Rumor Has It I'm Dating the Football Captain

Chapter 17: Chapter 17: Off the Market

The morning was absolute chaos.

Twenty massive football players were running around the wooden cabin, aggressively throwing clothes into duffel bags and yelling across the rooms.

”Where is my left shoe?!” Leo shouted from the kitchen. ”I cannot leave without my left shoe!”

”Someone stole my grey hoodie!” Jackson yelled from the top of the stairs. ”I know one of you took it!”

A sharp, piercing whistle blew through the cabin.

Coach Miller stood by the heavy front door, holding his metal clipboard. ”The bus leaves in exactly ten minutes! If you are not on it, you are walking back to campus!”

Audrey stood in the corner of the master bedroom, quietly zipping up her faded duffel bag. She liked packing. It was organized. It made sense.

She picked up a small white towel from the edge of the bed. It was the towel Mason had dropped on her head yesterday by the lake. She held it for a second, debating if she should wash it first. But she didn’t have time.

She walked downstairs and found Mason shoving his cleats into his massive black bag.

”Here,” Audrey said. She held out the white towel.

Mason looked down at it. ”My towel.”

”You seemed attached to it yesterday,” Audrey pointed out.

Mason shrugged easily. ”You looked colder.”

He took the towel, shoved it into the side pocket of his bag like it was absolutely no big deal, and slung the heavy strap over his shoulder. He didn’t say anything else. He just walked out the front door.

Audrey stood there for a second. She blinked.

That’s it? she thought. After all the weird tension yesterday, he was just back to being completely normal.

She grabbed her bag and followed the stampede of athletes outside to the massive university bus idling in the dirt driveway.

The second Audrey stepped onto the bus, the noise level doubled. Players were fighting over window seats and throwing bags into the overhead racks.

”Captain!” Leo immediately shouted from the back row. He pointed to an empty double seat near the middle. ”Sit with your girlfriend!”

A chorus of loud, obnoxious cheers echoed through the bus.

Audrey instantly backed up. ”Absolutely not. I am sitting alone.”

”Too late, Ellis,” Coach Miller said, walking up the steps right behind her. He practically pushed her forward to clear the aisle. ”Sit down. We are moving.”

Audrey groaned. She looked around. Every single other seat was taken by a giant athlete. The only open spot was the double seat Leo had pointed out.

Mason was already sitting by the window. He looked incredibly tired. He patted the empty seat next to him.

Audrey reluctantly dropped her bag and sat down. She pressed herself as close to the aisle as physically possible. She pulled out a thick stack of her communications lecture notes, determined to ignore him for the entire two-hour drive.

The bus lurched forward, rumbling down the bumpy dirt road toward the highway.

For the first four minutes, it was fine. Audrey read her notes. Mason leaned his head against the cold glass of the window.

At minute five, Mason fell completely asleep.

Like, instantly dead to the world.

His head slipped off the vibrating glass of the window.

Thunk.

His heavy head landed directly onto Audrey’s left shoulder.

Audrey completely froze. She stopped breathing. The sharp scent of mint and clean laundry instantly surrounded her. His dark hair brushed against her cheek. He was completely relaxed, his breathing slow and even.

She slowly turned her head.

”Calloway,” Audrey whispered.

Nothing.

”Mason,” she tried again, slightly louder.

He didn’t even twitch. He was out cold.

Jackson walked past them down the aisle to throw away a candy wrapper. He looked down at Mason using Audrey as a mattress. A huge, highly entertained grin spread across Jackson’s face. He didn’t say a word to help her. He just kept walking.

Audrey let out a long, quiet sigh. She tried to go back to reading her notes. It was just a shoulder. She could survive a shoulder.

Then the bus hit a massive pothole.

Mason shifted in his sleep. His large hand slid off his lap and absentmindedly caught the fabric of Audrey’s oversized green sweater sleeve. His fingers curled loosely into the material.

He still did not wake up.

Audrey looked down at his hand gripping her sleeve. She looked around the bus.

Two rows back, Leo was practically biting his own fist, trying very hard not to laugh out loud. Jackson was already leaning over the seat, whispering to another player, clearly taking bets on how long it would take before Audrey exploded.

Audrey carefully reached over with her right hand. She gently tried to pry Mason’s fingers off her sleeve so she could turn the page of her notes.

