"Good morning everyone," Dr. Pearce greeted our Stat Methods course warmly. Based on some of the sleepy responses, the novelty of an eight am class had already worn thin for some students. He only chuckled and shook his head. "Must be Monday."

While yes, today was Monday, this morning I'd already noticed some differences. The small herd of girls that greeted us, well Logan, on the sidewalk outside our apartment was new. They wanted harmless photos, which he obliged without objection, even though he held a breakfast burrito in one hand, smoothie in the other, and a polite smile on his handsome face.

Logan also grabbed attention on the sidewalks, to the point where I was glad I'd left fifteen extra minutes to get to class. Pictures requested or not were taken, fist bumps offered, lots of unsolicited game advice, he'd had never been more popular... at least on U-Dub's campus.

I knew it.

I hadn't actually meant every aspect of our life changed once Logan became the starter when I'd said 'everything will change,' but our bubble of privacy would soon be popped. Logan of course took the attention with a grain of salt, he was polite but largely ignored the curious eyes locked on him.

Once we reached the bottom steps in front of PCar Building on the quad before my class, he leaned over and murmured in my ear, "Sorry about this."

"It's okay." I flashed him a smile because I'd expected the change. In fact, I braced myself for how this was only the beginning. "But I reserve the right to go postal on any fangirls who show up at our apartment or mail you their underwear."

My breath hitched when his face lingered nearby, but his eyes darted sideways and he pulled his head back. "Fair enough." He grinned, then just wished me, "Have a good day Ellie."

"You too." I followed his eye gaze and saw another small cluster of curious eyes around us. "I work tonight, then I'm heading to Monique and Darrius' place for an hour or so. But I'll leave dinner in the fridge."

"You're the best, Mrs. Hightower." He winked one ocean blue eye at me then turned and walked down PCar's front entrance steps.

Well, he for sure hasn't changed.

"Wednesday we'll start our work on programming," Dr. Pearce's voice broke through my comforted thoughts about Logan as she passed out some sheets of paper to the front row desks. "So please bring laptops preloaded with the software R and python. These are the install instructions, if you need any assistance then email me but not one hour prior to class. There's also some example code at the end, please run and verify that you get the same output."

I took one sheet off the stack presented to me, then passed it over my shoulder. While I turned and faced back to the front, Jake Anders slipped his large frame into the seat next to me. In the three classes I'd had so far, he sat on the seat right on the aisle, where his large frame trapped me in but he was a fairly nice guy. And in every class, his butt was the last one seated.

"Late," I whispered to his tired expression. "Again."

"Training, smart cookie," Jake whispered back.

While this Jake looked nothing like my brother, with his medium brown hair, light brown eyes, and easygoing personality, his name was obviously easy for me to remember. Jake's long, muscular limbs and large hands made sense when he told me he was a point guard on the Huskies' basketball team.

I shouldn't have been surprised because my brother Jake was mentioned in some top college football player lists, namely Sports Illustrated, but this Jake was highly amused when I told him he shared the same first name as my brother.

Even athletes in other sports know Jake Harrison.

The football team obviously knew my brother and I was well aware that USC played here in four weeks. Logan said a lot of guys eyed that game already and my parents texted me last night with an update from their side.

Mom: booked our hotel for October 16-17. We're flying up Friday evening, back Sunday morning.

My only reaction last night was that my eyebrows raised at how they'd chosen to fly instead of drive. I was surprised but relieved that they'd booked a hotel room. Since our apartment was so small, extra people only made the space smaller.

Guess the drive back was rougher on them this time.

me: Okay, send me the flight info and I'll pick you up from the airport.

Mom: If you work Friday then we'll just take a cab.

me: k

Mom: Jake's staying with us Sat night, flying back to LA. Hope everyone can go out to dinner afterwards.

And that's why they have the hotel.

Again, with all things related to my golden boy brother, I wasn't surprised that he was required to fly back with the Trojans. But a small part of me was glad that meant he'd made an effort to see me.

Wonder how he'll react seeing Logan again.

"If you don't have a personal laptop, then the department's lab computers are available or I suggest you find someone in class who has one," Dr. Pearce continued.

Unlike my now famous roommate, my only recognition in every class was 'that girl' who answered the questions correctly, which I took as no coincidence in how Jake sat next to me in Stat Methods and nicknamed me 'smart cookie.' He seemed harmless enough but, by the graded quizzes Dr. Pearce passed back, hadn't started out as well.

"Very good, Miss Harrison," Dr. Pearce passed me my graded quiz and last week's homework, both of which had perfect scores written on their top right corners. "Thanks for typing those and saving my eyes from squinting while I try to decipher hand scribbles."

My cheeks warmed slightly at her compliment and I tucked the papers under my notebook. I'd asked Dr. Pearce after the second class if she'd accept my homeworks over email. I'd typed them up regardless and wanted to avoid an incident I'd had last year when one of my paper take-home exams turned up 'undelivered.'

