"Hey," Andrew greeted, looking at Steve and Sam, who still hadn't said anything, as if they were still processing the scene in front of them.
Paige tilted her head slightly so she could get a better look at them, and a smile appeared on her face, "How was the festival? Was it worth the long trip?" she asked with complete naturalness.
Steve and Sam exchanged a look.
'Why are they acting so normal?' they thought practically at the same time.
Andrew and Paige were sitting on the couch, both with their legs crossed and facing each other.
Their knees were even touching, and there they were. As if it were nothing.
Together in the apartment, past one in the morning, when just a few hours earlier they had both turned down going to the festival because they were tired and, in theory, each of them was supposed to go their separate way after leaving the Dunphys' house.
Steve finally managed to react.
"What are you doing here?"
Andrew blinked, "What am I doing here?" he repeated, genuinely confused. "What do you mean? This is my place."
He stared at him for a few seconds as if trying to figure out how much he'd had to drink.
"That's not what I mean," Steve quickly corrected himself. "I mean... what's Paige doing here? What are you two doing together at one in the morning?"
Paige brought a hand to her chest, "What? Am I not welcome?" she asked in a mock-hurt tone.
"That's not what I mean," Steve said, frowning slightly.
Sam let out a sigh, "Stop playing around."
Andrew looked at her in confusion, "Who's playing around?"
"You two," Sam replied, pointing at them. Then she turned her gaze toward Paige. "Wasn't Andrew supposed to drive you back to the dorms?"
Paige hugged the pillow she was still holding against her chest, "Plans changed," she replied as if that were the most obvious explanation in the world.
"I was going to start watching the Twilight movies so I'd understand something when we go to the theater," Andrew explained. "So I asked her if she wanted to watch them with me."
Paige nodded, "I hadn't started watching them yet either, so I said yes."
"And we've already gotten two of them out of the way," Andrew added.
"New Moon and Eclipse," Paige finished.
Sam's expression changed immediately. All suspicion was temporarily pushed aside, "And what did you think!?" she asked enthusiastically.
Andrew and Paige looked at each other for a moment.
They both came to exactly the same conclusion.
They started getting up from the couch.
Paige set the pillow aside and put on her shoes, "I'm too tired to talk about that..." she muttered as she walked toward Sam.
"Me too," Andrew added.
It was, basically, the most diplomatic way they'd found to avoid tearing the movies apart in front of someone who loved them.
Sam watched them with some suspicion. That already gave her a pretty clear idea of what they thought.
"Can you take me home?" Paige asked, looking at Andrew.
"Yeah," Andrew replied as he picked up the car keys he'd left on the cabinet.
"I'm coming too," Sam announced.
Steve turned toward her, "Weren't you going to stay here?"
"On second thought, I'd rather sleep at the dorm. That way I'll have all my stuff for class tomorrow," Sam replied, giving him a small look as she spoke.
Steve remained confused for barely a second.
Then he understood.
Sam wanted to be alone with Paige. And probably interrogate her the entire way about what the hell had happened with Andrew during those more than four hours.
"Ah... I see," Steve said slowly.
Sam smiled. She walked over and said goodbye to him with a kiss, "See you tomorrow."
"Good night," Steve said.
Andrew opened the apartment door.
Paige went out first, Sam behind her, and Andrew closed it as he left.
A few minutes later, the three of them were inside the BMW on their way to UCLA.
Paige had taken the passenger seat almost automatically.
During the short drive, she talked with Andrew with the same natural ease as before.
Sam, from the back seat, stayed quiet, watching.
When they reached the dorms, Andrew stopped the car in front of the building and said goodbye.
Both of them got out and closed the doors.
Andrew waited until he saw them heading toward the entrance before accelerating again and driving away.
Sam and Paige walked toward the building together.
Neither of them said anything along the way.
They went up to their floor, walked down the hallway, and finally entered the room they shared.
The dorm room wasn't particularly large.
Two twin beds occupied opposite sides of the room, each accompanied by a small desk. There were shelves, a few stacks of books, folded clothes resting on a chair, and several small differences that made it obvious which half belonged to each of them.
