Rumor Has It I'm Dating the Football Captain

Chapter 37: Chapter 37: Can I?

The campus had officially moved on from the scandal of the confession page.

It wasn’t because people stopped caring. It was because the student body had collectively decided that Audrey Ellis and Mason Calloway were an established, serious couple. The rumor phase was over. Now, it was just an accepted fact of daily university life.

Nobody questioned it anymore. Instead, they just started treating Audrey like she was an extension of the football captain.

”Hey, Audrey,” a girl from her statistics seminar asked, leaning across the aisle before the lecture started. ”Is Mason coming to the charity gala this weekend?”

”Can you tell him we’re rooting for Saturday’s match?” a guy in the cafeteria called out as she walked past with her tray.

Audrey kept giving everyone the exact same polite, generic answer: ”I don’t know.”

But as Wednesday rolled into Thursday, a quiet, unsettling realization began to creep over her.

She did know.

When the girl asked about the charity gala, Audrey’s brain immediately supplied the fact that Mason had a mandatory sponsorship dinner that night. When someone asked where he was, she automatically knew he was in film review until four. She knew he bought his black coffee from the small cart near the library, not the main cafeteria.

Without even trying, she had memorized the rhythm of his life.

---

That afternoon, Audrey walked into the journalism office to find Mrs. Higgins pinning a glossy flyer to the main bulletin board.

”Ellis,” Mrs. Higgins called out, not turning around. ”You’re covering the university charity gala on Saturday night. I need photos of the alumni donors and a write-up on the athletic department’s contributions.”

Audrey dropped her bag. ”The gala? But Ben usually covers the evening events.”

”Ben is covering the basketball tournament,” Mrs. Higgins replied smoothly, finally turning to face her. ”Besides, the entire football starting lineup is expected to attend because of the athletic sponsors. You’ll probably already be there with Calloway. You might as well make yourself useful and take some photos while you’re at it.”

Audrey nearly choked on her own saliva.

Even her boss, the strictest, most observant woman on campus, was casually assuming they were genuinely together.

”Right,” Audrey managed to squeak out. ”I’ll bring my camera.”

---

Out on the training pitch, everything was exactly the same.

Except it wasn’t.

Mason was careful. He was painfully, meticulously careful.

He didn’t steal her daisy pen when she was trying to take notes. He didn’t casually bump his shoulder against hers when they stood on the touchline. When training ended, he didn’t reach for her heavy camera bag to carry it for her.

Every single thing he used to do so naturally... he consciously stopped himself from doing.

Audrey stood by the benches, watching him interact with Jackson and Leo. He was laughing, tossing a football back and forth, but whenever he walked near her, he left a very clear, very deliberate two-foot gap between them.

At first, Audrey felt relieved. He was respecting her boundary. He was keeping his word.

But as the afternoon wore on, the relief faded, leaving behind a strange, hollow feeling in her chest.

She started missing it. She missed the easy banter. She missed the warmth of him standing just a little too close.

---

As the team began filtering toward the locker rooms, Audrey stayed behind to pack up her clipboard.

”Audrey.”

She froze. It wasn’t Mason’s low rumble.

Audrey turned around. Logan Foster was standing a few feet away. He was wearing his usual crisp polo shirt, but the arrogant, charming smile was gone. He just looked tired.

Audrey gripped her clipboard. She didn’t feel the usual spike of panic or lingering hurt. She just felt exhausted. ”What do you want, Logan?”

He didn’t step closer. He didn’t try to put on a show for anyone watching.

”Can we talk?” Logan asked quietly.

Audrey didn’t say yes, but she didn’t walk away.

”I just wanted to apologize,” Logan said, his voice actually sounding sincere. ”I handled everything badly last year. And when I saw you the other day... I acted like a jerk. I was embarrassed, and I took it out on you.”

Audrey stared at him. It was the most mature thing she had ever heard him say.

”You’ve changed,” Logan added, offering a small, sad smile. ”You look... happier. More sure of yourself. I’m glad.”

Across the courtyard, near the tunnel entrance, Jackson stopped walking. He nudged Mason’s arm.

”Captain?” Jackson muttered, pointing toward the pitch.

Mason stopped. He looked across the grass, seeing Logan standing in front of Audrey. His jaw tightened instantly. His hands balled into fists inside his jacket pockets.

Mason didn’t move.

”She’s talking,” Mason replied quietly.

Jackson frowned, looking back and forth between them. ”You’re just going to stand there? That’s the ex.”

”She doesn’t need me to rescue her,” Mason said, his voice flat but entirely resolute. ”If she wants me, she’ll look at me.”

Jackson stared at his captain for a second, then slowly nodded in respect.

On the pitch, Audrey finished listening to Logan’s apology. She accepted it politely, wished him well, and watched him walk away. It felt like a heavy, dusty book had finally been closed and put back on the shelf.

She turned her head toward the tunnel.

Mason was standing there. He was waiting from a distance. He wasn’t hovering. He wasn’t interrupting. He was simply... there.

A quiet warmth bloomed in Audrey’s chest.

---

By Friday afternoon, Audrey felt terrible.

Her throat was scratchy, her head was pounding, and she felt like she was trapped in a freezer. She ignored it, completely burying herself in the layout edits for the sports bulletin.

Ben walked past her desk and stopped.

”Ellis,” Ben frowned. ”You’re sweating.”

