Rumor Has It I'm Dating the Football Captain

Chapter 4: Chapter 4: Delete

"Privacy?" Logan repeated.

His perfect, practiced posture broke for a fraction of a second. The word sounded bitter in his mouth. He stared at Mason’s large hand resting heavily on Audrey’s shoulder. A visible muscle twitched in his jaw.

"Yes. Privacy," Mason said smoothly. He did not move his hand. He did not step back. "It is a concept people usually grasp when they see two people hiding behind a building."

Logan ignored him. He looked directly at Audrey. He put on his calm, reasonable face. It was the exact same expression he used last year whenever he wanted to make her feel like she was overreacting.

"Audrey, what is going on?" Logan asked. His voice dripped with fake concern. "You do not even know him. This is going too far just to prove a point."

Audrey felt the familiar cold panic rise in her chest. The sterile, sharp smell of his peppermint cologne made her stomach turn. He was doing it again. He was rewriting reality to make himself the victim and her the crazy, desperate girl.

She opened her mouth, but her throat was completely dry. Her vocal cords refused to work.

Mason felt her tremble slightly under his hand. His fingers squeezed her shoulder. It was a firm, grounding pressure. The heavy warmth radiating from him anchored her to the dirt path.

"She does not need to prove anything to you," Mason said. His voice was no longer loud or teasing. It was dangerously quiet. "And you are standing too close. Back up."

Logan finally looked at Mason. He tried to pull himself up to his full height, attempting to assert his authority as Student Council President. But next to the broad, towering frame of the university’s star athlete, Logan just looked incredibly small.

"I am talking to my ex-girlfriend," Logan said stiffly. "I am just worried about her. She has a habit of getting overly attached to people and creating situations in her head."

Audrey stopped breathing. The sheer cruelty of that sentence felt like a physical slap to the face. He was actually saying it out loud. He was using the rumor he helped create as a weapon against her.

"That is funny," Mason said. His brown eyes were completely dead. "Because right now, she does not look attached to you at all. She looks like she is praying for a heavy object to fall from the sky and crush you."

Logan flushed a dark, angry red. He hated looking foolish. He absolutely hated losing control of a conversation.

"Audrey," Logan snapped, dropping the gentle act entirely. "Tell him we are talking."

Audrey looked at Logan’s blotchy face. Then she felt the solid weight of Mason’s hand on her shoulder. Mason was not stepping away. He was not checking to see if anyone was watching them. He did not care about his image. He only cared about standing between her and the guy making her miserable.

A tiny, brave spark ignited in her chest.

"We are not talking," Audrey said. Her voice shook, but she forced the words out.

Logan blinked. He looked genuinely shocked.

"I have nothing to say to you, Logan," Audrey continued. She gripped her backpack straps tightly. "Please leave."

Logan opened his mouth to argue, but Mason shifted his weight forward just a fraction of an inch. A mountain of muscle blocking the path.

"You heard her," Mason rumbled. "Take a walk."

Logan looked from Mason’s cold stare to Audrey’s pale face. He realized he had completely lost the upper hand. He adjusted his pristine collar, trying to salvage a shred of his dignity.

"Fine," Logan spat. "But do not come crying to me when this blows up in your face, Audrey."

He turned on his heel and marched back up the dirt path toward the main campus. His polished shoes crunched loudly against the pine needles.

Audrey watched him walk away until he disappeared around the corner of the brick building.

The second he was out of sight, all the tension drained out of her body. Her knees went dangerously weak. She let out a shaky, ragged breath and slumped slightly against the trunk of the oak tree.

Mason immediately dropped his hand from her shoulder. The intimidating, terrifying wall of ice melted away in an instant. He took a half step back to give her space.

"Hey," Mason said softly. He ducked his head to try and catch her eye under the brim of her cap. "Are you okay?"

Audrey nodded slowly. She pressed the heels of her hands against her eyes. "Yes. I am fine. Just give me a second."

Mason did not push. He leaned his broad back against the brick wall and waited. The quiet hum of the campus slowly returned. The dappled sunlight warmed the cool air under the trees. The sharp scent of mint shower gel replaced the awful smell of peppermint completely.

Audrey finally dropped her hands. She looked over at him.

Mason was watching her with that hyper-observant gaze. He looked completely exhausted from his morning practice, his dark hair sticking up at odd angles, but his attention was entirely focused on her.

"Who was that?" Mason asked.

"Logan," Audrey said quietly. "My ex-boyfriend."

