No Bad Days

by J. Sterling

  “Definitely not looking to get married,” I repeated. “So I’d date Nick for fun?”

  “Yes, for fun. Don’t go into it with any expectations. You know his reputation. He doesn’t tend to date anyone for very long, but nobody knows why. And when Nick does ask you out—and trust me, he will—say yes and then we’ll work on convincing you that it’s no big deal. That you’re just going out as friends and nothing more.”

  I nodded along with her crazy train of thought, my brain doing its damnedest to agree with her. “I like it. Just friends. I can do that.”

  “Of course you can,” she said, obviously more sure of me than I was.

  “Yeah. Friends don’t break friends’ hearts because you’re just a friend, and it’s just friendly feelings there,” I said, trying to convince myself.

  “Exactly,” she said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “Friends. Because a heart has no place in dates with Nick Fisher.”

  My heart pounded inside my chest.

  Shit. I was doomed before we even began.

  Flirting Master

  Nick

  Lucky for me, the class I shared with Jess met three times a week. Unfortunately, today wasn’t one of those days.

  I found myself scanning the campus while I walked through it, hoping to catch a glimpse of her. I realized that I left her sort of abruptly yesterday, but I really did have to go, and leaving people wanting more was always a good game to play.

  Hearing her say she was dating someone annoyed the crap out of me. Not that I couldn’t handle a little healthy competition, but I definitely wasn’t used to it.

  So I wasn’t ashamed that I cyberstalked the hell out of Jess once I got home, but batted zero because she had all her social media accounts set to private.

  Smart girl.

  I then made it a point to ask a few of my fraternity brothers about her, trying not to arouse too much suspicion. But when they were a little too intrigued for my liking, I backed off and pretended I only needed to find her to ask a question about class.

  Who knew what those knuckleheads would do if they thought I was into her. One of them would probably try to get to her before I could, just to say they did. And then I wouldn’t be able to date her at all, and the thought of that pissed me off.

  You see, I might have certain rules when it came to my personal life, but that didn’t mean that the rest of the guys in my fraternity followed suit. In my opinion, being a jerk to girls sometimes was one thing, but being a dick to my brothers was another thing entirely. I didn’t want to be someone the other guys didn’t trust or couldn’t put their faith in.

  All through the day, I looked around for Jess. Admittedly, I might have stayed on campus a little longer than necessary in the hope of running into her, yet I never did. But not seeing her gave me more time to come up with a game plan for the next day in class.

  A plan that flew right out the window the second I saw her.

  Jess sat down first and I moved to sit next to her again, knowing she’d be surprised. I watched as she flinched slightly, no doubt assuming that the last time had been nothing more than a fluke.

  “You again,” she said, trying not to smile.

  “It wasn’t so bad last time, was it?”

  “Depends on your definition of bad.”

  “I think you secretly like when I sit near you, Jess Michaelson,” I said, saying her full name so I could watch a blush spread over her cheeks.

  One shoulder lifted in a small shrug. “I might like it a little.”

  I leaned close, my lips almost grazing her ear as I whispered, “Go to lunch with me today.”

  She jerked away and turned to face me. “I can’t.”

  I knew she was lying. What I didn’t know was why. “Why not?”

  “I have plans,” she said, then turned away as if she was in control of the conversation.

  She wasn’t.

  “What kind of plans?”

  Her lips flattened as her gaze met mine. “Plans that are none of your business. I can’t go to lunch with you. I’m sure you’ll survive.”

  Releasing a long breath, I slumped back into my chair. “I’m not.”

  She smiled, shaking her head and focusing her attention on our professor.

  Inside, I reeled with questions. Why she was trying to stay away from me? I knew when girls were interested in me, and Jess Michaelson was definitely interested. I remembered her mentioning that she was seeing someone, and wondered what the lucky bastard was like and if I knew him.

  “Is this because of your boyfriend?”

  She leaned closer to whisper without turning to look at me. “No, why? Can’t fathom a girl actually not being interested in you?”

  I held back a laugh. “No, I can fathom that,” I said, mimicking her word choice. “But you are interested. So what I can’t fathom is why you’re pretending like you’re not.”

  “Anyone ever told you that you’re arrogant?”

  “You say that like it’s a bad thing.” I raised my eyebrows at her, trying my best to flirt as the professor cleared his throat and glared at us.

  Shit. This girl was going to get me in all kinds of trouble. I shut my mouth and decided I’d leave her alone.

  For now.

  The next time Jess walked into class, she was wearing a sweet little blue dress, and I had to tamp down the hormones that raged at the sight of her. If I didn’t know any better, I would almost think she was dressing this tempting on purpose just to wind me up.

  Fingering the poker chip in my pocket, I watched her from our regular seats, which I’d commandeered in the hope that she’d willingly come and sit next to me. She glanced around the room before drawing in a long breath that made her chest rise. Rolling her eyes at me, she headed my way. When she sat down, I resisted the urge to rest my hand on her exposed thigh, as if she were my girl and I had every right.

  Staring at the dusting of freckles across her nose, I thought how they only added to her attractiveness, and again, I had to stop one of my body parts from brushing against one of hers. I wanted to touch her, longed to know what her skin felt like under my fingertips.

