At exactly 8pm I arrive at the front of the brown house that Joey calls home. I don't know why I'm so nervous. Maybe because the last time I was here I woke up in Joey's bed after getting drunk in front of all his teammates.
They would know who I am.
Maybe it's because, despite how much of a jackass he can be, Joey makes me nervous. He isn't meant to have the effect on me, no one is. This is meant to be my time.
I take a deep breath and walk up the stairs, knocking confidently on the door. Joey had text me while I was at dinner, letting me know that he was home and that he would see me at 8. 'His bedroom ;)' he had said.
"Hello pretty young freshman standing at our door," the guy opening the door said. I vaguely recognised him as the beer pong guy.
"Hey, I'm Morgan. I think we met, umm I'm here to meet Joey," I said, my voice wavering slightly as I tried to remain cool, calm and collected.
As soon as I mentioned Joey's name though, he smirked.
"Ah yes, I remember you. Harper's friend. I'm Ethan. Come in, he's up in his room. I assume you remember your way?" He asked smugly.
"Actually no. Before you get any ideas, I'm here for our assignment," I said sternly, not needing or wanting any rumours getting around about Joey and I.
"Yeah, an assignment. That's what they all say. Up the stairs, last door on the right," he gives directions to the room.
"I'm not that kind of girl," I try again, holding up my books in my hands trying to make a point.
Before I head up the stairs I take a glance around the room, seeing three guys on the couch watching a basketball game on TV, getting excited and loud. Another two were spread with books all over the dining table, they didn't even look up as I entered. In the kitchen was another guy, he smiled kindly at me, I nervously returned his smile, happy that at least one guy in this house wasn't a smug, cocky jock.
Silently I made my way upstairs, feeling the butterflies in my stomach. This whole scenario is so out of my comfort zone and not something I have experienced before.
Don't get me wrong, I'm a confident girl. Sure I had been to my exes houses, but it was always with them and I knew them well beforehand. This was college now, a house full of testosterone and I was meeting a guy that so far we hadn't gotten along all that great.
Reaching the landing, I looked up ready to find the last door on the right. I didn't have to look very hard because standing in his doorway was Joey. Cocky as ever, leaning against the door frame, arms crossed across his chest, one leg crossed over the other and a small grin on his beautiful face. His eyes were dancing with mischief.
Damn him. Why can't he be ugly? It would make this a whole lot easier. Instead I feel the butterflies intensify, not just in my stomach, but lower too.
I tried to remind myself that I'm here for my education, it doesn't matter how good looking he is. How his bright blue eyes shine, how his t-shirt clings to him in all the right places, his sweatpants sitting low on his hips. What I wouldn't give to wrap my arms-
"Morgan," he greets with a nod, scanning his eyes up and down my body and instantly stopping my thoughts I shouldn't be having anyway.
I was only wearing jeans and a loose sweater, deliberately dressing casual. I walk towards his room, following him inside as he closes the door behind us.
"Joey," I greet in return.
"Come on in. The desk is a little cramped, so you might want to take the bed," he says casually and I can't help but note he seems to have lost the cocky tone a little now that it is just the two of us in his room.
"Not trying to get me into your bed already are you?" I ask, giving him a pointed look.
"Wouldn't be your first time," he grins.
"Moving on. Have you had a read of what we have to do?" I ask, placing my bag onto his bed and climbing on, sitting at the end with my legs crossed as I pull my notebook out, along with the assignment briefing. I search my bag for a pen, before one is thrown in my direction by Joey, before he also sits on the bed. He sits opposite me, leaning against the wall the bed sits against, picking up his notebook too.
"I had a brief look in class, but not in detail," he replies and I have to hold back my surprise. He is no longer joking around or making crude comments.
"Umm, yeah, ok. Well let's each brainstorm ideas and see what the other comes up with," I suggest. He just nods in agreement, already reading his papers.
A little while later, after I had read our assignment thoroughly and was writing down ideas for our business plan, totally absorbed in the work, I suddenly got the feeling of being watched.
Looking up, Joey was in fact watching me with a soft smile on his face. Not the smirk he usually held, but one that was barely there. There was no mocking or cheeky sparkle in his eye, instead they were soft, curious.
"What?" I ask him.
"You're really into this," he comments.
"It's interesting and I enjoy this stuff. Plus I worked hard to get here and I'm going to work hard to make it count."
"Interesting. You're different from other girls," he says like it's a fact and not an assumption.
"Why because I'm not drooling over you and begging you to fuck me?"
