𝐂𝐥𝐮𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬, kate martin

TWO. student athletes

saturday, september 16th, 2023:
iowa city, iowa

"Hold on, I'm pulling up a picture of him."

The Hart girl groaned.

To put it plainly, Tatum had started seeing Ian Geisler after the end of last year's season. It had been Tatum's first opportunity to support her friends on the track and field team all year, and her friend Laney Fitzpatrick had introduced the pair after their meet against Baylor University in late April.

To say they hit it off would be gracious. Tatum had claimed he wasn't her type because he wasn't— but there was a shift when he won his race against Drake the following week and once Laney told her he was interested in Tatum, she didn't object.

They had kept in touch over the summer, which Tatum would barely consider that they were 'talking', but Ian had increased his amount of texts once the athletes were all back on campus. Jada only knew about Ian's existence because he had seen the pair moving in back in August and had suggested Tatum and him hang out soon.

It was so lowkey that had Tatum begged for Jada to keep her mouth shut before she considered anything further with the track runner. But she should've known better.

"Bro's a literal twig," Hannah remarked, looking at Sydney's phone over her shoulder.

"He's even skinnier than I am." Caitlin laughed.

"So.. Are you guys together, then?" Kate chimed, speaking for the first time since the conversation had started.

After their strength and conditioning session, they had begun talking about the party that weekend and Jada, being the nosiest of them all, had instantly inquired about Tatum's potential date— ultimately exposing her to the rest of team. For the past fifteen minutes, Tatum had been filling the girls in on who 'this guy Jada mentioned' was, a full quarter of an hour spent with endless questions and jokes and most of all, butt-hurt complaints that they didn't hear about Ian sooner.

Tatum pinched the bridge of her nose, opening her mouth to respond to Kate's question when Caitlin piped up with her own. "Why are you into him anyway? Like, what is it you like about him? Cause from what I can tell he doesn't seem like your type."

If Tatum had to guess, she was referring to Tatum's ex, her first boyfriend at Iowa who happened to be a member of the university's baseball team. Dating Cade Moss during the summer and very early fall of her sophomore year had been a disaster waiting to happen. When they inevitably broke up, Tatum had been all too eager to put the relationship behind her.

"Because he's sweet!" Tatum defended. "They don't all have to be built like Connor, being over 6 feet tall and whatnot."

"How tall is he by the way?" AJ said.

"Probably like 5' 10" if we're lucky." Jada estimated. But Tatum went quiet, pursing her lips. It made Jada gasp, "No way! Was I right? Please tell me I got that right."

"Somebody pull up the roster," Gabbie proclaimed with a hurried wave of her hands. "See if it says it on there."

Tatum sighed. She felt like she was getting her teeth pulled. "Pretty sure he's 5' 9"."

Oddly enough, that sent Caitlin cackling, losing her mind over the fact that the boy was much shorter than anticipated and inches shy of many of Tatum's teammates such as Caitlin and Kate.

Kylie shrugged, and being the sweetheart she was, her reaction simple in comparison to some of the others. Which Tatum was thankful for. "Well I guess at least he's taller than you."

"Yeah, by like an inch." Hannah chuckled.

Shaking her head with a small smile at the other girls' antics and relentless teasing, Kate came up and placed a hand on Tatum's shoulder, aiming to be reassuring. "Hey, if you like the guy, you like the guy and that's all that matters. We're all happy for you."