Chapter 5
Charlotte
This time, I was the one who had to cancel the coffee, because Professor Whitman got sick and I had to take over her class with the freshman group. Luckily, they had an assignment to work on and I just stood there answering questions, nothing too complex.
After dismissing the students at the end of the period, I gather my materials into my backpack and head down the hallway toward the dining hall.
Lunchtime was getting close and my stomach was growling.
I walk at a quick pace, dreaming of mashed potatoes and meat in gravy, when I trip on something and get saved from an ugly fall by running smack into a wall of muscle.
I automatically grab onto two strong arms until I'm steady on both feet again, and only then do I look up and find my rescuer's face.
"Ethan! Hi!" I greet him quickly, embarrassed. "Oh my God, I'm so sorry, I practically ran you over and..."
"No problem, I'm glad I kept you from meeting the floor," he assures me, giving me a sideways smile that only makes me blush. The once-over he gives me could just be to check whether I got hurt, but there's also a faint glint of admiration that makes me swallow hard. "You okay?"
"Yes, yes, thank you," I confirm, adjusting my bag on my left shoulder, since I never got it all the way on.
I use these few seconds to look him over in return.
Ethan's wearing the blue football team shirt with white stripes and light-wash jeans.
The wet hair and the smell of cologne and soap coming off the player tell me he must have left practice not long ago.
"Where were you off to in such a hurry?"
"To the dining hall, I'm starving," I confess, and the dark-haired guy lets out a short laugh.
"Why don't I take you to lunch, then? Since we missed that breakfast?" he offers, crossing his arms and showing off the muscles and the veins standing out.
I lose my train of thought for a second, but recover in time to nod in agreement.
"Sure, why not?" My answer is followed by a smile I hope comes off as seductive. "I have to study for a test, but I'm free until around two in the afternoon," I let him know, and he nods.
"Two whole hours of your company? Sounds perfect." His gallantry gives me a little flutter in my stomach, which only gets worse when he reaches a hand toward me and gently lifts the backpack off my shoulder, then slings it onto his own.
Good Lord, who was this guy's mother? I was going to have a mass said in her honor. Or maybe ask her for a book of recommendations for the day I decide to have kids.
I murmur a thank you and we start walking again, side by side now toward the parking lot. A few people watch us with curiosity, but I ignore them completely.
"What do you think about Italian food? Violetta's isn't too far from here," Ethan suggests one of my favorite restaurants, and I break into a huge smile automatically.
"I like the way you think, Ethan Clarke. Violetta's is absolutely perfect." It's my turn to give a compliment, and I earn a wink from him.
"Good, Miss McCarthy. You'll soon find out I have a lot of good ideas when it comes to you," he promises, and I laugh.
Inside me there's a mix of wariness and growing anticipation that I still don't know how I'll manage to control, but I decide to leave that to think about later.
The lunch that afternoon was delicious. Beyond the good food, Ethan really was great company.
We talked about a little bit of everything: our college programs, his dream of making it to the NFL, mine of opening a coding school just for girls to encourage the growth of women in the field, our favorite things and the ones we hate most, and even a little about our families.
I found out he's the youngest of three siblings and that his dad was also a football player in his youth, but got badly injured back in high school and ended up in a business career, owning a big textile factory and being a partner in a few other small companies.
I told him about Maddie and our twin parents and even about my cat Felix, who'd died three years ago.
It was so easy to talk to him that I was amazed.
It wasn't really like me to open up that easily.
There had to be some kind of magic in those brown eyes of his, or maybe in the way he always found an excuse to touch me, whether stroking my hand across the table or resting his fingers gently on my lower back before opening the car door for me to get in, feeding the bonfire of this attraction between us.
Either way, the result was that I really wanted to kiss him.
To climb that six-foot-three frame of his like a bear up a tree and not let go until he satisfied every last bit of my craving.
Which hadn't happened yesterday. The jerk left me at the library door with just a lingering kiss on the cheek and a smile that said he knew exactly what he was doing.
Damn it. I hated men who knew the power they had.
