"Thanks for taking care of April," Lauren said as she laid on her side with a hand propping up her head. The bed sheet and comforter covering the lower half of her body. "I didn't realize you're a big deal at school."

"I'm not," Josh muttered, laying on his back with his head tilted to watch her. "I just play football."

Lauren and Josh returned to bed after cuddling for a few minutes and cleaning up for the night. Though both were tired, they weren't quite ready to sleep but unsure what to talk about besides sex and relationships. The small lamp on her nightstand cast a soft glow around the bed.

"Everyone at the bar talked about you and Mikey and that quarterback guy – Scott? Steven?" Lauren didn't mention she had not watched the game because football didn't interest her in the first place. Just because she banged two of the players didn't mean she was automatically their number one fan.

She caught enough snippets from various bar patrons to piece together the Ravens crushed the Bulldogs, Josh scored three touchdowns and Mikey scored one, and the quarterback was on fire with his plays.

"Shawn." Josh corrected. "Shawn is the quarterback."

"Everyone loved him today."

"Do you watch football?"

Lauren shook her head slowly and shrugged. "Not really. I get the logistics of the game, but I'm not a diehard fan of a certain team or anything."

He suddenly looked nervous, twirling part of the bed sheet around his finger and keeping his eyes on the ceiling.

"Josh." Her curiosity overtook her patience. "What's going on?"

"Would you go to the next game? To watch me play?" He was so embarrassed he couldn't look at her because he had never needed or even wanted to ask anyone. His previous sexual partners proudly admitted to watching him play – either on the TV or at the university stadium.

"Can I still buy a ticket?" Lauren silently prayed for one of two things: either the game be sold out or tickets cost less than fifty bucks.

With the way the entire state worshipped the football team, she doubted tickets were cheap even for students. After paying rent and other bills and buying groceries, extra money went to her savings account. Lauren's one weakness was dining out with April because neither liked to cook. If given the choice between attending a football game or ordering Chinese takeout, Lauren would rather spend her money on crab rangoons, egg rolls, and sesame chicken.

Not that she or April were ashamed to attend the university, they weren't the type of students to show school pride by attending rallies and other related events. They went to school and lived a normal life off campus.

Josh finally met her gaze and smiled widely. "Oh, don't worry about the ticket. I can get you and April into one of the clubs."

"April?"

"Or whoever you want," he amended quickly. "I figured you wouldn't want to go by yourself."

When the fan base grew exponentially over the past decade due to the team's new leadership and winning streak, the university demolished the previous dinky stadium and built a bigger and fancier one, which included exclusive club seating.

Students with money usually watched the game from the third tier, which offered free food and drinks and seats in a glass enclosure. The second and first tiers were available for high-ranking faculty members, wealthy donors, and other important city and state officials that had the funds to spend a small fortune to be pampered with artisan beer, top-shelf alcohol, and high-end food.

"You really want me there?" Lauren asked warily. While she was grateful for the complimentary tickets, watching a live football game wasn't her idea of fun, but she was willing to go for him.

Josh wanted her to see him in his element on the field and with his friends. Maybe he would impress her with his sportsmanship. Maybe she would find him irresistibly sexy in his football uniform. Maybe she would find something else other than sex to like about him.

"Yeah," he admitted, scrubbing his face with one hand. "I kinda wanna show off for you."

Her heart jumped for joy because he wanted to impress her. For some reason that made her giddy with excitement.

"OK," Lauren said, with a grin. "April and I will be at your next game."

"Awesome," Josh replied, reaching out to stroke her soft cheek. "Thank you."

"Well, I love my Ravens hoodie. It's so big and comfy."

"I have a ton of team T-shirts that you and April can have if you want," he offered. "One of the many perks of being a college football player in a state that doesn't have a professional sports team."

"Free stuff?" Lauren knew some bars and restaurants in the city quietly picked up the tab when the more popular players visited the establishments. Their presence alone provided free advertising to dedicated fans and the public.

Josh rolled his eyes and shrugged. "Yeah. I mean the perks are nice and everything, but I just want to play football."

"Aspirations to go professional?"

"Fuck no," he said quickly, with a hint of annoyance. A few seconds later, Josh expanded his answer in a more serious tone. "I love the game, but I don't want to spend the rest of my life playing it."

"What's your major?" Lauren asked, with curiosity.