  But when class ended, she practically sprinted out of her seat. No doubt trying to get away from me, but I was quicker than her escape plan.

  “Jess, wait up.”

  When she slowed her pace but didn’t stop, I hurried to catch up. “Where you headed?”

  “The student union.”

  “Me too. Maybe we could go together?”

  Jess stopped walking altogether and turned to face me, forcing the other students to dodge and weave around us as they poured out of the classroom.

  “What do you want, Nick? With me, I mean? Why this sudden interest?”

  Shit, she was direct.

  And then I knew why she’d tried so hard to stay away from me—she’d heard about my reputation and didn’t trust me.

  “Hell, I don’t know, Jess. I just wanted to get to know you better,” I said, not used to being put on the spot in that way.

  Her eyes, so blue in the sunlight, locked on mine in challenge. “Know me better? You don’t know me at all.”

  “Why do you keep stopping me then?”

  “Because.”

  “Because of your boyfriend?” I spat out the word as if it tasted bitter on my tongue.

  “He’s not my boyfriend.”

  When she stared down at her feet, I knew she was keeping something from me.

  “Did you guys break up?”

  “Something like that.” She brushed her hand over her dress, not meeting my eyes.

  Despite the fact that her tone was still off, I wanted to break out into a little dance like an idiot. This was my in, my chance. I couldn’t let her walk away so easily this time.

  “When’s your next class?” Hopefully, she had a break long enough for me to take her to lunch.

  “Not for ninety minutes.”

  She finally lifted her gaze, focusing on something behind my shoulder. I
half wondered what the hell was so interesting beyond me, but I stopped myself from turning around to look.

  “So you have time then.”

  Her head cocked slightly as her eyes finally met mine and stayed there. “Time for what?”

  “Time for us,” I said, and watched with amusement as her smile faltered for a second before returning. “Come on, spend the next ninety minutes with me.”

  I was nothing if not persistent. Jess had become a bit of a challenge, and I owed it to myself to see if that’s all she was, or if there was something more there.

  She studied me. “I’m afraid if I tell you no, you’ll just ask again.”

  “I will.”

  Her lips twitched. “Then how can I refuse?”

  “You can’t. Let’s go; we’re wasting precious minutes here.”

  As she gave me a big smile, I had to fight to hold in my own so I didn’t look like too big of a wimp. The two of us walked through the student union, each eyeing the various fast-food concessions before agreeing on the campus’s only fresh deli.

  After waving my hand, I followed behind her toward the short line. I moved to grab a tray for her, but she reached for it at the same time and our hands brushed before she pulled away. It was a small thing, our fingers touching, but it sent shots of what could be and what if throughout my already tense body.

  I handed her a tray before grabbing one for myself and sliding it across the metal countertop close to hers. A second later, I changed my mind and returned my tray to the stack.

  “We’ll just put it all on one tray, okay?” I asked Jess, who was now staring at me with a confused expression.

  Her cheeks turned pink as she looked away. “Okay.”

  The guy working the counter was short and had his longish blond hair pulled up on his head in some sort of cross between a ponytail and a bun. He brightened at Jess with a smile that seemed a little more than just normal politeness as he asked, “What can I get started for you?”

  When he leaned toward the glass that separated them, his smile not dimming in the slightest, I wanted to pick him up by the shirt collar and toss him across the room, just for the way he was looking at her.

  “I like your man bun,” Jess said with a polite smile of her own.

  Man bun? There was an actual fucking term for this dude’s hair? Man bun? Seriously? What kind of douche wears his hair in a man bun?

  “Thanks. I like your dress.” The dude winked before scanning the length of Jess’s blue sundress, noting the way it clung to the curves of her breasts and her hips.

  Furious, I cleared my throat, wanting to remind him that not only was I in the room, but I was standing right fucking next to the girl he was flirting with.

  Man Bun shot me a murderous glare. “Be with you in a minute, bro.”

  “That’s not why I was clearing my throat, and I’m not your bro,” I shot back, annoyed at his disrespectful behavior and a little confused by my violent reaction to it.

  Jess looked at me with a crooked smile and nudged my shoulder with hers before she turned back to the man-bunned douchebag. “I’ll just take a turkey Swiss on sourdough with lettuce, pickles, and mustard.”

  He made her sandwich slowly, methodically, as if he was making love to the damn thing, then had the nerve to throw in a bag of chips on the house. Man Bun was asking for a beat-down.

  Jess took her wrapped sandwich and bag of chips and set them on our shared tray.

  Man Bun made my sandwich with the hands of a man going to war, slamming the bread down hard enough to leave finger dents in it before stacking the ingredients haphazardly. I eyed him the entire time to make sure he didn’t include a side of spit. Lucky for him, he didn’t. And he didn’t toss in any free chips with my order either.

  I reached for Jess’s bare shoulder as she stood next to me, wanting to show the douchebun that I was allowed to touch her and he wasn’t. Bread Boy needed to know who was in charge.

  “Can you grab us a couple of drinks, Jess? I got this.” I reached for my wallet before she had a chance to protest.