Sam closed the door behind them. She waited barely a second before saying, "Aren't you going to say anything?"
Paige, who had just put her hoodie in the closet, turned her head, "About what?"
Sam stared at her in disbelief, "Oh, come on."
She let out an exaggerated sigh and dropped onto the edge of her bed, "About you and Andrew. I'm not blind. Steve isn't either, and he's definitely not a genius when it comes to picking up on this kind of thing."
Paige pursed her lips slightly.
Sam continued before giving her too much time to answer, "Before we got to his aunt and uncle's house, I saw you acting nervous in the car."
Paige raised an eyebrow. She didn't like that part, "I wasn't nervous."
"Sure," Sam said, clearly not believing her.
"I wasn't," Paige repeated.
"Paige, you were staring out the window, fixing the same strand of hair every thirty seconds, and not listening to a word Steve or I were saying."
Paige stayed silent.
Sam smiled slightly, satisfied, "And then you two say you're tired and don't want to go to the festival. Andrew was supposed to drop you off here and go home, but that's not what happened. We find you alone in his apartment after, what? Five hours?"
"So what?" Paige said, the words carrying a hint of challenge, as if she had no intention of making the conversation easy for her.
Sam didn't seem to care, "You and Andrew!" she said aloud to herself, "Wow. Who would've thought? For a while, I actually started wondering if you were a lesbian or asexual."
Paige immediately frowned, "What?"
"There's nothing wrong with that," Sam quickly clarified. "It was just a possibility."
"Why would you think that?" Paige asked.
"Because ever since we moved here in August, a bunch of guys have tried to get close to you..." Sam replied, starting to count on her fingers as she listed several guys who had approached Paige because they were interested in her.
Sam knew perfectly well the effect her friend had on people.
Paige was beautiful.
She had blonde hair, light blue eyes that were hard to ignore, and delicate features that contrasted sharply with the confidence she usually spoke with.
But it wasn't just her looks.
She was intelligent to an intimidating degree, sarcastic, quick-witted, and had a confidence that could make some guys nervous before they even finished a sentence.
Paige had never shown any real interest in any of them.
She usually responded with indifference.
Sometimes with impatience.
In certain cases, she seemed outright annoyed by their persistence.
Sam tilted her head, "But I guess you just had really high standards."
Paige raised an eyebrow, "Andrew is a really high standard?" she asked.
Sam needed barely a second to think about it, "Absolutely," she said confidently.
Paige stared at her.
Sam raised a hand before she could say anything, "I'm not trying to inflate his ego. It's just... Andrew."
It was hard to explain it any other way.
Before arriving at UCLA, he had already been considered by broad consensus the best high school prospect football had ever produced.
Not just another five-star.
He had dominated for years, piled up records that didn't seem logically possible to achieve, and gone through practically his entire high school career without losing.
Now, as a true freshman, he was surpassing all the hype and even the best-case scenarios everyone had imagined for his first season.
UCLA was ranked near the top of the country.
Andrew was among the leading Heisman favorites, if not the outright favorite.
He had already broken program records and was putting together one of the most impressive seasons anyone could remember from a freshman.
But even setting football aside, Andrew was naturally social without having to try to make people like him.
He was confident, but he didn't carry the ego anyone would expect from someone who had been treated like a star since he was 14.
He was funny.
He could argue about football for an hour and then get just as intense talking about Batman or Star Wars.
Whenever he showed up at a party, he ended up becoming the center of attention even when he didn't seem to be looking for it.
He had famous friends, knew people like Justin Bieber, and was probably the most talked-about and individually followed college player in the entire country.
"And Andrew has high standards too," Sam added, looking at her friend with an almost proud smile.
"Go on..." Paige said, crossing her arms.
Judging by her tone, it was pretty clear that this part of the conversation didn't bother her at all.
Sam let out a small laugh, "Well, you're beautiful, smart, funny when you want to be, and you have enough personality not to treat him like he's a celebrity."
Paige lifted her chin slightly, "Thanks, you too."
Sam shifted on the bed and continued, "That's not all. Since I've known Andrew, I've seen plenty of girls try to get close to him. Cheerleaders, students, girls at parties... it's normal. He's probably one of the most sought-after bachelors in the city."
