Page 7 of Beautiful Beginning

I watched, wanting to see how Chaz would engage. He didn’t. I narrowed my eyes to watch him sit comfortably in his seat. He looked the least bit interested in what happened on the field. The guy beside him, tapping his shoulder and pointing, couldn’t get his attention either.Is that a book?Who brought a book to the football game? Like a full-on textbook.

I tapped Nia and whispered, “He has a book.”

She didn’t take her eyes off the field though. Nia should have been a majorette. Her fascination with the band was borderline obsessive. “He who has a what?”

“Chaz. He’s reading a book. Like studying for a test or something.” I couldn’t blame him because there were a few books I needed to crack open. Tests I could better prepare for. But what would I look like opening a book on the sidelines?

Nia turned her head toward me and asked again, “What?”

I nudged my chin toward the stands and said, “Look. Red shirt, toward the top.”

She looked over her shoulder and scanned the crowd. But didn’t search hard enough. “He’sdifferent?”

“What if he’s my Dwayne?”

A loud groan escaped her mouth before she returned her attention to the field. “Girl, you have to let that go. What is it with your love of that random, old ass,fictionalcouple?”

I didn’t tell her, but Dwayne and Whitley were what I imagined my parents’ college love to be like. The stories they told me aligned with everything I saw played out in reruns of the show. Not the part where Whitley was about to marry another man though. That part didn’t match their story. Mama and Daddy were stuck together. From what they told me they never broke up. Graduated, and made it down the aisle a year later.

“I don’t know.” I sighed. “A college love story sounds beautiful. Who wouldn’t want that?”

She smacked her lips and rounded her neck. “Me.” There was no denying that. Nia was further from finding the love of her life than I was. After one short-lived situation she gave up.

“Well…” I looked up at Chaz one more time before the band stepped off the field. “I do.”

“Oh.” Nia rolled her eyes after snatching her pom poms from the ground. “I know.”

I laughed and stood beside her. Each cheer, I added a little more emphasis. Exaggerated movements, and wide ass smiles. Coach would be proud. But it wasn’t her I was trying to impress. It was Chaz. Trying to make him put the book down.

Briefly, he did. And his eyes connected with mine.

I had plans that night. A party with my roommates, but if I happened to bump into Chaz I wouldn’t be mad about it. Well, unless it knocks the drink I’m holding to the ground. Waiting on fate to bring us together again felt naïve. I needed to use his number that I stared at two times a day, at least.

So, when we got to the apartment, as I shuffled through outfits I grabbed my phone, shut my door, and dialed. “Chaz?” I let my voice sound as sultry as it could after screaming for hours. It kinda had that sexy raspy appeal to it. I hoped.

“Journey?” He didn’t sound sure of himself. “Didn’t think you’d ever use my number.”

“Finding you on campus has more appeal to it.”

“Or staring me down while you cheer…”

“Didn’t know if you noticed, that book you studied seemed to have most of your attention.”

He rebutted, “Most but not all.”

Of all the guys I talked to on campus, there weren’t many like Chaz. Confidently mysterious, in a way that didn’t make him seem like an asshole. A hint of sarcasm that intrigued me instead of making me turn up my nose. He wasn’t like some guys who needed to be center of attention. If I wasn’t mistaken, he was the direct opposite of that.

“And who or what had the other part of that attention.” It was a daring question. Especially to ask him. The answer could be exactly what I wanted to hear. To make my heart skip a beat, and my thighs clutch closed. Or he could crush my hopes with one little word. A phrase that could make it all come crumbling down.

Then he said, “It wasn’t our sorry ass team.”

I chortled. Laughed so damn hard my nose vibrated.

“You okay?” He sounded amused but didn’t join in on the laughter. “In the four years I’ve been here the team has not gotten any better. I know the band is the highlight for our school, but damn.”

I yelled. “That first touchdown gave me hope though.”

“That was a peace offering given by the other side. It’s not good sportsmanship to completely destroy a team on their own field.”

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