  “It’s okay. I can pay for mine,” she insisted.

  She was adorable. I wanted to kiss her square on the lips for being so fucking cute.

  “I got this,” I repeated as she tilted her head at me, obviously weighing her options. “I want to.” I pitched my voice at its most sincere, doing my best to calm whatever storm was currently raging behind her blue eyes. “Just grab me a Pepsi, please. And whatever you want.”

  “You’re sure?” she asked one last time.

  “I’m sure.”

  She walked to the glass-front fridge as I attempted to pay for our stuff. I say attempted because I got distracted by the sight of Jess’s sundress rising up her thighs as she bent over to grab a drink from one of the lower shelves.

  “It’s ten eighty-three, please.”

  The cashier’s voice pulled my attention away from the gorgeous pair of legs for only a moment. But it was a moment too long because when I glanced back, Jess was already heading my way, two drinks in hand and a smile on her face.

  “Hey, Nick, come here.”

  A girl I’d dated briefly last year called to me as we crossed the crowded student union and I stopped, fully aware that my presence here would attract too much attention, too many questions, too many other people. It was how it had always been with me. I had information and knowledge that people wanted, so when they ran into me, they all wanted to pump me for it.

  A game of questions was sure to follow. It’s what always happened.

  What was going on this weekend? Did I had an in to the newest nightclub? Did I know the bouncer at that club in Hollywood? Were we throwing a party that weekend? It could be any number of things.

  On any other day I wouldn’t have minded nearly as much, but not today. Today I wanted to get to know Jess, to see if we had anything in common.

  My reputation preceded me, but I actually did have standards. My dating a lot of girls simply boiled down to not having found one good enough to stick around for. It wasn’t my fault. It was hard to find a decent match when you were in college and girls were looking for all the wrong things—a guy with money or a nice car, someone who had famous parents or something you could offer them. Yeah, it’s true, guys wanted all the wrong things too, like an easy lay or a pretty face. But I honestly tried to be better than that.

  “Jess, we aren’t going to get any privacy in here. Will you go somewhere else with me?” I narrowed my eyes, willing her to say yes.

  “Of course,” she responded easily.

  I nodded toward the exit and headed in that direction as she followed a step behind. Once we were through the double glass doors, I set our tray on top of a trash can and grabbed our food.

  “Come on.” I motioned, holding both of our sandwiches as she carried our drinks.

  “Where are we going?” She squinted before juggling the drinks so she could lower her sunglasses over her eyes.

  “That’s a surprise, but it’s not far.”

  Eh, it was a little far but it would be worth it, and I had a suspicion that Jess wouldn’t mind the walk. I glanced at her shoes, noting the sandals on her feet.

  “I might have lied,” I said.

  Her smile dropped. “About what exactly?”

  “The distance. It’s on the other side of campus.”

  “Where exactly are you taking me, Mr. Fisher?”

  Jess snagged her bottom lip between her teeth as she waited for my response. She might have been waiting a minute, ten minutes, or a year, I couldn’t be sure. I was so focused on that lip.

  Shaking my head slightly to regain my focus, I said, “The field.”

  “The football field?” she asked, clearly confused.

  “Yeah.”

  “Weird, but whatever.” She shrugged one shoulder and picked up her pace.

  I knew no one would be there, and even though I wasn’t on the team anymore, the field was still sort of a sanctuary for me. It was the on
e place I could hide out when I didn’t want to be found, which wasn’t very often, but still, everyone needed a safe place. The football stadium at State was mine.

  We slipped through an opening in the gates, then climbed all the way up to the last row and sat in seats beneath the press box. It was the only area in the whole place that had any sort of shade.

  Jess settled in the seat next to me, and I kicked my feet up on the chair in front of mine and scooted lower into my seat. She handed me my Pepsi and I handed her her sandwich, and her stupid chips.

  “Why the football field?” She glanced at me as she pushed her sunglasses on top of her head, trapping strands of her blond hair behind her ears.

  “It’s the one place on campus where no one bothers me,” I admitted, far too quickly and easily to someone I barely knew. “If we’d stayed in the student union, we’d never be able to have a real conversation.”

  “You used to play, right?”

  I nodded, taking a bite of my mangled sandwich. “Up until last season.”

  “Yeah, I heard something about that. You don’t want to play anymore?”

  She lifted her mile-high sandwich to her lips, making me wonder how on earth she was going to take a bite without spilling the contents down her dress. That mystery was solved when she pressed it between her fingers, making it as compact as possible before moving it to her mouth and taking the smallest bite I’d ever seen. I would have bet money she only got lettuce in that bite.

  “I’ll look away and you can just shove it in there,” I teased, not purposely avoiding her question.

  “Excuse me?” she mumbled, still chewing.

  “Asshole Man Bun made your sandwich too big. I’ll look away so you can get a good bite in.”

  She started laughing, or maybe she was choking; I couldn’t be a hundred percent sure. She reached for her water and took a swig.

  Once she had herself under control, she said, “Asshole Man Bun?”

  “Yeah, didn’t you read his name tag? That’s what it said.” I gave her a sly smile.