Boys and Girls, Part I

Jason Kent’s mouth hurt from all the fake smiles he had to plaster on for everyone over winter break. Following the Hawks’ Bowl loss to Grayson, Jason had been devastated along with his good friends, Ryan Mackey and Joe Estes. The loss had been enough for Jason to decide to forgo the upcoming NFL draft and take a stab at the national championships for his senior year. Ryan had ultimately decided on the same fate, although it had taken a lot more convincing. Joe had never expected to play pro, so he was already set on finishing four years of school.

Jason was a good leader, and he knew that, and part of being a good leader was making your team think things were okay, even when they weren’t. Jason needed his team to think positively in order to have even a chance to attend the Bowl Championship game the following year. He needed to stay focused and on task, for the time being, since football camp was still a few months away.

Jason and Ryan had agreed to meet with Joe at Thai Palace before the weekend in order to carry out some preliminary discussions. Jason was glad that his friends tolerated his general ambitiousness and unwavering drive to win because the truth was that Ryan and Joe wanted to win just as much as he did.

After dinner and the talks, Joe had returned to his apartment, while Ryan returned to the apartment that he shared with Jason. Jason, meanwhile, had gone to the library to do some more planning. He planned to pitch some his ideas to Coach Watson the following Monday afternoon.

Jason yawned as he turned around to look out the window of the shuttle bus. He hoped that he wasn’t kidding himself with this whole ambition thing. The bus stopped. A redhead hopped onto the bus, leaving behind a gaggle of giggling girls.

Wait a minute. Those were the girls at the Thai restaurant earlier that evening. Jason peered out to see the leggy biracial chick – the one that he and his friends had all considered jumping at one point or another during dinner. God, she was beautiful. There was also a chubby brunette and a cute but chatty blonde who had uttered the infamous words that made Jason smile even now. Although Jason had found the biracial girl the most attractive, in truth, he wasn’t looking for anyone right now; he wasn’t even looking for sex. He had other things on his mind at the moment.

The redhead took a seat next to Jason. He shifted over slightly to make more room for her. She looked straight ahead, not acknowledging him at all. Hmm, maybe she didn’t remember him from the restaurant. Then again, she hadn’t even seemed to recognize him from all the local papers when they had been at the restaurant. Jason smiled to himself. He liked it when he wasn’t recognized at school. Usually, girls through themselves at his feet in order to say that they had shared the same bed with Jason Kent, starting QB for the North Mission Hawks. This girl continued to look straight ahead with what could be best described as a blank expression. After a few minutes, she took to biting her nails. Jason couldn’t help but watch her. She was absolutely adorable and probably didn’t realize that she was being watched.
After three more stops, the redhead got up from her seat.

“Bye,” she called to the bus driver, who tipped his hat in her direction. She cheerily hopped off the bus. Jason looked out the window to see her walking toward the Santa Cruz apartments. The doors closed and the bus accelerated. Jason turned back around and stared straight ahead. He thought about his last relationship with Krista Altman. She had been a gorgeous, sweet girl who had ultimately left him to be with the captain of North Mission’s football team back in the day – Patrick Kent. Jason’s older brother. It was a messed-up relationship that they had. Krista had been in Patrick’s grade but dated Jason first, and Jason couldn’t help but feel a little used in the process. Both Patrick and Krista had graduated three years ago. Now, Patrick was a successful businessman living in Seattle with his wife, Krista, who was three months pregnant.

At the time of their break-up, Krista had repeatedly told Jason that “it wasn’t meant to be due to a difference in ages.” Jason knew better because at the time of their break-up, Patrick had led the Hawks to a college football championship win. He became North Mission’s number one celebrity, and as sweet as she was, even good Krista Altman – now Kent – couldn’t resist the lure of dating a town hero.

Jason was definitely over Krista now, but he knew that he would never get over the idea of losing her to his older brother until he won his own championship game. Krista had hurt him badly when he had been a naïve freshman college student. He didn’t want to punish her or anything as severe as that; rather, he wanted her to regret having hurt him in the first place.

As Jason’s thoughts drifted back to football, a glint of purple snakeskin caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. It was a wallet. He reached over to grab the thing, and when he opened it, he shook his head, grinning.

One Miss Delaney Cameron was missing a ridiculously purple wallet.

****

Delaney cursed at herself. Oh, she had definitely recognized Jason Kent at Thai Palace because she didn’t live in a bubble for gosh sakes. And then, she sat next to that god among men on the shuttle bus, ready to strike up a lively chat only to realize that she wasn’t as good at initiating a conversation as she had thought. She was totally awkward in front of hot males when her friends weren’t there. Not only had she been stupidly biting her nails as she sat next to perhaps the hottest guy at school, she had also left her wallet behind on the bus! She dropped her keys on the coffee table in her tiny apartment that she shared with Lani. Lani and the others had decided to catch a evening flick at the local Cineplex, but Delaney had opted out. She put some water on boil before checking her answering machine.

“You have one new message. First message.”