It wasn't an exaggeration.
Andrew had already arrived at college with enormous fame, and since the season started, that attention had only multiplied.
Even so, Sam had never really seen him interested in any girl.
He could talk, joke around, or be nice, but it always ended there.
His attention seemed completely occupied by football, classes, his family, and his group of friends.
And, from what Steve had told her, he hadn't been in a relationship since January either.
"With you, though, it's different," Sam said. "He looks for reasons to talk to you. He competes with you over any stupid little thing. He always finds some way to annoy you, and you do exactly the same thing to him."
Paige's smile faded slightly as she paid closer attention.
"And tonight he was tired, he has to get up early tomorrow, and he's spent the entire week studying Oregon. He could've dropped you off here, gone home, gotten his precious hours of sleep, or started studying Oregon's defense like a maniac. But he didn't. Basically, you're different from the rest of the girls I see him interact with," she concluded.
Paige tried to keep a neutral expression. It didn't work particularly well, "True..." she said, an involuntary smile forming on her lips.
She wasn't stupid.
She could see Andrew's signals too.
The dynamic between them wasn't anything like the one he had with Rachel or Monica, even though both girls were fairly close to the group. And it was even less like the way he treated other female students who appeared more occasionally.
With Paige, there was a different kind of attention.
And it went both ways. She didn't treat Andrew the way she treated Leonard, Howard, or any other guy either.
With them, she could joke around, talk, and have a good time.
With Andrew, though, there always seemed to be something else underneath every comment.
Sam smiled when she finally saw her admit it, even without saying it directly.
"So..." Sam asked, leaning forward slightly. "Did anything else happen, or did you just talk and watch Twilight?"
"Just that..." Paige replied, shaking her head.
Although, to her, that "just that" had been far more important than it sounded.
They had spent hours alone, talking about things she had never mentioned in front of the others.
She felt like they had grown closer and, for the first time, Paige had clearly felt that the tension she had been noticing for days might not exist only in her head.
Then she remembered the final few seconds on the couch.
"Well, maybe at the end I think he was going to kiss me," Paige said.
Sam's eyes immediately widened, "Seriously!?"
"I think so," Paige said, not completely sure. "We were looking at each other and he glanced down at my lips. I did the same. But right then, you guys opened the door."
Sam squeezed her eyes shut, "Damn it!"
Paige couldn't help laughing.
"I knew I should've made Steve tie his shoelaces!" Sam added, clicking her tongue.
Paige shook her head, still smiling, "I think it was actually better that you showed up when you did."
"Why?" Sam asked, looking at her.
"I don't know..." Paige murmured, "Because if something happens between Andrew and me and then it goes wrong, it could make everything awkward."
Sam's smile faded a little.
The group revolved, to a large extent, around Andrew.
Steve, Leonard, and Howard had been his closest friends for years. Haley was his cousin and, through her, Monica and Rachel were part of it too.
Paige had managed to fit in there in a way she never had with other groups.
If she started a relationship with Andrew and it ended badly, it was hard not to imagine that she would be the one who eventually ended up on the outside.
Not because she thought the others would treat her badly or hate her, but because those loyalties had existed long before she came along.
"And then you say Bella Swan is dramatic," Sam said with a snort.
"Don't compare me to that character," Paige said in an offended tone.
Sam raised both hands, "Fine. If you only want to be friends with Andrew, do that. It's your choice."
Paige muttered something inaudible and turned around, starting to get her bed ready.
For a few seconds, Sam said nothing. Then she spoke in a suspiciously innocent tone, "Taylor Swift seems interested in Andrew... Did you see the article that came out? And the rumors? I wonder what it would be like to have her in the group. Watching her interact with Leonard and Howard would be hilarious."
Paige looked at her. Yes, she had seen it.
Besides, Cam had talked about it that very night. Not so much because he was imagining a romance for his son, but because he seemed far too proud that such a famous singer had watched Andrew's game and commented on him.
"You're exaggerating," Paige replied. "Andrew only favorited one of her tweets. If that's already enough for them to end up together, then Twitter must be full of marriages nobody knows about."
