Blake
Blood dripping down my forehead, screeching tires, bright lights and glass shattering. The car flips over twice and slides across the road, eventually coming to a stop. My bodies freezing cold, I feel myself shaking uncontrollably as I hear muffled voices outside of the car. My head is pounding and I want to open my eyes, I want to speak but nothing comes out.
"No! Fowlin!" I scream and abruptly jolt up, with sweat dripping down my face and chest.
"Blake it's okay, it was just a bad dream" Riley says as she rushes in and takes a seat next to me, wrapping her arms around my small frame.
I lean into her and sob into her chest as my body shakes. She rubs my arms and tries her best to sooth me until I calm down. These nightmares have been happening more and more recently, I think it's from stress. The doctors say I should be fine as long as I keep taking my medicine, but I stopped. The pills made me feel like a zombie the next morning and I hated it, every second of it.
I told Riley and she's been helping me out. Each night the terrors come she rushes into help calm me down. It's not ideal but so far it's the best we've got. She lays back with me and we end up falling asleep together, luckily I don't have any more nightmares. She holds me all night long and when my alarm goes off I roll over to see she's gone.
I wipe my eyes and let out a yawn. Summer is officially over and the new semester has officially started. Riley and I are juniors now at SDSU, she's majoring in journalism and I'm majoring in Child Education with plans on getting my teaching credential afterwards. We live in an apartment off campus together and have since last year.
I force myself out of bed and walk into my attached bathroom to run myself a hot shower. When I'm finished I wipe the condensation off of the mirror and stare at my reflection; I barely recognize myself. The dark bags under my eyes are enough to let people know I have slept well in days. My ribs are poking through my skin more than normal and my cheek bones look a little more prominent.
My skin is more pale now and my hair is dull. I look like the broken ghost of the girl who once was. My skin used to be tan and sun kissed, my eyes were a bright blue and my hair had a nice beach wave and was a sandy blonde color. I've always had a slender figure from cheerleading and surfing, but now I just look skinny; too skinny. I dry my hair with the towel and the run a brush through my hair.
I put on some makeup to make me look more alive and then french braid my hair. I spray some perfume and once I'm satisfied I walk back into my room to get dressed. I put on a slouchy white, off the shoulder long sleeve with my favorite high waisted Levis and high top converse. I grab my bag and then walk out to the kitchen to make some coffee.
I pour it togo and then grab a banana and granola bar and head out the door. Our apartment is only a seven minute walk to campus and I love getting the fresh, ocean air on my way; it's calming. I place my AirPods in my ear and press shuffle on one of my playlists as I continue my journey to school.
When I get to campus, I make my way across to the education building and head up to the third floor. Since my freshman year, I always chose early classes because I've always been an early riser. I open the large wooden door and I'm surprised that there's already a few other students inside. I walk to the back row and take a seat, pulling out my laptop.
I listen to music and pull up my student portal as more and more students start to file in. The class starts to fill and I'm distracted by video in TikTok that I don't hear the deep voice who's trying to talk to me "Is this seat taken?" I pull a headphone out and lock eyes with the most beautiful emerald green eyes.
I shake my head, not able to get a word out and he slides into the empty desk. I put my headphones away and stare ahead at the professor who just walked in. "Have you had this professor before?" He asks.
"Um no, but I heard he's pretty laid back" I say and he smiles.
"Good, that's what I heard to" he shifts his body a little and holds his hand out "Ryder" he says as I shake it and feel how rough and calloused it is.
"Blake" I whisper back.
"Nice to meet you" our hands linger and as the professor starts to talk I slowly pull mine back.
I try to keep my eyes on the front as Professor Henson passes out the syllabus and starts to go over it. Out of the corner of my eye I see him looking at me and when he notices I can see him, he quickly turns away. After class is dismissed, I pack my bag and hurry out of the building not realizing that my admirer is following me.
"Hey, wait up" he says and I stop walking.
"What's up?" I say casually.
"Do you have another class right now?" I look down at my Apple watch to check the time.
"No, not for another hour or so. Why?"
He smiles "Would you want to grab a coffee?"
I stare at him confused "A coffee?" He nods.
"Yeah or tea if that's what you prefer" he adds nervously.
"Sure" I say with a shrug and we start walking to the coffee shop on the other side of the campus.
"So Blake, tell me more about yourself" he says and I find myself smiling at the ground as we walk.
"There's not much to tell, I'm a junior majoring in child education because I want to be a teacher. I live off campus with my best friend who also goes here. I am a total nerd when it comes to reading and literature. I love scary movies and classic rock music and my favorite color is green. Is that good enough?" I ask with a laugh.
He nods "It's a start.... What's your favorite scary movie?" He asks.
"Scream... all of them, definitely" I say proudly.
"Great choice, I love those movies. Wes Craven was a horror mastermind. Favorite book?"
"Seriously and depends... I love romance novels, which is so lame I know" I say nervously "So I would have to say It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover and The Great Gatsby as a classic of course"
He grins "I've never heard of the first one but Gatsby is a classic, you have good taste" he says and I feel my cheeks flush.
"Do you read?" he laughs.
