Virgin Playbook: Phoebe's First: College Football Sports Romance Read Online Free Page A

silent the rest of class.

6
    The Real Adam
    I didn’t visit the dining hall often. Aside from the unlimited food, I couldn’t understand why people spent so much time there. Instead, I would buy microwave noodles and eat in my dorm. However, there was one day a week I always ate at the dining hall: Friday, aka Eggs Benedict Day.
    Just like every other Friday, after scooping a few servings of my favorite dish onto my plate, I sat down at a table—alone. My chosen table was in the corner, away from all of the ruckus. College kids were always loud. Perhaps I was an old soul, but I hated it. I just wanted my space.
    “I can’t believe what she wore to the Tau Alpha Epsilon party!” I heard a familiar voice shriek.
    It was Ariana. She, Adam, and a few of Ariana’s girlfriends were going through the line. Every Friday I ate late at night to avoid them, yet they just happened to be having a late night too. I groaned and looked down at my plate hoping not be seen.
    “Why do you care what she wore?” Adam asked. “She seemed nice enough to me.”
    Ariana turned on her heel, rage in her eyes. Even from my lonely place at the corner, I could see that Adam was in deep trouble.
    “Nice enough?” she shouted, balling her fists. “ Nice enough? Of course, she seemed nice! She was all over you!”
    “I don’t think she was all over—”
    “She called you cute , Adam! Cute!” she shrieked. “If some guy called me cute, what would you do?”
    He looked around as though the answer was hidden somewhere in the dining hall. Suddenly, being isolated didn’t seem so bad. At least I wasn’t involved in that kind of drama.
    “I didn’t mean anything by it—”
    “Whatever, Adam! If you think she’s so nice, why don’t you go back and be with her?”
    They had a short exchange I couldn’t hear, and then Ariana marched out of the dining hall, abandoning her plate at the salad bar. Several of her friends followed suit leaving Adam alone with his face buried deep in his hands.
    I felt sorry for him.
    Then, the unexpected happened. He started walking towards my table.
    I was convinced he was going to sit down at the table nearest to mine, but he didn’t. He walked right past it and looked at me. My heart pounded in my chest.
    “Can I sit down?”
    Usually, I would lie and say I was waiting for friends. Yet, for some reason, I didn’t. I just nodded.
    “Sure.”
    He sat down and looked at the table. Something was different about him. Melancholy loomed over him.
    “I just freed up some time if you want to work on the project,” he finally said. “I’m uh . . . I’m not going home for Thanksgiving. And I won’t be going to the sorority homecoming dance either, I guess.”
    I furrowed my brow.
    “How’d all this come about?” I asked, genuinely curious.
    He sighed and scratched the back of his head.
    “Well, let’s just say my dad and I had a little disagreement about my performance at the game tonight,” he mumbled. “So I went to a party with Ariana to blow off some steam, and she got into it with some girl there. I guess the girl called me cute or something . . . I don’t know, really.
    “The girl never hit on me, but Ariana seemed to think she did. I don’t like when girls start to get possessive, so I told her we should take a break for a while.” He exhaled a heavy breath, then added, “You probably won’t see me around your dorm too much anymore.”
    “I’m sure you’re still going to the homecoming dance with her, though,” I said, trying to stay positive. “Ariana gets mad for a bit, but she gets over things quickly. I’m sure you two will make up and everything will be all right.”
    He shook his head.
    “She just texted me saying she’s going with her girlfriends now. Honestly, I don’t think I even want to go with her anymore. She’s kind of a lot to handle—especially with all the pressure my dad has been putting on me. He wants me to stay away from girls that distract me from the game,