Sheesh, he’s gorgeous.
“You should have called first,” I tell him, hoping he doesn’t notice my reaction.
Freak and I have not met for tutoring yet, but we’ve had several short phone conversations, which have helped us start to get to know each other. I find that it makes it easier to tutor someone who thinks of you as a friend and Freak is actually quite easy to chat with.
During our brief conversations, I’ve learned that football is the only thing that he’s ever been good at (or at least that’s what he believes), and that his motivation to succeed is to help his family live a better life. There are so many material things and experiences that he wants to give them, especially his mom, which I think is kind of sweet, especially when getting a college degree is the only thing she ever truly asked of him.
He learned that I originally gravitated toward nursing because my grandmother was a nurse and I admired her immensely, but it wasn’t until my family’s positive experience with my Grandmom’s hospice nurse that I knew nursing was definitely the right field for me. The hospice nurse was so empathetic and helped Grandma reach the end of her life with as much kindness and grace as my parents could have hoped for.
“I’m spontaneous like that. It’s one of my most endearing qualities.”
“Who told you that lie?”
“Are you going to let me in or what?”
“Why are you sweating?”
“I just finished a run.”
“My roommate is getting dressed. You need to wait a second, or how about you just meet me in one of the study suites downstairs on the first floor?”
“I’ll wait.”
I shut the door with an attitude. Why won’t he just go downstairs?
“You can let him in now,” Kia says in a peculiar tiny voice as she shoves her dirty clothes in an opaque plastic bin underneath her bed.
“You have on a crop top on in December,” I say to her.
“It’s not cold in here.”
“You sleep in more clothes than you have on right now.”
“Thank you, captain obvious.”
I give her a serious look and point my finger at her. “Don’t act weird when I let him in here.”
“I won’t.”
“He’s just another student.”
“I know.”
I pile my hair on top of my head with a random satin scrunchie.
“He eats, shits and breathes the same way we do,” I fuss at her under my breath. “Now, act normal.”
“I will.”
I slowly open the door and am suddenly bombarded with the scent of cedar, sweat and soap, just like his hoodie smelled when I first put it on. It must be his signature scent and one that my traitorous body enjoys, because I feel this weird sensation in the pit of my stomach as it floats up my nostrils.
“Come in,” I say in the most normal voice I can. I’m still not used to how big of a human being Freak is, literally and figuratively. Since our meeting in the cafe and in between our phone conversations, I’ve done a little recon on my new student.
He is quite the university superstar and I feel kind of stupid for not recognizing who he was before. He must think I’m the corniest human being ever. He’s probably going to go down as one of the most famous Copper Grove graduates there ever was if he gets into the NFL. Hell, he’s a big deal without even getting into the NFL.
He’s already broken three university records, and he still has the rest of this season to break another. The team is even predicted to go to the championships this year specifically because of his performance.
“Uh, did you know that somebody on your floor has a dog?” he asks incredulously. “Like a whole floppy-eared, tail-wagging dog? And he’s wearing an elf costume.”
