Chapter Twenty-three

Luke's P.O.V

The rest of the week flew by in an instant. We won Saturday night's game, and I once again got to play the entire time. I almost felt bad for Kason, who desperately wanted the chance to shine, but Coach Saban refused to put him in. I guessed Coach Saban was just trying to push me to my limits to see if he could find any faults in my gameplay.

The band of course sounded amazing, and it excited me even more that Chloe was in the stands watching the game, rooting for the team with the rest of the Bama crowd.

That night my parents called me to congratulate me on my win, and we talked until eleven o' clock about the game, grades, and campus life. I fell asleep that night exhausted and hoped that the next day would be better, but I knew deep inside me it would be better because tomorrow I got to see Chloe.

I woke up that morning at eight o' clock feeling refreshed and energized for the day. I didn't feel like working out since I played a game yesterday so instead I just chilled on the couch playing Call of Duty with Jacob.

"God fucking damn," Jacob blurted out when he died in the game. He pointed at the screen accusingly and looked at me with angry eyes. "That motherfucker is a hacker, Luke. Did you not see the kill cam?"

"Calm down, Jacob," I laughed as I shot an enemy player with my M60. "Don't worry about that guy, we'll just kill him later."

"We better or I'm reporting him," Jacob sneered, his attention now back on the screen.

My phone interrupted the game by buzzing, and I was about to ignore it except I saw who sent me a message.

Chloe: Hey are we still meeting up at 1 in the library?

Oh shit, I forgot about that. I need to call the library to reserve a room. I set down my controller, picked up my phone and quickly began texting away.

Me: Yeah but let me check to see if the rooms are still available.

Chloe: I thought you already called them to reserve a room or…?

Me: Sorry about that. I got too caught up in school and the game that I forgot about that. For some reason I thought I already did it.

Chloe: No you're fine :) Do you want me to call for you?

Me: If you want to.

Chloe: Okay I'll see what I can do

Me: Thanks :)

"Luke, who the actual shit are you talking to right now? Who could be more important than blasting that hacker's ass?" Jacob scoffed, running his free hand through his perfectly gelled, blonde hair.

"Chloe," I said simply and set my phone down.

"You and Chloe huh? I never thought you'd want to bang that girl twice," Jacob shook his head, his piercing blue eyes glancing in my direction.

Huh? "Bang Chloe twice? Jacob who the hell are you talking about?" I asked, my eyebrows scrunched in confusion.

"Chloe Marshall," he stated as if it were obvious, rolling his eyes.

"Jacob I'm talking to Chloe Claire, not Chloe Marshall. And where did you get the idea that I banged Marshall for the first time?" I was now super confused.

"Because some of the guys and girls at our school said you did when you two went out junior year of high school," he said.

I didn't know whether to be shocked or laugh at its ridiculousness. "I mean yeah we dated junior year, but we never did that sort of thing," I said as I watched my character in the game die to the 'hacker' player. In fact, I never did that sort of thing with any of the girls I had ever dated, but I wasn't about to tell Jacob that. He would say I was psycho since I have never had sex with anyone before, but to be honest, that was the way I wanted it to be. I wanted to wait until I was married to the perfect girl of my dreams. Jacob would just laugh at me for wanting that.

"Uh huh, suuuure. Wait a minute…you said Chloe Claire before," Jacob said as the game ended. "You're talking to Chloe Claire? Like 'talking' talking or just talking."

Here we go again. "Jess, Chloe, and I are having a study group today," I said as I looked over at my phone. Did she text me yet?

"Oh," Jacob laughed. "You know for a minute there I thought you liked the girl or something. I mean, sure, she could be hot, but she's totally not your type my man. Not to mention she's a bitch."

My eyebrows shot up and anger rose within me. "Chloe is not a bitch, Jacob. You hung out with her at the pizza place, too, and you even laughed at some of her jokes," I said through gritted teeth. I don't think anyone would ever understand what I liked about Chloe Claire. Apparently to the world they believed I could never be with someone like her, but what exactly did that even mean? She was beautiful…smart…funny… How come everyone in the world couldn't see that but me?

"Sounds like you like the bitch," Jacob laughed, throwing his controller on the couch.

