One Cheer to Win

by Hart, Romi

  “Cool. Be right back.” I was in a hurry to get down there to talk to the new girl.

  “Do you want me to go with you?” Neil asked, motioning to stand up.

  “No. I got it.” I pushed him back down.

  Neil’s eyes narrowed. “What are you up to? You hate fetching stuff for people.” His eyes followed mine, as I watched the new girl get in line at the concession stand.

  “Oh. I should have known this was about a girl.” He clapped me on the back. “Get me a hot dog, too. Good luck. Hope you get her attention this time.”

  Brushing his hand off my shoulder, I flexed my arms. “These guns will get her attention.”

  Neil laughed. "Maybe. Let's hope she isn't into personalities." His voice dropped an octave into a sing-song tune. "Spoiler alert: You don't have one."

  Playfully, I punched Neil in the shoulder. Neil and I both played on the baseball team. He was an amazingly great shortstop and friend, despite his constant teasing.

  I pointed at my face. “At least, I have this pretty face.”

  Neil chuckled and jokingly looked into my eyes lovingly. “Yes. You are nothing without that face.”

  At the concession stands, the lines were painstakingly long. I decided to skip actually trying to get any food and just go up to the new girl and introduce myself. I squeezed through the crowd to get to where she stood.

  She and the other cheerleader had their heads together, laughing and talking about something. The other cheerleader wasn’t someone I recognized. She must have been a freshman, too. I stood next to them without either of them noticing I was there.

  A big burly dude with a full white beard standing behind the girls eyed me cautiously.

  I shook my head. “No. I’m not cutting in line.”

  His face relaxed momentarily before crossing his arms and narrowing his eyes again, as if to ask, ‘Then what are you doing here?’

  I pointed at the girls who still hadn’t noticed I was standing next to them. “I’m with them.” The big dude cleared his throat, obviously not believing me. I tapped my finger on the new girl’s shoulder.

  She looked up at me, surprised. “Yes?”

  “Oh. I was just explaining to this gentleman that I was with you.” I gave her a big smile.

  Confusion clouded her face. “I’m sorry?” She looked at the big dude who shook his head and shrugged. She looked over at me again. “I’m not sure what’s going on.”

  Quickly, I extended my hand as the line lulled forward. “I’m Ryan Romero.”

  The new cheerleader took it as she stepped forward. “Kassie Fairchild.” She indicated to the girl standing next to her. “This is Naomi Davis.”

  I shook Naomi’s hand. “Nice to meet you.” Naomi had curly brown hair and an amused look on her face.

  During our introductions, the big dude seemed satisfied that I wasn’t just arbitrarily jumping into line. He busied himself with his phone.

  Unexpectedly, awkward silence heaved itself into the moment. The line moved again, and we inched forward. We were almost at the window. I had to make my move. “Are you doing anything after the game?” I asked with a casual air.

  Kassie looked over to Naomi. “We’re meeting up with some friends.”

  “Cool. Cool.” That threw me for a loop. Most girls said they weren’t doing anything whenever I asked.

  Kassie and Naomi exchanged looks. It was getting more and more awkward by the second. It was not going as smoothly as I had hoped.

  At that point, the big dude behind us kept looking up from his iPhone screen to watch my debacle. I was drowning with this girl, with an audience to witness the tragedy.

  I’d asked dozens of girls out with no problem. What was my problem with this girl?

  I stammered on, “Ok. Well, if you change your mind, we could grab something to eat or…”

  Kassie’s face softened into a grimace. “I’m sorry, Ryan, but I’d like to hang out with my friends tonight. Thanks for asking.”

  With that, it was their turn in line. They stepped up to the window, leaving me back in line with the big burly dude.

  He lifted his eyebrows at me and immediately went back to his phone. I was humiliated, even this dude felt sorry for me.

  I stepped up to the window when the girls retrieved their food: fries and drinks. “Can I help?” I asked.

  Kassie waved me off with a smile. “No, that’s okay. We’ve got it. Thank you.”

  She looked down at my empty hands. “Are you getting anything?”

  I stammered. “No. I’m not hungry.”

