Break of Dawn

21 | bad guy, good guy

THERE WAS NO rule of etiquette for how to act around a guy you had hooked-up with once and spoken to only a couple of times - especially not when surrounded by a bunch of his friends.

If there was, Rory certainly hadn't gotten the memo.

Collin looked as handsome as ever wearing dark jeans and a gray crew neck sweater, his hair slicked back and face freshly shaven, he was like a poster-child of the good guy - and that clashed entirely with the place they were at.

That bar brought her back memories of Collin, the hot stranger she had met on a drunken night with whom she had unabashedly flirted and ended up in bed with by the end of the evening. But in that moment, he looked more like Collin Whitaker, the guy who had grown up on a coastal town, had four sisters, watched medical TV shows and dry cleaned strangers clothes.

Rory had been categorizing him into those different versions in order to keep things in check; in order to keep herself in check.

And when he reached his friends' table, going around greeting his teammates and all the other people who had flocked around their group, she was reminded of his third version: Whit, the hotshot wide receiver, the guy with an average of 90 yards per game and who would likely end up going pro at the end of next spring.

It was a shame, really, that none of those versions was in any way unattractive to her.

"Fancy seeing you here" Collin said leaning against the pool table beside her. Rory had noticed him going around to greet everyone else before walking up to her, which was a big relief considering she was still searching her mind for the best course of action.

"I don't know if you're being ironic." She admitted, giving him a side glance.

"Not in a million years" He said without a beat, inching closer to her, stopping short of their arms touching - close enough that she could smell the scent of laundry detergent from his clothes and cinnamon from his breath. Rory looked around to see if anyone else was paying attention to them "I'm glad you came."

"That's what he said" She breathed out jokingly and Collin chuckled, but before he could say anything, Rory felt someone sneaking up behind them, an arm being draped around her shoulder.

"Yo Whit, she already has a pair, you'll have to play with someone else." Weston said, putting his broad shoulders between them, his other arm draped around Collin's shoulder.

Rory rolled her eyes and heard Collin scoffing while she brushed Weston's arm off of her - the guy clearly had no concept of personal space. Someone called her name from the other side of the table and she didn't hear the words exchanged between the two guys before Collin stalked away.

She did though, look in Collin's direction in time to see him looking back and winking at her.

All of a sudden, it felt impossible to remember why flirting with him was such a bad idea in the first place.

*

DEXTER FAYAZ WAS SET on getting under her skin.

He had settled across from her on the table to watch the Thursday Night Football, and since he had figured out she was cheering for New York, he had made it his life's mission to criticize the team for every small detail.

It was childish, really, but apparently, so not beneath him.

The rest of the table seemed blissfully unaware of his attempts of jabbing at her, and if they thought his unfounded criticism was in any way weird, they certainly didn't act on it. For what was worth, Navarro, who was originally from Texas, was loving having someone else to attack the team that was beating his beloved Dallas, but everyone else remained impartial.

Rory ignored him and the way his eyes peered at her every time he was about to make a nasty comment, keeping quiet while she watched the game attentively. Alex was playing that night, and having one hell of a game. By the end of the third quarter, he had threw two touchdown passes and had a two-yard touchdown run, but the clock was at the one minute mark when he threw his first incompletion of the game.

"God, this guy's a joke" The comment came from none other than Dexter Fayaz - of course. So far, he had kept to himself any comment on Alex, but he obviously wouldn't miss the opportunity to pick at the biggest star of New York at his first big mistake of the game "Never thought he should've been drafted, guys like him shouldn't be in the NFL."

He could criticize the team all he wanted, but she drew a big line on her brother.

If there was one person who had no right to speak about Alex' ability as a quarterback, that person was definitely Dexter Fayaz.

Defensiveness kicked in before Rory could even control it "Because you never threw an incompletion huh? Last I checked you had six in your last game, half of them your fault" Her voice came in form of a sneer without her even noticing it.

He smirked at her from across the table, not in an ironic way, but in confidence, his blue eyes gleaming in what Rory could only identify as satisfaction.

He had finally gotten what he wanted.

"Oh, honey, are you one of his fangirls? Is that why you are so offended?" His voice dripped of condescension, one of his eyebrows shot up in challenge and his lips pursed in a self-satisfied smirk.

Rory clenched her jaw, her eyes in slits while the rest of the table went oddly quiet - none of the guys willing to stop their quarterback from being a complete jerk.

"I am his fangirl" Ariella chipped in, her voice falsely cheerful, and Rory was under the impression she was trying to stop things from escalating.

"Well, I would be too, the guy is smoking hot" Omar said from his place beside Rory, slightly bumping her shoulder with his "Don't you think Ror?"

"Not my type" She said resolutely and got up from her stool, feeling thoroughly uncomfortable having 7 pair of eyes scrutinizing her "I'm gonna go to the bar"

Her brother did have his fair share of fangirls, as Fayaz had so kindly put it. Considered one of the best looking guys on the league, Alex had the whole "good guy" look going on for him, always with his face well shaven and his tawny hair styled in a side part. But anyone paying enough attention would see how similar he and Rory were. Apart from their skin color – Alex' was naturally tanned, while hers was as white as paper – they looked pretty much the same; with their sleek noses, long face structures and identical teal-green eyes, there was no denying they were related. And the idea that anyone could notice that was too much to handle.

Those were the moments when pretending she wasn't who she was felt almost unbearable. No matter how much she tried, it was hard not to get defensive whenever someone badmouthed Alex, and on top of that, it just felt plain weird talking about him as if they hadn't spent a lifetime together.

*

This chapter was divided into two because it was getting too damn big - also because the good guy part of it (I wonder who that is...) is not coming together exactly the way I want it to, so I need more time to finish it.

Hope everyone is having a great week :)