It's always you ~ stony University

Chapter 8

Tony
Steve was stressed all morning. I knew exactly why, and I couldn't blame him, I knew that this football thing meant a lot to him. He was rushing me out the door, and I tripped over another of my discarded shoes lying on the floor, and crashed into Steve, grabbing his arm to stop myself from falling.

"You know I have an early lecture Steve so I'm going straight to that, why are you rushing me!" I almost crash landed again, but managed to brace myself ont he nearby wall. He looked sheepishly down at his feet. "Sorry I really didn't mean to push you that hard." So know I see why he would be a great footballer.

On the way downstairs I felt Steve practically jumping beside me. Once outside he seemed to calm a little.

"Where's your lecture?"

"Hall 2, I have physics." I smiled at the thought of seeing Bruce again, he made lessons a lot less boring as he actually enjoyed it as much as me.

"Okay, I'll pick you up outside your lecture, it's only an hour right?" I nodded in answer.

"See ya!" He turned down a different hallway and left me to walk the rest of the way on my own.

~later~
The hour seemed so much longer with plans made afterwards. I had filled three whole pages of my notebook, with unreadable scrawl and doodles.

"Alright you lot, you're dismissed, but remember to do your essay, and no complaints as I've been reminding you about this for two weeks, it's 500 words. Any issues email me." There was a rush to pack up and get out the door, most of my class mates had no other lessons.

"Hey tones, do you think you could give me some help on this essay? At least explain what in the hell is going on." I laughed.

"Sure Tyler. I'll text you when I'm free."

"Make it soon, I can't do this without you!" He pretended to faint over the third row tables, and I burst out laughing. "Boys, get up and out of my class. And it's nice to see you awake during my lecture Tony." I froze.

"Don't look so scared I know you find some of this stuff boring, just try and remember to email me so I can send you extra work during lectures alright." Nodding I headed out the room, smacking straight into Steve's chest. "Oof Tony, do you mind." I took a step backwards and looked him up and down. He looked back at me. "So?"

"So what?"

I slapped my head against my hand. "Dude. Are you in the team or not?"

"Oh. I hoped you'd forgotten about that." He looked like he'd been kicked. "Oh sorry, I didn't know, I just wanted to see, sorry I didn't mean to upset you by reminding you I-"

"Tony chill." He put his hand on my shoulders. I looked at him and slapped his hand away. "Steve."

"Tony. I well, I got in!"

"That's fantastic!" I lurched forward and hugged him, wrapping my arms around his waist. The hug went on for a while. I stepped back rubbing the back of my neck. "Sorry. No no, that really is yeah fantastic. Well done."

He grinned at me. I rubbed the back of my neck, feeling anxious. "Do you, uh, want to get a meal in the evening to celebrate?" Steve went silent.

He then smiled up at me. "You know what yeah, that would be great."

Relief flooded through me. "Pizza express? You know since pizza seems to be a common ground."

He nodded. "Yeah that would be nice." His voice seemed softer all of a sudden.

"Meet at the dorms at seven? Or earlier?"

He bit his lip as he considered what to do. "Yeah that'll do. Smart casual?"