"Not as much as I should, but on occasion. I'm on the football team actually, I just transferred over here this semester to be the new QB" my heart sinks. I completely freeze "Are you okay Blake?" I keep telling myself it's not his fault... he doesn't know.
I snap myself out of it "Um, yeah... sorry" he looks at me curiously.
"Do you not like football?" I stare down at my food, not sure how I want to answer this.
"I grew up watching it with my dad who played along with my grandfather and older brothers. I was a cheerleader all four years of high school and I loved it but...." my voice nearly cracks.
He reaches a hand over to my arm "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to" I look up and meet his eyes, not sure why I want to spill my heart out to this stranger.
I take a deep breath in and let it out "My boyfriend... ex boyfriend was the old quarterback" that's all I have to say for his eyes to widen in realization.
"He's the one who passed away a couple years ago.... I'm so sorry Blake. I didn't realize" I see the sympathy all over his face.
"It's okay, I mean it's not but it is" I nervously laugh and tuck some hair behind my ear.
"When I got the transfer notice, I had no idea until I accepted it. I'm not trying to replace him on the team or anything... I know the guys are going to have to adjust as well"
I sip on my latte "They might be assholes but don't take it personally" I add with a cheeky grin.
He chuckles "I can handle it, hopefully"
"Maybe I'll come see you play sometime this season"
"I'd like that, but don't force yourself to if you're not ready" I look into his emerald eyes and my heart flips into somersaults.
Ryder's gorgeous, his eyes are electrifying surrounded by thick dark lashes that almost look like he's wearing mascara. He has dark, chocolate brown wavy hair that's a little longer on top than the sides and has the cutest dimples on each of his cheeks. He's tall, well over six foot and has broad shoulders with a lean, athletic build. He's the kind of guy you would write a book about at first glance but something tells me there's much more to him than just good looks and a charming personality.
I glance down at my watch "I crap, I should get going" we both grab our bags and stand, pushing our chairs in and then we walk out of the shop.
We stand in front of the door "I'll see you Wednesday in class" I say with a smile.
"Is it too forward to ask for your number? Just in case I want to grab you a coffee before class or have a question about an assignment of course"
"Then you should also know that a vanilla or caramel latte are my favorites" I say with a smile and pull my phone out.
He takes it and adds his number to my contacts "Noted, I'll text you so you have mine. Have nice day Blake" we both go our separate ways and I end up having to jog to my class sop I'm not late on my first day.
After my next class I have one more and then I'm finished for the day. My brain is fried as I walk out of my last class at noon, I pull my phone out and see a message from Riley and Ryder. I check hers first and it's in our group message with the guys so it's nothing too important and then I click on the one from Ryder and smile to myself like a total cheese ball.
"Who's got you grinning like that Lake?" Maddox deeps voice calls out as I look up.
"Someone I met earlier today" I say as he starts walking with me.
"A boy?" he asks all excited.
"Yeah a boy... for once. He's actually the new quarterback" he gets quiet for a moment and I know exactly what's running through his mind.
"Coach met with us about him last week, apparently he's one of the top in state and was happy to transfer over. I've heard good things about him" he adds.
"We had class together this morning and then grabbed a coffee. He's nice" I say not wanting to say much else.
"I'm happy you're putting yourself back out there Lake, you know he would want you to be happy. We all do" he says in the softest tone.
"Thank you, it's been harder than I had imagined" I fight back the tears and grabs my arm and pulls me off to the side.
He gives me a serious look "Riley said the nightmares have come back" I nod.
"Yeah, but it's because I stopped taking my medicine but I'll adjust"
"You know me and the guys are always here for you Lake. Never hesitate to reach to any of us, you're one of our best friends... always"
I nod "Thank you Madd" he pulls me into his strong chest for a hug and it soothes a broken piece inside of me.
As I pull away he swipes his thumb under my eyes and wipes away a stray tear. I stand up straight and try not to do this hear, not with him when I know that he and the others have also been hurting "I should head to the stadium for practice, I'll see you later okay?" I nod.
"Have a good practice and go easy on the new guy... please" he starts walking off, backwards and gives me a wink.
I shake my head and start walking towards the edge of campus. I put my headphones in and head back to the apartment. I know Riley isn't out of class for another hour or so, when I get to the apartment I do some light cleaning and start some laundry. Since it's the first week I don't have any homework which is nice.
Riley comes home a couple hours later and I finished making some spaghetti for us, for dinner. She changes in her room and then comes out and I hand her a plate "You're the best wifey" she jokes and spanks my butt.
"Anything for you Riles" I make my own plate and then join her on the couch so we can binge watch more episodes of Sons of Anarchy.
I clean up dinner later on and head to bed around eleven. Riley lays with me until I fall asleep and leaves in the middle of the night. I end up waking up a couple times, crying and out of breath but she's able to sooth me back to sleep. Once my alarm goes off I feel like a zombie and force myself to take. I put on a yellow sun dress, a jean jack and some sandals and leave my hair down in it's natural state.
On my way to class I listen to Taylor Swift and feel a little better than I did yesterday. The little feeling of happiness gives me hope that this might turn out to the best semester yet; and that might have to do with a beautiful, green eyed football player.