Rumor Has It I'm Dating the Football Captain

Chapter 52: Chapter 52: You Look Like You Belong to Me

The athletic dorms were completely quiet on Saturday night.

Leo was sitting on his bed. He was playing a racing video game on his television. He was wearing gray sweatpants and a plain white t-shirt. His room was a total disaster. Clean laundry was piled on the desk chair. Textbooks were scattered across the floor.

He was just about to beat his high score.

A loud, aggressive knock hammered on his door.

Leo jumped. His car crashed into a digital wall on the screen.

”I am coming,” Leo yelled. He threw his controller onto the mattress.

He walked over and opened the heavy wooden door.

He completely froze.

Chloe was standing in the hallway. She looked absolutely incredible. She wore her signature black leather jacket, a tight black shirt, and dark jeans. Her makeup was completely flawless. She did not look like she was planning to visit a messy athletic dorm. She looked like she was ready to take over the entire university.

She was a total force of nature.

”Move,” Chloe commanded smoothly.

She did not wait for him to step aside. She pushed right past his massive frame and walked directly into the center of his room.

Leo closed the door. He turned around, staring at her in pure shock.

”You are here,” Leo said intelligently.

”I am,” Chloe agreed. She looked around the messy room. Her nose wrinkled slightly in disgust. ”Your decorating skills are terrible, Leo. It smells like old sneakers and cheap pizza in here.”

”You did not text me,” Leo pointed out. He was still trying to process the fact that she was actually standing in his room. ”You usually text me to meet you at the library. Or the coffee shop.”

”Texting is boring,” Chloe stated. She turned around to face him. She crossed her arms over her chest. ”Are you alone?”

Leo blinked. ”Yeah. I am alone.”

”Where is Jackson?” Chloe asked, looking toward the second bed in the room.

”He is not home,” Leo explained. ”He went out. He met a girl in his statistics class a few days ago. He took her to the movies.”

Chloe raised an eyebrow. ”Jackson is on a date? That is actually shocking. I thought his only true love was yelling at referees.”

Leo laughed. ”He is trying to expand his horizons. But why are you here, Chloe?”

Chloe sighed heavily. She dropped her designer bag onto his desk, right on top of his math textbook.

”I had to escape,” Chloe complained. ”Audrey has been typing on her laptop for four straight hours. She is writing the playoff preview article. The clicking noise was literally driving me insane. I needed a distraction.”

Leo could not help it. A massive, stupidly happy smile spread across his face.

She came to him. She was stressed, and her first instinct was to show up at his door. A week ago, she would have gone shopping alone. Now, she was standing in his messy dorm room.

”I can be a very good distraction,” Leo promised.

Chloe looked at him. Her cold, sarcastic mask completely melted away. She smiled. It was a soft, secret smile that she only ever gave to him.

”You better be,” Chloe said softly.

Leo quickly walked over to his bed. He grabbed his messy pile of laundry and shoved it onto the floor. He patted the clean mattress.

”Sit,” Leo offered proudly.

Chloe walked over and sat down. She took her leather jacket off and tossed it aside. She pulled her knees up and leaned back against his pillows. She looked completely comfortable.

Leo sat down right next to her. He was so close their shoulders touched. He still felt like he was dreaming.

”Are you hungry?” Leo asked quickly. ”I have chips. I have soda. I can order pizza. Do you want pizza?”

Chloe laughed. She reached out and grabbed his hand. She pulled him back down to the mattress.

”Stop panicking,” Chloe said gently. ”I do not want pizza. I just want to sit here.”

Leo let out a breath. He relaxed against the pillows next to her. He intertwined his thick fingers with hers. Her hand was so small compared to his, but her grip was incredibly strong.

”I missed you today,” Leo admitted quietly.

Chloe rolled her eyes, but her cheeks turned slightly pink. ”You saw me at breakfast, Leo. That was literally ten hours ago.”

”Ten hours is a very long time,” Leo argued.

Chloe turned her head. She looked at his face. She reached her free hand up and gently pushed a messy piece of dark hair out of his eyes.

”You look tired,” Chloe noticed. Her voice was quiet.

Leo closed his eyes for a second. He leaned into her touch.

”Training is brutal right now,” Leo confessed. ”Without Captain here, the defense is struggling. I am trying to keep the back line organized. But Jackson keeps trying to run forward, and the freshmen are completely lost. It is a lot of pressure.”

Chloe did not tease him. She did not make a sarcastic joke.

She simply stroked his cheek with her thumb.

”You are doing a great job,” Chloe told him firmly. ”I saw you at the match. You held the entire team together. You do not need Mason to be a good player, Leo. You are a great player all by yourself.”