  Kassie laughed. “You came down to the concession stands but not to order any food?”

  I shrugged my shoulders. “I needed to stretch my legs.”

  She nodded with a sweet smile. “Okay. Well, see you around.”

  I watched as she walked away, dumbfounded.

  Crash and burn.

  I was going to have to pull out all the stops to get this girl interested in me. Kassie was my new challenge. My usually suave style seemed to vanish when I was with her. I couldn’t let that happen again. It was time to pull out all the stops.

  Chapter 3

  Kassie

  Still riding on the high of cheering at my first ever football game, I agreed to meet some of the girls on the squad at an all-night café, ‘The Night Owl.’ I really needed to study, but I wanted to celebrate a little with my friends.

  It was a day I would always remember. Back at the dorms, I took my cheerleading uniform off almost reluctantly. I ran my hands across the stitched letters, ‘LSU.’ It was a true honor to wear it and cheer for Louisiana State University.

  In the shower, I hummed the song, ‘Eye of the Tiger,’ a song we cheered on a third down. The cheesy song always put me in a great mood.

  “It’s the eye of the tiger. It’s the thrill of the fight,” I laughed at myself as I crooned.

  I got ready quickly, in my bouncy mood, while listening to Taylor Swift. I put on a light pink tunic to wear with my dark grey leggings and black knee-high boots. Pink was my absolute favorite color.

  Every time I wore pink, I liked how it made my blue eyes take on a softer shade. I decided against wearing a pink bow in my hair, instead opting for a natural hair down tousled look. My blonde hair had slight waves to it. I loved how it looked down across my shoulders, but I was always on the go and relied on a quick and easy ponytail for my daily look.

  For a finishing touch, I put on my Bubble Gum Pink lip gloss. I wasn’t much of a makeup girl, only for special occasions. Lip gloss was the only makeup I wore daily. Admittedly, I had fifteen different shades of pink lip gloss. I didn’t care what anyone said, but they are all very different colors to me. I needed every one of them.

  When I got there, ‘The Night Owl’ was not yet packed, but quickly getting there. The café offered coffee, wine, and beer, but I had never been much of a drinker. Besides, I had Chemistry I still needed to study for. There was no use in getting hungover and wasting the entire day tomorrow.

  Peering through the glass of the bakery display, I weighed my options between a beignet or a macaroon. Both desserts were to die for here. The beignets looked crisp and were covered in powdered sugar while the macaroons looked scrumptious in their bright hues of pink, greens, and lavenders.

  Such a sucker for pink, I ordered three white chocolate raspberry macaroons and a cinnamon latte. Naomi and a junior cheerleader, Gloria, were seated at a table near a front window.

  I made my way to them, smiling and feeling so excited to be having the college life I had always dreamed of: going to late night cafes and drinking lattes.

  I took a seat at the table. “Where is everyone else?”

  Gloria, who was perusing through her phone, put it down on the table. She flipped her long brown hair back off her shoulder. “Mostly everyone on the squad who has a boyfriend, is with her boyfriend.” She smiled, lifting up her mug. “But, who needs boys, right?”

  We all clinked mugs, laughing. Gloria had
a boyfriend, Dean, but he graduated from LSU last year. He was in medical school in San Diego. They were trying to make their long distance relationship work, but I could tell Gloria was having a difficult time adjusting to being alone.

  “How’s Dean?” I asked.

  “He’s okay. Studying. We skyped earlier.” She exhaled slowly. “I miss him.”

  I reached for her hand and squeezed. “I know you do. I’m sorry.”

  Naomi gave her a pat on the shoulder. “Long distance relationships blow.”

  Naomi had been going out with her boyfriend, Steve, since sophomore year of high school. Naomi had always wanted to go to LSU, but Steve got a full ride to the University of Texas in Austin. They struggled with their long distance relationship also.

  In fact, I was the only girl on the squad who wasn’t attached in any kind of relationship. The only boyfriend I ever had was in my junior year of high school. I really liked Frankie, but there wasn’t any time for a boyfriend with my schedule.

