Chapter 6: He's Mr. Sex On Legs Himself

"See you on Monday," Payton told Geoff as she made her way to the front door.

Ever the gentleman, Geoff rushed around to open it for her. "Here, let me get that for you."

She smiled and said a quick goodbye before heading out the door. She suddenly got this weird feeling like someone was watching her and glanced around mostly to prove to herself that she was just being paranoid. When her eyes clashed with Mr. Intimidating from the dean's office, she felt a shudder work through her. She really needed to look away, but there was something about him that made it nearly impossible.

"Hey!" Geoff yelled out the door drawing Payton's attention away from the other guy. "Glad I caught you. You forgot your book."

Payton shook her head, "I'm glad you did too. Thanks."

"Yup."

Geoff returned to his apartment completely oblivious as to what was going on, and when Payton looked back, the guy was still looking her way. Now she was getting a little creeped out. It was hard enough to get her eyes off him and head back to her dorm room. She walked as quickly as she could and felt silly for moving so fast. He hadn't tried to do anything. He looked more curious than anything. She made it up to her place in record time and stopped inside the door to catch her breath.

"Hey, glad you're back," Hailey said as she came around the corner. When she spotted her, she put her hand on her hip, "Did you run home or something?"

"Or something."

Hailey's foot started to tap. "Why?"

"I saw a guy," Payton said and then shook her head. She knew how stupid it sounded. Hailey was going to have a field day with it.

Rolling her eyes, Hailey said, "Payton, there are guys all over the place. You don't run every time you see one. Did he scare you?"

"No... shit. I should have just kept my mouth shut."

"No, you shouldn't have. Tell me," Hailey probed.

"Well, it's a long story. Maybe later," Payton said trying to deflect.

"I'm not going anywhere. Spill it."

Payton tried to decide if she could get out of talking about this. It already sounded embarrassing in her head, and she knew it'd sound even worse out loud. That thing they say about how you can't ever be too dumb around your best friend? Yeah, she didn't think that was true. Knowing she wouldn't get away without telling her now, Payton decided to just go for it. It wasn't like there was really much to tell anyway.

"Well, Wednesday when I went to the dean's office-"

"You went to the dean?" Hailey interrupted.

Payton waved a hand in the air, "Not important. Anyway, there was this guy in the office waiting when I walked in. When I came out of her office, he was still there. I've seen him a couple times since, and I don't know. He's gorgeous, and he always smiles at me, well except today, but it's strange. He's really intense."

Hailey's eyes bugged out, "Do you know who he is?"

"No, I hadn't noticed him before I saw him Wednesday, and it doesn't matter anyway."

"Why not?"

"Hello! He's Mr. Sex on Legs himself. I swear Hailey; you'd die if you saw him. He's freakin' hot," Payton said.

Hailey started to rub her hands together, "I think we need to scout out campus so you can point him out to me. Oh! Maybe I know him and can hook you up."

"You're not hooking me up with anyone. I don't want to date him," she said, lying to herself and her friend.

If Payton's mom were born a generation later, she could have been a star on SIXTEEN AND PREGNANT. Her mom had to work two jobs to provide for them even though they lived with Payton's grandparents most of her life. There were a couple of times that Payton could remember that she and her mom didn't live with Gramps and Grams. Due to having a baby so young, Payton's mom was barely able to get her high school diploma, and she never attended college. Seeing her mom struggle showed her first hand what that life was like, and she knew she didn't want to end up in that position. Payton was going to be different. If that meant giving up guys for a while, then that's just something she'd have to do. She had tried to date once or twice, but anytime it got serious, she broke things off.

"Ya know," Hailey said, interrupting her thoughts, "I bet 'Mr. Sex on Legs' could change your mind."

Payton had no doubt he could, "Maybe."

*

The guys were all at the snack bar finishing up their dinner. Wes had been there earlier but had ditched them when Becca had called to let him know she was free for the evening and wanted to go out. They had noticed Wes earlier in the afternoon picking up stuff around the apartment, and they knew they'd have a guest for breakfast the next morning. Doing any kind of major cleaning was Wes Code for a chick was spending the night.

"Man, I wish I could have been there this morning," Darin said.

"You didn't miss much. Even Wes was speechless when Ella came down the stairs," Zander, Wes' roommate, said.

Darin laughed, "I know! That's why I wish I were there. In the four years I've known him, I've never seen him speechless." Darin looked over at Josh, "You doin' okay with everything?"

"Fine. I feel bad about everything, but at least it's over now. For good." Josh's phone beeped, and he checked the screen and groaned, "She keeps texting me, though."