"I'm only talking hypothetically. Taylor could go to the Rose Bowl," Sam replied. "Most likely for the USC game. She won't be the only celebrity at that game."
Paige paused for barely a moment before continuing what she was doing.
The game against USC was scheduled for November 17.
Even in a normal season, it was one of the biggest college sporting events in Los Angeles.
But that year had more than enough ingredients to turn it into something much bigger.
USC had started the season as a preseason favorite to compete for the national championship. It hadn't fully lived up to those expectations, but it was still sitting around the top ten in the country.
Matt Barkley was playing his final college season.
Marqise Lee was putting together one of the best campaigns of any receiver in the country.
And on the other side was UCLA, with Andrew leading a season nobody had expected.
If the Bruins managed to beat Oregon before reaching that matchup, the attention would multiply.
The Rose Bowl would be packed.
The national coverage would be enormous.
And, this being Los Angeles, the stands would probably be filled with actors, musicians, and other celebrities as well.
Paige let out a snort.
Sam smiled immediately. She had caught the irritation hidden in that gesture.
"I know what you're doing," Paige said.
"Does imagining Andrew with another woman bother you?" Sam asked, not even bothering to hide it. "Because sure, you'd keep your place in the group perfectly safe... but could you really sit there and watch him with a girlfriend like it was nothing?"
Paige didn't answer.
Sam wasn't suggesting an absurd possibility either.
Just because Andrew hadn't shown any real interest in a girl over the past few months didn't mean that would last forever.
Paige herself was proof of that, and considering the number of options he had, it probably wouldn't be long before someone else came along who was capable of catching his attention.
Paige kept her eyes fixed on Sam.
Then, almost without meaning to, she pictured the scene.
Andrew showing up with another girl.
Sitting beside her.
Joking with her the same way he did with Paige.
The image gave her an unpleasant feeling almost immediately.
She didn't like it.
Sam saw the hesitation appear on her face and got up from the bed.
She walked over, took both of Paige's hands, and squeezed them between hers, "Chase love, girl!" she said in a motivational tone.
Paige rolled her eyes, "You're a little drunk and Twilight has brainwashed you," she muttered.
Sam denied neither of those things, "What's the worst that could happen? And if it goes badly, you'll still have me as a friend."
She paused briefly and added, "Besides, don't have so little faith. Now that someone has come along who you have chemistry with and who also seems interested in you, are you really going to deny it just because there's a chance it might end badly someday?"
Paige remained silent.
There was logic in what Sam was saying.
Simply being Andrew's friend didn't seem like such an easy solution either.
If her feelings kept growing and one day he started dating another girl, she would probably end up feeling uncomfortable anyway.
The exact thing she was trying to avoid could even happen. She could be the one who started distancing herself from the group because of the awkwardness.
Paige lowered her gaze toward the hands Sam was still holding.
She had never had many friends. Not because she thought friendship was fake or unimportant. She simply found it difficult to make them.
She knew that many friendships were more changeable.
They could be sincere, deep, and last for years, but life kept moving forward.
One day they would graduate from college. Each of them would start their own career. Some would move to another city, others perhaps to another state, and even if they still cared about each other, they wouldn't necessarily remain part of each other's everyday lives.
A romantic relationship was different.
At least, Paige had always viewed a serious relationship that way.
Not as someone you simply spent time with for a few months, but as the person you eventually built a life with.
Maybe that was exactly why she had never found it easy to become genuinely interested in someone.
She took the whole thing too seriously.
And now, after years without finding practically anyone who sparked that kind of interest, someone finally had, even if it was still to a degree she herself was trying to understand.
Someone who could keep up with her, provoke her, make her laugh, and hold conversations she was genuinely interested in.
Besides, it would be pretty stupid to pretend she didn't find him attractive.
Paige finally looked up at Sam, "Fine," she said. "I'll take your advice."
After all, she wasn't a coward.
If things went badly, there was a chance she could end up drifting away from Leonard, Howard, Steve, Haley, and the others.
But it wouldn't be the end of the world either.
It could affect her, of course.
Even so, it wasn't something she couldn't recover from.
Besides, the two people she got along with best were precisely Andrew and Sam.
