Chapter Two
First Class
I ran by our apartment to shower and change into different clothes. I slipped on a pair of jean shorts, one of the local campus band t-shirts and some flip-flops. Quinn had cut a v-slit in my t-shirt, which was meant to show off my cleavage. She said, “We can’t have the boys forgetting you’re a girl, if you insist on wearing that awful shirt.” Like they could forget; I had D’s for goodness sake. I didn’t have time for makeup or curling my hair though. I never understood waking up extra early to get dressed up for class, but I’m also not husband-hunting like some of these girls. I barely had time to say hi and bye to Quinn in my rush through the apartment. I gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and made her promise she would be in the cafeteria to meet for lunch.
I made it to Journalism before our professor did, so that was always good news. When I dashed into class, I scanned the packed lecture hall for Cole. When I finally spotted him, he had two Chi Omega girls leaning in on each side to talk to him. It was pretty convenient as to how they leaned in toward him displaying their breasts perfectly. I’m not judging though. Can’t say I’ve never pulled that move before, I’m just bitter that they stole my spot. He glanced back at me and instantly mouthed an apology; I rolled my eyes at him and gave him a look that I hoped conveyed how much he would pay for this later.
I walked down the steps of the side row searching for an open seat when I heard someone call my name. I looked down the aisle I had stopped at and saw Jaxon at the far end, waving me down to the open seat next to him. It had a black backpack in the seat but when I sidestepped down the aisle, I saw him pick it up and put it underneath his chair.
“Once I saw the ‘sorority bimbos,’ as you called them before, swarm Cole, I saved you a seat,” he said looking up at me and shrugging, as if it was no big deal.
“Wow… thanks. I’m surprised they aren’t swarming you either, it won’t be long until they discover those gorgeous blue eyes,” I said, laughing. I can’t believe he actually paid attention to what I said earlier. It’s like he knew I would be uncomfortable coming in here with nowhere to sit.
“Nah, sorority bimbos really aren’t my type,” he said in his low southern drawl. I instantly wondered if I was his type. I mean, he did save me the seat and not someone else.
”They did swarm him, but he scared them off,” Tobias Reed interrupted.
Tobias was sitting on the other side of Jaxon. He’s pretty much our class know-it-all. He’s in everyone’s business, but he’s smart as hell, so he’s helpful to sit by in class.
Jaxon shrugged vaguely, “It’s not a big deal, I heard you tell Cole to save you one and figured I could help you out.” He started to take off his leather jacket and I could see he was wearing a dark grey Henley underneath that showed the wide expanse of his chest. I remembered Cole saying that he played football with these guys back home and wondered if he’ll be playing for the University.
Before I could ask, Professor Patterson came in through the staff door and placed his briefcase on the desk. Everyone began quieting down as we watched him unpack all of his papers. I’ve had Professor Patterson every year I’ve been here, and I’ve always enjoyed coming to his classes. He’s more laid back than other professors are; he requires a lot of work, but he’s not one of those tight-asses that will call you out and make you uncomfortable in front of all the other students. There’s nothing that will have my knees locking and palms sweating like standing in front of a crowd of people to speak. Quinn has been in plays ever since we were in middle school and she can command an entire theater, but I think I would throw up everywhere if I were to switch places with her.
“Welcome to Journalism 359: Investigative Reporting. I hope you’re all in the right class. My assistant is handing out the syllabus, please take one and pass it down. You all know how to read, you wouldn’t have made it this far if you couldn’t. You don’t need me to read over every point on the syllabus, it’s your responsibility to read it yourself and do what is required of you.” Another reason, why I like Patterson so much, he gets straight to the point. We don’t have to waste an entire hour and a half doing exactly what we’ll be doing in all of our other classes the next couple of days.
“With Investigative reporting, you’re going to be thrown into a situation with people you haven’t met and you’re going to be required to come back with thebest possible answers you can get from them. You need to learn how to ask questions, good questions, on the spot. We’ll just do a small exercise today to practice this,” he proposed, while walking back and forth in front of us. “Everyone turn and pick a partner, no crossing the room, just pick someone next to you. Ask them as many questions as you can think of to keep the conversation rolling. You need to be able to keep up a dialogue and get crucial information out of people. I don’t need you to write this all down, because I don’t have time to read it. I just want you to get comfortable talking to someone you don’t know, and asking questions you wouldn’t otherwise ask if you weren’t working. Go.”