Zander shook his head, "Really?"

"Yeah, at least twenty since this morning. She'll give up eventually."

The guys gathered their stuff and headed down to Geoff's place for poker night. Josh kept thinking about Geoff's friend and how, after all this time, he'd never met her. He was curious as to why Geoff hadn't really mentioned her before and wondered if it was because he was interested in her too. "That could be a problem," Josh thought. Because there was no way he was going to sit back and not make a move. He didn't usually play dirty and go for girls his friends were into, but he didn't think he'd follow that rule this time.

The poker game went the same as it had any other time they played. They went until someone was on fire and had taken pretty much everyone else's money. Tonight it was Zander who was hitting big all night. After several hours, Adam, Darin, and Geoff were out of money, and Josh was getting low.

Josh laid down his cards finally beating Zander in a hand. He picked up the money in the middle of the table and said, "And with that kids, I'm done. I'm walking away with at least something in my pocket."

"Oh, come on, Josh. I want to take Alexa out for a real nice dinner next weekend. If I take what you have left, I'll have enough for dessert too."

Josh laughed and tossed the money at him. "Dessert's on me."

The guys picked up the cards and moved to the living room. Zander and Adam had started a scientific conversation, and after a few minutes, Josh was lost. Darin had headed home after he'd lost all his money, and when Geoff mentioned he was going to make a run to McDonalds to get a burger, Josh jumped at the opportunity to get him on his own.

The drive there was filled with idle chit chat. Josh couldn't exactly figure out how to go about bringing it up. After they had turned out of the drive-thru to head for home, he knew he needed to say something.

"So, how was your morning?" "Safe enough," Josh told himself.

"Fine, but busy. That stupid assignment we had to do was a pain in the ass. It was all pretty much busy work."

"I hate stuff like that."

Geoff groaned, "Me too, and it's not like there's an abundance of teachers here like there are at the big schools. I can't just take another professor's class. I'm stuck until I graduate next year, and I have at least two classes next semester. I hate to think about all the crap I'm gonna have to do before the year's over."

Josh was thinking there wasn't going to be a way to bridge the two topics. He was so close, but he could tell it wasn't going to happen. No matter how much he wanted to broach the subject of Geoff's class partner, he couldn't figure a way to do it and not sound like a girl. That was until the heavens opened up and all the planets aligned.

"At least Payton's usually in my class. I know I can count on her to get me through."

"Payton?" The name suited her.

"Yeah, you know, the girl I do all my projects with," Geoff told him as if it were old news.

"Oh, you'd never mentioned her name before. What's she like?" Oh shit. That last part had come out before Josh had realized it would.

"She's pretty cool. She had a rough summer, but she's hanging in there."

"Rough summer?" Josh asked.

Geoff shrugged a shoulder, "Just a lot going on."

Josh wished he had more than that, but whatever. At least now he had a name to go with the face.

*

After the afternoon in the gym, and dinner out with a few friends, Hailey had declared a GNO: Girl's Night Out. Several of them had made their way to the bar and had been doing shots for a while. Thank goodness for Sophie, Hailey's friend who had been sipping soda all evening, since she pulled designated driver duty.

"Come on Payton! One more shot and then we'll go home," Hailey encouraged her friend.

Payton laughed and shook her head, "I've had so much to drink; I don't think I'd recognize myself in the mirror."

"Lucky for you, I know who you are, and one more shot of Patron isn't going to do anything to fix it. Down the hatch."

Payton held up a finger, "Fine, one more. Then we have to go."

Hailey squealed and clapped. The bartender poured their shots, and after clinking glasses, the girls downed the liquid, and let the glasses bang on the bar.

"Let me use the ladies room, and then we can go," Hailey said.

Payton waited where she was until Hailey was finished, and when she returned, she scooted off her stool a little wobbly, linked an arm with Hailey, and headed out of the bar. Sophie was a good sport laughing with them the whole way back to the dorms.

"I've got one!" Payton piped up.

The other girls groaned.

"Oh come on guys! This one is good. Okay. So what did the green grape say to the purple grape?"

"I give up."

"I dunno," both girls said at the same time in a deadpan voice.

Payton burst into a fit of laughter and then delivered the punch line, "Breathe, idiot! BREATHE!"

Sophie shook her head, "Payton, you totally need to sign up to tell jokes at the untalent show this year. You'd win the hundred dollar prize for sure."

"I'm not that bad. Am I?" she asked.

"Oh sweetie, you're so much worse," Hailey told her in a fit of laughter.