”I’m fine,” Audrey croaked, aggressively typing on her laptop.

She immediately sneezed.

”I’m still fine,” she sniffled.

She spent hours stubbornly editing, completely refusing to go home until the layout was finished. By the time she finally left the journalism building, she had a full-blown fever.

Over in the athletic dorms, Leo was packing his gym bag when he noticed Mason sitting at his desk, staring blankly at a textbook. Mason had been distracted all day.

Leo tossed a rolled-up pair of socks, hitting Mason squarely in the back of the head.

”Captain,” Leo announced. ”Go take care of your girlfriend.”

Mason turned around, rubbing his head. ”What?”

”Audrey is sick,” Leo said, zipping his bag. ”Chloe just texted me complaining that Audrey is trying to edit articles while actively hallucinating from a fever. Chloe is threatening to physically glue her to the couch.”

Mason stood up immediately. ”She’s not feeling well?”

Leo stared at him. ”...How did you miss that? You stare at her for three hours every afternoon.”

Mason grabbed his jacket, looking incredibly guilty. ”I was trying to give her space.”

---

Twenty minutes later, Mason stood on the front steps of the girls’ dorm building.

He was holding a plastic pharmacy bag containing chicken noodle soup, herbal tea, and cold medicine.

He reached out to knock on the front door.

Then, he stopped.

Don’t touch me without my permission.

Her words echoed loudly in his head. He suddenly wondered... did showing up uninvited count as crossing the boundary? Was bringing her soup too much? Should he text her first? Should he just leave the bag on the porch like a delivery driver?

He stood there awkwardly on the steps for almost five minutes, having a silent internal crisis.

A few residents walked past him, giving the massive football player strange looks.

Finally, a girl carrying a laundry basket stopped. ”Are you waiting for someone?”

”...Audrey,” Mason said stiffly.

”Then go in,” the girl laughed, opening the door.

”...I’m not sure she’d want that,” Mason muttered honestly.

Before he could retreat, the front door swung wide open from the inside. Zoya stood there, wearing perfect winged eyeliner and holding a mug of tea.

She looked at Mason. She looked at the plastic pharmacy bag in his hand.

Zoya let out a long, long sigh.

”You’re both exhausting,” Zoya stated flatly. She stepped aside. ”Get in here. Wait in the common room. I’ll go drag her out of her room.”

---

Five minutes later, Audrey slowly walked down the stairs.

She looked terrible. She was wearing a massive, oversized gray hoodie. Her short Korean bob looked hopelessly rumpled, one side flattened from the pillow while the other refused to stay tucked behind her ear. She didn’t have a single drop of makeup on. She was clutching a box of tissues to her chest like a shield.

Mason was standing in the middle of the common room. When he saw her, his chest immediately tightened with guilt.

She reached the bottom step and looked at him, her eyes bright and glassy from the fever.

Instinctively, Mason stepped forward. He raised his hand, reaching out to check her temperature.

His hand stopped halfway in the air.

He froze. He looked at his own hand, then looked at Audrey. He slowly lowered his arm, shoving his hand safely back into his jacket pocket.

”...Sorry,” Mason said quietly. ”I forgot.”

Audrey stood completely still.

He wasn’t afraid of rejection. He wasn’t afraid of looking stupid. He was just fiercely determined to respect the boundary she had given him.

That realization hit Audrey harder than any romantic speech ever could.

She looked at him, her heart completely melting through the fever haze.

”...You can,” Audrey whispered.

Mason hesitated. He looked from her eyes to the few inches of space between them.

”...I don’t want to get this wrong,” Mason said softly.

Audrey’s chest tightened.

”...You won’t,” she breathed.

He waited a beat, his dark eyes searching hers. Then he asked quietly, ”...Can I?”

She nodded.

Only then did Mason step closer. He pulled his hand out of his pocket and gently, carefully placed the cool back of his hand against her burning forehead.

There was no lingering. It wasn’t a trick to touch her. It was just pure, genuine concern.

”...You’re burning up, Ellis,” Mason said softly.

He pulled his hand away immediately, stepping back to give her space.

Audrey didn’t realize until his hand was gone that she had actually leaned into his touch. Just a little.

Mason reached down and picked up the plastic bag from the coffee table, holding it out to her.

”Soup. Tea. Medicine,” Mason instructed. ”Go back to sleep. Tell Higgins the article can wait.”

Audrey took the bag. She looked down at the carefully selected items, a real, genuine smile breaking through her exhaustion.

She turned to walk back up the stairs. She stopped on the first step, looking back over her shoulder.

”Thank you,” Audrey said quietly.

Then, after a tiny pause, she added, ”...for asking.”

Mason stood in the middle of the common room. A slow, breathtaking smile spread across his face.

”I’m trying,” Mason said.

Audrey nodded. ”I know.”

She turned and disappeared up the stairs.

---

Audrey closed her bedroom door quietly behind her.

She set the plastic pharmacy bag on her desk and stared at it for a long moment.

The soup. The tea. The medicine.

She reached up and absentmindedly touched the spot on her forehead where the cool back of his hand had rested only minutes earlier.

It hadn’t been a kiss.

It hadn’t even lasted five seconds.

Yet somehow...

It had made her heart race more than the drunken kiss ever had.

A small smile escaped before she could stop it.

”...This is bad,” she whispered to the quiet room.

Then she crawled back into bed, pulled the heavy blanket over her head, and fell asleep smiling.