Playing for her heart.

Chapter 1: The Girl He Never Noticed.

Drea sighed. If Rob asked her opinion on his online dating conquests one more time, she was going to scream. He was fine with telling her all of the details, and he really did give ALL of the details to her after every single date he went on. She watched as he started pacing in front of the television where she was trying to play COD online. She kept bobbing her head side to side to keep track of the mission playing out.

She was used to being the girl of the group, as most of her friends were guys, and being a soundboard for all of their dumb ideas of how to whoo a woman. But could they not just for once see that she was also a girl, and sometimes, just sometimes, would like to be treated as one?

"I'm telling you Drea, that girl was a psycho." Rob's continuous chatter pulled her back from her thoughts.

"Why? because she ordered a starter, main and dessert?" Drea rolled her eyes. When would the guys realize that not all girls ate only salad? Here she was, a master at scoffing down pizza on game night. "I also order a starter, main and dessert."

"Ha, you're forgetting something! You are not a girl." He visible shuddered at the mere thought. "If only that was the problem! She kept on talking about her goldfish that died and how she refused to flush it down the drain, afraid that some crocodile that lives in the sewers was going to feast on its body. What kind of a feast would a goldfish make anyway? And crocodiles in the sewers? Really?!" he stopped pacing and came to sit next to her. "Where have all the good girls gone?"

'Where have all the good guys gone?"

"Hey, that's not fair. You have one sitting right next to you. Now pass the controller, you're not paying attention to the game at all." Rob leaned over and grabbed the control out of her hand, but she was too quick for him.

She leaned back against the couch and held the controller above her head. "Ha! Try again. Loser." She gave him a wink and he leaned even further over her. The contact between their bodies increased ten fold and she started to realize how hard his muscles were in comparison to her softer muscle. he was bigger than she was, so as he leaned further over her, he squished her into the couch more.

"Ready to face defeat, Mackrel? I am much bigger than you. I will squish you right into this couch for you to never resurface again. Then you can watch me break your high score forever!" As he put more of his weight on her, he started to breathe heavier as she was wiggling under him. "Stop resisting!" he yelled.

"Never!" Drea kept squirming and giggling until he stopped moving. She looked up to see his face, and saw him looking at her strangely. As they kept eye contact, his head slowly descended. As if in a trance Drea realized Rob as going to kiss her. "Rob..." she whispered. He leaned in further, their mouths almost touching.

The sound of the front door banging open zapped them out of their stasis and both of them jerked away from the other, sitting on opposite sides of the couch.

"Hey party people, did you start the game without me?" Jackson came in through the door and set the pizza that he had brought down on the counter.

Drea jumped up and started to get plates from the kitchen, not looking in the direction of the couch, as the apartment she lived in was open plan. Jackson greeted Rob and came to give her a hug. He picked her up and squeezed her so hard she started giggling. As he was swinging her around, she heard Rob behind them.

"Put her down. I'm trying to get some food here." Rob gave her a dirty look, as if he did not like the way she was acting with Jackson.

"Hey, who put a bee in your bonnet?" Jackson replied, releasing her from his beargrip and kissed her on the forehead. He winked at her as they heard Rob grumble unintelligibly. "About time," he whispered in Drea's ear.

She looked at him in confusion, not understanding his meaning. She continued to pass out beers from the fridge and went back to the couch with her beer and plate of pizza. She sat down, crossing her legs to balance her plate on one knee and the controller on another.

Jackson joined her as Rob came into sight. Jackson sat down next to her, leaving no space for Rob beside her. He looked at her, then slowly at Jackson, and sat on the rug in front of the couch, right up against her crossed legs. Rob passed a controller to Jackson and reached for his own before settling back against the couch.

"Let the games begin," Jackson said, winking at Drea.