Jake walked into the dorm, and was met with loud music. Doors were wide open, people spilling into the hall. He showered and changed, then headed into the common area, the usual post-game chaos, backslaps and cheers and a ridiculously bad speech.
Riley appeared with two Gatorades.
"For a quarterback who just won a game," Riley said, "you sure aren't celebrating."
"I'm celebrating."
"You're just standing there. All stiff." Riley handed him a drink. "She get home okay?"
"Yeah. She texted."
"Good." Riley cracked his Gatorade." Does Elena have a boyfriend?"
Jake looked at him.
"What?" Riley said.
Jake chuckled. "Nothing, man."
"What? I'm just asking. Don't you and Maya talk? Hasn't she told you anything about Elena?"
Jake took a long drink. "No, bro. She's never told me anything about Elena's personal life."
Riley shifted. "Huh."
"Don't tell me you actually have a crush on her. You just met her."
"Whoa, bro." Riley laughed, raising his hands. "I don't know, she just… she's really pretty. And smart. And funny. I'm not even trying to overthink it."
Jake raised an eyebrow.
"I know, I know." Riley laughed, embarrassed. "It's cheesy. But like... she's just different."
Jake looked at him for a second. Then laughed. "Okay bro."
He left Riley standing there, still holding his Gatorade, looking confused.
Upstairs, Jake lay on his bed. His ribs still ached. The ibuprofen helped, but not enough. He was almost asleep when his phone lit up.
An email. Sender: [email protected]. Subject: Saturday's game
Jake read it, then set the phone face-down on his chest and stared at the ceiling.
NFL scouts.
He was panicking. He knew he should call his dad or tell Maya, but he froze. Telling his dad meant the whole thing would get turned into a business plan. Telling Maya meant risking how she'd look at him. Like he was already halfway gone.
He picked up the phone again, thumb hovering over her name. Then he set it down.
He went to sleep thinking about Maya, the email glowing on his nightstand .
Maya woke up at 4:47 AM to the suffocating silence of the dorm at its deepest hour. Elena was asleep across the room, breathing slow and even. Maya's phone was clutched in her hand, screen still lit, the brightness burning her eyes.
Forty-seven notifications. She'd stopped counting.
She'd told Elena she was fine. Smiled through dinner and the "they're just jealous" speech. But when Elena fell asleep, Maya had reached for her phone again. And again. And again.
Now she was scrolling through the comments again.
How did a guy like Jake end up with THAT?
Her jeans are from Target. I'm literally crying.
Did you guys see her mom's Facebook? Works at a DINER. Lmao the scholarship kid thinks she's one of us now.
Maya's thumb froze. The comment had a screenshot attached to it of her mother's Facebook page, the one where she'd posted about Maya's acceptance and a photo of the scholarship letter. The comment had two hundred likes.
Her stomach dropped. She felt sick, not from the cruelty, but because they'd dragged her mom into it. Nowhere was safe. She'd brought this home like a disease.
She kept scrolling.More photos she'd never known were taken. Her in the stands, mid-cheer, hand pressed to her mouth. Jake's jersey visible in each.The caption: The new Mrs. Thompson? Let's hope she knows how to read a playbook.
Her eyes stung, but she refused to cry. She kept scrolling.
"Maya."
She jumped. Elena was sitting up in bed, hair wild, squinting at her in the dark.
"Don't tell me you're reading those again." Elena said quietly.
Maya tried to hide the phone. Elena crossed the room, sat on the edge of Maya's bed, and held out her hand.
Maya handed it over.
Elena looked at the screen and read through the comments, saw the screenshot of Maya's mom. Her jaw tightened. She just set the phone face-down on the desk, pulled Maya into her arms, and held her.
"Can't believe they dragged my mom into this" Maya whispered into Elena's shoulder. Her voice broke. "They know where she works Elena."
"I know," Elena said, rubbing her back. "I know."
"What if they—what if someone—"
"Hey." Elena pulled back, holding Maya's face in her hands. "Your mom is safe. Those idiots are all talk. They don't have access to her."
"What about me?," Maya said. "Am I safe?."
Elena didn't have an answer for that. She just held her until Maya's breathing slowed. Then she climbed into Maya's bed, and lay there with her arm around Maya's shoulders until the sun came up.
The next day, Jake stood outside her dorm at 9:58.
