Virgin Playbook: Phoebe's First: College Football Sports Romance (6 page)

T
hirty-nine
, that was the number of texts that Adam left me since I drove away from his frat house. Each and every one of them was apologetic. However, I still didn’t feel like responding. He didn’t deserve it.

My phone buzzed again. It was him.

I ignored it but didn’t have the heart to delete it. Deep down, I hoped that maybe we would work it out.

There was another buzz.

He was right. Even though I ignored the text again, he was right.

In fact, I would have to see him in the lab the very next day. I was
not
looking forward to it.

D
r. Strickland handed
out the rubrics for our tests at the end of class. Of course, I failed, just as I expected. She even made a note about my departure in the middle of the exam in bright red ink. I turned over my paper so nobody could see.

Adam walked into the lab, only moments before class was about to be let out. It was typical of him to be late. He handed Strickland a note and sat down beside me. His face was tired and full of regret. For some reason, it was not enough to make me forgive him.

“Hey,” he whispered as he sat down beside me. “You look gorgeous today.”

I rolled my eyes. If that was his attempt at an apology, it was the poorest I had ever heard.

“Still not talking to me, eh?” he asked with sadness laced in his words.

I didn’t even respond.

The two frat brothers that I recognized at the house walked in, laughing together at whatever inside joke they were sharing. As soon as they laid eyes on me, they started laughing even harder. I frowned.

“How’s it feel to have to be partners with your stalker, Adam?” one of them jested. “I can’t believe she
actually
came to the house.”

The other boy chuckled. “That was so creepy. Adam, dude, you should tell Strickland you wanna switch.”

Adam turned around and clenched his jaw.

“Shut up!” he hissed. “She’s not a stalker. She’s—she’s nice. Okay?”

The two boys gave each other confused glances and walked away.

Once they were out of earshot, Adam turned to me with an apologetic expression. “Look, I’m sorry—”

“Save it,” I cut him off. “Glad you told them I
stalk
you. Real nice, Adam.
Real
nice
.”

“Phoebe, I didn’t—”

I raised a palm to stop him. “Don’t talk to me. Seriously.”

The clock struck ten, and I started to gather my things.

“But I—”

“Whatever you have to say, you can say it in front of Strickland while we’re doing the project. That’s the only time we speak from now on. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m headed to the library to study until close. Midterms are next week, and I can’t fail them.”

I walked out of the classroom, yet he followed me.

“But Phoebe—”

I turned on my heel and gave him a dark glare. “I’m serious, Adam. If you really are so nervous about me stalking you, maybe you should listen to your brother and tell Strickland you want to swap partners. As a matter of fact, I’m voting for a switch myself. Maybe if we go to her together, we can be rid of each other for good.”

“Phoebe, you don’t mean that—”

“I do, Adam. I never should have slept with you. It was dumb and it will
never
happen again.”

I started walking away hating him for starting an argument right before I was about to study. It was going to be impossible to focus now, and it would be all because of him.

“Never?” he asked.

I didn’t even turn around to look at him. The pain was not worth it.

“Never,” I yelled back.

S
ince it was so late
, I expected the library to be empty. However, I was proven wrong. It was packed full of all different walks of life, from spectacled academics to sorority girls to neon-haired Goth kids. Apparently, everyone was equal around midterms.

I shuffled inside, hoping to find an isolated spot to study. Adam had my mind boggled, but I was
not
going to fail my midterms because of him. If I failed, he would win. If I failed, I would have let him get to me.

As I looked around, I realized that my seating options were very limited. There were only two empty seats in the whole library, and both of them were at very unfriendly tables.

The first one, I knew I really didn’t want. The reason I really didn’t want it, was Ariana. She was sitting right next to the empty chair, not studying, with a group of her sorority sisters. Hoping not to be spotted, I looked away towards the second option. It was located at a table far away from Ariana’s, which was a huge bonus.

Without thinking too hard about who was seated there, I walked towards it. To my dismay, the table was full of fraternity boys and sorority girls. None of them looked very inviting.

“May I sit here?” I asked, gesturing to the chair.

The group looked up at me, and a few of them started snickering.

“As long as you aren’t stalking me,” a redheaded girl said.

Everyone started to laugh. I rolled my eyes.

“Ha, ha,” I muttered sarcastically. “Seriously, though, can I sit here? I’d go somewhere else but everywhere is taken.”

“Yeah, whatever,” the girl said, waving me to sit down. “Do you care, Claire?”

A blonde girl shrugged.

“Don’t say any real names around her,” one of the boys chuckled as I sat down. “She might track us down!”

My cheeks reddened, but I knew it was best if I just got to work. Ignoring them was the only way that they would stop.

I stretched my neck and opened my book. I was determined to make some good flashcards so my father could test me at home. It was one of my favorite ways to study, and I even enjoyed writing out all of the definitions. Somehow, it was relaxing.

Unfortunately, my geeky method of therapy was not working. I could not stop thinking about Adam and being surrounded by his friends was not helping. Two of the girls kept whispering amongst themselves and pointing. They weren’t even
trying
to hide the fact that they were making fun of me.