I sighed. Jacob wasn't worth it. "I'm just gonna go. I'll see you later," I stood up from the couch, grabbed my keys, and walked out of the door.

"See ya man," Jacob laughed as I shut the door.

I rolled my eyes and my phone buzzed. I quickly looked to see the text.

Chloe: Hey I have some bad news

My mind started to race. Bad news?! What did she mean by bad news?!

Me: Bad news? What is it?

Chloe: All of the rooms are full :(

I ran my fingers through my hair and bit my lip and stared down the long hallway. Damn. I really should've reserved the room earlier, but I didn't. Now I must pay the consequence. My phone buzzed again.

Chloe: If you want, we could all study in my dorm.

Study in her dorm? I never thought of that before. I began texting away:

Me: Are you sure? We could always meet somewhere else.

Chloe: We don't really have a lot of options. Unless you want to have it at your dorm instead that's fine.

I thought about Jacob. I really didn't want her to be around him. He would just be an unnecessary distraction–not to mention also an asshole. Sometimes I wondered why I was still friends with the guy, except I remembered that he could actually be a good guy, whether he wanted to believe it or not. Deep inside of him, I knew there was a nice guy trying to come out, but he kept suffocating him each and every time.

Me: No your place is fine. I'll go ahead and text Jess.

Chloe: I haven't even given you my dorm room number yet

Me: Don't worry, I remember it from last time I was there.

Chloe: Alrighty then. I guess I'll see you at 1 at my dorm along with Jess?

Me: That's the plan

Chloe: Okay see ya then!

Me: See ya!

I looked at the time on my phone. It wasn't even an hour before one o' clock. I quickly texted Jess about the time and place, and she soon responded that she would be there on time. I shoved my phone in my pocket and wondered what I would do until then. I remembered Chloe saying that coffee helped her study. I guessed I could just grab a couple raspberry mochas. Would that be too much? Probably. But was I going to do it anyway? Yep.

I went ahead and went to the nearest coffee place, grabbed our drinks, and checked the time. It was close enough to time that I could head over. I drove in my black GMC to her dorm parking lot, got out with our drinks in hand, and walked into the dorm.

"I.D. please," the girl at the front counter asked as I walked inside the front lobby.

I figured I didn't have to explain myself why I was there, and just showed her my college I.D. She nodded, and I was allowed to pass through and go to the elevator.

C33, I reminded myself as I stepped inside the elevator.

"Which floor?" the girl who was in the elevator asked me with a warm smile.

I smiled back since she seemed so friendly. "Third floor," I responded, and she pressed the third-floor button.

"So, you're on the third floor, too, huh?" she continued to smile. Her hair was dark brown, reminding me of chocolate. Her light eyes seemed to light up and she pursed her small, plump lips.

"Actually, I don't live in this dorm. I'm here to visit a friend," I said smoothly, shoving my free hand in my pocket as I held the coffee's in its drink carrier in the other.

"So that's why you have two coffees," she nodded to herself as she said the words quietly. She looked up to meet my eyes. "Who is it? I'm pretty sure I'll know who it is. I know everyone on the third floor."

I cleared my throat. "Chloe Claire."

"Ah," she said, her hands clasped at her front.

It was odd how she said nothing the rest of the way up after that. Maybe she didn't know who Chloe actually was. In fact, why was I even talking to this girl about her? I didn't even know her, but she seemed super nice.

We left the elevator in awkward silence, and I made my way to Chloe's dorm room. I knocked on her door three times.

The door opened not even a minute later to see Chloe standing before me in a t-shirt and sweatpants. The wind blew from behind her and I smelled her sweet almost floral scent. It was intoxicating. I almost forgot even why I was here.

"Hey, Luke," she smiled and stepped aside for me to walk in.

I walked in with our drinks in hand and looked around the room. It was exactly how I remembered it with its navy blue and coral pink sailor theme.

"Is one of the drinks for me?" she cocked her head and smiled almost as if she were joking.

"Actually yes," I said and set the drinks down on her small countertop. The room was pretty much an exact replica of my own, except that it was decorated differently, but all of the necessities were the same.