"Business for now, but in all honesty, I don't know what I want to do. I'll probably end up working for my dad."

"What does he do?"

"He's an investment banker." Just saying the occupation out loud made Josh want to fall asleep or make his mind drift to something more interesting.

"Does he have his own company?"

Josh shook his head. "Nah. He's a managing director for a prestigious nationwide firm."

Lauren silently congratulated herself for remembering investment banks basically help companies raise money and offer financial advice. If her memory served her correct a managing director was at the top of the hierarchy, meaning his dad wielded a good amount of power and maintained many responsibilities.

"Do you want to be an investment banker?" Lauren was unsure why she asked the question knowing he didn't.

"Not really, but I have no clue what I want to do," Josh answered honestly, feeling a little lost. "What about you? What are you studying?"

"Business. I want to run my own tattoo shop." She loved talking about her two passions: tattoos and drawing.

He noticed the pride in her voice and the wistful look on her beautiful face. "How come you only have one tat?"

"I'm saving my money for the shop. Hopefully, I'll get a discount of some kind when I start working at a tattoo parlor. I already know what my next three tats will be."

"Tell me."

Lauren scrambled out of bed, retrieved her sketchbook from her backpack, and sat on the bed, flipping through the pages. Josh propped himself up on an elbow and studied a simple horizontal drawing of different types of stars.

"I want this here," she explained, tracing a finger from her collarbone to the curve of her shoulder. "It's not super complicated, but I love the simplicity."

"Did you draw this and your cherry blossom tat?" He turned to the next page and stopped at an intricate and detailed drawing of a koi fish against a black and white back splash. The beautiful sketch took his breath away.

Lauren nodded, studying her work. "I'm still kinda playing around with this, but I think I want it on the inside of my forearm."

"You're an amazing artist," Josh praised, looking at her forearm and then the koi fish drawing. "How long have you been drawing?"

"Since kindergarten, but my third-grade art teacher recognized my drawings were more advanced. Ever since then I had been placed in advanced art classes."

"That's cool. I've always wanted to get a tat."

"What would you get?" Lauren reached for a pencil on her nightstand and flipped her sketchbook to a clean page.

Josh shrugged. "I dunno know, but it has to mean something to me, ya know?"

"I get it. I fell in love with cherry blossoms during a fourth-grade field trip to a botanical garden."

"Mikey got a huge mermaid inked on his forearm because he just wanted one. Crazy." Josh shook his head in disbelief. "I couldn't do that."

"Yeah, me too," Lauren agreed, laying her sketchbook and pencil on top of the nightstand and slipping underneath the covers. "Tattoos are permanent reminders of how who I am and what I love."

"Exactly!" The sentiment pleasantly surprised Josh, wondering whether he was the only person who took the permanent process seriously. He admired Mikey's body art, but he knew he could never get one on a whim.

Lauren turned off the lamp and situated herself on her side. "Good night, Josh."

"Good night," he murmured, kissing her forehead before laying on his back and thinking about everything he learned about her tonight.

Although he had no time for a relationship, the more Josh hung out with Lauren the more he genuinely liked her. She was vastly different from the other women that eagerly wanted to please or impress him in exchange for his affection. Lauren didn't want anything from him except maybe his dick, but truth be told, Josh was completely fine with that.

"I'll be back in an hour with food," Josh promised, kissing her soundly. Just feeling his tongue against hers tempted Lauren to pull him back into her bedroom for another round of sex, but her stomach grumbled, demanding lunch.

Stupid food, she thought miserably as her nether regions cried for more attention. Unfortunately, she turned into a complete bitch if she went hungry for a long period of time.

"See you soon," he said, with a wink, closing the door behind him.

When she woke up late in the morning, Josh had been awake, playing around on his phone. Lauren had tried to roll off the bed to brush her teeth, embarrassed by her stinky breath, but he made light of the situation, pulling her closer and tickling her. As their naked bodies had entwined in a frenetic pace, she soon forgot about her morning breath especially when Josh's mouth found her wet sex spot.

As much as they had wanted to spend the day in bed until Lauren had to head to work, they both needed to focus on homework and other stuff. Reluctant to leave her until he would see her at Saturday's game, Josh suggested spending the afternoon together, studying and watching football on TV.

Lauren agreed when she noticed the eagerness in his eyes and an unexpected pull to be near him. Josh needed to drop by the dorm to shower and change into clean clothes, grab his laptop and some books, and pick up lunch on his way back to her apartment.