"I'm gonna have to tell another to prove I'm not that bad-"

Sophie cut Payton off, "Hate to miss out on that totally awesome joke, but we're here. I'm gonna have to take a rain check. Make it when I've had something to drink too, please."

"Thanks for the ride," Hailey told Sophie as they exited the car.

The girls watched as Sophie drove away and then took a seat on the bench outside their dorm. The air was cool and crisp, and it felt nice on Payton's overheated skin. They watched as cars started to pull into campus and told their neighbors hello as they walked past.

"Hey look! It's Geoff." Payton pointed out his car pulling into campus and waved boisterously at him. When he flashed his lights, she knew that he noticed her.

He parked his car in his parking lot and got out. When he was out, Payton saw him wave back at her. She was so glad she had a friend like him. The streetlight illuminated him and he was looking sharp. Payton was always surprised he didn't have a girlfriend.

When an extra door closed, she realized he wasn't alone, and her eyes darted over to the passenger side, and dread filled her. She tried to whisper, but with all the booze in her system it wasn't really all that quiet.

"Hailey! That's him!"

"Who? Wha-"

"Him!" Payton cut her off. "It's the guy I was telling you about. With Geoff."

"Damn girl, you were right. He's hot."

"Quick! Look away. I think he's staring at us," Payton said frantically trying to find something else to concentrate on. She was looking around like a spaz, but she couldn't help herself. Suddenly she noticed Hailey wasn't only looking at the guy, she'd turned and was downright staring at him.

"What are you doing?" Payton hissed.

"I'm looking at this nice specimen of a man that seems to be staring at you. Pity you can't look back, it's a nice view."

"What? No!" Payton felt her cheeks heat even more than they already were. She risked a quick glance, and sure enough, he was looking at her.

"Well, do something," Hailey encouraged.

"What am I supposed to do? I'm not going over there. I'd make an ass out of myself."

"So?"

"So, I... oh hell," Not having much reasoning from all the Patron running through her, she yelled the first thing that came to mind as loudly as she could, "HEY! YOU'RE KINDA CUTE!"

Payton planted her palm on her face while, "What the hell? Of all the things, that had to come out?" ran through her head. Knowing she had to get out of there now, she started to pull on Hailey's arm trying to get her to move. "What are you doing? Let's go!" Payton hissed at her friend.

"I'm not going anywhere, you can leave without me if you must, but I'm staying right here."

Payton knew Hailey was playing this card because it was a pact they had. It was best friend rule number one. You never left the other alone, ever, especially when it was night and they were drunk. Payton and Hailey always made sure the other was home and safe. It looked like her BFF was using the rule against her tonight, though.

"I kinda hate you right now," Payton muttered under her breath.

"What was that?"

"Come on, they're on the way over. If you love me, you'll go, now."

"Nope. Consider this my Christmas gift to you."

Payton looked over and realized it wasn't just Mr. Hot coming, but Geoff was headed their way too. Maybe she could still save this. Oh, who was she kidding? She couldn't save this. She'd made an idiot of herself plain and simple. Hailey wasn't doing anything to help; in fact, she was just rubbing it in.

Payton leaned in close and said, "Just remember Hailey, paybacks suck." She plastered a fake smile on her face when she heard them approach. Turning toward Geoff she said, "Hey Geoff, buddy, how was your poker night?"

Geoff smirked, "Not too bad. I got creamed, though." He leaned in and gave her a hug. It took her by surprise. They'd been friends for a while, but they'd never really been the kind of friends who hugged just because. Something was off. The whole situation was off.

"Hey Hailey, how's it going?" Geoff asked.

"Not too bad Geoffrey. Who's your friend?" Hailey nodded in Josh's direction.

Geoff cocked an eyebrow, probably realizing he'd been scolded. No one used Geoff's full name, ever. "Well, this is my friend, Josh. Josh, this is Hailey, and that's Payton."

"It's nice to finally meet you," Josh said with a knowing grin to Payton like it was more of an inside joke.

Payton's cheeks reddened, "Thanks. I can't get you outta my head either." When she realized what she'd actually said, she planted her palm on her face. Stupid Patron shots. "Anyway, sorry, we've gotta go."

Payton grabbed Hailey and yanked her toward the door. It wasn't easy since Hailey was busy laughing her butt off. After she shoved Hailey in the door, she turned back to the guys.

"Night, guys!"

"Night, Mr. Gorgeous," Hailey yelled through the open door, and Payton's mouth dropped open. She needed to find a hole to bury herself in.

"Hailey!" Turning back toward the guys, "Sorry, we've had way too much to drink. Can we just pretend this whole thing didn't happen?" She studied everyone's faces and was mortified, "Didn't think so."