Perfect Touchdown

RYLEE

“Rylee, are you all right?” Avery asks the moment I am wheeled out into the ER waiting room.

Jake, Aiden, and Isabelle—who walked away unscathed—snap their heads toward me, their eyes widening with concern.

Half the squad got rushed to the hospital by anyone with a car, and everyone was panicking like all of us were dying. Fortunately, I have nothing more than a lightly sprained wrist. I don’t even need to sit out of the game this weekend.

Not like poor Sandra.

She was at the bottom of the pyramid, and when she accidentally locked her knee, it completely tore apart. And then, when half the pyramid landed on top of her, her whole leg shattered. She will likely never cheer again.

Although it is my arm that is injured, the hospital insisted that I be released in a wheelchair. I consider for a moment messing with them, playing up my injury, but I decide against it with how scared they look.

Even Jake, who doesn’t even know me, seems full of concern.

It still makes me giddy how insistent he was about driving me here—he ’is’ the only one of us who came to college with a car, though. Still, it means a lot, and so does his waiting for me.

Maybe he likes me, I think. ~Or maybe he’s just doing a favor for his frat brothers and teammates~. This second thought doesn’t make my butterflies happy, so I dismiss it, going with the former instead.

Avery is the first to run over to me, followed closely by Jake. Aiden and Isabelle, who were sitting awfully close to each other, are the last to come.

“I’m fine,” I say, holding up my braced wrist. “Nothing more than a sprain. I just have to take it easy for a few days.”

“Geez, Ryles, you really gave us a scare.” Aiden places his hand on the back of the chair.

“Are you sure you’re all right?” Isabelle asks, crouching down to my eye level.

“I’m fine, really.”

She clears her throat. “Will you still be able to go to the open house tomorrow?” She leans back slightly and tilts her head up a bit. “The one for Delta Phi?” Her voice comes out louder than before, and I stifle a chuckle at her shameless hint-dropping.

I copy her but go a step further. At a few decibels lower than a shout, I say, “Oh, yes, the open house at Delta Phi. The one we’re going to tomorrow at two in the afternoon and where the raging party afterward will be.” I wink at her. “I’ll be fine to go there. No problem.”

Isabelle’s cheeks blaze crimson, and she springs up, giving me a tight smile. “Okay, then. Good. I’m going to go talk to your doctor.”

Aiden joins her, and Avery steps away to call our parents, leaving me alone with Jake.

“This isn’t the best first meeting, I suppose,” he says, wheeling me closer to a seat before taking it. “I’m Jake.” He extends a hand.

I chuckle and shake with him. “Some of the best things come from the oddest encounters. I’m Rylee, but I assume you already know that.”

“Beautiful and wise. You’re full of surprises.”

His gaze doesn’t leave mine, and heat rises up my neck as his hazel orbs transfix me. Butterflies riot in my stomach, and a thickness fills the air between us.

Words escape me, and they seem to have escaped him too. But just as the silence begins to move in an uncomfortable direction, the others return, and we all leave the hospital.

“Thanks so much for the ride home,” I say to Jake after shutting his car door. “Bye, guys.”

Isabelle and I watch them drive away before we walk into our dorm room, completely exhausted, and flop onto our beds. I really don’t want to brush my teeth; I just want my beauty sleep.

Tomorrow is going to be a big day.

AIDEN

The next evening, Jake and I are relaxing on the couch with some ice packs and video games after yet another intense practice.

Avery, in an effort to show the coach he is captain material, has been drilling the team into the ground. I would say he is taking it a little too far if it weren’t for the gains I am making in agility and endurance.

“What are those?” I ask Avery as he comes into the living room with a stack of papers in his hands.

“They’re our potential new members.” He flops down into the recliner. “We had interviews today, remember? Carter wants me to give them a once-over before the house tour tomorrow.”

“Do you think the same thing happens at a sorority open house?” Jake asks, his eyes glued to the TV screen.

“How should I know?” I say, launching a turtle shell into his Koopa Troopa.

“Yes, Jake. Most Greek organizations are pretty much the same.” Avery speaks in his exasperated-dad tone. “They have their interviews—four members interview one pledge one at a time—then they have an open-house celebration later. Pledges and anyone can come.”

“In other words,” I interject, “it’s an excuse to have a raging party—except we can’t because we’re playing in a few days.”

“Hm.” Jake pauses the game. “Do you think their parties are anything like ours?” He turns to face me, his expression morphing to mild horror.

“What do you mean?” I sit back on the couch.

“You know how wild our parties get.” He leans forward, raising his brows. “All the drugs and drinking… Horny dudes around inebriated girls…”

Images that used to excite me now flood my mind with dread as I see Rylee and Isabelle on the receiving end of the kind of advances I usually make toward drunk chicks at parties.

And I know where those drunk chicks almost always end up by the end of the night.

Jake and I share a look of slight terror before Avery slams the stack of papers on the coffee table. “Relax, guys. I’m sure it’s perfectly safe. Besides, the girls are all grown up, and they need to experience things on their own.”

“Experience things?” I snort. “Like alcohol poisoning and unsafe sex?”

Avery chuckles and grabs the remote. “Things like making mistakes and learning lessons.” He turns off the game and switches to Netflix. “What are you going to do? Follow them to every party and make sure they’re drinking water and using condoms? Let it go.”

Jake taps me on the leg, and I turn to him. He points at the screen of his phone and nods his head toward the other room, so I follow him to the kitchen.

Once inside, he holds up his phone. “Yeah, no way I want to leave those girls to the wolves. Look.” He scrolls through an Instagram page, which shows photo after photo of college girls going wild.

We lock eyes, and after a moment, twin smirks curl up our lips.

I know I don’t need to say what I am planning, but I do anyway. “How do you feel about crashing a party?”