Authors note:

sorry for the pretty late update, but it's a long and cute one so be ready!!

Practice was the best it has been since the start of the year. Yeah I mean we've only been practicing for a month, but still, it was fucking amazing. Honestly, I think a part of it had to do with Aria being there. Coach probably wants to make it look fun and enjoyable instead of miserable and pure pain.

I make my way out of the ice rink with Brett and Matt trailing behind me. Brett was going on about some shit he did with a blonde last week and Matt was just nodding his head. Brett's a fucking idiot, but I love him to death. I'm closer with him considering we're alike more than Matt and I. Matt is more down-to-earth and gives meaningful advice. But, Matt is one of the best guys I know considering the shit he went through.

Once we get back to the apartment, I change out of my clothes and threw on a pair of grey sweatpants and a tight long-sleeved, navy blue shirt from Nike. I put on a pair of converse, grab my car keys from the kitchen, and bid farewell to my roommates. I hop in my jeep and make my way to campus. Time to learn how to photoshop! Quite literally. I've only shown up to my computer editing class twice this year, but something tells me I should go today.

By the time I get there, it's 9:45, right on time baby. I walk in and quickly take a seat in the back of the room. Before I take my computer out I scan the room, looking for anybody I may know. My gaze locks on a brunette with curly hair, who seems to be sitting all alone with her head down. I quickly scramble out of my seat and make my way down to her. Why not both suffer with each other, eh? I plop down in the seat beside her and her head jerks up. My eyes widen as I realize the lovely brunette is Aria. I smile at her and give her a little wave. She lightly smiles back, and a light shade of pink appears on her nose and cheeks. Cute.

"You looked lonely over here, thought I'd join you," I say with a smile as I begin to take my laptop out. She lets out a quiet laugh.

"That's very kind of you Leo," She replies with a smile.

"Anything for you Bambi," I give her a little wink at the end of the sentence which causes her to roll her eyes.

"I have a name you know," She says with a hint of playfulness in her tone.

"Oh I know," I start, leaning over closer to her, "I hope to have you screaming mine some time," I whisper in her ear. She quietly gasps and I lean back to look at her. Her eyes are wide with shock and her beautiful, plump lips are slightly parted. Those lips look so s-

"Are you done staring Wright?" She says snapping me out of my thoughts. Her expression has changed, so now she's giving me a sly-looking smirk with one eyebrow raised. Damn, she's hot when she says my last name like that.

"No, can you give me a moment?" I joke. To be honest, it's not a joke, but I don't want to scare her away already. She rolls her eyes at my remark, and a smile starts to spread across her face until she turns away. She's so pretty.

"Alright class, make sure you have your laptops open and launch whatever app you chose to edit with. I emailed each of you 4 different pictures I want to be edited. I gave instructions on how to edit each photo. I want all 4 done by the end of class and email me with the final product. This is worth 40 points, 10 points each. Don't disappoint me," The professor says the second she walks in. Aria takes out a pair of earbuds and plugs them into her laptop. I watch her open her Spotify on her laptop.

"Hey Aria," I loudly whispered. She turns her head at me, "I left my airpods at home, do you think we could share your earbuds?" I ask. I'm lying. My airpods are in my bag, but I wanted an excuse to get close to her. She hesitates for a moment but nods, grabbing the left earbud out of her ear. I scoot my chair closer to her. I sit down and my right leg brushes against her left. I take the earbud from her hand and stick it into my ear. She presses one of her playlists and music begins to play. I realize that I recognize the song being "Dark Red" by Steve Lacy. I fucking love this song.

She's humming along to the lyrics and I take a second to admire her. She's something else, I'll tell you that. I love the sound her voice makes when she's humming along to the upbeat song while doing classwork. She glances my way, a confused look on her face. I just give her a light smile and turn back to my laptop, my cheeks begin to feel warm. Gosh, what is this girl doing to me?

~

About an hour and a half passed and I finish my work, surprisingly it wasn't that hard. I turn to see Aria is submitting her work, meaning we finished at the same time. We listened to lo-fi and somewhat upbeat music. That's the complete opposite of what I usually listen to, but I made an exception if it meant I could stay close to her. I take the earbud out and hand it to Aria, she thanks me and puts the earbuds in her bag. By the time I finish packing my stuff in my bag, Aria's already halfway to the door. I quickly grab my bag and run to her before she could leave.

"Hey!" I shout when I catch up to her. She turns around with a confused expression, "That was my only class so if you aren't busy, I was wondering if you maybe wanted to grab some lunch?" I ask, shifting on my feet a bit.

She hesitates but nonetheless says, "Sure. I actually needed to talk to you about interview times with the team," I nod my head and we walk out of the building. I lead us to my car, her following close behind me.

"Uhm, do you think you could drop me back off here after lunch? My car is here," She asks. I give her a smile and nod. When we make it to my jeep, she goes to open the door but I quickly step in front.

"There's no way in hell I'm letting you open that door," She tilts her head in confusion as she tries to maneuver herself around me. I stop her again and she pouts. I smirk at her as I unlock the vehicle and open the door for her. My jeep is pretty high up, so she has to jump in, which gives me a perfect view of her ass. After she buckles herself in, I close the door and walk to the driver's side.