“Hi Delaney, it’s Mom…just calling to see how you’re doing. You know…Dad and I are worried about you still not having decided on a major –

The machine beeped as Delaney prematurely ended the message. Delaney was not in the mood to listen to her parents whine about her alleged “lack of direction.” So she was still an undecided major in her third year of college. Maybe she didn’t want to submit herself to lackluster nine-to-five positions like her mother and father, who Delaney knew for a fact, were not happy with their jobs because they had both said at one time or another, “I hate my job.”

Lani, Jacy, and Stephanie often made fun of the general squalor that characterized virtually every aspect of Delaney’s life. The truth was that Delaney couldn’t imagine her life being what others called “in order.” “In order” implied that one’s life had to comply with another individual’s standards, and Delaney hated that. She didn’t want anyone telling her how to live her life. Her friends might joke about it, but ultimately, they knew better than to push the topic.

Delaney changed out of her clothes and put on short, black drawstring shorts and a white tank. She tied her unruly red curls into a messy ponytail and went into the bathroom to wash her face. She was in mid-wash when she heard the door buzzer. She wiped the excess soap from around her eyes before scurrying over to the door.

“Yes?” she asked, pushing the button.

“Yeah,” a deep male voice answered. “Uh, does Delaney…Cameron live here?”

“Y-yes,” Delaney answered warily.

“Well, I, uh…I have her wallet. She left it on the shuttle.”

Delaney breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you. Um, why don’t you leave it on the front step, and I’ll get it.” After you leave, Delaney thought cautiously to herself.

“Uh, wouldn’t it be easier if I could just hand it to Delaney in person?”

That makes more sense, Delaney begrudgingly admitted to herself. But the truth was, she had absolutely not clue who this guy was. For all she knew, he could be a serial killer or someone who liked to try on women’s shoes. Delaney didn’t respond for a while because she was torn between good sense and preserving her life.

“Okay,” she answered, holding the button. “My room is 215. But I’d really appreciate it if you just knocked and left it in front of the door, okay?”

No answer.

Delaney pushed the button again. “Hello? Hello?” Excellent, the wise man probably had better things to do than to wait around for Delaney to make a decision. Delaney put on her flip-flops to get her wallet at the front door before someone else even thought about taking her $4.12 and her bus pass. Delaney threw the front door open and screamed.

She shouldn’t have because the image in front of her was gorgeous, not scary. But having Jason Kent show up at her doorstep was a freaking surprise. Jason just seemed to blink at Delaney’s reaction.

“You okay?” he asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Delaney answered, placing a hand over her heart and taking a deep breath. “H-how did you get up here?”

“One of your neighbors opened the door for me.”

Stoner Alan, Delaney thought.

Jason handed Delaney’s purple snakeskin wallet over. “You left this on the bus.”

“Thanks,” Delaney answered, taking the wallet.

Jason stood there, looking as if he was expecting something. Should I tip him? Delaney thought. With what, $4.12?

“Umm, do you want to come in for a second?” Delaney wanted to slap her forehead. What was she doing?

“Uh, okay,” Jason answered. He extended his hand as he entered, “I met you and your friends at the restaurant this evening, but I didn’t really introduce myself. I’m Jason.”

“Yeah, I know,” Delaney answered immediately, “I mean…I’m Delaney. Wait. But, you already knew that.”

God, why was she going on like this? Delaney closed her eyes in disgust, which caused Jason to smile.

“Do you want something to drink?” Delaney asked.

“No, that’s okay,” Jason answered. He closed the door behind him and walked into the living room, observing the décor of Delaney and Lani’s apartment. He took a look at the pictures along the living room windowsill and stopped before a photo that Delaney had taken with Lani during their vacation in Maui the previous summer.

“Best friend?” Jason asked.

“Yeah,” Delaney answered, pouring hot water into a mug, already containing a tea bag.

“What’s her name?”

“Lani. Actually, her full name is Ailani.”

“Hawaiian?”

“And Welsh.”

“Ah.” Jason looked up from the photo to see Delaney sipping her hot tea. He ran a large hand sheepishly through his light brown hair. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to be so nosy about her.”

“It’s okay,” Delaney answered, blowing across the top of the mug. “I’m used to it.”


Delaney’s statement should have been reassuring, but it just made Jason feel guiltier. All the guys probably spent all their time paying attention to Ailani, and he was being just like them.

“Well, I should get going.”

Delaney nodded her head and put down her steaming mug of tea on the coffee table. She walked over to Jason and extended her hand.

“Thanks again,” she said.

“No problem,” he answered, accepting her hand. “But you might want to be careful about where you leave your wallet next time.”

“Yeah,” Delaney began, “because purple snakeskin is all the rage among you football players, right?”

That got a smile out of Jason. He opened the door and waved good-bye to Delaney. As soon as she closed the door, Delaney leaned back against it and sighed.

Had she just invited one of the hottest guys at school inside her apartment for a drink? There was a thin line between spontaneity and stupidity, and Delaney was pretty sure that this veered more towards the latter. Didn’t he pretty much spell out that he was interested in Lani and not her? Ha, big surprise. Delaney shook her head and grabbed her tea before heading into her room.