Leo opened his eyes. He looked at her. His chest felt completely full.

He leaned forward. He did not hesitate. He kissed her.

Chloe kissed him back instantly. She let go of his hand and wrapped both of her arms around his neck. She pulled him closer.

Leo felt entirely lucky. He had waited months for this. He had survived the rejection. He had survived the waiting. And now, she was sitting in his room, telling him she believed in him.

They finally pulled apart. They were both breathing a little heavily.

”You are the best distraction,” Leo whispered against her lips.

Chloe smirked. The bossy, confident girl was right back.

”I know,” Chloe agreed. ”Now turn your video game back on. I want to watch you play. And if you crash your car again, I am going to make fun of you.”

Leo laughed loudly. He grabbed his controller. ”Challenge accepted.”

The girls’ apartment was totally silent.

Audrey hit the send button on her laptop. The playoff preview article was officially submitted to Mrs. Higgins.

Audrey stretched her arms over her head. Her back popped loudly. She was completely exhausted. She closed her laptop and stood up from the kitchen table.

The apartment felt very empty. Zoya was at the library. Chloe had stormed out an hour ago to go find Leo.

Audrey walked into her bedroom. She turned on the small desk lamp. The warm yellow light made the room feel a little less lonely.

She walked over to her wooden dresser. She opened the bottom drawer.

Sitting right on top of her folded sweaters was a folded black athletic shirt.

It was Mason’s spare jersey.

Audrey stared at it. She remembered his voice on the phone last night.

Wear my jersey. Send me a picture.

She felt her face get hot. She had never worn a guy’s clothes before. But the apartment was cold. And she really missed him.

Audrey pulled her sweater over her head. She picked up the black jersey. She slid it on.

It was absolutely massive.

The fabric hung all the way down to her mid thigh. The sleeves swallowed her hands completely. It smelled faintly of clean laundry and his familiar mint body wash.

Audrey walked over to the full length mirror on her closet door.

She looked ridiculous. The bold white number four was printed on the chest. The name CALLOWAY was printed across the back. She looked incredibly small inside his clothes.

She smiled.

She pulled her phone out of her pocket. She held it up to the mirror. She made sure the number four was clearly visible.

She snapped a quick photo.

She opened her messages and selected Mason’s name. She attached the picture.

Audrey: It is officially a dress on me. You are a giant.

She hit send.

She tossed her phone onto the bed. She turned around to organize her desk.

Exactly ten seconds later, her phone started ringing.

It was a video call.

Audrey panicked for a second. She quickly smoothed her dark hair behind her ears. She grabbed the phone and hit accept.

Mason’s face filled the screen.

He was sitting on a hotel bed in Florida. He was wearing a plain white t-shirt. His dark hair was wet from the shower.

He did not say hello. He just stared at the screen. His dark eyes were completely fixed on her.

”Wow,” Mason finally said. His voice was incredibly low.

Audrey felt her cheeks burn. She crossed her arms over her chest, trying to hide the massive jersey.

”Stop staring,” Audrey muttered. ”I told you it was too big.”

”Do not ever take it off,” Mason ordered smoothly. A highly arrogant, perfectly satisfied smile spread across his handsome face. ”You look perfect. You look like you belong to me.”

Audrey rolled her eyes. ”You are extremely possessive, Captain.”

”I am,” Mason agreed without a single drop of shame. ”And seeing you in my name makes being in Florida a lot harder right now.”

Audrey smiled softly. She uncrossed her arms. She sat down on the edge of her bed.

”How was training today?” Audrey asked.

”Terrible,” Mason complained. He leaned back against his pillows. ”The humidity is a joke. I miss the cold weather. I miss real coffee.”

He paused. He looked right into the camera.

”I miss my girlfriend,” Mason added quietly.

Audrey felt a familiar flutter in her stomach.

”Your girlfriend misses you too,” Audrey whispered.

”Five months and two weeks left,” Mason reminded her.

”It is going fast,” Audrey lied.

Mason laughed softly. ”You are still a terrible liar, Ellis. Tell me about your article. Did you finish it?”

Audrey nodded. She pulled her knees up to her chest, getting comfortable in his massive jersey.

”I just submitted it,” Audrey said happily. ”I wrote a whole section about how Leo is holding the defensive line together.”

”Good,” Mason said. ”He needs the confidence boost.”

They talked for another hour. They talked about football. They talked about classes. They talked about absolutely nothing important.

Audrey slowly fell asleep to the sound of his deep voice. The distance felt terrible. But as she curled up in the massive black jersey, she finally felt like she was exactly where she belonged.