Pregame(2)

"It's not even that late!" she exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air like she was blown away by his statement.





"It's almost two o'clock, Elle." Colin held his watch up to her face and  she scrunched her nose trying to see the tiny numbers. She sighed,  signaling it was late and time to go home. We packed up our things and  headed for the door, Colin's arm wrapped around Elle in both support and  affection, and Savanna was now clutching to Ollie as she had to me when  we came in. I frowned as I stumbled by myself, irrationally upset about  being left alone on my birthday. It wasn't even my birthday. Suddenly a  sun kissed, toned arm pointed out to me and I looked up and smiled  appreciatively at Gabe.                       
       
           



       





"Need some help, beautiful?" Gabe smirked down at me and I couldn't help  but think that he seemed to do that a lot. My heel getting caught,  almost causing me to trip if it wasn't for Gabe's arm, was all the  answer he needed.





We got to Colin's car and Ollie hopped in the front while Elle and  Savanna crawled into the back. I looked up at Gabe to see him looking  down at me, his trademark smirk still plastered to his face.





"Thanks." I said quietly as I turned away from him so that I wouldn't be  caught staring at his ass while he walked back to whomever he came here  with. I hoped it wasn't a girl. Not sure why I would care whether or  not this guy I barely knew had come to a bar with anther girl, I chalked  it up to the alcohol. This was certainly a night for the books.





As I opened the back door to get into Colin's car I glanced up, for no  reason in particular. Standing against a car across the parking lot  smoking a cigarette with a few other guys talking and laughing around  him was a man even more breathtaking than Gabe. He wore a black t-shirt  that hugged his broad shoulders and toned body and I could see black  designs trailing along his arms. His dark hair was cut short and he had a  light shadow across his perfect jaw line like he hadn't shaved today.  He was the epitome of ‘tall, dark, and handsome.' I lifted my gaze to  his to see that he was watching me with an expression I couldn't  decipher.





"Helloooo? Earth to the fake birthday girl!" Savanna slurred, sticking  her freshly manicured hand up from inside of the car and waving it in my  face. I looked away from Mr. Tall Dark and Handsome and got into the  car telling myself that I wasn't really attracted to either of these two  men and it was just the alcohol talking. It had to be. I didn't come  here to get away from my past just to let history repeat itself.





As we drove away I turned in my seat to find that he still had his eyes on me.





TWO





"Well hello again, beautiful. How was yesterday?" I looked up from my  political science textbook to see Gabe slide into the seat opposite  mine. His ever-present smirk was in place and his eyes showed his  amusement that he likely knew just how horrible yesterday had been.





I had woken up yesterday morning-well, afternoon, technically-with the  mother of all hangovers. There were parts of Saturday night that had  been a little foggy in my memory but I remembered every mortifying  second with Gabe perfectly. When I was finally able to tear myself out  of bed I took a long hot shower, but not before noting my less than  stellar appearance in the bathroom mirror. My long blonde hair was  tangled and matted to the right side of my face, my hazel eyes looked  dark, and the eyeliner that I had expertly applied before celebrating my  fake 21st birthday was smeared all over my face. If someone had told me  I had been mugged the night before I might have even believed him or  her. Yeah, I looked that bad. I hadn't been able to eat anything all  day, and even the smell of Savanna's famous ‘hangover breakfast' made me  run to the bathroom with a queasy stomach.





"It was just peachy, thanks for asking. What are you doing here?" I  rolled my eyes when his smirk deepened. He was quiet for a moment and I  could see that he was scrutinizing me. I cleared my throat,  uncomfortable under his gaze, and returned to reading my textbook. I was  hoping to get ahead of the syllabus so that I would have extra time to  go over whatever I didn't understand. I was determined to make sure that  last year's mistakes wouldn't become a habit.





"I was printing out an assignment for my psych class when I saw you  sitting over here by yourself. Thought I'd keep you company." The smirk  was replaced with a well-rehearsed smile that I'm sure worked on every  female he used it on. If I'm being honest, it sure as hell was working  on me. I had to remind myself that my plans for the year did not include  a boyfriend, even if he does look like that. Then again, who am I to  assume he's even into me?





Gabe was wearing a pair of loose fitting dark jeans that hung low on his  hips, and I could see the waistband of his briefs peeking out from his  denim. He wore a lacrosse pinny with the number four on the front along  with the university's name. The sleeveless athletic wear showed off his  lean yet muscular biceps and I couldn't help but notice the way his  muscles flexed when he shifted his body. I hadn't taken him for a  lacrosse player, but his lazy grin and his constant smirk that screamed  arrogance started to make sense.





He didn't seem to be one of those preppy New England boys that  vacationed on Martha's Vineyard during the summers and spent their free  time playing golf at the rich folk's local country club. He didn't act  as if he came from an abundance of wealth, but I could tell by his David  Yurman watch and Ray band sunglasses that his family was privileged. I  began to feel awkward in my Boyfriend jeans and cropped t-shirt. Guys  like Gabe were supposed to surround themselves with girls who wore  designer brands bought with their daddy's black amex, not girls like me.  However, I couldn't deny that from what I knew of him, he was humble  unlike most guys that had money. I respected him for that.                       
       
           



       





I didn't reply to him as I continued to skim through the bullet points  and definitions in the textbook, highlighting the information I knew I'd  have to rememberfor Wednesday's class.





"So how does tonight sound? We could grab a bite to eat, play a round of  mini golf. Your call. What do you say?" Had he been speaking this whole  time? Dinner and mini golf … was he really asking me out? I feel like I  had stepped into the twilight zone.





"I'm sorry, what?" the confused expression on my face made him smirk  again which was really starting to piss me off. "I am not going on a  date with you."





"Why not?" The fact that I had just turned him down didn't seem to  affect Gabe, his expression never changing from arrogance. He seemed to  expect me to fall at his feet. Maybe he thought I was playing hard to  get, which I was not.





"Because I don't want to. I'm sure there are plenty of girls who would  love to go out with you Gabe, but I am not one of them. Sorry." I rushed  my words before slipping my textbook into my shoulder bag and getting  up from the table. As I headed towards the library doors I heard  footsteps trailing behind me. I was tempted not to turn around, knowing  it was Gabe following me, but my curiosity got the better of me. When he  approached me I had somewhat expected him to tell me it was all a joke,  or even ask me again to see if I changed my mind in the last thirty  seconds. I wasn't expecting him to lean into my ear and slip something  into the palm of my hand. I closed my eyes at the feeling of his hot  breath against my skin.





"I'll pick you up at seven, beautiful." He whispered. My eyes snapped  open to see him wink at me before walking away from me, out of the  library doors and into the bright sunshine. I opened my hand to see what  he had given me and found a small piece of paper folded into a square.  Still standing dumbstruck halfway towards the library exit, I unfolded  the note to find four words written in a messy scrawl across the paper.





You look beautiful today.





Either this guy was a real smooth talking playboy or he really did have  an interest in me. His note affected me more than I'd have liked it to  but the elated feeling in my chest that this extremely handsome man  seemed to want me overpowered my annoyance with myself. It wasn't as if I  had low self esteem and found myself to be unattractive. I knew that I  was pretty; I just didn't understand why a guy like Gabe would find me  interesting when I was the complete opposite to the glamorous luxury  life that he likely lived. I decided to stop questioning myself and  folded the note back up and tucked it into the back pocket of my jeans  before heading to my last class of the day.