“Excuse me?” I snapped, hoping that if ignoring them didn’t work, intimidation would. “Can I help you?”

The girls giggled.

“Yeah, I was wondering if you offered lessons in stalking?” Claire, the blonde, teased. “I really like the center of the basketball team, and I heard you were kind of like a professional stalker so maybe you could help me.”

I rolled my eyes and turned my attention back to my books. “I don’t have time for this,” I mumbled.

“Aw, you’re no fun,” the redhead whined. “Hey, a seat with the weird kids over there just opened up. Maybe you should sit there.”

I turned around to see that a pink-haired girl was leaving.

“You can’t be serious,” I grumbled.

“Oh, she’s serious,” Claire said. “We only let you sit here so we could tell you how gross we think it is that you stalked Adam McMasters. Like, people get
expelled
for that kind of thing.”

The redhead’s eyes widened. “We should start a petition!” she squealed. “Maybe
then
she’ll get in trouble.”

Claire seemed to love the idea. I groaned and began to collect my things.

“Okay, okay. I get it.”
That you’re as stupid as doors,
I added inside my head. “I’ll probably be better off with the Goth kids anyways.”

“No, you
don’t
get it. We don’t think you should even be allowed at this school,” the redhead spat.

“Yeah, it’s
totally
a double standard. If the roles were reversed and
he
was stalking
you
—”

“For God’s sake, I didn’t stalk Adam!” I asserted, apparently, way too loud. Several people shot me a dirty look and others started laughing.

“Yeah, that’s the way to prove it.”

I wanted to give them the middle finger and a piece of my mind, but I honestly didn’t have the guts to do it. Instead, I hurried to the Goth table in a humph. As soon as I got there, there was a backpack in the empty seat. A lanky boy with a Mohawk shook his head.

“Taken.”

“No, it’s not,” I argued. “I just watched the girl leave.”

He gave me a stern look. “
Taken.
”

With the entire student body against me, I had no choice but to study in between the bookshelves. I found a place in the corner and sunk to the floor, sprawling my books out in front of me and swallowing back my tears.

I had never been accused of such a bizarre act, especially not towards someone I actually cared about. Nevertheless, I had to pass my midterms and couldn’t allow this stupid thing to mess me up. I took a deep breath and focused on what was important. I had to get my priorities in order.

Just as I started to make my flashcards, a tiny paper airplane flew in front of my face. I furrowed my brow and unfolded it.

Confused, I looked up and gasped.

Adam stood a few feet away from me with a fistful of flowers from the garden by Morton Hall. Everyone was staring as he offered the chrysanthemums up to the girl between the bookshelves—the girl who was his supposed stalker.

I got to my feet and forcefully took the flowers.

“You owe me more than an apology and a handful of flowers,” I said. “You made people think I’m
stalking
you.”

He closed his eyes. “I didn’t mean for it to ever go that far,” he explained. “One of my brothers said it and it spread like wildfire. Jake and I both told them to stop, but they were drunk, and it got out of hand.”

“It wasn’t you?” I murmured.

H
e shook his head
.

“Of
course
not. I’d never!” Without breaking eye contact with me, he took a step in my direction and took my hand in his. “And when I said those things to my dad, I didn’t mean them. What we had—what I hope we can still have—it means a lot to me. More than I think you understand.”

The honesty in his face and voice was overwhelming. I wanted to cry and hug him and yell at him and kiss him, but I just stood there as he continued to speak.

“If I could take it all back, I would. But I can’t. I can only say I’m sorry and hope you’ll forgive me.”

I thought about it. Everyone in the library was staring in awe. Ariana was sinking in her seat as her friends pointed at Adam and me.

“Well, you’re going to have to do
a lot
of making up to me,” I said.

“I’ll do anything you want,” he whispered. “Phoebe, I love you.”

I blushed and gave him a shy smile. With a fluttering heart, I said, “I love you too, Adam.”

He grinned and pressed his lips against mine in a passionate kiss. Gasps were heard all around the library, and I was sure I was going to hear about it later. None of that mattered, though. At that moment, as he kissed me with every drop of emotion his body could contain, it was almost as if Adam and I were the only two in the room.

“We’re going to ace that project now that you don’t have my emotions all screwed up!” I joked as our lips parted.

He pressed his lips to mine again. “I
never
meant to hurt you.”

“Just don’t let it happen again,” I murmured. “I don’t want to go through that ever again.”

He nodded and leaned his forehead against mine. I took a deep breath, filling my nostrils with the delicious scent of the man I loved.

“From now on, no more secrets—not even from my dad or my frat brothers.”

“Promise?”

“I promise.” He smiled at me and yelled for the whole library to hear. “I love you, Phoebe!”

People around us chuckled and the librarian shushed him, but none of that put a damper on the overwhelming happiness I felt. After the heartbreak I had just gone through and the doubts that had plagued me since we first got together, I couldn’t imagine a better gesture. Yes, it was awkward and very public, but it was also sweet and utterly perfect.

Adam kissed me once more, and when our lips parted, he whispered it again. “I love you.”

It was the fourth time he said it. Loud or low, public or private, I knew those words would never get old, and I would feel them more and more every time we said it.