Jaxon turned his body to face mine in his seat. “Partner?” he asked and I nodded my head. I wasn’t sure if I wanted this gorgeous guy to ask me a bunch of personal questions; he seemed too observant. On the other hand, I was interested in getting to know more about him.
“Uh, excuse me, Jaxon, you should be my partner seeing as I don’t have anyone on the other side of me, Em can be her partner,” Tobias said, gesturing at the girl on my left, who clearly was already in a deep conversation with the guy in front of her.
“Nope, sorry man. I’m definitely going to sit here and enjoy getting to know Em here.” He said my name as if he was unsure that’s how to pronounce it. My real name is Emerson, but no one calls me that. Quinn said that it sounds like a guy’s name. I’ve never really cared, just thankful I didn’t end up an Ashley or a Sarah… blech.
Tobias was clearly getting upset that he couldn’t get his “assignment” started. “Dude, if you want to get into her pants, it’s not hard. You don’t need to sit here and ‘get to know her.’ She’ll give it up without the twenty questions.”
He started to stand up to walk around and find a partner when Jaxon put his arm around Tobias’ shoulders to stop his ascent. “Tobias, man, chill out, this isn’t even a graded assignment.” Jaxon’s hand clasped onto his shoulder looked totally innocent until I noticed Tobias grimacing, and realized that maybe Jaxon was squeezing him a bit hard. Jaxon didn’t appear to be angry; the only thing I could see that would give away his ire at Tobias’ words was the tension in his jaw and the steely gaze he gave him. “Now, apologize to Em,” he stated calmly.
What? Was he sticking up for me? I should probably stop him because it’s not like Tobias spoke an untruth. To be honest, his comment didn’t even faze me. I learned to block out any irritation toward the “slut remarks” back in freshman year. The only people ever to stick up for me were Quinn and Cole, a complete stranger. It’s not like he knows that I actually am a slut and that his defense is purely unnecessary. “It’s fine, Jaxon. Don’t worry about it. Tob, no hard feelings, but go find another partner,” I whispered to both of them, trying not to pull any other attention toward us. Jaxon continued glaring at him.
Exasperated, Tobias let out an annoyed sigh before he spoke. “Sorry, Emerson, I shouldn’t have said that.” Then he turned to face Jaxon and shrugged off his now white knuckled grip on his bony shoulder. “Chill out, dude, you don’t even know who she is,” he said under his breath as he walked away quickly. I don’t know if he meant for me not to hear that, but I did.
Jaxon turned back toward me in his chair and looked me in the eyes for a couple of seconds. I’m not sure what he was looking for, maybe to see if I was upset over what Tob said. “Thanks for defending me, but it really wasn’t necessary,” I stressed, while he was still staring at me.
“It’s not okay for any guy to talk to a girl like that. I don’t care if what he said was true or false.”
“What he said was true. I’m sure since you’re talking to me, half of these girls will crowd you after class just to let you know my reputation,” I said to him.
“I don’t care what your reputation is; most of us don’t have good ones anyways. That’s what makes them reputations,” he said looking at his notebook instead of to me. Then he shook his head slightly as if he were clearing it and turned to look at me again. “So, Emerson, huh?”
“Yeah, but no one calls me that though. Tobias only uses it occasionally and the only reason he knows my name is because we studied for finals last year together and saw it on my papers. Quinn only calls me that when she’s really pissed at me.” I leaned forward onto my desk, rolling my pen between my fingers, and laughing at the image in my head of Quinn being mad.
“Be silly, be honest, and be kind,” he quoted in a raspy voice.
I gasped. My heart sunk to the floor and I started to feel the ambush of tears to my eyes. Emerson, please don’t do this here, you will look like a fool. I quietly calmed myself with a deep breath. I could tell that Jaxon was watching my reaction carefully. “You know Ralph Waldo Emerson?” I asked.
“Yeah, he’s a great poet. We had to study one last year in American lit and I chose his name out of the bag. Sorry if that made you upset or anything. I’ve just always enjoyed that quote. Your name made me think of it,” he added.
“It’s totally fine. I guess it has just been a really long time since I’ve heard that. My mom would say it all the time to me when I was a kid. Just nostalgia.” I tried to sound light and laugh it off. I wanted to appear like that one little quote didn’t just turn my world upside down.