  In high school, I knew that if I wanted to up my game for a cheerleading scholarship, I would need to improve my gymnastic skills. Gymnastic lessons weren’t cheap, but I picked up tutoring after school and the weekends to pay for my lessons. There was no way I was going to let my parents foot the bill.

  On top of all of that, by my junior year, I was in all honors classes. The workload was intense, and I was determined to get good grades.

  Frankie and I met in ECO Club. There wasn’t an environmental club at my high school so I started ECO Club, which stood for: Education, Community, and Outreach. My idea was to take one of the tons of empty lots around New Orleans and turn it into an urban farm.

  I contacted NOFFN, the New Orleans Food and Farm Network. They helped me get ECO Club’s urban farm space started. The food we grew was directly donated to homeless shelters.

  Frankie was a great guy and offered a ton of help in getting ECO Club off the ground, but with my cheerleading, gymnastics, tutoring, and classes, all the time we had together was only when I was working on the farm. It wasn’t much of a relationship since I was constantly preoccupied.

  Nonetheless, Frankie had given me my very first kiss. In our garden, as a matter of fact. After a full day of planting tomatillos, zucchini, and squash, Frankie kissed me on the lips. I had dirt on my face, no doubt, but it was a sweet kiss.

  It was the only kiss I’d ever had.

  Frankie and I became great friends despite things not working out between us. Senior year, he started dating, a girl, Molly, who wasn’t as busy as I was. Last I heard, they went to Tulane together, which was wonderful news.

  Guys had never been much of a priority for me. In high school, I had been so focused on being able to get into and afford college to get an environmental engineering degree. Now that I was in college, I still felt like there just wasn’t enough time for guys.

  While we sat chatting, Ryan from the game earlier, arrived. He didn’t have on his LSU hat, revealing his dark brown hair that made his green emerald eyes pop. He was so gorgeous.

  Too gorgeous.

  Our table was in the front of the café so I knew Ryan saw me right when he walked in. I even caught him looking over at me, but he never came over to talk to us.

  In the concession stand line, Ryan was pretty awkward. It surprised me that all of sudden he was right there next to me. What was weirder was that he asked me what I was doing after the game, and then spazzed out when I said I was hanging out with friends.

  Did he think I wouldn’t already have plans that night?

  I expected he would ask for my number or something, like most guys would, to ask me out again in the future, but he didn’t. He didn’t ask for my number or Snapchat name at all. With a weird feeling, I walked away from him, wondering what had just happened.

  It seemed to me that he came down there to specifically ask me out, but he hadn’t actually asked me out. Not properly, in any case. If I was going to go out on a date, I’d like for a guy to treat it as something he had thought about and planned for. Ryan asked me out in an offhand kind of way, like a second thought. It was disappointing.

  Naomi whispered, motioning with her eyes to where Ryan sat with some of his friends. “That guy is here.”

  I nodded, suddenly embarrassed. “Ya. He’s here.”

  “He was kind of weird.” Naomi said sipping her cocoa. She looked over to him and said, “He’s cute, but maybe a weirdo? He just like came up to us without really saying anything for the longest time.”

  Gloria looked over at Ryan. “Oh, you mean, Ryan Romero? Ohmigod! Stay away from him, girls. He is such a player.” She rolled her eyes, crossing her arms. “Don’t let him fool you with his charm and his good looks. He’s a complete ass.”

  Glancing over at him, I saw him high fiving another guy and laughing. There were two pretty girls sitting in their group, who were looking at him in awe, but Ryan wasn’t giving them much notice.

  Was Ryan as bad a player as everyone said he was? Noted, he was completely ignoring those two beautiful girls.

  Actually, Ryan was ignoring me too. He hadn't come over to say hi. Plus, earlier today at the concession stands, he only seemed to be asking me out in a half-ass sort of way.

  And then, when I said I was busy, it seemed to take the wind out of his sails, but I wasn’t sure why. Maybe he wasn’t used to girls saying no to him. If he couldn’t handle a little rejection and keep trying to gain my affection, then he wasn’t the guy for me.