Maya came down and stopped on the bottom step. She'd covered the dark circles with concealer, but her eyes were still puffy. Jake saw through it.
The truck was parked at the curb. Navy blue. Completely immaculate.
"Oh my God," she said under her breath. " That's yours?"
Jake pushed off the door, smiling, but it didn't reach his eyes. "Yeah."
She walked around the front slowly, taking in the height, the lines.
She stopped. "Jake… that's a Ford F-350 Platinum."
He blinked. "You know trucks?"
"Yeah. My tío had a 2003 Ranger. I grew up around it." She gestured toward the hood. "For someone like you, I didn't expect a truck."
Jake tilted his head. "What does that mean?"
"I don't know. Something with a spoiler. A Porsche, maybe."
He smiled faintly. "I have one of those."
"You—" She stopped. "Of course you do."
"My dad got it for my twentieth birthday," he said. "I've driven it only twice."
"Twice? Why?"
He shrugged. "It's nice, but… not me." He nodded toward the truck. "Found this one myself at a dealership on the way back from a game last spring. Loved it immediately."
Maya looked at the truck. Then at him. She saw the tension around his eyes, the way he was standing.
"Do you want to drive?" he asked.
She stared at him. "You want me to drive?"
"Yeah," he said, holding out the keys. "Since you know trucks and all, seems fair."
Her face lit up with a smile, the first one since she'd woken up. She took the keys, trying not to look too excited and failing completely.
She climbed into the driver's seat. He walked around and got in on the passenger side.
She adjusted the mirrors, then started the engine. It came alive low and steady.
"Oh," she said softly. "Okay. I understand why you bought this."
"Yeah?"
"Can you hear that?" She grinned, easing her foot onto the gas. "It purrs." She checked the mirrors and pulled out. "I respect it."
They drove south, leaving campus behind. The streets grew quieter, the truck gliding smoothly down the road.
They drove in silence for a few minutes. Maya's hands were steady on the wheel, but her knuckles were white.
Jake cleared his throat. "About the comments…"
"Don't," she said quickly. "Please. I can't—I don't want to talk about it right now."
He watched her. "Okay."
She glanced at him. "Did you see them?"
"Yeah. I saw them."
"All of them?"
"Enough." He paused. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked you to wear my jersey. If I'd known—"
"Jake." Her voice was sharp. She softened it. "Don't apologize for that. I wanted to wear it. I just… didn't know they could be that cruel."
He reached over, his hand covering hers. "Tell me what to do. I'll do it. I'll delete my account, I'll—"
"Just… be here. That's all." She said.
He squeezed her hand. They didn't talk for the rest of the drive.
Tuesday night, they went to the cinema on the east side of campus. They watched a 1970s thriller that was more confusing than tense. Maya held the popcorn between them. Jake kept stealing from the side like he thought she wouldn't notice.
She nudged the bucket away.
"Stop," she whispered.
He smiled, still taking from the bucket.
The movie dragged on. Jake leaned toward her ear.
"Was that supposed to be a jump scare?" he whispered.
"Shh."
"I've seen scarier things in the locker room."
Maya pressed her lips together, trying not to laugh. "Jake."
He gestured at the screen. "That guy's not even running right."
She elbowed him lightly. "You're going to get us kicked out."
"I'm just saying—"
The person in front of them turned around. "Some of us are trying to watch."
They both went quiet. The person turned back. Then Jake whispered, "That was the most excitement this movie has had all night."
Maya snorted.
They left before the ending. The night was cold, the streetlamps casting orange pools on the sidewalk. Maya shoved her hands in her pockets, walking close enough to him that their shoulders brushed.
"So," she said. "That was terrible."
"Completely terrible," he agreed.
They stopped at a corner, waiting for the light to change. Jake looked at her, his gaze dropping to her mouth, then back to her eyes.
"What?" she asked, self-conscious.
"Nothing," he said quietly. "I just like looking at you."
The light changed. Neither of them moved.
He reached out, took her hand and pulled her into the dark alcove of a closed bookstore. He cupped her face and kissed her, soft at first ,then deeper, thumb brushing her jaw.
"I'm sorry," he said against her mouth.
"For what?"
"For all of it. The attention, the—" He pulled back, his forehead resting against hers. "You didn't sign up for this. People being cruel to you because of me."