"Really?" she said with wide eyes. "Thanks," she smiled and took one of the drinks and sipped it. "Now this is a good raspberry mocha," she said happily.

"Good. I thought that it would help us study for our exam," I said and walked into the small living room area.

Textbooks from our theatre appreciation class were scattered on the coffee table, along with notebooks, pens, and index cards. She was extremely prepared for our study session, but I expected nothing less from her. She was Chloe Claire after all.

"Now I have to warn you," I said as I took my drink and sat down on the couch. "I'm not very good at this whole theatre appreciation thing. That and it's extremely hard for me to pay attention in that class."

"Does it really bore you that much?" she laughed as she sat in the arm chair, which was only a foot away from the couch.

Well you're kind of distracting in there, I thought to myself but instead simply said, "Yeah."

"When is Jessica coming over?" she asked as she took her coffee's straw in her mouth and took in a deep drink.

"She said she would be on time," I shrugged.

"Well it's already one," Chloe said and got up from her arm chair and headed to what I presumed was her room. "Might as well play a game while we wait."

A game?

She came back from her room with a pack of Uno cards in her hand, and a mischievous grin on her face.

"You wanna play, Uno?" I asked, amused. "I haven't played that game in years."

She nodded, cleared off a spot for us to play on the coffee table and sat down in the floor. "Then clearly you've had no fun in the past few years," she stated with humor in her eyes.

I grinned and sat down in the floor with her, unknowingly sitting close to her.

"Listen Luke, you've got to scoot away from me. I don't want to play with you sitting so close to me. You're extremely tall and can easily look over at my cards. Cheater," she squinted her eyes at me as she started to shuffle the cards.

I laughed and scooted away from her until I couldn't see what cards she could potentially have. I would be embarrassed that I sat so close to her, but it wasn't like she knew why. She just thought I wanted to cheat off of her.

She dealt the cards out after shuffling and we began to play the game. I forgot how fun this game was. It was entertaining to skip her, make her draw two, and especially to make her draw four. We played four games of Uno, and I won every single time.

"Luke are you cheating," Chloe said, giving me a look of disdain. It didn't sound like a question, it sounded more like a statement.

I laughed. "I swear I'm not cheating. You just keep giving me all of the good cards."

"Well I'm not trying to!" she complained with a small smile.

We continued to play the game, goofing off with one another and laughing at each time I skipped her, made her draw two, and made her draw four. We laughed so hard that Chloe reeled forward and rested her head on the coffee table, crying out that she was about to pee herself.

"What are you guys doing?" I heard someone ask.

I looked up smiling to see Hailee standing near us with her hands on her hips. I didn't even hear the dorm room door open.

"Playing Uno," Chloe wiped her eyes and coughed.

"I thought you guys were supposed to be studying," Hailee cocked her eyebrow at Chloe and folded her arms.

"Oh right," Chloe nodded and cleared her throat. "I almost forgot about that." She then looked at me. "Where is Jessica at?"

I looked down at my phone to see a text from her.

Jess: Hey, I'm sorry but I won't be able to make it. My family showed up unexpectedly and wanted to hang out. Sorry Luke.

I checked to see when it was sent, which was five after one. Chloe and I spent twenty minutes playing Uno without acknowledging the fact that Jessica wasn't even there.

"You guys were extremely loud. I could hear you guys laughing in the hallway as I was walking over here," Hailee said and pushed up her glasses.

"Sorry about that," I said and looked over at Chloe. "Jess texted me fifteen minutes ago to say that she wasn't able to make it due to her family unexpectedly visiting."

"Oh," Chloe said softly. "I wish my family would do that."

"Same," I nodded. I even wished that my sisters, Ruth and Rachel, would come visit. I hadn't heard from them in several weeks, and when I did, it was because we texted for five minutes to catch up on each other's lives.

"Well I guess we should get started studying then," Chloe said and gathered up her Uno cards and tucked them neatly in its box.

"I guess so," I agreed. For a moment we both looked each other in the eyes and I could see that she didn't want it to end just like I did. I cocked my head slightly and smiled warmly. I saw a hint of pink in her cheeks and then she looked away.

Did I just witness Chloe Claire blushing? And…was it at me?