“You know some people say that he may not have even actually quoted that. That maybe it was just something that was attached to his name along the way,” he broke in.
“My mom told me that once; I don’t think she cared though. It’s still a nice quote to live by, whoever created it.”
My mom majored in literature, fell in love with Ralph Waldo Emerson’s simple quote, and always told me to live my life silly, honestly, and kindly. This is obviously my namesake. I’m just thankful she didn’t name me Ralph or Waldo instead. She would say his quote to me nightly at bed, even up until I was fifteen. I used to roll my eyes that she was being so cheesy, but now I would kill to hear her say those words. I promise if I could, I wouldn’t roll my eyes; I would ask to hear them again.
“So, do you plan on trying out for the football team to play with Cole?” I asked him, hoping that he would understand I didn’t like where our conversation was heading.
“Well, since I’m here on a full scholarship for football, something tells me I won’t actually have to try out,” he said with a sexy half smile.
“Wow, a junior transfer with a full scholarship. I bet Coach Chase wishes he would have found you before freshman year, if you’re that good.”
“Oh, he found me my junior year of high school along with Jace and Cole. We were the three amigos, on and off the field. Coach Chase wanted all three of us. I messed up in my senior year and Coach Chase pulled my scholarship for two years so I could work some stuff out. So… ya, two years later I finally made it here. Hopefully, I haven’t lost too much talent not being on a team for that long.” I wanted to ask what he had done to lose his scholarship but the way he was fidgeting with his fingers when he said that, tells me whatever he did makes him uncomfortable. I’m sure I’ll have plenty of time to ask later. This guy just kept getting more interesting to me. It’s been a long time since someone has caught my attention and actually held it. He is so easy to talk to. His voice is deep and mesmerizing. I would literally pay money just to hear him talk to me all day. It took me a while to realize that I was leaning toward him with my head in my hand. I slowly pulled myself back so I didn’t seem startled to catch myself gawking at him. He still gave me a knowing smile.
“Your voice is a little like cocaine. You could bottle that stuff up and sell it. You would make a killing, especially with the sorority bimbos. Can I pay you just to talk to me all day?” I said with a giggle, so he wouldn’t think I was serious. Although, I’m pretty sure I was.
He threw his head back in abandon and let out a deep, unrestrained laugh. Thankfully, this place was so packed with talking students we didn’t call too many people to our attention, just a few confused side-glances here and there. From this angle, I admired his smile. His teeth were really white and mostly straight except for one of his front teeth turned in just a bit to mess up the smooth flow across their surface. I loved that imperfection; it meant this beautiful man wasn’t unattainable. I’m almost positive three nights with Jaxon would be incredible.
“Well, the going rate is about twenty bucks an hour,” he said interrupting my thoughts of running my tongue across his teeth and lips, which left me a little bothered.
“Huh?” I blinked at him. Wow, Emerson, great response and way to keep up the dialogue.
He chuckled a bit. “I just got a job at the local radio station as a DJ in the evenings, a couple nights a week. Well, it’s actually a paid internship, so I’ll mostly be running errands for the lead DJ. I guess I will be paid money to talk, even if they rarely have me on-air.”
“That’s probably one of the coolest jobs I’ve heard of a college student having. It certainly comes second to Macy Foster’s job of Hot Air Balloon Operator last year,” I replied.
“No shit, Hot Air Balloon Operator? They trust a college student to operate those things? That would be a blast,” he said, laughing.
“Well, I think they learned their lesson hiring her. I heard they found out she was taking her boyfriend up for a little mile high club initiation, if you know what I mean,” I said winking at him.
“Oh, I think I can guess what you mean.” He sent an equally sexy wink right back at me that would basically melt the panties off any living, breathing female. Damn, the sexual tension was thick between us. Three times with Jaxon Riley would be phenomenal. Or should I say, will be phenomenal, because at this point, I’m positive it will happen. How can I live right next to this gorgeous person and not have a little fun in the meantime?
“Do you ever watch Cole’s games?” He seemed to like to interrupt my dirty thoughts about him, and enjoyed catching me off guard.
