Convenient Fall (Players of Marycliff University Book 2) (5 page)

Chris didn't understand. She hadn't had fun? She'd seemed like she was having a good time when they'd played chicken fight and later when she was dancing. With practically everyone. Chris suppressed the growl that was fighting to come out. He hadn't liked seeing her dance with all those guys, watching them put their hands all over where he wanted to touch and couldn't. It was probably best that they wanted to keep her away from the team's parties, because he couldn't handle watching her party like that and not being able to be the one touching her.

Instead of voicing his confusion, Chris just grunted. If Matt was right it would just make things easier, so he let it go.

* * *

Megan settled into the rhythm of the semester within a couple of weeks. Chris and Matt were gone the first two weekends with away games, which made it easy to unpack and settle in and start to feel more at home in her new place. She'd started to get some drop-in clients in the tutoring center. The first papers were starting to be assigned in the English classes, and assignments were getting more difficult. Things would only continue getting harder until finals were over in early December, making people seek out help. She also had a few regular tutoring clients, including Matt, who’d gotten special permission from his coach to use her as his tutor instead of his assigned tutor. He said he had a history with his assigned tutor and didn't feel he'd learn well from her this semester.
 

Megan stood at the stove chuckling to herself at the memory of Matt telling her about how he'd broken up with his tutor, who he'd dated last year. He was a funny guy, and had a self-deprecating sense of humor that made his antics almost endearing instead of slap-worthy. She still couldn't believe he'd broken up with her by text. What an ass.
 

On Friday night Megan decided to make dinner. The guys’ first home game was this weekend, so she wanted to make sure they got a big dinner full of protein and carbs to see them through tomorrow. She smiled to herself while she whisked together the ingredients for an Alfredo sauce. It would be perfect over the shrimp and chicken on a bed of fettuccine. She used to help her mom do this for her brothers when she was growing up.
 

The memory of happy times with her mom made her feel a little pang of regret. Her parents wouldn't approve of her living with two guys. They were conservative and religious. With a mental shrug, she pushed the thoughts away. They didn't approve of her life at all since she left home. They thought her art major was frivolous and unsuitable, and they didn't like that she partied. Her relationship with them was strained at the best of times, and her brothers didn't help. They weren't perfect angels, but they put on the front to please their parents and encouraged her to do the same. But Megan couldn't bring herself to lie to her parents. Of all the things she'd been taught growing up, honesty was the thing that stuck. So instead of lying, she just didn't talk to her parents much or go home to visit. In fact, she hadn't been home since last Christmas, even though her parents only lived forty-five minutes away. The lack of contact had prompted her mom to increase her efforts, though. She'd been calling more and more often over the summer, and Megan knew she shouldn't keep ignoring her or only talking for a few minutes when she did answer. She just didn't want to deal with the disapproving silence or the pleas for her to move back home.
 

The side door slammed shut, alerting her that one of her roommates was home and pulling her out of her thoughts. The sound of the screen slamming again meant both guys were home. Despite all living together and going to the same school, their schedules were different enough that they took separate cars every day.

“It smells good in here.”
 

Megan turned to see Matt coming into the kitchen. She smiled at him. “I hope you guys are hungry. I made dinner.” They'd become friends over the last couple of weeks, hanging out together at the house and during their tutoring sessions. He reminded her a lot of Charlie, her middle brother, goofing off and joking around a lot. Chris avoided them for the most part.
 

Matt laughed. “We're always hungry. Especially after practice.” He peered at the stove over her shoulder. “I didn't know you could cook.”

“I made brownies for the Fourth of July party.”

“Baking's not the same thing.” He stuck a finger in the sauce before she could smack him away and stuck it in his mouth. “Mm … and you're a good cook, too.” He winked at her. “I could get used to this.”

Megan smacked him on the chest. “Keep your fingers out of the pot. I don't want your dirty hands messing up my food.”

“I just washed them, I swear!” Matt held up his hands, his eyes dancing with laughter. Megan laughed along with him. He surprised her by swooping down and giving her a hug, lifting her up off her feet for a second before setting her down again.

A throat cleared in the entrance to the kitchen and they turned to see Chris standing there, arms crossed, muscles bulging, jaw clenched. Matt dropped his hands from her and took a step back. “Hey. Megan's making dinner.”

Chris just nodded in response.
 

“Are you hungry?” Megan tried to keep her voice upbeat, but Chris glowering at her made it difficult. He was acting … jealous? Angry? Was he mad that Matt was touching her? Why? He had no reason to be jealous. For one thing, nothing would ever happen between her and Matt. They were just friends. And for another, nothing was happening with her and Chris. That was out of the question too. The roommate thing meant they couldn't get together. Plus, Chris was more of a manwhore than Lance had been from what she could tell. At least Lance had taken his conquests out to dinner first. It would be unwise to get involved with him given his history and proximity.
 

Chris just stood watching them, Matt leaning against the counter near the stove. She looked from Chris's stony face to Matt's watchful one and back to the food on the stove. She cleared her throat. “The food's almost ready. Matt, why don't you get bowls for everyone. Chris, will you get us all drinks please?”

She kept her back to them, facing the stove. Matt started getting bowls and silverware right away. It took Chris a little longer, but she eventually heard him opening the refrigerator to get out the pitcher of water they kept in there.
 

By the time Megan had dished out the food, the tension had mostly drained out of the room. Chris wasn't clenching his jaw as much and engaged in conversation after a few minutes, even answering questions with more than one word. Matt was more subdued than he had been when he first came into the kitchen, his eyes watchful on Chris and on her. Megan tried to keep things light, directing conversation to how classes were going and how they thought the season was shaping up.