She had met the latter outside that circle. Their friendship didn't depend on Andrew.
On the other hand, if things with Andrew went well, the reward was considerably greater than the risk.
She wasn't talking about preserving a pleasant dynamic within a group or continuing to spend time with someone she liked.
She could end up gaining something far more important.
Seen that way, taking the risk made a lot more sense.
Sam smiled immediately, "That's the spirit!" she celebrated as if she'd just gotten the highest grade on an exam.
"Let's go to sleep," Paige said, beginning to gently push her toward her bed, "It's really late and we have to get up early tomorrow."
…
Andrew returned to the apartment after dropping Paige and Sam off at the UCLA dorms.
Steve was waiting for him on the couch, the television on at such a low volume that it was barely audible.
As soon as Andrew walked in, Steve turned his head and looked at him. His arms were crossed and he was smiling.
Andrew immediately knew why.
Paige.
Steve didn't need to ask much. In fact, Andrew didn't try to deny anything or pretend there wasn't a certain amount of interest either.
He simply answered a couple of questions, avoided going into detail, and eventually pointed toward the hallway, "Go to sleep. It's really late."
Steve watched him for a few more seconds. But that had already been enough.
Andrew hadn't denied anything.
To him, that practically counted as a confession.
With a satisfied smile, Steve got up and went to his room.
By six-thirty in the morning, both of them were already awake.
They got ready quickly and, around seven, arrived at UCLA's facilities to have breakfast with the rest of the team.
Even though Andrew and Steve lived in an apartment off campus, they were only a few minutes away.
And with a full breakfast prepared for the players, there wasn't much sense in waking up even earlier to cook for themselves.
The team's food was plentiful, varied, and specifically designed to meet the players' nutritional needs.
Besides, it was part of the benefits they received as athletes. They ate well, saved time, and didn't have to spend money either.
After breakfast, they had a brief meeting with the coaching staff.
It didn't last long.
The trip to Eugene was getting closer, and much of the heavy preparation work had already been done during the first few days of the week.
Then they moved on to the weight room, where they went through a light session under the supervision of the strength and conditioning staff.
Nothing particularly intense.
After finishing the team's work, Andrew started heading toward his first class of the day, scheduled for nine in the morning.
He didn't share that class with any of his friends.
Not Steve, not Amari, not anyone close to him.
Partly because they weren't all studying the same major and, besides, Andrew was academically ahead of most freshmen.
He had graduated from high school early and started his first college semester in January 2012, several months before the students who had only arrived in September.
Unfortunately, to get to the classroom, he had to cross Bruin Walk.
UCLA's main pedestrian artery.
At that hour, it was packed with students heading to class, tables for campus organizations, clubs trying to recruit members, and people handing out flyers to anyone who made the mistake of making eye contact.
Normally, it was already a busy area.
For Andrew, it could become even worse.
Everyone on campus knew who he was.
That had been true practically since he arrived at UCLA in January, but his level of recognition had only grown with every game.
After the win over Arizona, it had reached another level.
Not another level of recognition, exactly, but of excitement.
On Monday, as he made his way across campus to his different classes or practice, he was constantly hearing congratulations.
He got stares, or a student would ask for a picture.
And the problem with stopping for one was that three more people almost always appeared.
"Andrew!" a guy shouted from a nearby group.
He turned his head.
"Destroy Oregon!" one of his friends added.
The shout got several people around them to turn and look at him.
Andrew raised a hand in greeting and kept walking.
He didn't get very far.
"Hey, Andrew, can I get a picture with you?"
A student had approached him holding his phone.
"Yeah," Andrew replied, stopping beside him and waiting while the guy took the picture.
That was enough.
Four other students who had seen the scene started walking over while pulling out their own phones.
Andrew checked the time.
He couldn't stay.
"Sorry, guys. I'm running late for class," he said, raising a hand apologetically.
"No worries, go," one of them replied with a smile.
"Great game Saturday."
"Go get Oregon, figure out their defense!" another added.
'I'm going to a regular class, not to study film...' Andrew thought, but he didn't say anything. He only nodded and kept walking.
That happened practically every day since the season had started.