Fortunately, I had an electronic copy and emailed my professor, but a few changed answers later led to another exam that was identical to mine and we discovered another student had taken mine from the professor's mailbox when they'd handed theirs in.

Better safe than sorry.

"Hey." Jake's elbow nudged mine. "Want to be my programming partner?"

"Do you have a laptop?" I asked and he nodded, then gave me a hopeful look.

"I..." I hesitated at his 'D+' quiz score, then pulled what I hoped looked like a polite smile. "I can't control where you sit, we can work together Wednesday if no one else asks me."

"Awesome, thanks." He flashed me a wide smile.

"Only if you stop calling me smart cookie," I pointed one finger at him accusingly.

He only changed his smile into a smirk. "No promises."

Lovely.

"Spill the tea, girl," Monique greeted me at her and Darrius' apartment direct, straight to the point like always.

Why are all my friends so blunt?

I'd originally planned that I met them at Husky Stadium after my library shift ended at the end of Darrius' practice. Surprisingly, practice ended twenty minutes early today and both of them headed straight back to their apartment afterwards. By the time I got there, all the players had left the field and stadium seats.

Well, everyone except Logan.

Number ten ran some solo drills on the far end of the field with one of the coaches and a gigantic bin of footballs. Logan flashed me a slight hand lift, which I returned but knew not to bother him further. So instead I just texted him a reminder I headed to Monique and Darrius' apartment, then let him know his dinner was already there. Since I worked at the library, I'd already made dinner ahead of time like I usually did and stored leftovers in the fridge.

So instead of us driving over together, I walked off-campus to Darrius and Monique's apartment. I hadn't minded though, the three block walk to the Augusta Apartments off Roosevelt Way through campus was peaceful. Unlike when I walked with Logan this morning, I definitely drew zero attention to myself.

"What tea?" I flashed her a small smile as I stepped into her opened apartment doorway.

Even for a college senior, if Monique's marketing degree didn't work out for her, then the girl had a definite chance in interior design. Her and Darrius' loft-style apartment, which I now saw for the first time this year, looked straight out of an urban chic, professional magazine.

Their L-shaped, black velvet-textured sofa looked soft enough that my fingers wanted to pet it. The sofa was flanked by two glass-top tables with silver legs that matched the color in the lamps. A coordinated coffee table sat over a dramatic black and white zebra-printed rug that took up most of the floor space.

So much glass for a big guy.

Both of my friends were seniors a year ahead of me and, while he was a Southern gentleman from Louisiana, Monique was a city girl from Portland. They met at a party their freshman year and were instantly inseparable. I'd met them my freshman year through Darrius, who I'd tutored in his English Writing class.

Other than her forwardness, what really impressed me about Monique was how she attended every one of his tutoring sessions in the library. She trusted us alone together but preferred that she sat at the far end of a table with her own homework as a show of support.

"Nuh-uh," she obviously hadn't bought my feigned ignorance. "I have known you for two years Ellie Harrison and not once have I seen you even sniff in the direction of any boy."

"Well, generally they don't smell very good," I replied with a smile. "No offense, Darrius."

Also like always, Darrius' tall, bulky frame loomed behind Monique and gave me a slight wave with his charming smile. While the walk was definitely farther to get to their apartment building, especially after all of the extra attention targeted at Logan today, I was happy that I'd come off campus.

"Hi Miss Ellie," was the warm, Southern-accented greeting he gave me in return. I smiled widely as he walked inside with us, then went into the living room while Monique steered me toward the kitchen.

"He pointed at you after his touchdown!" Monique practically squealed. "And put stars in your eyes during the game... Spill it."

I did not have stars in my eyes... Did I?

Before I answered, Darrius' dark eyes looked back at me. "Pretty boy's not with you tonight?" He called out, which stopped me right in my path into the kitchen.

I'd invited Logan to join us but he'd texted me right before I arrived here that he stayed after practice for more field time with Coach Vaughn, his quarterback coach. He must have had a tougher practice since he also said once he was done that he had an ice bath soak scheduled.

My lips twitched upwards at Darrius and I titled my head up at his curious glance. "Who, Seth?"

"Not that one," Darrius corrected. "New guy Hightower, thinks he has a chance with you. I already warned him you're a nice girl who doesn't want any funny business."

At both his words and what they implied, my mouth dropped open.

Logan talked about me to Darrius? About... me?

"Told you," Monique directed both her smug voice lifted eyebrows at me.

I glanced back and forth between the smirk that pulled across her lips and Darrius, who stood still and waited for a response from me.

Am I really that clueless?

The way Darrius' scowl deepened the longer I stayed silent was more than enough of an answer. Slowly, his forehead tensed into a frown and his mouth turned downwards.

Obviously.