I pull out of the parking lot and start driving toward a small cafe that many people on campus go to. I pass her the aux chord, and she happily takes it. She hooks her phone up and "I Feel Like I'm Drowning" By Two Feet starts playing. Can this girl get any more attractive? I quickly glance at her, seeing she has a smile plastered on her face as the song begins.

We occasionally talk about thoughts on songs and artists, other than that, not much was said. She would quietly sing each song in a beautifully light tone that almost put me to sleep. We arrive at the cafe and head toward the entrance. I sneak my hand on the small of her back when we walk to a table and I look down at her to see her cheeks turn a shade darker. I love the effect I have on her.

This man is going to be the death of me. Literally.

Matthew was sweet and I enjoyed my time with him, but I never felt the spark. He didn't make me nervous, he didn't make my stomach flip. But Leo Wright, he sure as hell makes my stomach jump up and down. Every time he's close or touches me, I can't help but blush. I don't know why this is happening, it could be because he is an extremely attractive man, or how he says all the right things that make me clench my thighs together.

We take a seat at a table, him sitting across from me. I pick up the menu and start looking through the options. I've never been here before, but I've heard people talk about it. Once I decide on what I would like to order, a waitress comes up to our table. She's stunning with her beautiful blonde hair and sparkling green eyes. She looks about 5 inches taller than me, with beautiful long legs. She looks too young to be out of college, so maybe a little older than me.

"Leo! I haven't seen you in a while," She says once she reaches the little table Leo and I are sitting at. Her name tag reads Alyssa, "I thought you ditched me after the fun we had last week," My eyes widen slightly at the sentence. Had he hooked up with her? I wouldn't be surprised. The moment Leo arrived on campus, he had women climbing on him from left to right. Leo glances at me for a split second with a sorry expression on his face. If he wants to flirt with this waitress, then go right ahead, I'll sit here.

"Of course not Alyssa, just been busy with practice that's all," He replies calmly. Alyssa nods and asks us for our orders. I order a water and a ham and cheese sandwich with lettuce. Leo orders a sprite and a steak and cheese sandwich. Alyssa takes our menus and walks off, but not before throwing a smile over her shoulder. I sit quietly, not wanting to talk to Leo about his interaction with the waitress. I'm not mad, of course not, but I think it's kind of weird having a girl who he could've hooked up with flirt with him in front of another girl. I don't know if I'd call it flirting, but I felt uncomfortable.

"Aria," I break eye contact with my phone to see Leo staring at me, "I'm sorry about that. She's just a childhood friend. I'm sorry if that made you uncomfortable," I'm glad he noticed my discomfort, but it didn't make me feel much better.

"It's fine," I reply with a light smile. He returns the smile and Alyssa comes back with our drinks. We thank her and she walks back into the kitchen.

"So, you major in photojournalism, yes?" I nod my head, taking a sip of my water, "Have you ever photographed sports?"

"I have before. Mainly football and baseball since I know the most about those," I reply. His eyebrows raise slightly.

"Do you know anything about hockey?" I shake my head and his mouth drop. I let out a little giggle at his action, "Then why the hell are you doing a project on it?"

"I was assigned it, I had no choice," He hums in response, nodding his head.

"Tell me about your family," He randomly says. I'm slightly taken back, but I nod.

"Well, I have an older brother and two parents, but they divorced once I started college. My parents were never around, they're workaholics. I really only had my brother, Will, until he moved in with his girlfriend. He was all I had for a while, he was like my rock," Leo never breaks his stare from me, "Brielle and Hailee are more family to me than my parents. Don't get me wrong, I love my parents, but they were never around, and when they were, they never acknowledged me. So yeah, Bri and Hailee are really the only family I have now."

"Your parents are assholes," Leo finally says after a few moments. I let out a small laugh as he continues, "You don't deserve that. Really. Nobody does. I'm so sorry, I'm glad you have your friends there for you," My heart melts slightly at his words.

"Bri, Hailee, and Josh are my only friends now, the rest I lost because they only wanted to be friends so they could get to Josh," Leo's eyebrows fall furrow, a sympathetic look on his face."That's fucked up. I'm so sorry about that, but now you have one more friend," I give him a confused expression, "Me," I smile at his words. Maybe I judged this guy too soon.

The food arrives shortly after and we focus on eating more than talking. It wasn't an awkward silence, it was comfortable. Usually, when I'm out with somebody I don't know well, I have no idea how to keep a conversation going so it grows awkward. But with Leo, the conversations are smooth, and the silences are comfortable.

Once we finish, we argue over who pays, he ends up winning. Ugh. He leads me back out to his jeep and I have to, yet again, JUMP in. His jeep is freaking massive. He plugs his phone into the aux, and "Cruel Summer" by Taylor Swift fills the silence in the vehicle. I turn to him with a grin on my face. He glances back with the cheesiest smile spread across his handsome face.

~

hope you enjoyed this longer chapter :). remember to stay hydrated and eat something today