Brynn

"Red or green?"

"Blue."

"Okay, uh. Winter or summer?"

"Summer. Duh."

"Gold or silver?"

"Sliver."

"Socks to bed or not?

"No. I'm not weird."

"Movies or tv shows?"

"Reading."

"Really? I never pictured you as one who read," I say, a bit surprised. "I like watching movies sure but they've become too predictable for me," Cgc says with a shrug. I nod, taking that in. He's not wrong at all and I don't entirely enjoy movies either. I still prefer tv shows though. "What do you read?" I ask, suddenly intrigued. "Non-fiction, mostly," he says "I only read a book if I find the synopsis highly interesting." When have you heard those words come out of a man's mouth? Maybe once, but it's rare. I give him some props since the only books I could ever read are any of my biology books.

"So no romance?" I tease him. He snorts, "Never." I run a hand through my blonde hair that needs dying soon. My roots are starting to darken a little too much for my liking. Believe it or not, I'm actually a brunette. I dyed my hair blonde my sophomore year of college and I haven't gone back since. I think blonde suits me better. "Next question, Brynnie," he says before taking a swig of his black coffee. "Hmmm," I think. I feel like I know so much about him already since we play this twenty-question game every time we see each other.

"Telekinesis or telepathy?" I ask, wagging my brows. "Telepathy, definitely," he says easily. "I'm too sensitive for that," I say into a laugh. In no universe would I ever want to be able to read people's minds. As cool as it sounds, there's too much baggage that comes with that. Imagine reading someone's mind and they're thinking about sex or murdering people. It could be a very broad spectrum, one that I'd never want to imagine. "Actually... I think I already have it," he adds, squinting his eyes at me. I smile, "Okay what am I thinking then?" I challenge.

His eyes stay squinted like he's actually able to read what's going on inside of my mind right now. I don't even know what that is. "You're thinking about. . . me!" He smacks his hand on the table and leans back into the booth. I gasp dramatically like he just guessed correctly. "No way you just guessed correctly," I say. He plays along, shrugging his shoulders. "I fucking told you."

I giggle as Valdez slides into Cgc's side of the booth. "What are we laughing about?" he asks, setting his backpack down on the floor. "Shit. I have to get across campus in less than ten minutes, I'll see you guys later," Cgc says, putting all his things away. We just met up about thirty minutes ago after my last class of the day. "Yeah, text me," I say, sipping on my iced coffee. "See you at home," Valdez says, getting up so that Cgc can get out of the booth. Once he leaves, the male in front of me sits back slowly in the booth.

"You look miserable," I say. He winces as his ass finally hits the cushioned booth. "I feel it too," he tells me. I assume it's football, so I don't bother asking. "Coach is killing you guys, huh?" He takes out some papers from his bag and puts them out in front of him. "Yeah. We play Cal this weekend and last year we barely won by a point. We can't afford that again," he says. I heard from the cheer girls that Cal was going to be a tough opponent. We haven't lost a game so far, so hopefully, that doesn't change.

"You guys got it. Maybe we'll get a slight advantage since at lot of our students will be traveling with us," I say. "Home turf is always the best, though, but maybe. Those fuckers are tough, nevertheless. As long as C and the offense have a good game, we'll be alright," he says confidently. He shuffles through his papers with brows furrowed and I glance over at them. All I see are a lot of numbers and words. "Homework?" I ask. He nods, organizing the papers. "Too much of it," he tells me.

I get an idea, "Be right back." I get up from the booth and head over to the ordering counter. "Hi, can I have two small blue raspberry slushies?" The brunette behind the counter nods and starts making them for me. I return with the two cups and take the lid off of both. "Thirsty?" Valdez asks. I smile and pull out four grey goose mini bottles from my purse. I just remembered I had them right now. I look around to make sure no one's watching before pouring two into each cup. "We're thirsty," I correct. Amuse swims in his brown eyes as he watches me pour the liquor into the slushies.

"You just happen to have four bottles of grey goose in your bag? And here I thought you weren't much of a drinker." I close the lids back on and stick straws through both of the openings. "I'm not. They were for Cgc, but I totally forgot to give them to him. You look like you can use a shot more than him though," I say and slide over one of the styrofoam cups. I bet he'll barely taste the alcohol through the taste of blue raspberry, but hey, we're not trying to get wasted here either.

He picks his cup up and we cheers before taking long sips from our straws. I can actually taste the hard liquor which I find absolutely disgusting. Cgc says he and the boys occasionally take shots with Grey Goose. It smells and tastes absolutely terrifying. "Ahhhh, I needed that," Valdez says, his tongue stained blue now. "Thank you," he adds. I smile and nod as I notice the bags under his eyes. "Schools the only thing that's been stressing you out?" I ask, hoping I don't overstep any boundaries. We've had a few conversations, me and him. Maybe we're friends? I don't know. I'd like to think we are by now.

"School, football, other shit," he says, his focus mainly on the papers in front of him. "Like?" I ask cautiously. "Family stuff. Girlfriend stuff," he tells me. I frown. "You and Nova okay?" I question. I saw them together yesterday and they looked fine. "We're okay. It's just her show airs soon and I'm excited for her and stuff but after graduation, she might move to New York since that's where the show films. I don't know where I'll be come July but I don't think it'll be New York. It's just stressful. I hate being away from her," he tells me.