The second she touched his hand, Mason reacted on pure sleep-instinct. Thinking he was losing his balance, his large hand shifted. He sleepily, but firmly, grabbed her wrist and held it tight.

He settled back down, his forehead resting heavily against the side of her neck.

Audrey stared at her trapped wrist.

”...Are you serious?” Audrey whispered to the ceiling.

Mason just mumbled something completely unintelligible into her sweater and kept sleeping.

Audrey heard the distinct, quiet click of a phone camera from the back of the bus. She closed her eyes. She was going to kill Leo. She was absolutely going to push him into the lake next time.

Two hours later, the bus finally pulled into the main campus parking lot.

The loud hiss of the air brakes woke the team up.

Mason slowly opened his eyes. He blinked, completely disoriented for a second. He stretched his broad shoulders, joints popping loudly, and sat up straight.

”Captain,” Leo called out from the back, already walking down the aisle. ”Do you remember using Audrey as a pillow for three hours?”

Mason frowned. He looked at Leo like he was crazy. ”...What?”

Jackson laughed. He held up his phone, showing the screen.

It was a picture of Mason completely passed out, his head buried in Audrey’s neck, his massive hand wrapped firmly around her small wrist. Audrey was looking at the camera with an expression of pure, unfiltered exhaustion.

Mason stared at the photo.

He looked down at Audrey, who was currently rubbing her numb shoulder and refusing to make eye contact with him.

He looked back at the photo.

”Well,” Mason said smoothly. ”That explains why my neck doesn’t hurt.”

”I hate you,” Audrey muttered, grabbing her duffel bag and speed-walking off the bus before her face could turn completely red.

The entire football team howled with laughter behind her.

The crisp campus air felt amazing after being trapped on a stuffy bus. Audrey walked fast, keeping her head down. She just wanted to get to her apartment, lock the door, and take a very long nap.

Her phone vibrated aggressively in her jacket pocket.

Then it vibrated again. And again.

Audrey stopped walking. She pulled her phone out. She had fourteen new notifications, all from the Westbridge Anonymous Confession page.

Her stomach completely dropped.

She unlocked her screen.

Right at the top of the feed was a blurry, zoomed-in version of the exact photo Leo had just taken on the bus.

The caption was written in bold, massive letters.

Football Captain Sleeps on Girlfriend During Team Trip. Looks like Mason Calloway is officially off the market.

The comments were already exploding. People were analyzing the way he was holding her wrist. They were talking about how comfortable they looked.

Audrey spun around.

Mason was walking across the parking lot toward the athletic center, his bag slung over his shoulder.

Audrey stormed right up to him. She didn’t even say a word. She just shoved her glowing phone screen directly into his chest.

Mason stopped. He looked down at the screen. He read the caption. He looked at the photo.

He handed the phone back to her.

”That’s a terrible angle,” Mason noted casually. ”The lighting makes my nose look weird.”

Audrey stared at him in pure disbelief.

”That is your concern?!” Audrey yelled. ”The entire university thinks we are practically married because you couldn’t keep your head on your own side of the bus!”

”No,” Mason corrected quietly. The playful energy vanished. His brown eyes narrowed as he looked past her, staring toward the freshman dorms. ”My concern is Leo.”

Audrey blinked. ”What?”

”He is the only one tall enough to take that picture from that angle,” Mason stated flatly. He adjusted the strap of his bag. ”I am going to make him run laps until he throws up.”

He started walking away, completely focused on his new mission to torture his teammate.

”Calloway, you cannot just leave!” Audrey called after him.

But he just waved a hand over his shoulder and kept walking.

Audrey let out a massive sigh of frustration. She shoved her phone back into her pocket and turned around to walk toward the administration building, taking the shortcut to her apartment.

The campus was quiet. Most students were still sleeping in on a Sunday morning.

”Audrey.”

The voice made her completely freeze.

She recognized that tone. It was the polished, professional, slightly condescending voice she used to hear every single day.

Audrey slowly turned around.

Standing on the pristine concrete steps of the administration building was Logan Foster.

But he was not alone.

Standing right beside him was a tall woman in a sharp, grey business suit. She held a sleek leather folder. Audrey recognized her instantly from the department website.

It was Mrs. Higgins. The head coordinator for the sports journalism internship program.

Logan smiled. It was a perfectly crafted, victorious smile. He looked completely in his element again.

”Audrey,” Logan said smoothly, gesturing toward the coordinator. ”We need to talk.”