On the Sidelines

Chapter 2 Tanner

Why am I dragging a woman who won't tell me her name across the campus? I have no idea. I've asked myself the same question countless times.

I need to see her smile. Know that she can be happy.

My boys follow behind us as I drag her behind me through the quad. They're talking amongst themselves, occasionally bringing her into their conversation. She's surprisingly quiet, not complaining about being forced away from her invigorating evening.

"Are we almost there?" Her voice comes out nervous but when I glance at her, she seems confident and calm.

"Yes." No, I don't know. I don't even know where I'm taking her. Her roommate is a bitch for throwing her out of their room on the first night and I guess it pissed me off enough that I needed to do something.

"Dude, where are we even going?" Dillan comes to my side, he's whining but I saw the stiffness in his shoulders when he heard what she said. I'm pretty sure she's a freshman, which makes it even worse. I would have seen her around if she had gone here last year. "You don't have a clue, do you?" Thank God he whispered that.

At the shake of my head, he starts spouting off different locations nearby that we can go to. He's a lifesaver and he knows it. "The library is still open, the bar off campus that we like, we can't go to the rink. Coach would have an aneurysm if he saw one of us swipe in at this time. Ooo, we can go to the club." I take back the life-saver comment.

Oliver pops his head up and adds his ideas into the mix. "The coffee shop by the rink is open at this hour, you could tell her that if she's drinking coffee, she might as well drink good coffee." Now he's a life-saver.

So that's where we go. She complains that she had coffee at the dinner but I throw Oliver's excuse out and it shuts her up. Of course that earns me a wink from Oli and him my middle finger.

"Will you ever tell me your name?" I'm hoping she'll say yes but I'm not betting on it.

"How do I know I can trust you?"

"What does trust have to do with a name?" She giggles and the sound goes straight to my ego. She may not want to talk to me but at least I can make her laugh.

"A lot actually. What would stop you from calling my name out in a crowd? If you don't know it, you can't call it." A crowd? Why would it matter? Oh.

"You don't like attention being drawn to you, huh?" She shakes her head, the strands of her black hair swishing behind her. I don't know if her hair is long or she's just short, maybe both? I'm six-five and her head grazes my chin so she's probably five-four, five-five.

"I come from a small town where if you did anything, everyone knew. I hated it. My mom was upset when I chose to go to an out-of-state school but I chose West Virginia for its size. It also helps that my bestie Alyssa was accepted as well."

"Where are you from?"

"A small town in Montana." Damn, she's a long way from home.

"Holy shit!" Yeah, Sean, I agree.

"What town?" Dillan just has to pipe in, doesn't he?

"Libby, Montana. A population of 2,800 or so." Her words boast but her tone is dead, like she never wants to go back.

I pull her to stand next to me, motioning for her to order. Her pointer finger rests on her plump lips as she asses the menu. The cashier looks like he'd rather be anywhere but here as he waits somewhat patiently for her to order. "Are you able to do a half French vanilla, half mocha iced latte?"