"We dated in high school," I spoke slowly, as a feeling of uncertainty rose up inside me about how much was related to my NDA-blocked information. "I broke up with him but..."

"Pretty boy said he wants a redo," Darrius folded his giant, muscular arms over his broad chest. "You need me to redo anything on his face, just say the word, Miss Ellie."

"That's alright -" I started with a raised hand before a squeak came out of Monique's mouth.

"You... broke up with him!? And now he's here? Saluting you in games?" Her voice raised with each word. I wasn't sure how to interpret her questions, so I just silently nodded. "Damn, girl."

"Yeah, it was... complicated," I twisted one hand in the other hand's fingers then looked up at Darrius. "We talked it out over the weekend and I think we cleared up a lot."

"Does he know about your..." Monique paused like she searched for the right words. "Zeta issue?"

"You mean Lydia issue," I frowned at that horrible memory. "No, I haven't told him."

Spring quarter my freshman year, in a horribly naïve move that I thought put myself out there more socially, I attended some of the spring quarter's sorority rush events. Charlie knew about my nightmares at the time and suggested we go together to some of the parties, with Wes and Darrius by my side for peace of mind.

Once I explained that parties triggered nightmares in me, with zero details as to why, we all attended under the theory if nothing happened then I had nothing to be apprehensive about. Dr. Sterns was in full support that I attempted to put myself into social situations that showed me I no longer needed to be anxious about them, so out we went.

After a few weekends and triggered nightmares, one uneventful party after another, my nightmares actually subsided. I wasn't a big drinker but attempted to be social, meet new people. Charlie was right by me until I felt comfortable on my own, but I only lasted one night and one event further at the Zeta Tau Epsilon house.

All of that progress wiped out within one stupid Saturday night mistake. I can't even begin to imagine how I'd explain the embarrassing incident to Logan.

"Hopefully, it won't come up. And you dodged a bullet with those bitches." Thankfully, Monique changed the subject and wiggled her eyebrows suggestively, "So, Logan all tagged and bagged?"

"Taking things slowly," I admitted and felt a flush of warmth across my cheeks as the memory of our kiss after the game, even though awkwardly soaked in my emotions, replayed through my mind. "We're going out on Friday. I'm going to take him to Burien, then out to Kerry Park for dinner."

My response, or rather which activities I hadn't shared, prompted Monique's hand slapped into Darrius' shoulder. "Why the hell don't you do that romantic stuff with me?"

"This..." Darrius waved a hand from his head down to his giant feet. "Likes being exactly where I am." Then, for emphasis, he stomped one of his giant feet on the ground, which she just palmed her forehead in response.

"You can come with us to Burien," I teased him because I knew he'd never cave on this particular activity. "Get some fresh air, see some -"

"We're good," he interrupted and threw me a knowing grin.

"So... Logan and Seth. You playing the field, Ellie?" Monique understandably looked surprised at that idea, since in the two years we'd known each other, I hadn't been on a single date.

Probably best I don't mention James.

"Seth is just a group movie with friends," I replied right away. "Charlie and Wes are coming. You're both welcome too."

"Now that I'm down for." Darrius flashed me a toothy smile that looked brilliantly white next to his dark skin. "Monique's cut me off of my snacks but I gotta keep one eye on Seth."

"And you're still not getting any snacks at the movies," Monique scolded him with a flash across her dark brown eyes. With one menacing index finger pointed in his face, she added, "Or you won't get anything else that night either."

Ouch.

"Yes boo." He adorably titled his head down and slightly slumped his shoulders.

"Speaking of which," I redirected this conversation and pointed at their kitchen. "Let's make some biscuits, Monique."

Despite forty-five minutes and our best six recipe attempts, Monique and I weren't able to replicate Momma Williams' biscuits, at least not to Darrius' approval. So instead we came up with some lower-carb alternatives that were, in his single word, 'tolerable.'

"Joining us for dinner?" She sighed and leaned against the kitchen counter. Both of us were completely covered in spots of flour and baking materials, we looked like we'd gotten in a flour snowball fight.

"I can't," I replied with a slight smile. "I have... a surprise for Logan tonight."

"Get it then girl," she winked approvingly.

"Not that." I rolled my eyes, headed out the kitchen, and grabbed my bag near the door. "Have a good night though."

"Good night, Miss Ellie." Darrius paused his video game, rose up from the sofa, and walked towards the door with Monique.

"Such a gentleman," I teased him. "Good night, love birds."

After they said good night and closed the door behind me, I checked my watch, then realized I wasn't sure if Logan had already beaten me back. After I sent a quick text to Charlie, I headed home as quickly as my short legs carried me. Right when I reached the apartment building, my phone buzzed in my pocket with her reply.

Charlie: He and Wes just got out of ice baths. Big babies.

I thanked her, then headed upstairs for a surprise I hoped Logan appreciated.