“Come on.”
Sighing, I dipped my glorious length of potato into two sauces before taking a bite. I let my head loll side to side. “It’s not awful.”
“See? Look what life has to offer. We are opening each other up to a world unknown.”
I really didn’t think it was the same thing. Though I would admit, it was true that Ryan had a whole other talent for blending in with new, strange things. In the house by the river, he thrived. Looking around at all the other students and parents, however, I still didn’t feel like I quite belonged here. I spent so long actively trying not to after my freshman year, at peace with the fact I was destined to be a social pariah until Ryan came along.
“I still hate football.”
“That’s a lie,” Ryan said, shocked.
“You’re right. I like football for one reason.”
“Me?” He put a hand to his chest.
“You got it, Ry-Ry.”
“Aw, stop it.” He waved me off. “You’re making a man blush.”
“Aren’t you two such a cute couple?” a woman fishing through her bag beside us commented. Tucking her fluffy, light curls into the clip she’d finally found, she placed a hand over her heart. “How long ago did you two meet? Was it here on campus?”
“Oh, we’re …” Something? I waved my hand between the two of us, as if it would come to me.
Friends? No. Associates? Gods, no.
“Together,” Ryan insisted easily before I could manage anything else. He casually looped an arm around my shoulders. “We met at first-year orientation. Love at first sight.”
I glanced up at him, knowing that the surprise was clearly on my face. Like the rest of the girls attached to the team, I knew that we were something. Of course we were something—more than just something. Yet it still sent off sparklers in my chest at his certainty.
Together. Ryan Gardner and I were together. We must’ve looked like an odd couple.
Yet the overly enthusiastic woman clasped her hands with a tiny squeal.
Ryan chuckled at the sound.
“Adorable,” she said, delighted as she continued to look around for someone else. “My husband and I met on campus too. Honey! Matt, get over here.”
As we watched the woman steadily march over to where some of the older men were all gathered around, much like Ryan and the team had been, I wondered what they had been like back so many years ago. I always questioned what the town of Barnett had been like through the years, but for some reason, my curiosity never fully extended to the university. It always felt like a piece of the town—and not my piece.
Not until right now.
“Now, what was that look for a minute ago?” asked Ryan.
I knew what he was talking about.
“Together,” I repeated quietly, just between us, as he weighed my expression. “Sounds so very … tangled. Permanent.”
“You seem shocked.”
“I just don’t want you to regret it.”
“Why would I ever regret you?” He stared at me like I had breached a whole new level of crazy. “This might sound a little weirdly macho possessive and all, but you’re mine.”
His.Any other time, I might’ve rolled my eyes, but the phrase was ultimately right. It might have been one of the best things I had ever heard. I almost had to look away, but I didn’t.
“You might not think people look at you like I do, but they do, and I’m the one who gets to call you my girlfriend because I want to.”
“You do.”