  “Helena said the same thing about him,” I said to Gloria. “A total player.”

  Gloria nodded emphatically. “Helena would know. She knows everybody.”

  Two warnings about this guy in twenty-four hours? It was a definite sign to steer clear of him.

  But, what kept making me want to sneak glances at him?

  Why did he intrigue me so much?

  Ugh. I pushed away my thoughts and forced myself to focus on hanging out with Gloria and Naomi for the rest of the night. Ryan was gorgeous but dangerous. I had to keep telling myself that.

  Chapter 4

  Ryan

  It was getting ridiculous. It had been weeks since the first game of the season, that awful night where I’d made myself look like a bumbling fool. I still couldn’t shake Kassie from my mind.

  It was next to impossible because I went to all the home football games. Of course, she was there smiling with her sexy mouth and gyrating her full hips. Watching her blonde ponytail flip around made me crazy, imagining that hair whipping around in bed.

  Ever since the first game, she barely ever looked at me in the stands. It didn’t matter how close I sat either. Sitting up front and center seemed to force her to do everything she could to not make eye contact with me.

  For the home game last week, I convinced Neil and Trent to show up to the game shirtless and painted purple. Neil had a yellow “L” painted on his torso. Trent was “U.” Bringing in the middle of our spectacle, I was “S.”

  We looked awesome! I would have bet money that seeing my purple pecs and washboard stomach would grab her attention, but our eyes didn’t connect even once during that game. Not once.

  What did I have to do to get this girl to even acknowledge me? What was her deal?

  She was irritating, but I’d found a new hobby in her, seizing her heart. Since high school, girls were a dime a dozen. In fact, Kassie was the first girl who ever flat out shot me down.

  Realizing I’d had a pretty chill dating existence since high school, I questioned whether I needed to challenge myself more. Who knew what dating was like outside of college? Why not try something new? Why not go for the girl who was playing hard to get?

  But I knew it was all for show. Kassie wanted me. I could feel it. That night at the café after the game, I noticed that ignoring her made her nuts. I was almost stupid enough to go up to her table, but I thought better of it.

  It worked though. Boy, did it work! I caught her looking at me more than once. No doubt, it ate her up that I wasn�
��t killing myself to go over there and talk to her. It was obvious she was interested in me. Anyone could see she was fighting it.

  Normally, a girl, even a girl as beautiful and sexy as Kassie, wouldn’t cross my mind twice, but because she was adamantly refusing me, I couldn’t let it go. During a long run, I brainstormed ideas on how to get to her.

  After six miles of listening to Kendrick Lamar songs and hyping myself up, I came up with a plan. I was going to be around her as much as possible but give her a taste of her own medicine: ignore her completely.

  It wasn’t as easy as it sounded, but good thing I had the guys on the baseball team to help out with reconnaissance. Later that week, Neil, Trent, and Jordan reported their findings to me before practice in the locker room.

  Neil looped his arm around my head, pulling me down into a hold. “Before I tell you anything, can I just say, this is so unlike you.”

  Trent chimed in, “Ryan, are you getting soft on us?” He hit the top of my head.

  In a sing-songy voice, Jordan said, “Ryan likes a girl! Ryan likes a girl!”

  I wriggled out of Neil’s headlock. “Shut up. You guys are stupid. Tell me what you got.”

  I took their ribbing in stride. Spending so much time to bag a girl was completely outside my character, but a challenge was a good thing. What better way than to sharpen my player skills for the real dating world outside of school. This girl was a challenge and although she was a little extra work, I was man enough to step up to the plate.

  Jordan pulled on his elbow, giving his tricep a stretch. “I found out she lives in Annie Boyd Hall."

  I nodded at this no-brainer. She was a freshman. Of course, she lived in the dorms. How adorable.

  “Who’s her roommate?” I asked changing out of my jeans.

  Trent piped in. “Her roommate is a gorgeous girl named Natalie Wright. Volleyball player. Beautiful dark chocolate skin. Long legs. A history major.”

  “Dude, I asked you to get info on Kassie, not fall in love with her roommate!” I flicked at Trent’s ear, teasing him.