Work In Progress

Chapter Two (EDITED)

I am so embarrassed. My second time today interacting with a guy as good looking as Tate, and I completely blow it.

"I didn't mean to say that," I say honestly.

"Yeah, I figured. You just can't help yourself around me, I get it." Tate stares at me with those piercing blue eyes.

Alli, Hannah, and Luke are standing with us. Luke notices Tate annoying me and shakes his head.

"Tate, do you know my roomie?" Hannah asks.

"Oh, we go way back," he smirks. I roll my eyes.

"We met this morning," I explain to Hannah, "He brought me to the dorm."

"Dude, why were you helping out the moving in squad?" Luke chuckles.

"Coach told me I had to since I was late to practice yesterday," Tate rolls his eyes.

"Don't tell me," I look at Tate, "You're the star quarterback."

He lets out a loud laugh. "Oh, you know it baby."

Hannah looks at me and says, "Oh but Luke is the best player on the team. He's the captain."

"Co-captain, Han," Tate interrupts.

"Hey, Alli, Hannah," Luke says, "Wanna go kick some ass at beer pong?"

Hannah looks over at me. "Will you be alright if we go for a bit?"

"Yeah, sure," I smile, "Go have fun."

She looks at Tate and has a scowl on her face. "Don't try anything on her, okay?"

He just rolls his eyes at her.

After they leave, he turns to look at me. It's in a way that makes me feel safe somehow.

"What?" I say, "Do I have something on my face?"

"No," he rolls his eyes, "Just trying to figure out how I know you."

"Uh, we met this morning dude."

"No, I know you from somewhere else. I thought you looked familiar earlier, but now I know you do."

"What do you mean?"

After looking at him while waiting for him to answer my question, I remember how I know him. He is from my hometown. Tate's dad was the one who sold my mom drugs. I remember how he was always with his creep of a dad. I really hope he doesn't remember me.

"I think you're just getting me confused with somebody else, Tate."

"No, it'll come to me eventually. I'm sure."

I laugh a little. A girl walks over to where Tate and I are standing. She's tall, much taller than me. She has on a pink mini dress, and her hair is bleach blonde. It's a color that you can tell is obviously fake.

"Madison, hey," Tate smiles.

"Hi baby," she hugs him.

"You wanna go up to my room?" Tate glances at me before smirking at Madison.

They walk off to Tate's room, leaving me standing alone. You know, just when I was starting to think Tate wasn't actually a bad guy. Football players, they're all just manwhores.

I decide to walk around and find my friends. As I'm walking, I stumble upon two guys talking with a girl.

"Hey, are you Hannah's roommate?" The girl asks.

"Yeah, I'm Bella."

"I'm Courtney," she smiles and nods at the guys.

"Tom," the taller one says.

"And I'm Seth," the shorter one says. His voice is very soothing, and I find him very attractive. It must be his beautiful eyes. All of the guys here are way more attractive than back home. Well, other than Tate.

"We were talking about whether Friends or The Office is better," Courtney looks at me.

"The Office, hands down," I say.

Seth high-fives me, and his hands feel soft. That is not what I would expect. Tom just shakes his head in disappointment.

"So, are you guys juniors like Hannah?" I'm embarrassed by the awkward silence, so I had to ask a question.

"I'm a senior actually," Courtney answers, "Tom is also a senior and my boyfriend. Seth is a junior, though."

"And you're a freshman?" Seth looks to me.

"Yep, just got here." As I answer, Tom and Courtney leave, but Seth stays to continue our conversation.

"Where are you from, Bella?"

"St. Louis in Missouri."

"No way," he smiles, "I'm from Branson originally, but my family moved here to be closer to the school. My dad is a professor here."

"What does he teach?"

"Economics," he says, "He acts like he's scary, but he's actually the nicest person ever."

I laugh, "Well, lucky for me because I do have to take economics."

As I'm enjoying our conversation, I can see Tate out of the corner of my eye. He's staring at us. More like, he's glaring at us. He has Madison on his arm, of course. But, since he's a man, he can do whatever he wants, and she would let him.

Man, he's really getting under my skin already.