family?”

“Nope, both of her parents were only children and her mom’s parents both passed on before she was born. It’s just her and Gran.”

“Damn,” I’m trying to process all that I’ve just learned.

“She’s amazing, the strongest person I know. She’s not like the girls we’re used to; she doesn’t bitch and whine all the time. She has been dealt a bad hand in life, but she keeps her head up and just lives for each day. She constantly worries and fusses over her Gran, but it’s endearing. Her Gran had to make her stay on campus. She wanted to drive back and forth each day, just so that she would be there if her Gran needed her. It took a lot of convincing from my parents and Gran’s homecare nurse that she would be well cared for to get her to go through with it.” He takes a deep breath and runs his hands through his hair again. “She never even went to prom. I told her that I would come home and take her, she refused. Said she didn’t need her best friend to be her pity date. The thing is she had offers, tons of them, she’s beautiful, but she always turned them down. Gran came first. Instead, she stayed in and her and Gran watched movies and ate popcorn. So you see, Ash is different, special. Once the guys get wind of all of this, her innocence, it would become a challenge for them. I want better for her, more. She deserves better, she deserves, respect and love. She needs to find someone who will make her the center of their universe because that’s what they would be for her.” He rests his head against the back of the couch.

Fuck!
I feel bad now for always razzing him. “I see now where you’re coming from. I get it.” I get up to get more cookies out of the basket.
Damn things are addicting
. “So, I helped Hales move into her dorm today,” I needed to change the subject.

“Oh yeah, so your little sis is officially a college student.”

“Yep, she’s really excited, her roommate was there, she’s … beautiful.”
What hell, did I just say that?

Aiden throws his head back and laughs, “Wow, that’s huge coming from you. You feeling alright?”

It’s my turn to run my hand through my hair to try and process what I want to say. “Fuck if I know. This girl has consumed my thoughts all damn day. I spent two hours with her and Hales, and now she’s all that I can think about. I can’t describe it, there’s just something about her. She’s gorgeous and I’m drawn to her, man. I know this sounds fucked up and I am in major jeopardy of losing my man card, but I can’t seem to stop thinking about her.”

I plop down beside him on the couch with the entire cookie container. “Get this shit. I shook her hand when Hales introduced us and when she let go it bothered me. What the fuck is that about? I had just met this girl and I didn’t want her to let go of my hand.” I take a drink of milk, “Go ahead and say it, I’m a pussy.” I take another drink of milk. “Then, when I introduced Blitzen he kissed her cheek and I wanted to punch him. So tell me what the fuck is going on with me?”

Aiden chuckles, “Sounds to me like it’s love at first sight.” He winks at me, winding me up even further.

I take a minute to process what he said, and to finish the cookie I just shoved into my mouth,
addicting fuckers
. “Do you believe in that shit, love at first sight? I mean, I’ve heard my dad talk about the moment he met my mother he knew that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. I thought that he was just spouting shit to me and Hales. Besides, you know me, I don’t do relationships. My commitment is football.”

Aiden doesn’t hesitate, “I do, actually. I heard the same story growing up from my parents. More so from my dad, it took mom a few months to warm up to him.” He laughs, “I thought that you would flip out on me from my comment, it didn’t seem to faze you. You’re really into this girl.”

“Fuck man, I don’t know. I know that I have never had this reaction to anyone before in my life, maybe I just need to get laid,” I say repeating my own thoughts from earlier today.

“All I can say is that when I find someone who makes me think of them all day long after only being in their presence for two hours, I would pursue it and see where it goes,” he shrugs as though the decision should be obvious

“She’s Hailey’s roommate. I don’t want to cause problems with them. Football and the draft, that’s what I have to focus on. If I hooked up with her it would be awkward seeing her all the time. She and my sister hung out over the summer and kept in touch, Hales really likes her. I can’t do that to my sister.”

“Well, maybe this girl will be
the one
. Are you going to risk letting
the one
go?” he says smiling. He’s getting some form of satisfaction watching me squirm.

“Alright, that’s enough girl talk for one night, my head is spinning,” I whine. I have to get this chick out of my head. She’s beautiful, yes, and I am insanely attracted to her. I’ll go out tomorrow night, hook-up, and get this out of my system. This has just been an off day.

Aiden laughs, “Hey, Ash and I are going to The Warehouse tomorrow night. She’s bringing her roommate so that I can meet her. You should come with us maybe it will help get your mind off of Hailey’s roommate. Besides that, Ash mentioned that she met her roommate’s brother and thought he was hot. You can meet her and see if you know the guy, see if I have to warn him off.”

“I’m in.” I don’t even hesitate. The Warehouse was a local hangout and the perfect environment to let go and clear my thoughts of Allison.

Hailey and I sleep in the next day, which is new for me. I am usually up at the break of dawn with Gran making sure she has her meds and breakfast. We shower and decide to grab a bagel at Starbucks on our way to the mall. Last night as I lay in bed, I decided I was going to embrace college life. Like Gran had said, I need to pave my way. I know she is thinking about when she’s no longer here with me. Her health is failing and just the thought of losing her brings tears to my eyes. I am going to make Gran proud of me, starting today. I am going to re-vamp my wardrobe, act and dress my age. Money is not an issue for me. My parents were older and well established in their careers when they had me. They had planned well for their futures’ and mine. I received a trust on my eighteenth birthday last September. I have more than enough money to never have to work. I could easily live on my monthly allowance from the interest alone.

“Okay, so tonight is country night at The Warehouse, so we need to embrace that,” Hailey says as we walk into the mall. Apparently the Warehouse has themes that they rotate through to keep a broad range of customers coming through their doors.

“Sounds good to me, I’m actually thinking I need to upgrade my wardrobe. I didn’t ever go out back home. I was always taking care of Gran or worrying about school. I think I am past due for a makeover.”