“Of course, Quinn and I have never missed one, even away games. So far, we’ve always been able to get off work or away from school. My boss doesn’t like me too much during the season because I ask off all the time, but I make it up to him later,” I answered.
He gave me a confused look. Then I realized my answer sounded sexual and in this instance, it absolutely wasn’t. I was never going to go there with Ed. He was a great boss, with an exception to the shirt he required me to wear which bordered on sexual harassment. I made good tips though and he allowed me to keep them all and take time off when I wanted. But nothing would ever happen between us, it gives me the chills even thinking about it.
“Nice, so I already have my own cheerleaders. Not that it would be hard to gain some after they see me play,” he replied cheekily, rubbing his hands together.
“Wow, let me guess, you’re a wide receiver, because only those guys are as cocky as you are. By the way, we don’t just cheer for anyone, you’ll have to earn it,” I said, rolling my eyes at him.
“Holy shit, a girl that knows football!” he said giving me a full watt smile. “Yes, ma’am, I was Texas’ best wide receiver my junior and senior year. I’ll earn it all right. I bet you I’ll score at least one touchdown at our first game in a couple of weeks.”
“That’s a bet I’m willing to take; your ego is out of control. Besides, Dalton Fisher, the quarterback, is a snob. He probably won’t even pass to you for at least the first three games.”
“Don’t you worry about Fisher, I’ll get it done. Although, it is going to be tough playing without my brother, Jace, being the quarterback,” he said this a little disheartened.
“I thought you said Coach Chase wanted all three of you?” I asked him, wanting desperately to cheer him up and get that crooked smile back on his face.
“He did. Jace was never going to take it though. He doesn’t want to play anymore. He’s crazy-ass brilliant and in pre-med here. If there’s ever going to be a cure for cancer, Jace will find it. That guy is amazing,” he said in almost an awed tone. I loved seeing his adoration for his brother.
“It’s awesome that you guys are going to college at the same time. I love that Quinn and I get to do everything together.”
“Yeah, we’re really close in age,” he laughed a little bit under his breath, and I felt like I was missing out on an inside joke. I wonder if Jaxon is the older brother or the younger brother. He really seems to look up to him like a younger brother, and yet he sounds proud of him like an older brother would.
We were interrupted by the sounds of everyone getting up and packing their bags. I guess the class was over; an hour and a half went by fast, talking to Jaxon. “I don’t know if Professor Patterson would approve of our dialogue of cocaine-like voices, sex in hot air balloons, and my awesome knowledge of football,” I said while laughing.
He laughed with me while picking up my bag off the floor and handing it to me. “Yeah, maybe we should go ask him if that’s what he had in mind. Oh, hey, since we’re neighbors and all, probably study partners as well, you should have my number.” He grabbed my hand in his and wrote his number into my palm slowly with black ink. Knowing it was going to be short-lived, I enjoyed the feel of my hand in his. The metal tip of the ink pen tickled as it etched across my skin. I watched each stroke he made. It was only a series of numbers, but I could tell he had nice handwriting. “Don’t wash your hand until you save it.” He tapped the tip against my palm a couple of times when he was done.
“Thanks, I’ll text you later with my number,” I spoke while smiling at him.
He stood up to let me follow him out to the aisle so we could leave the classroom, and I realized for the first time how tall he actually was. My eyes followed up his long legs, to his iron-flat stomach and then his broad chest to see he was a couple inches over six feet at least. He was probably an inch taller than Cole, who had always made me feel petite next to him since I barely made it up to his chest. Being five foot five, I thought I was pretty average, but standing next to him, I felt miniature. He definitely had an athletic body with a playground of muscle right underneath those clothes. I realized he was standing there facing me, when he needed to turn around and walk out first. It seemed like he was taking me in as well with his sexy mouth curling up at the corner.
I straightened my back and pushed out my breasts just a tad and his eyes widened at the full sight of me. I silently thanked Quinn for cutting up my favorite t-shirts. I reached up to put my hand on his chest and just rubbed it up an inch, while watching him inhale. Then I raised my hand and patted two short pats on his chest. “Alright, let’s move it along, Motorcycle Boy, exits this way,” I said, gesturing toward the door.
He snapped back to earth at that and quirked up an eyebrow, while starting to walk backward slowly. “Motorcycle Boy?”
“I didn’t know who you were outside the Frat house, so that’s what I called you.”