The first day I met Novalee, I heard about how she's an actress and her show is airing soon. I have heard about it too and I knew she looked familiar when I first saw her, I just couldn't pinpoint where I recognized her from. "Maybe you'll get drafted somewhere in or close to NY," I say, trying to cheer him up a little. "I don't want to sound like an egotistical asshole but neither the Jets nor the Giants have top ten picks in the draft this year. I'm sure that's where I'll go," he says. I believe him since I've seen how he plays and he's talked about everywhere. Also, if you go to his Instagram account, he's already verified. I do not know how but he is.

I'm sure that's not for no reason.

"It might be selfish but I just don't want to be away from her for so long again. I love her though and I just want her to be successful. This has been her biggest fucking dream since she was like 9. If she's happy, I'm happy, but being without her stings like a bitch," he says into a sigh. My heart swells a bit at how he speaks about her. These past couple of years, I've been less of a hopeless romantic but I can still admit that they're adorable together. "You've known her since she was 9?" I ask. I know they've known each other since they were both young, but I never asked how young.

His face lights up even more. "Yeah. Younger than that honestly. We went to the same school since kindergarten. Though we weren't friends until elementary but I remember seeing her around all the time," he tells me. I smile weakly as it brings back memories from my past. I met him when I was nine and he was ten. We were friends before we started dating too. "That's so cute," I force out. "Oh yeah. That girl has always been meant for me," he says with a genuine smile before looking back down at his work.

If only there were still good guys left. I feel a pang of jealousy in my chest. But I have to remember I made a promise that I would never love again. Not just for him, but for me.

I pick up my cup and take a long sip from my slushy. Instantly, I regret it when I get a brain freeze. I groan, putting my palm to my head like that would help. Valdez looks up for a moment and laughs. "I wondered who that would happen to first," he says. I laugh too, "It had to happen to me, of course." Valdez takes a short sip from his straw before setting it back down. "If I started my thirteen-page essay today do you think I could finish it a week from now?" he asks me. My eyes widen. "Uhm depends. Are you a procrastinator?" I question.

His brows pull together and he shakes his head. "Never that," he says confidently. "Then, yes. If you put your economist heart to it," I say, giving him a thumbs up. He laughs, "Thanks for the motivation, Brynn. I don't need it though." He winks at me. I see Rhys enter the student lounge so I wave and call him over. He gives me a weak smile, "I have to get to class, sorry!" he yells across the room. He leaves through the other door quickly after I nod. "He doesn't have a class right now. He's still mad at Cgc, don't take offense to it. He's been rubbing us all off lately."

I frown slightly, my brows furrowing. "Why is he mad at Cgc?" I ask. Valdez sets his pen down as he looks up at me. "Sorry, I thought C would've told you," he says "I can't say much other than that they got into a fight. Cgc didn't give Xan and I many details." I nod my head, taking in his words. Cgc didn't tell me anything about a fight with Rhys but I guess that explains him being quite off these past days. Not too much, but enough for me to notice. I didn't want to ask if anything was wrong since I didn't really know how to.

"It never came up," I admit. I feel a little disappointed that he didn't tell me about it but I shake it off. "Well, yeah. He's just being a little bit grumpy. Unusual for him but I won't question it," he says, raising his brows slightly. "Missing Miami yet?" Valdez suddenly adds, changing the subject. "Not really? Despite not wanting to come here at first, Oak Hill is actually growing on me," I say truthfully. I didn't think I was going to be able to make friends here for some reason, but I have. I like my cheer teammates a lot more, my roommate is nice, and well Cgc and his friends have been nice to me for the most part.

The not-most part being Maddy Hayes. I still haven't gotten in her good graces yet.

"That's good. I hope Cgc and the rest of us have made you feel a bit more welcome," he says with a smile. I nod quickly, "Oh definitely. Thank you guys seriously. I know it can be weird to just throw in someone new to an already built friend group." He shakes his head, "Cgc likes you enough to even let you hang out with us. That's a first. Usually, it's just the six of us unless we invite Max or DJ. He likes you." I smile, releasing a breath of relief at that. I know he likes me and well, I like him too. I haven't made a friend this quick in forever.

"I like him too," I say. He smiles, "Very rare of someone to say about him." My eyebrows pull together and I lean onto the table. I've heard the same thing from one of my teammates, Idalys, who doesn't like Cgc herself. She's never slept with him so it's not bitterness, but she's had interactions with him on multiple occasions. She says he was the biggest asshole to her all those times for no reason. "Yeah, why is that?" I ask. Valdez is his friend meaning he'll know better than anyone. He can't be that terrible if he has all of these close friends right?

"Cgc and I are the same in the fact that we're hotheaded fuckers. Only he knows how to control himself more than me, my fuse is shorter than his. Cgc cuts deep with his words. He won't show he's upset if he is, instead he'll start being an ass to you. He knows where to hit you where it hurts. He rubs people off wrong because of his attitude. Then they find out he's rich, that he's a football player and all the stereotypes start coming together, y'know?" I nod, taking in this information. Yet, I can't fully believe the words coming out of his mouth.

"Basically, he's the biggest douchebag ever. Not my words! I actually like the guy and love him even. You got to see the good side of him, most people don't," he adds. I nod again, "Then I guess I'm lucky." He smiles, "Very."