Broken Bonds: The Interlude of Demarcus Steel

Chapter 8: Pull Me Down (Ryan Hemsworth Remix) - Mikky Ekko

1 Month Later – Late September

It's been a little over a month since classes had officially started at Stonewell University. Demarcus and Damien had one class together but it was a lecture hall class with over 150 students. Demarcus hadn't realized Damien was a student in his class until recently, and it took Demarcus a month to figure that out. So, it'll probably take Damien another 2 before he realizes it as well and by then the semester would be concluding.

Demarcus made it a point to avoid Damien at all cost. He woke early to head to classes and came home later at night to avoid running into the man. He also kept his room door locked at all times. It was tedious but working, he had yet to run into Damien, even while on campus.

Demarcus and Kenny kept up with each other. She always invited him to parties or random school events she had to host due to being vice president of Stonewell's student body. It was easy to get along with Kenny and she was a happy distraction.

Demarcus never texted Theo. He still had his number saved and the sticky note he left the night they slept together but he could never find a good enough reason to text the caramel eyed man. Or he would get nervous and his anxiety stopped him.

Demarcus sat at one of the stone tables under the giant willow tree in the center of Stonewell and its courtyard. He was reading one of the texts his professor assigned for his ENC 1101 class. He had his laptop open as he typed his notes and annotated the text to make it easier to find information for the class's upcoming essay.

His phone buzzed next to him and he checked the new message. It was from Kenny, she was inviting Demarcus to the first soccer game of the season. It was going to be a home game and she was tagged to recite the national anthem and read Stonewell's Poem of Courage which was tradition to read during any initial Stonewell sports event.

Demarcus thought about it for a second before accepting her invite. Even though Damien was on the soccer team, this would be Stonewell's first game of the season so the chances of them even seeing each other were slim at best. After finishing up classwork Demarcus headed home to get ready for the game.

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When Demarcus made it to the soccer field it was packed with people. The university band was playing while the flag team performed before the game. Even though Demarcus came early he felt late seeing as there were almost no seats on the bleachers that surrounded half the field. When Demarcus finally found an empty seat 4 rows from the field, he cringed a little at the closeness of the field and his proximity to where the players would be sitting during the game.

The flag team left the field, everyone cheering for them as they left. The announcer got on the com and announced that Stonewell's soccer team would be coming onto the field from the left side. Everyone stood up to cheer for Stonewell as the players ran out onto the field before the core team emerged garnering an even louder response if that was possible.

Demarcus scanned the faces of the players as they came onto the field. He found Damien running onto the field, his hands up waving at those that came to support Stonewell, 13 was his jersey number. Thankfully, Damien hadn't noticed Demarcus in the sea of people.

A few more members of the core team came out and one immediately caught Demarcus's eyes. A tall sun kissed man with a curly mass of brown hair ran out. His back was to the crowd as he lined up with the other players, 7 was his jersey number. Demarcus couldn't see the man's face so he couldn't confirm if it was who he thought it was.

Player 7 stood next to Damien as they waited for the opposing team to come out and line up for the national anthem and poem. Demarcus couldn't hold back his smirk when he noticed Player 7 was a bit taller than Damien by almost half a foot.