Page 39 of Fair Catch

“Always.” He takes a massive bite of pizza, damn near swallowing it whole, before saying, “The less people around, the better.”

“Of course. How could I ever forget your aversion to people?”

A laugh leaves him, and he shakes his head. “Glad to see you’re finally picking up on it. I was starting to think I’d have to make it a little more obvious for you.”

Hayes is quick-witted as hell, and his sarcastic humor is actually a lot of fun. It reminds me a lot of Phoenix, in a weird way, though Hayes is far,fardrier. And funnier—not that I’d ever tell Phoe that.

“Can I ask you something that’s gonna come off as semi-judgmental?” Hayes asks, cutting through my internal ramblings.

“At this point, I know you judge me for breathing, so do your worst.”

He smirks. “Why do I never see you doing classwork?”

“I get it all done during my free time during the day. Usually I spend a couple hours studying between my classes making sure it’s complete before even going to practice.”

“You get it all done between classes? How many credits are you taking?”

“Full time for an athlete is six credits during the season, so that’s what most of the team does in the fall, me included.”

A snort comes from him, and he shakes his head. “That explains so fucking much.”

“And this is where the judgmental part comes in,” I surmise, though I’m not offended. I take what I can handle in season, just like everyone else on the team.

But his question does make me curious…

“Wait, how many do you take?”

Licking his lips, he replies, “Eighteen.”

I almost choke on my slice of pizza. “Jesus fucking Christ, Hayes. Isn’t full time normally twelve?”

He shrugs, the picture of nonchalant before saying, “I was taking twenty-one every semester until this year.”

My jaw hits the floor, absolutely gobsmacked by the number that just left his mouth.

“Why the fuck would you do that to yourself? How do you even have time to sleep?”

“What else would I be doing in college besides going to class and doing course work?”

“Having fun, going to parties, hanging out with your friends,” I offer, ticking the items off on my fingers.

“One, who said I don’t find my course work fun. Two, as we’ve seen, parties are the exact opposite of fun. And three, the only friend I have lives four states away. Can’t exactly call him up for a rousing night of Scrabble,” he rebuts, countering all my points with ease.

“Scrabble?” I echo, arching a brow. “That’s the game you’d choose? Really?”

“No, we playApex.Scrabble just sounded more nerdy.” His eyes flash up to mine, the cobalt color now shining with amusement. “You know, to fit with this little persona you’ve built of me in your head?”

“Clearly it’s somewhat accurate, considering your course load,” I say, holding up a slice toward him in cheers. “But hey, they do say the world is run by nerds.”

His lips twitch a little. “That, they do.”

The two of us take to eating in silence, finishing off over half the pizza before getting the remaining boxed up to take home for leftovers Hayes so graciously is allowing me to claim.

I guess he really meant it when he agreed to making us work as roommates.

But when the waiter drops off the check with our box and Hayes produces his wallet to pay, I frown. “You didn’t need to get it.”

“I said I was since I won the games and I’m the one who brought you out,” he argues, handing the waiter his card. “Besides, I don’t think it’s fair to make the one who got stood up pay on a roomie-date.”

---