Maya looked up at him. The streetlight caught the edge of his cheekbone, the worry in his eyes.
"I have no regrets Jake," she said.
He kissed her again, harder this time, like he was trying to memorize the shape of her mouth.
The next day, they studied in the truck in the parking lot behind the athletic complex. Heat running. Rain on the windshield, making the outside world irrelevant. Jake had his notes spread across the dashboard. Maya had her research framework open on her laptop.
Neither of them had intended to stop working.
But at some point he reached across to look at something on her screen. He was very close. She was already turning when he kissed her.
Just a kiss.
He pulled back, still close, his thumb brushing her jaw. She kissed him again, and when she nipped at his lower lip his hand slid from her waist up her ribs, thumb grazing the underside of her breast through her sweater.
She shifted in her seat, moving closer, and before he knew it, she had climbed onto his lap, her knees on either side of his thighs. His hands found her waist, then slid up her back, pulling her closer. She cupped his face and kissed him, teeth catching his lip, and he groaned, a sound that vibrated through his chest.
His hands moved under her shirt, warm against her skin, and she gasped into his mouth, breaking the kiss only to drag her teeth along his jaw, his throat.
For a while, the notes were not a priority.
When they finally pulled apart, her shirt was twisted, and his hair was a mess from her fingers. She was still sitting in his lap with their foreheads together, both of them trying to catch their breath.
"We really should go back to our notes," she whispered, her voice unsteady.
"Yeah," he said, his voice wrecked. "Our books aren't going to read themselves."
She laughed, breathless.
She slid back into her seat. He grabbed his notes off the floor. She opened her laptop, lips still tingling. They kept studying for another hour, warm in the truck, occasionally looking at each other and smiling like idiots.
Thursday at midnight, after his film session ran late, they hit a drive-through. Maya sat in the passenger seat with her shoes off, feet on the dashboard, eating fries one at a time.
Jake drove with one hand and reached over at a red light to steal one.
"Hey. Stop stealing my fries."
"You weren't eating them fast enough."
"That's because I'm savoring the flavor," she said. "You can't just eat like a caveman, Jake."
He glanced at her. "I play a contact sport. Caveman is part of the job description."
"You're using that as an excuse."
"I'm hungry though."
She pulled the bag away. "You said you didn't want any. Something about carbs."
"I said I should avoid unnecessary carbs."
"These are unnecessary carbs."
He shrugged. "No, they're not."
He reached again. She lifted the fries above her head.
"You're impossible."
"Just give me the food and I'll stop bothering you."
The light turned green. Jake accelerated, laughing. They were three blocks from campus when the truck in the next lane pulled up even with them. A group of guys in the back,probably athletes she didn't recognize.
"Hey Thompson!" one of them shouted. "That the jersey girl? Nice pull, man!"
Maya froze. The fries dropped into her lap.
"She as fun as she looks?" another one called out. "You sharing, or what?"
They laughed. Crude, loud, cutting through the closed windows like they weren't even there.
Jake's jaw tightened. His hands gripped the steering wheel so hard his knuckles turned white.
"Jake," Maya said quietly. "Don't."
But he was already accelerating, hard, the truck lurching forward. He ran the yellow light, then the next one, tires squealing as he turned onto a side street. He pulled over abruptly, and slammed the truck into park.
The silence was deafening. Maya's heart was hammering. She could see it in the way his shoulders were shaking, the way he was staring straight ahead like he might punch the windshield if he looked at her.
"I'm sorry," he said. His voice was rough, broken. "I'm so fucking sorry. I shouldn't have—I shouldn't have brought you into this."
"Jake." She touched his face, turned him toward her. "Look at me."
He did. His eyes were wet, furious, and helpless.
"You're the only reason I'm okay right now," she said. "You know that? When I'm with you, none of that matters. Not the comments, not those guys, not any of it. You're my safe place. You get that?"
He stared at her for a long moment. Then he leaned across the center console and kissed her.
Are you okay?" she asked.
He didn't answer right away. "I will be."
"Let me take you home," he whispered against her mouth.
"Okay," she said.
He drove her back to Spruce Hall in silence, but it wasn't the bad kind.
That night, lying in bed, Maya didn't think about what people had said about her these past few days.
She thought about Jake, about the way he'd looked at her, like she was worth protecting, worth fighting for, worth all of it.