Page 19 of Stalked By the Linebacker

“That was a long time ago,” I reminded him, and he nodded.

“It was. We’ve both grown up“—his eyes dipped down to my mouth and back up to my eyes–– “I took you guys once,” he finished, and something inside of me shifted. Loosened.

He remembered.

It had been one of the best memories of my childhood. He’d bought us a pizza. An entire large one just for Blanca and me to share. And for a kid who hardly got much to eat, that was incredible. Then, at the end of the night, he grabbed each of us a huge pretzel. The thing had to have been the size of our heads. Then he’d ruffled my hair before he’d gone off to hang out with whatever cheerleader he’d been dating at the time. I remembered thinking maybe one day, he’d look at me like that.

“I can’t believe you remember that.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know.” I shrugged, at a loss for words.

“You guys were cute. I got you a pizza so you two would stop coming over to where my friends and I were. You looked like I had given you a million bucks and all access to a toy store.” I laughed softly.

“It was pretty cool of you.”

“I can be cool again.” He winked. “Please?” he asked again, this time tipping my chin up with the tips of his fingers. “Go with me to this party. Twenty minutes, and if you hate it, we can go anywhere you want if you don’t wanna go bowling.”

“Bowling doesn’t sound too bad.” My lips twitched, and he made a face. “What’s wrong with bowling?”

“Nothing. You’re going to think I’m weird.”

“Tell me.” I laughed, unknowingly leaning in closer. But where I might not have noticed, he did, and he used it to his complete advantage. His hand moved from my chin and into my hair that was back up in a messy bun.

“I’ll tell you later. We going to the party?” I chewed on my bottom lip. The party didn’t sound too bad.

“I’m not sure I have anything to wear,” I admitted quietly, and he blinked.

“You could go like you are right now.”

“No way!” I laughed, pulling away from him so I could look at myself. “I look a little ridiculous.” I laughed. I was still in his shirt and my own jeans that had most definitely seen better days. “Okay, we can go.” I shrugged. “But––“

“Twenty minutes, and you decide,” he vowed.

“Okay.” I nodded.

Before I knew it, he hurried us out of his place and walked me back to my dorm. Just like anytime he took me home, he took the elevator with me to the third floor and walked me right to my door. He didn’t kiss me again. But he did lean down and tell me he would be back in two hours before hugging me and kissing the top of my head before he left.

I went inside my dorm and straight to the small little closet space I had.

As tiny as it was, the things inside of it were hardly smooshed in there like my roommates had in theirs. I stood looking, trying to come up with an outfit idea. I wanted to call Blanca and ask her for advice, but I wasn’t sure how she would feel about me going to a party with her big brother. As if she felt me thinking about her, my phone rang. I looked down to see she was trying to video chat me. I answered and sat down on my bed.

“Hey!” I smiled at my best friend, who I missed so much.

“Hey, you! What are you doing?”

“Umm, nothing,” I lied.

“Really?” Her head tilted, and then I watched in slow motion as her dark green eyes widened with surprise. “Are you wearing…” That’s when I realized why she was looking at me that way. “Are you wearing my brother’s football shirt?”

“No! Yes! I mean… I’m wearing a football shirt. I, umm, I found it at the thrift store close to campus. I told you.”

“No, the one you bought was black. This is light blue.” Damn her and her almost photographic memory.

“I found this one––“ She shot me a look that had the words dying on my tongue. “Stand up,” she ordered, bossy as always.

“Why?” I laughed nervously.

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