Matchplay A New Adult Romance - By Dakota Madison Page 0,2

intense gaze, I noticed that both men’s polo shirts matched. The insignias on their shirts were two crossed golf clubs circled in gold. Weird. I had read that the university didn’t allow sororities and fraternities on campus.

The beautiful brown-eyed guy elbowed his big friend. “I think you’re scaring the poor girl, Evan.”

Evan looked down at me and gave me a winning smile. “How can you possibly be scared of me?” I

recognized his smile. I had seen it before. It was the rehearsed smile of young people, who would eventually end up in politics or on Wall Street.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw another guy and girl hurrying toward me. The girl was tall and lean with long, strawberry colored hair. The guy struggled to keep up. He was tall and lanky, like the girl, but his reddish hair was a bit fuller and much shorter. There was little doubt they were related. The girl squeezed herself between me and the two gorgeous guys, which wasn’t easy because they were standing very close to me. The guys stepped back when they saw how intent she was on getting between us.

The girl glared at the big guy and said, “We’re going to help her. You two can find someone else to help.” She gave the final help such a weird emphasis it was obvious she intended a double-meaning. Did she think those two gorgeous guys were hitting on me? Ha! The idea was preposterous. Guys like that didn’t give girls like me a second look. I wasn’t unattractive but certainly never stood out, except academically, but I was definitely not in their dating league. Guys like that dated cheerleaders. They didn’t date bookish girls like me.

The girl’s glare remained fixed on the big guy. He didn’t i ntimidate her one bit. I was impressed.

When I snuck a peek at the beautiful brown-eyed guy, I noticed he was looking at me. He had a strange expression on his face, like he was studying me. When our eyes locked, it sent shivers down my entire body. I gulped and quickly turned away. When I snuck another glance in his direction, I saw that he was grinning at me. I could feel my face flush. Was my lack of experience with boys that obvious? I turned away in shame.

I guess the big guy finally realized he had met his match because he shrugged and said, “Come on, Aaron, I see some girls over there, who look like they can use some help.”

Without another look at the strawberry-haired girl, Evan took off. I watched as Aaron followed his friend. I almost fell to the ground when Aaron turned back around and winked at me. Oh. My. God. He was hot.

The girl looked at me and her expression was serious. “Promise me you’ll stay away from those guys.

They’re nothing but trouble.”

I gulped. Aaron was trouble? It didn’t surprise me. Anyone that good looking probably changed girls like he changed underwear.

“I mean it,” she said.

“Okay.” I tried to appease her.

“In case you haven’t figured it out yet, I’m Olivia. Your roommate.” She pointed to her name tag, which I had totally missed with my attention was fixed on Aaron.

She continued. “This is my brother, Lucas. He’s a junior.”

I looked at Lucas and he nodded. He wasn’t a bad looking guy but not as heart-stoppingly gorgeous as Aaron. He had a serious face that reminded me of many of the guys my dad worked with at his engineering firm.

“My brother is an engineering major. And he doesn’t have a girlfriend. He wanted me to make sure I

told you that.”

Lucas playfully smacked his sister’s arm. “I wanted you to share that information a bit more subtly than that.”

Olivia looked at me. “I don’t do subtle. I’m a speech and communications major.”

“She should be a theater major.” Lucas laughed. “She’s already a drama queen.”

She glared at her brother. “And he thinks he’s a comedian.”

I laughed. Olivia seemed to be my complete opposite but I already liked her. And I really liked the fact that she had a brother, she was obviously close to. Maybe he could adopt me as an honorary little sister.

My dad rushed toward us. “Sorry it took me so long to find a parking spot.” He eyed Olivia and Lucas.

“Dad, this is my roommate, Olivia, and her brother, Lucas.”

The three of them shook hands. Then Olivia said, “I’ve got my stuff in the room already, so we can give Rainy a hand with her stuff.”

“Fair