Mason tilted his head. The puzzle pieces were clearly snapping together in his mind. "Is he the reason you hide under that cap?"

Audrey looked down at her sneakers. "He is the reason the whole school thinks I am a desperate, clingy stalker. When he got tired of me, he did not break up with me. He just started dating someone else and let everyone think I was crazy for being confused."

Silence fell over the shaded path.

Audrey braced herself for the pity. She waited for him to offer some polite, meaningless sympathy.

Instead, Mason let out a long, heavy sigh.

"I should have thrown him into the bushes," Mason said. He sounded genuinely annoyed with himself. "I had the perfect angle. It would have been so easy."

Audrey let out a sudden, surprised laugh. It was a small sound, but it felt incredibly good to let it out.

Mason smiled. The golden retriever energy came rushing right back. His warm brown eyes crinkled at the corners.

"There it is," Mason said smoothly. "I knew you had a sense of humor under all that hostility."

"I am not hostile," Audrey argued. "I am cautious."

"You threatened to hit me with a rock ten minutes ago."

"You deserved it."

Mason pushed off the brick wall. He stretched his arms over his head, his joints popping loudly. He looked entirely too relaxed.

"Come on," Mason said. He jerked his head toward the main path. "You survived your literature class. I survived holding back my violent urges. We both need food."

Audrey immediately shook her head. "No. No way. The three-day rule is still in effect. I am going back to my dorm to eat ramen in absolute darkness."

"Audrey, the three-day rule is dead," Mason said. He started walking down the path. "Your ex just saw us alone behind a deserted building. If we walk away in opposite directions now, it looks suspicious. You have to commit to the bit."

"There is no bit!" Audrey yelled, hurrying after his long strides. "We are not dating!"

"Tell that to my stomach. It thinks I am taking my girlfriend to the cafeteria."

"You are infuriating."

"And you are hungry. Let’s go."

Audrey wanted to argue. She wanted to turn around and run back to her safe, quiet corner of the library. But her stomach let out a loud, embarrassing rumble. She had completely skipped breakfast.

She groaned in defeat and followed him out of the shaded path.

The afternoon sun hit them immediately. The campus quad was packed with students grabbing lunch between classes. The noise was deafening.

Audrey instantly pulled her cap lower. She braced herself for the stares.

They walked into the massive glass doors of the main cafeteria. The smell of fried food and stale coffee washed over them.

"Over here!" a voice boomed across the room.

Audrey looked up.

Sitting at the very center table of the cafeteria, directly under the brightest lights, were six massive football players. Leo was standing up, waving his arms frantically. Jackson was throwing a french fry at him to make him sit down.

Half the cafeteria turned to look at the commotion.

"Oh no," Audrey whispered. She grabbed the back of Mason’s hoodie. "I am not sitting there. Everyone is looking."

Mason stopped. He looked down at her hand gripping his shirt. He looked at her pale face.

"Audrey," Mason said quietly. He did not pull away from her grip. "Hiding did not work last year. It just let other people write your story."

Audrey froze.

"If they want to stare," Mason said, a slow, highly confident smile spreading across his face, "let’s give them something good to look at."

He did not wait for her to argue. He reached out, gently took her hand, and pulled her right through the center of the crowded cafeteria.

The whispers exploded around them instantly.

Students literally stopped eating to watch the untouchable football captain weave through the tables, holding the hand of the quiet girl in the oversized hoodie.

Audrey’s heart hammered against her ribs. Her palm was sweating. But Mason’s grip was firm and impossibly warm.

They reached the center table. The football players went dead silent, staring at their captain’s intertwined hands in pure shock.

Mason let go of her hand. He pulled out a heavy metal chair right next to his own.

"Have a seat," Mason said loudly.

Audrey looked at the chair. She looked at the six giant athletes staring at her. She looked around the cafeteria at the hundreds of eyes completely locked on her every move.

She took a slow, deep breath.

She reached up, pulled her baseball cap off her head, and tossed it onto the table.

She sat down.

Mason laughed out loud. It was a bright, victorious sound. He dropped into the chair next to her and stole a french fry off Leo’s plate.

Audrey’s phone buzzed in her pocket.

She pulled it out. It was a direct message from an unknown number.

*Audrey. We need to talk about what just happened. Meet me at the library tonight. - Logan*

Audrey stared at the screen. She listened to Leo arguing with Mason about stolen food. She felt the heavy, comfortable warmth of Mason sitting entirely too close to her.

She pressed delete. She put the phone face down on the table.

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