“Hmm, I think I’m going to need a new nickname from you. ‘Boy’ doesn’t work for me,” he said while tapping his long fingers on his chin, deep in thought. I can picture him trying to think of what he would like for me to call him.
As we were walking out of the classroom into the warm California weather, I was about to tell him ‘boy’ certainly did not work for him and what would. But, Tatum, Sophia, and Ashley, all Alpha Beta girls, assaulted us. By us, I mean Jaxon, because they scooped in front of me to start laying it on thick to him. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you!” I called out to Jaxon as I started walking away from them. He was laughing and didn’t seem to mind the attention. I really didn’t want to hear what they had to tell him. I could only guess it was something along the lines of ‘stay away from the school slut.’
I turned the corner to walk off to Environmental Biology, my last class of the day. An arm came around my shoulders and I caught a whiff of Tom Ford cologne. Micah. I glanced up to confirm my observation.
“You smell nice, Micah. Are you wearing clean clothes?” I kidded him.
“Aw, come on, Emmy, I’m not that bad. Besides, I hear we have Biology together. Come, sit by me, please?” he begged, while gazing down at me with his sweet puppy-dog face.
We continued across the quad to the science building and he kept his arm around my shoulder. I heard someone calling out my name from behind, so I turned around to see who it was. Jaxon was jogging up to us and Micah instinctively squeezed me in tighter. Jaxon stopped in front of me, but had his eyes on Micah. I’ve always liked Micah’s height, but seeing Jaxon stand next to him was impressive; he was at least two inches taller than Micah. I usually don’t mind getting touchy feely with a guy in public, that’s why Micah wouldn’t know, but I was starting to feel uncomfortable with his arm around me possessively, under Jaxon’s scrutiny.
Jaxon pulled his eyes away from Micah toward me, although it seemed to take some effort on his part. He’s probably wondering if we’re an item. The assumption would be so outrageous that I didn’t even bother clearing it up for him. He’ll soon learn about me from someone on this campus I’m sure. At some point, after we walked out of class, he had put on a black, worn, and dirty ball cap. Before he spoke, he spun it around backward and I was thankful because I could now see his gorgeous blues.
“Sorry, Emerson, that was rude of me. I didn’t mean to just cut you off. I wasn’t expecting that outside the classroom,” he said, pointing his thumb behind him. He had his backpack slung over one shoulder and his leather jacket was hanging through the strap down by his hip.
“It’s really no--” I started to say.
“Emerson? Is that what Em is short for? How the hell did I not know this?” Micah interrupted harshly, looking pissed that this new guy could know more than he did. I shrugged out of his hold so I could face both of them at the same time.
“Guys, it’s Em, call me Em. I haven’t been Emerson in a long time,” I stressed, looking back and forth between them. “By the way, Jaxon, Micah. Micah, Jaxon. He and his brother are moving into the apartment with Cole.” They both did the guy nod at each other. Micah seemed to be sizing Jaxon up. Looks like girls weren’t the only bizarre ones around here; guys are such cavemen sometimes.
I started walking to my class instead of continuing the awkward staring. As expected, both of them followed along. I turned and continued walking the last couple of steps backward. “We don’t have another class together do we, Jax?” That was the first time I’d called him Jax and he smirked at his nickname. I wondered if Micah would be uncomfortable if I just grabbed Jaxon right now and sucked his lush bottom lip into my mouth.
I stopped walking outside of the biology lab. Jaxon stepped up in front of me and replied, “No, I already took environmental, I’m down the hall in physics. But I wish we did.”
“Alright, well I’ll see you around at home then. Thanks for the ‘dialogue’ today in class,” I said, while making air quotes, which I earned a smile for.
He started walking past me but stopped and bent his head down to mine. He whispered in my ear as he walked by, “Later, Emerson.” As he walked away, I saw him slide his cap back to the front. I turned to walk into class and Jaxon shouted back, “Oh, hey, don’t forget we need to finish talking about our bet. I already know what I’m going to get when I win!”
“Oh yeah, Mr. Confident, what’s that?” I tossed back.
“A f*cking Hot Air Balloon Ride!” he hollered before stepping into his classroom, not waiting for my reaction. I stood there with my mouth wide open. This guy was ballsy and he was way too much like me. I needed to think of a wager to leave him speechless as well.