I spent the rest of the day thinking about the bastard and woke up sweating after dreaming I was making out with him something good.
Luckily my torture didn't last long, because the first message I opened the next morning was from him, asking how I was and whether I was up for another date before he had to travel for the first game of the season.
The invitation was to the movies, and of course I said yes. And of course I spent the whole day looking forward to it.
I stare at the bathroom mirror and try to decide whether I look good enough.
The pink cardigan my cousin had helped me pick out was cute and comfortable, and the jeans put my butt on display.
Underneath I was wearing a white cropped top that was one of my favorites.
My hair couldn't decide whether to be straight or wavy, as usual, and I didn't have the patience to spend hours trying to straighten it, so I just brushed it, put in an oil to take the frizz out of the ends, and tied the top part up with a little bow scrunchie I thought was cute.
Or would it come off as childish?
Ugh! I don't know!
For God's sake, I hadn't been on a first date since high school and I had no idea how to act or what to expect.
I look at my furrowed brow in the mirror and huff, giving up on changing anything.
There were only about two minutes left until the time Ethan said he'd come pick me up, so I'd better settle down.
I looked nice, but comfortable, and if the player didn't like the way I looked, he could screw off.
I wasn't going to change to please anyone anymore, least of all a man!
With my confidence renewed, I lift my chin and march out of the bathroom, coming face to face with Maddie sitting on my bed. She smiles and whistles.
"Look at you! He's going to drool," she compliments me, and I smile.
"Thanks," I say while walking over to the hooks behind the door to pick out a small bag. "Check my phone to see if he texted asking me to come down, please?"
My cousin takes the device off the charger and unlocks it while I busy myself putting a gloss, a card, and my ID in the bag.
"Nothing yet, Lottie," she says, and I make a little pout.
"I hope he's not the type who's always run..." My sentence gets cut off by a knock on the outer door of our room. Maddie and I look at each other, unsure, for a second, but I snap out of it first and hurry to answer.
An Ethan Clarke in a T-shirt and black leather jacket, plus gray-wash jeans, is what waits for me on the other side of the door. To top it off, his hair is still a little damp and he smells divine.
Wow, I could lick this man right now. It should be illegal to be this hot.
I'm not the only one eyeing someone here, and I catch it when he pulls air hard into his lungs while looking me up and down and smiling.
"Wow. You look beautiful, Charlotte," he compliments me, and I blush a little.
"Thanks, you're not looking too bad yourself," I give back, smiling in return. "When you said you'd come pick me up, I didn't imagine it would actually be at my door," I remark, and the dark-haired guy shrugs.
"My mom said if I ever honked in front of a girl's house for her to come out to me, she'd disown me." His confession pulls a genuine laugh out of me.
"I already like her," I say honestly, and he keeps an affectionate smile on his face.
"Do you want to come in?" I ask then, taking a step back, letting him see the little sitting area we have in the double dorm.
It was just a space with two armchairs and a study desk, plus the two doors that led to Maddie's room and mine.
"If you need more time to do something, I can come in and wait, sure, but I suspect there's no way for you to look any more beautiful than you do right now." The new compliment makes me blush harder this time.
Wow, how long had it been since anyone really flirted with me? It felt so good! And Ethan Clarke seemed to be very good at it.
I give a shy smile and shake my head no.
"No, no, I'm already ready, I'll just grab my phone. One second," I ask, then take a quick dash to my room. I come face to face with my cousin the moment I step into the space, since she hadn't even bothered to hide that she'd been listening to our conversation. She's grinning from ear to ear.
"Take a condom, because that guy knows what he's doing." That's her shameless comment, and I stick my tongue out at her. I grab the phone off the little table and put it in my bag quickly. I give Maddie a kiss on the cheek before whispering:
"It was already in the bag, you goof!"
I hear her cackle as I walk away and I can't control a little smile. I wasn't planning to sleep with Ethan Clarke today, but... it was always good to be prepared, right? The goal, when it came down to it, was to end the dry spell, after all.