Mr. Browning’s eyes widened, then he sighed, “Walker, I know you don’t like me very much, but we’ve been through a lot together since your freshman year. I thought by now you’d know that I’m just trying to help you,” he said. “As crazy as it seems to you, you can’t graduate without declaring a major and finishing all the required classes. I can’t change the rules for you.”
“I never asked you to,” he said, shrugging his shoulders, knowing that he was acting like a child, but unable to stop. “I just can’t figure out what major to choose.”
“Well, you’ve tried almost all of them, surely there’s one of them that felt like a good fit,” Mr. Browning said, leafing through the pages on his desk. “Let’s see, there was history…”
“Too boring,” he said, waving his hand in the air.
“Then it was art history, you…”
“Too serious,” he cut Mr. Browing off.
“Okay…you were convinced for a while that you wanted to be a doctor,” Mr. Browing tried again. “You’re a long way from the required courses, but maybe…”
“Yeah, not going to happen,” he said, shaking his head again. “All that medicine stuff is gross, no thanks, I’ll leave the doctoring to Jackson and Abby.”
Mr. Browning sat back, took a deep breath, and then let the silence stretch between them. He started to feel guilty for acting like a jerk. “I’m sorry, I know my indecision isn’t your fault,” he finally said. “I just don’t know what I want to do with my life. I always thought that I’d play some kind of professional sport, but I guess that was just a childish dream.”
“We talked about you coaching, that would keep you close to the sports you love,” Mr. Browning said, shuffling through the papers again. “All you would need is your teaching degree, and you’ve already taken most of the required classes. You could still graduate on time.”
“Teaching was the worst idea of all the ones I’ve had,” he said, shaking his head. “Don’t you remember what happened when I volunteered to coach that soccer team sophomore year?”
Mr. Browning looked confused for a second, then he let out a groan. “I can’t believe I forgot about that,” he said, shaking his head. “I was cleaning up that mess for weeks. I guess you’re right, teaching isn’t for you. But that leaves us right back where we started, you’re not going to graduate without a major, and there’s only one semester left. Walker, you need to figure this out and fast.”
He walked out of the office ten minutes later, carrying a huge stack of information on careers, and another appointment for two weeks from then when he would have to choose or get left behind. Feeling worse than he had when he walked in, he dumped the literature into the first recycling bin he found and pushed the meeting out of his mind. Two weeks was a longtime away; something would come up before then, it had to. He wasn’t going to miss out on graduating. He’d worked hard for the last few years, and he had to get a degree, had to prove that he was more than just a dumb jock.
***Maddie***
Maddie was rushing as always when she walked into the gym, but she managed to make it just as practice started. “Hey, sorry I’m late,” she said, dropping her bag and sitting down next to Carol, another student in her class. “Dr. Sherman kept us late. I thought he would never stop talking.”
“Uhhh, he’s the worst,” Carol said, shaking her head. “You didn’t miss anything. I’ve just been sitting here the entire time; it’s too early in the season for anyone to need us.”
She looked out on the court where the team was just assembling to start practice, then groaned in frustration when her eyes went right to Walker and her body instantly responded to the sight of him. He was laughing and talking with another player, completely oblivious to her presence in the gym, and it gave her a chance to study him, even though she knew she should look away.
He hadn’t changed much in the last three years. He was still tall and devastatingly handsome, his eyes still sparkled when he laughed, and his dimples still made her heart beat faster. When her body began to tingle with desire and a throbbing need began to build deep inside her, she forced herself to look away, only to find Carol watching her with an amused look on her face.
“Which one are you drooling over?” she asked, then laughed when Maddie's cheeks turned pink. “Hey, I don’t blame you, they’re all hot. If we can’t sit here and ogle them, it’s going to be a long night.”
“I wasn’t ogling them, I was just…” she trailed off, not sure how to explain without telling the other woman her entire life story. “I was watching Walker. He hurt his ankle yesterday, showing off for some girls. He could barely walk on it. I tried to help him, but he was a huge jerk like usual.”
She clamped her mouth shut, realizing that she’d said too much, but it was too late, Carol was staring at her, eyes wide. “You know him?” she asked. “That’s so cool. What’s he really like? I mean, he’s such a good athlete, and he’s part of a fraternity; those guys are usually so stuck up.”
The last thing she wanted to do was talk about Walker, especially with someone who clearly worshiped him. “I don’t really know him, not anymore anyway,” she said. “We hung out together for a little while our freshman year, but I haven’t talked to him since then.”
Carol looked disappointed. “Oh, well, I was hoping you could introduce us,” she said. “I’ve had a crush on him since last year.”
“Sorry,” she said, shrugging her shoulders. “I wish I could help.”
Before Carol could reply a player came running over to them, a big smile on his face, a ball tucked under his arm. “Hello, ladies, I don’t think we’ve been introduced. I’m Thomas,” he said. “I just wanted to say thank you for taking care of us this season.”
Carol’s face turned bright red. “Oh, you’re welcome,” she stuttered. “I’m Carol.”
“Nice to meet you, Carol,” Thomas said, then turned to her. “And who is your pretty friend?”
“That’s Maddie,” Carole said, her voice fluttery. “She’s been taking all her classes online until this year.”
“That explains it then,” Thomas said, stepping a little closer to her. “I was wondering why I didn’t remember seeing youaround campus, especially since I know I would never forget it if I did. A man doesn’t forget a beautiful woman like you.”
To her shock, she blushed and a little flutter of attraction erupted in her belly. “Oh, thank you,” she stammered, then, when silence fell between them, tried to think of something else to say but found herself completely tongue-tied. “I don’t know what else to say…”