Even after Nebraska.
That week, the comments had been different. Less celebration and more students telling him to keep his head up, that the season had only just begun, or that they would get back to winning the following week.
UCLA, besides, wasn't exactly an easy campus to impress.
They were in Los Angeles.
It wasn't unusual for an actor, musician, or other recognizable person to show up around the university from time to time.
Not necessarily a full-blown superstar, but someone famous to some degree.
But Andrew represented something different.
He was the guy representing them on the football team. Because of that, there was a sense of belonging that made his fame work differently.
The first few days after Arizona had carried an almost festive atmosphere.
Andrew had noticed it while walking between buildings, entering cafeterias, or simply crossing campus.
Now the feeling was different.
The celebration was fading.
In its place, anticipation was beginning to build.
The game against Oregon was getting closer, and practically all of UCLA seemed to be thinking about it.
Andrew finally reached the classroom with very little time left before class started.
Luckily.
Arriving five minutes early normally meant there was enough time for someone to come over and talk, ask for a picture, or ask him something about the game.
This time, however, the students were already in their seats and the professor was preparing to begin.
Andrew sat down quickly.
His classmates still looked up when he walked in, and one of them might give him a smile or a small wave, but after several months of sharing a classroom with him, they were already pretty used to his presence.
He was still the quarterback who had been on television the previous Saturday, but at least inside that classroom, his arrival no longer had to turn into a spectacle every morning.
After two class blocks, Andrew had a break for lunch at noon, which was when he met up with Steve and the others again.
The break didn't last long.
After lunch, he had a film session with Rip and Chow.
Practice started at two-thirty.
It lasted around two hours. When it ended, Andrew showered, changed, and quickly checked the time.
He had about thirty minutes free before he had to return for one final team meeting and another film session specifically for him.
Enough.
He left the facilities and started walking toward the Physics and Astronomy Building.
Why?
Because he was going to meet Paige.
It was the first time he had visited that part of UCLA's enormous campus, so it took him a little longer than expected to find the right building and then the exact classroom.
When he finally found it, he discovered that it was considerably smaller than the large lecture halls used for introductory courses.
Through the wide glass windows, practically the entire room could be seen.
There were around forty people. By college standards, that could almost be considered an intimate class.
Andrew scanned the classroom until he found her.
Paige was sitting roughly in the middle.
She was looking toward the front while holding a pen between her fingers, lightly tapping it against the desk.
Her expression was a curious mix of attention and boredom.
As if she were listening to the professor, but had already understood everything he was explaining long before.
'They're still not done,' Andrew thought.
He leaned against a wall in the hallway and crossed his arms, ready to wait.
It didn't take long for him to notice that one of the students inside had turned his head toward him.
Their eyes met.
The recognition was immediate.
The guy's eyes widened slightly before he looked back toward the front.
He wasn't the only one.
Another student recognized him.
Then someone else.
One smiled when he saw him, and another leaned toward his classmate to whisper something.
Andrew almost grimaced.
Fortunately, he was standing outside a class full of very serious astrophysics students.
There were only a few curious glances, slowly beginning to spread.
Paige took a little longer to notice.
At first, she kept looking at the professor, seemingly unaware of everything. But the quiet murmurs and the movement of several heads eventually caught her attention.
She finally turned toward the window and saw him.
Her expression changed immediately.
'What...?' Paige thought, not expecting to find Andrew casually leaning against the wall outside her class.
The confusion lasted barely a moment. Then a slight smile appeared on her face.
She didn't raise a hand to wave or make any special gesture.
She simply looked back toward the front and continued paying attention.
Five minutes later, the professor ended the class.
The students began putting away notebooks, closing laptops, and getting up from their seats.
As they left the room, several of them glanced toward Andrew.
Some simply recognized him and kept walking.
Others slowed down a little, probably trying to figure out who he was waiting for.
"Good luck Saturday," one of them said, stopping for a moment.
Andrew, who had been staring absentmindedly at the floor, looked up, "Thanks, man."
The student smiled and continued on his way.
A couple more watched him curiously before walking off.
Finally, Paige came through the door. She walked straight toward him and stopped a short distance away, "How did you know I was in this classroom?" she asked.