“So far we're one and one. We have a bunch of new starters on the offensive line this year. A lot of guys graduated since last year. Or at least they've been in school too long to be eligible to play still. We lost a couple starters because they were academically ineligible. Coach Hanson was pissed when he found out.” Megan had to make an effort not to freeze in shock. She didn't think she'd heard more than two or three words at a time come from Chris since she'd moved in.
 

She nodded in understanding. “So, are you keeping up with your classes pretty well?”

Chris shrugged and mumbled something.
 

Megan frowned. “Seriously, Chris. Aren't you supposed to graduate in December? Why wouldn't you make sure you're keeping up with your classes?”

He shook his head. “I’m not going to be graduating in December.”

“But I thought over the summer you guys said you'd both be done after this semester.” Megan looked over to Matt, who looked surprised as well.

Chris shrugged. “I probably will be done after this semester. I just won't be graduating.” He shoveled a forkful of pasta into his mouth, clamping his lips shut while he chewed and keeping his head down.

Megan sat stunned, unsure how to respond to that. She looked to Matt again, but he just stared at Chris too, with his fork frozen halfway to his mouth. “Um, well, couldn't you graduate in May, then? It's pretty normal for student athletes to take five years, isn't it?”

Chris didn't respond, not looking up from his plate. She looked at Matt again. He'd managed to get his fork to his mouth and was contemplating Chris while he chewed. Megan did finally manage to catch his eye. He shrugged one shoulder, nodding and swallowing. “Yeah. Five years is pretty normal. I had some transfer credits from dual enrollment in high school. That's why I'm able to graduate in December instead of taking until May.”

She turned back to Chris. “If you need help, I can—”

“Drop it.” His eyes were on his plate, but his voice was steel.

“But—”
 

He silenced her with a look, his eyes hard, his voice harder. “I said drop it.”

She looked at Matt again and he gave a fractional shake of his head. Megan took a deep breath and looked down at her plate, pushing the remaining food around. Just before she got up to clear her plate, having decided she wasn't hungry anymore, Matt spoke.

“So are you coming to the game tomorrow?”

Megan looked up at him. “Uh, I don’t think so. I don't usually go to football games.”

“What? You have to come. You're our roommate. Isn't it your job to support us now?”

Megan smirked. “Yeah. I'm your roommate. Not your girlfriend. Would you try to sell me that line of bull if I were a guy?”

Matt nodded. “Probably. But a guy wouldn't make us dinner, so it's a moot point. Come to the game.”

Megan was about to beg off again, when Chris spoke up. “You should come.” His voice was softer now than it had been. She looked at him. His face was neutral, not telling her anything. He held her gaze and she couldn't look away.
 

Finally, she nodded. “Alright. I'll come.”

CHAPTER FIVE

Megan looked up at the bleachers. About halfway up on the right a girl with strawberry blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail jumped up and down while she waved. Megan waved back and made her way up the stairs to where Abby waited. Lance stood up from his seat on the end, towering over both of them, so that Abby could pull Megan into a tight hug.

“I feel like I haven't seen you in forever!” squealed Abby.
 

Megan squeezed her back before they broke apart. “It's only been a couple weeks, and we've been texting.” She moved past Abby to the seat they'd saved for her.
 

Megan leaned forward so she could look past Abby, letting her gaze roam over Lance. He looked good as always in a Superman t-shirt that stretched across his broad shoulders, the breeze ruffling his dark hair. Abby had lucked out when she scored this one. “Hey, Lance. How's it going?”

He grinned back at her, his dark eyes warm. “Good. You? How's life in my old house?”

“Uh, it's interesting.”

Lance laughed. “I bet. They behaving themselves?”

“I guess? I don't see them a whole lot between classes and practices and away games. I see Matt more than Chris because I'm his tutor, but we're almost always talking about class stuff. I don't know what they get up to when I'm not around.”

Lance's eyebrows climbed his forehead and a look of speculation entered his dark eyes. “You're tutoring Matt? That's … interesting. Are you tutoring Chris too?”

She shook her head. “No. Matt wanted me to be his tutor because we have a couple classes together. He convinced the coach to let him work with me instead of the regular tutor because of that and because of his history with the other tutor.”

“Huh.” Lance didn't say anything else, just looked her over with that same speculation in his eyes before he turned away.
 

Megan didn't have much time to think about what that look might mean before Abby reclaimed her attention. They chatted about the semester and how classes were going so far. Their paths didn't cross much on campus. Megan was an art major with a marketing minor, and Abby was majoring in Spanish. Not a lot of crossover there.

The one thing that was glaringly obvious was how happy Abby was. Megan hadn't ever seen her like this. Between Abby's mom and her brother's disappearing act a few years ago, Abby had had a lot on her plate without much help. Megan had known Lance would be good for Abby since shortly after they’d started seeing each other over the summer. Seeing her now, you'd never know she had anything weighing her down. She was buoyant and more animated than Megan had ever seen her.

Conversation died down when the game started. They were playing Campbell Christian College, a small school in Oregon. Megan's parents would've preferred that she go there, even though they were happy about how close she'd be to home at first. That is, until she'd moved in with Abby and stopped going to church by the end of the first semester.
 

Lance cheered throughout the game and she and Abby joined in when it seemed appropriate. They giggled together about everything, since neither of them followed football that much. Megan knew what was going on because she’d grown up watching her brothers play. She hadn't been to a game since high school, though. Once her middle brother graduated after her junior year, she hadn't felt the need to go. Being at a game again made her miss him.