There was a long pause from her end. Then she said a single word: "What?"
Her voice wobbled. It made my chest tighten with - with what? Sadness? I didn't know. I wanted to ask her what was wrong, but I knew she'd just blow me off.
"Brooks. Changed my mind at the last minute and just flew in today. I'm in my dorm room right now."
"Are you?" Tasha asked, and I could hear her taking one of those deep breaths she takes when she's trying to compose herself. When she spoke again, the wobble in her voice was gone. She was back to her usual assured self. "Wow, Kaden. You sure left that to the last second, didn't you? What made you change your mind?"
"I dunno," I lied. Surely she must have known? "It's the best program in the country - they've been trying to recruit me for years. My parents wanted me to go. There wasn't any reason not to, really."
"Yeah," she replied. "You're right. I guess I should say congratulations then? When's your first game?"
"I don't even know," I laughed. I just got here. First practice is tomorrow. Who knows if I'll even be playing? I'm not the king of the mountain anymore - not here, anyway."
"I doubt that, Kaden. There's a reason you had NFL scouts at all your high school games."
"Well," I replied. "I guess we'll see."
"I guess we will."
We chatted for a few more minutes but Tasha had to get to sleep - and so did I. After we hung up I turned out the light and lay in my bed in the darkness. The window was open and a warm, Californian summer breeze was blowing the curtain back and forth. I think I knew, on some level, that that was going to be the last time I spoke to Natasha Greeley for a long time.
She was right, too. About how busy college life was going to prove to be. And about how well I would do on the team. The coach made a gesture towards not immediately promoting me but within four games I was the starting quarterback. I was also a celebrity. Not the kind of celebrity I'd been in Little Falls, either. In Little Falls, sure, everyone knew who I was. Little kids would ask me for autographs. Girls would always be trying to hang out with me at parties or during class, and some of them were what I'd thought of as forward with their intentions.
Brooks was something else. It had one of the biggest student populations in the country and every single one of them seemed to be completely obsessed with football. I don't think I bought my own drinks once the entire time I was there. Professors went out of their way to give me extension after extension on assignments. And the girls, well. Let's just say if I thought Little Falls girls were forward, I didn't know a goddamned thing. Within the first week, everyone knew who I was.
Less than four days after arriving, I was standing outside my Introduction To English Literature class talking to a couple of my teammates who were also in it. Soon enough, a couple of girls from class joined us. I just assumed they must have been friends with the other two guys but when they left, the girls didn't. One of them, a blonde wearing booty shorts so short I was surprised she hadn't been arrested, smiled up at me, completely confident.
"I'm Ashley," she said, holding out her hand.
"And I'm Heather," said the other one, doing the same.
I smiled and shook their hands. They weren't unattractive girls. That wasn't why I wanted to get away from them. I wasn't exactly sure why that was what I wanted. When I tried to make my excuses and leave, after a short chit-chat session in which both girls did their best to spark my attention, Ashley - the blonde - reached out and took my phone out of my hand, entering her own number.
"There," she said, looking me right in the eye. "Now you know who to call if you ever need two pairs of lips on your cock. Nothing serious. We're just really good at sucking dick and you're cute as hell."
I barely suppressed laughter. Not because it was funny but because it was so goddamned bold. Neither of them betrayed a single ounce of embarrassment or shame. Not that they should have but, yeah. Brooks was a new world, is what I'm saying. And Ashley and Heather were the first among many, many women who seemed to be willing to do almost anything I wanted at the drop of a hat.
I chuckled and took my phone back. "Uh, sure, ladies. I think I'm good for tonight but I'll keep you in mind. You know, should the need arise."
Ashley and Heather never did get a call from me. Bad timing for them, I guess. Not even eight months previously and I would have been more than happy to give them what they wanted. But something was different by then. I wasn't that stupid, horny kid anymore. I mean, mostly, I was. But Tasha Greeley had changed something in me, and I was starting to realize that it wasn't going to go back to the way it was. There was also football. A lot of the other players lived typical lives - when they weren't practicing or playing they were partying or fucking the kind of hot, random, completely available girls that were literally everywhere at Brooks.