Andrew raised an eyebrow, "Hey. Good afternoon to you too," he replied in a slightly sarcastic tone.
Paige smiled, "Good afternoon, Mr. Attention-Grabber."
Andrew let out a small laugh, "I asked Sam through Steve," he explained, answering her earlier question.
Paige nodded.
That made sense.
Sam knew her schedule pretty well. She was always asking about her classes and, with the memory she had, she rarely forgot anything after hearing it once.
After all, she was a brainiac too, and a future lawyer.
Then Paige remembered the conversation they had had only a few hours earlier.
'Great,' she thought.
Now Sam wouldn't just have the previous night as proof that Andrew was interested in her.
She would have this too.
Andrew had found out where her class was and had personally come looking for her during the little free time he had.
Sam would probably remind her of it with a smile the moment she got back to the dorm.
Although, thinking about it, there wasn't much point in pretending it bothered her anymore.
After all, Paige had ended up admitting her own interest too and had decided to stop putting up so many barriers before anything had even happened.
So knowing that Andrew was there specifically because of her gave Paige a small sense of satisfaction.
"What did you want to tell me?" Paige asked.
She tried to make her tone sound casual.
As if she weren't particularly curious. And, above all, as if she weren't a little too happy to see him there.
"To invite you. Do you want to come to the Oregon game?" Andrew replied, getting straight to the point.
Paige stayed silent for a few seconds, processing the invitation.
Andrew interpreted the pause as hesitation and started explaining, "You don't have to buy the ticket. It'd be expensive and probably hard to get at this point. I can give you one."
Paige looked at him.
"It's not like it's anything special," Andrew continued. "I get tickets for Howard, Leonard, and the others too when they come. They're part of the ones I can request for family and friends."
In other words, he wasn't offering her some exclusive gift or trying to impress her with something expensive.
He could get the ticket without any trouble.
"You'd just have to pay for the flight to Oregon," he added. "And I understand if you don't want to. The ticket isn't exactly cheap just to fly there and back for one game, so..."
"I'm going," Paige interrupted.
The answer came out so quickly that even Paige was annoyed with herself.
Andrew blinked.
Paige kept her expression as neutral as possible, as if she hadn't just interrupted him before he could finish the sentence.
"Great, great," Andrew murmured.
"And, by the way, you can talk to me directly, you know?" Paige said, looking at him.
Andrew raised an eyebrow.
"You have my number," she continued. "You can ask me where my class is or invite me somewhere without launching an investigation through Steve and Sam."
"I know. I just wanted to tell you in person, and I wanted to see your reaction when I showed up without warning," Andrew said.
A smile returned to Paige's lips, "And? Did you enjoy my reaction?"
"No," Andrew said, shaking his head. "It was more boring than I expected."
"Next time I'll try blushing and start twirling a strand of hair around my finger," Paige said, and to accompany her words, she took one of her blonde strands and began winding it lightly around her index finger.
Then she tilted her head slightly, put on a shy expression completely unlike her, and raised a hand to give him a small wave.
Andrew watched her in silence. The sarcasm was so obvious it was almost tangible.
"Ha. Ha," he replied without the slightest emotion. "Very funny. I have to go. If I'm late, Chow's going to be pissed."
"I thought being UCLA's big star came with privileges," Paige said.
"Far fewer than you'd imagine," Andrew said, raising a hand. "See you."
"See you," Paige said, watching him until he disappeared among the students in the hallway and thinking about the invitation.
It was true that, as he himself had said, the ticket wasn't something specially reserved for her.
Andrew also got tickets for Howard, Leonard, and the others when they went to watch him play.
Besides, this would be the first away game that practically the entire group would be flying to.
Haley, Monica, Rachel, Leonard, Howard, and Sam were arranging to all travel on the same flight.
Seen that way, it would have been a little strange if Paige were the only one left out.
It could simply be that.
Including her in the plan. But Andrew had come personally, and right after that Halloween night they had spent together only a few hours earlier.
Paige sighed, 'Why do I overanalyze everything?' she thought as she started walking.
The days continued to pass, and finally Saturday arrived.
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