"Well there's that," he shrugs, the grin back again. "But there's more. You're determined, confident within yourself, but there's something more I can't quite work out. Something has hardened you, made you protect yourself. I get the feeling you don't let others in easily."
"You got all that from watching me brainstorm some ideas?"
"No. Not just from tonight, since I met you."
"Now you sound like you are stalking me. We've interacted like 3 times. One of those I was drunk."
He laughs, a genuine laugh. Not mocking at all, gentle, genuine. A sound I could easily get used to listening to.
"You're different too," I continue when he doesn't respond. "Like as in here and now. You're less of a jerk when your friends aren't beside you."
"I'm not the bad guy seem to have made me out to be in your head. Maybe you were too quick to judge me," he shrugs.
"Hmm, funny. Harper said the same thing," I muse.
He raises his eyebrow, but then look back down to his work. I don't miss the small smile on his lips though.
"Alright, what ideas do you have?" I ask.
"Well, we were given the hospitality industry. So the most obvious is a cafe or restaurant venue. I sort of thought instead of starting one from scratch we could do a take over, recreate the image of a failing venue. Have you seen that cafe The Busy Bean? When I came here last year it was this awful 1960's diner and they turned it into what it is now."
"I have seen that cafe, I work there actually."
"You do? Interesting, you keep surprising me."
"Yes I do. Back on track. That idea is great and I do like the take over idea because I don't think other groups will do that, but I have another idea. Everyone else that got hospitality industry will be doing cafe's or restaurants. Thinking outside the square, what about an events venue? Weddings, corporate parties, birthday parties. It could even be multi functional, restaurant Monday to Thursday and functions Friday to Sunday. It's something different but fits with our industry." I admit, I got myself excited coming up with my idea, and I really hoped he liked it.
He looks at me after I finish talking, squinting his eyes slightly. He cocks his head to the side, clearly thinking this over.
"Well? It's stupid. Don't worry, we can go with your idea," I say, feeling a bit disheartened.
"I like it. It's different. Actually, it's fantastic!" He says, getting more excited at the idea.
"Really?"
"Yes! Ok, so we are going to need to do budgets both for set up and operating costs, we need venue options which he says to look at real venues, we need to include permits and licensing. Staffing, marketing, design of the venue and equipment."
He continues listing off everything that we will need to do for our assignment and together we make a rough plan and delegate tasks to each other to take care of.
I hate to say it, but we actually made a great team and Joey surprised me that he is really interested in this subject.
"You're good at this. The whole business stuff, is this what you want to do if basketball doesn't work out?" I ask him as we are packing up our books.
"I am a business major, Morgan. But yes. Between you and me, I don't think I'll play beyond college. It's not my dream. I love basketball, I'm good at it, but I don't want the life of a professional sportsman. Call me crazy, but I'm a small town guy and I'll go back home after college and enter the family business."
"You continue to surprise me. So why put so much effort into playing? You don't get to be vice captain if you are no good."
"Captain positions are about more than how you play, it's about leadership, having the guys look up to you, respect you and when they need it, knowing they can rely on you. To me it goes with the business degree a bit, it's the qualities a good boss should have too."
He had me speechless. How can the same guy that suggested continuously he take me to bed be the very same one who is sitting in front of me telling me these things.
"Don't look so surprised. I told you, I like to joke around with my mates, but I'm not a bad guy. I'm not at college just to screw around. Though I'm not opposed to that either," he winks.
"There he is, the Joey I met that first night," I laugh. Although now I know more about him, I say it lightheartedly, hoping he knows I'm joking.
"I'm just messing with you. What do you want after college? Where do you plan on your degree taking you?" He asks.
"Well I'm majoring in accounting. I like the numbers side of things and the satisfaction of there always being an answer, making the numbers balance perfectly. So I'm not sure yet. I'm only a week in, 4 years to go and a long time to make up my mind. Just as long as I never go back to where I came from."
"What's that mean?" He asks.
"Nothing. I should go now. This has honestly been good, productive. We will make a good team on this. Night Joey," I say quickly grabbing my things.
I said too much, more than I meant to say to him and now he is probably going to ask questions. I quickly left his room and made my way down the stairs.
"Wait! Morgan! It's dark out, let me walk you back to your dorm!" He calls after me.
"I'm a big girl Joey. I'll see you in class," I said firmly from the bottom of the stairs before turning away and leaving the house, ignoring the guys that had turned around from the couch to watch our interaction.