Lauren pressed her forehead against the door and sighed out loud. What the hell was happening to her? Why did this guy make her smile? Why was she excited to spend a low-key afternoon with him? Why did she want to jump his bones every time she saw him?

"Wanna talk about it?" April asked, hopping up to sit on the island and swinging her short legs for entertainment.

"I dunno." Lauren sighed again, pushing herself away from the door and flopping face first onto the nearby couch.

"The sex was hot."

Lauren couldn't disagree with her roommate's true statement. "What the fuck is happening, A?"

"Looks like the start of a relationship."

"Ugh!" Lauren flipped onto her back and rested her head against cushion. "I don't have time for one."

"But you have time to spend the afternoon with him?" April asked, raising an eyebrow, and picked up some unopened mail laying on the counter.

"We're just watching football and doing homework before I head to the bar."

"Not a traditional date, but still a date."

Lauren remained silent. "I'm over-thinking this, aren't I?"

"Yup." April's blunt honesty made Lauren smile because April was the only person she trusted the most with her secrets and fears. "He might make you happy."

"Or he could make me cry."

"Oh boohoo, Ren. We're young and stupid. Now is the best time to make mistakes and have fun."

Crying over an end of a relationship and dealing with a broken heart didn't sound like much fun to Lauren, but she understood April's point. When her last relationship ended, Lauren had been too busy to fully process the loss of her first love.

Lauren had met Jessica working as overnight stockers at a grocery store when she first moved into the city. They had bonded over their love for tattoos, dogs, and horror movies and their dislike for their supervisor, Gloria, with a fake sunny deposition, meatballs subs, and hiking in the summer.

In a few short months, Lauren and Jessica fell in love and she moved from her crappy studio apartment into Jessica's nicer one-bedroom apartment. Life had been wonderfully blissful and beautiful for Lauren, finally living a life she had craved ever since her dad left when she was 13. Lauren had found love and her dream, and more importantly, she had a plan. Between working and filling out various scholarship forms, she had applied to about dozen colleges in the city and surrounding areas.

Watching Lauren pursue her dream inspired Jessica to chase hers of becoming a singer. Believing she would never garner any attention in a Midwest state, Jessica set her sights on California or Tennessee. Lauren had been so in love that she would've followed Jessica anywhere, but she knew the chances of Jessica achieving her dream was slim to none because Jessica wasn't a good singer.

Lauren had many fond memories of singing karaoke with her and singing along to their playlists during road trips, but in all honesty, Jessica didn't have the gift of song. And Lauren wasn't willing to risk her dream in order for Jessica to endlessly chase hers.

Just days after the breakup, Jessica took off for California, leaving Lauren with an apartment that she couldn't afford by herself, especially when she received an acceptance letter to one of the city's universities. In a span of two weeks, Lauren needed to find a new place to live, quit her job as an overnight stocker, locate a new job with flexible hours, and apply for a school loan. She had no time to deal with her broken heart.

As all the uncertainties stressed her out, Lauren wondered if she had made the right decision. But the moment she stepped into her first class as a full-fledged college student, an enormous weight had been lifted. She answered April's want ad for a roommate, received a substantial scholarship, accepted a day-time position at the grocery store, and had been approved for a school loan.

Although she didn't have time for the traditional breakup ritual of crying on couch while eating ice cream and watching rom-com movies, Lauren remembered the heartache, self doubt, and hurt all too well and didn't want to experience that ever again.

"Why analyze the end of a relationship when it hasn't even begun?" April questioned, separating bills from the junk mail. "You're adventurous with sex because it's about the experimentation not about finding love. As long as you're emotionally detached, your heart remains in one piece."

Why is she majoring in information technology instead of psychology? Lauren wondered, with a frown.

"Don't think about this too hard," she advised, opening a piece of junk mail. "Just do him."

Lauren chuckled at the sage piece of advice.

"Besides," April continued, jumping off the kitchen island and throwing away the pile of junk mail. "If things go south with Josh, you'll do what you do best."

Lauren sat up and peeked curiously over the couch at her wise roommate. "What's that?"

"You put it behind you and continue to focus on your dream."

DEDICATION: One of my favorite things about Wattpad is discovering kindred spirits like LeiAndre who has such a great sense of humor and honesty in her comments. From one writer to another: you have a beautiful soul.