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Chapter 5: Sawyer

I leave Bryn alone so she can unpack and go back outside to grab my stuff. Since I wanted to surprise her I had to store my stuff on the side of the house, and pray no one thought it was free stuff and steal it. College students have tight budgets and will take anything that looks remotely free. I only brought two suitcases with me because I wanted to start over here. Everything I accumulated at my old school had too many reminders of my screw ups. I brought the basics and plan to buy everything else I need later. As I’m heading back into the house, I spot someone at the door. Bryn is talking to a guy who has a white bag in his hand.

“What are you studying?” The guy asks her.

She smiles brightly at him. “Athletic Medicine.”

“Is your boyfriend an athlete?” The guy asks.

He’s fishing to find out if she’s single and my beautiful best friend is oblivious. Has she dated at all?

“I don’t have a boyfriend, but my best friend was a hockey player growing up. I was kind of his traveling nurse.” She says with a shy laugh.

The guy laughs too, and Bryn’s cheeks turn pink. She’s into this guy? I look him over and can’t find anything remarkable about him. He’s not ugly but he’s forgettable. Is that the sort of guys she’s into?

“That’s cool. Are you vegan or just trying it out?” He asks next.

I roll my eyes at his lame attempt at having a conversation with a girl.

“Actually, no I’ve been vegan my whole life.” Bryn says.

“Wow! You had a love for animals at an early age then.”

“No.” Bryn’s eyes go wide. “I mean yes of course but it wasn’t the main reason. I have a condition called Alpha-gal Syndrome. It’s a food allergy to meat and their products.”

“Wow! I’ve never heard of that before. I’ll have to look it up later and read on it so next time I am better informed about you.”

Smooth bro…

Bryn tucks a strand of curly hair behind her ear but it doesn’t stay long. “Next time?”

“Well after meeting you I don’t think I could go long without talking to you again.” The guy is all smiles and standing confidently like he knows this is going to work out good for him.

It’s probably not the first time he’s hit on customers before, but like hell is he going to make a move on Bryn.

“Hey babe! Oh, the food’s here?” I call out and start walking toward the pair of them.

Bryn looks at me with a panicked and confused expression. I walk past the guy and put my arm around Bryn.

“What’s up man?” I give the guy a quick nod in greeting, but he doesn’t return my very kind greeting.

“I thought you said you didn’t have a boyfriend.” The guy says to Bryn.

“I do-“

“She’s just shy about talking about it with strangers who hit on her.” I give the guy a pointed look, but he looks to her as if he’s expecting her to speak up.

She won’t. Bryn doesn’t thrive in awkward situations and usually clams up.

“Right. Well enjoy the food. See you around Bryn.” The guy says and gives me a once over before he turns and heads down the sidewalk to his car.

Once he drives off Bryn shrugs my arm off and glares at me. “What the heck was that about? Why did you do that?”

“He was playing you. How many girls do you think he’s tried this on? Do you want to be another naive girl who falls for his bullshit? Come on Bryn you have to be smarter than that.”

She scoffs and swirls around to walk inside. I follow closing and locking the door behind me.

“Bryn…” I’ve upset her again, but I won’t apologize for saving her from a guy like that.

“You had no right to step into my conversation Sawyer! I’m all grown up and can handle myself.” She says as she violently pulls the bag open and starts to take the containers of food out.

“Have you ever had a boyfriend? Dated at all?” I ask her.

She snaps her head in my direction and narrows her eyes at me. “Why does that matter?”

“Well, you seemed to be liking what he was putting out there even though it was one of the worst attempts I’ve seen of a guy trying to get a girl’s number.”

“I’m sure you have plenty of things you could teach him, but I don’t see what any of that has to do with you.” She grabs her food and storms over to drop down on the couch.

I follow with my own food and watch her pick up the remote and angrily flip through the channels.

“B…”

“Let it go Sawyer. I don’t need your help with dating or guys or anything. Just stay out of it!”

And hiccup…

She grumbles angrily at herself until she gets the top off of her food and shoves a big bite into her mouth. I watch her and she closes her eyes before letting out a moan.

“Oh my gosh this is so good!” She says before taking another bite.

And then she moans again…

I can’t seem to look away from her now. The way she closes her eyes and savors each bite with a small moan is…a shock to my system. I’ve never heard a noise like that come from her before and I’m not sure what to think about it.

“Sawyer? What’s wrong? Do I have something on my face?” she asks whipping at the corners of her lips.

My eyes follow the movement and I miss her questions.

“Sawyer! What the heck? Is there something on my face or not?” She growls in annoyance and rushes to the bathroom to check.

I can’t seem to hear what she’s saying. My eyes are fixed on her mouth and replaying the small moans she was making a second ago. I’ve never heard a sound like that from her and it’s throwing me off. Before I can get myself together, she rushes off to the bathroom. Once she’s gone, I’m pulled away from that weird trance she had me under and I run a hand through my hair.

What was that?

I won’t lie and say I never had a crush on Bryn. When she first started sitting with me at lunch I liked her a lot, but as we got older, I wasn’t sure what to think about us. We were friends and that seemed to be that. Neither of us ever confessed to liking each other so I figured we would never be more than friends. When I started hanging out with my new friends from the hockey team there were girls all over us. I allowed myself to enjoy the attention but once in a while I would see Bryn walking in the hall, and I would wonder.

Then some girl would catch my attention again and I would push Bryn out of my mind. After a while I didn’t think of her in any way other way than an old friend.

This Bryn is completely new to me. She’s beautiful and…fuck. Maybe I was triggered because I haven’t gotten laid in a while. After my injury I didn’t want anyone around me like that, and the girls who tried would baby me and I hated it. I didn’t want to be coddled or cared for, I wanted to play hockey.

That has to be why those small sounds from Bryn were a shock to me. A beautiful woman moaning…understandable. Tomorrow I’ll try and find someone to get all this pent-up energy out with. New school, new girls to sleep with. Shit I sound like a douchebag.

A knock at the door startles me and I nearly drop my food on the ground.

“Sawyer? You forgot your drink.” Bryn says from the other side of the door.

“Oh yeah just leave it next to the door…I’m changing.” I lie.

“Right, I’ll just leave it here then.”

I wait until I hear her go down the stairs before opening the door and grabbing my drink. I can’t look at her right now, not with my mind in some unfriendly places. We have only just seen each other again and I’m being a fucking perv. I need to get my shit together or I’ll ruin things between us for good.

Right…

I drop my food down on my desk and open my laptop to the school’s social sight. There has to be a party going on tomorrow. A few clicks and I see an invitation tp a frat party celebrating the new season for the football team. Perfect. There will be a lot of booze and plenty of girls to get to know. My teammates should be there too so I can feel them out as well.

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