The Perfect Touchdown

"Rylee is that the last of the boxes?" my mother called up the stairs.

I jumped on my suitcase one more time to close it.

"I just have one more suitcase, Mom," I said and continued to struggle.

"Oh, honey," my mother laughed. "Have I taught you nothing over the holidays? You have to do it like this." She sat down on the suitcase and pushed everything inside before she zipped it shut with ease.

"I don't think I weigh enough; I wasn't blessed with the family height sadly."

"That hasn't stopped you from getting into San Marco for JV Cheerleading. I thought you would be over the moon right now, and you'll finally get to join your brother and Aiden."

My heart stopped at the mention of my childhood crush, the boy I could very well call another brother from a different mother. Our family has known the Reed family since before my brother and I were even a thought. My mother and Aiden's mother were best friends in high school and were on the same cheer team at University. They both got pregnant at the same time and chose to raise their kids together; Avery Parks and Aiden Reed were born to be best friends.

Which always left me to be the third wheel. I was only a year younger than both of them which meant we were always thrown together during family vacations and get-togethers. Over time I had quickly become one of 'the boys', an inseparable trio had been formed.

But there was no denying that over time I developed a major crush on Aiden and his rugged good looks and sweet personality. He was just the right amount of goofy and caring but knew how to be strong and stand up for those he cared about, he was perfect boyfriend material.

But he has never looked at me as more than a little sister, no matter how much I tried to get his attention, I was always shot down and reminded of how close our friendship was.

"I am excited, but I'm also a little nervous. I'm not going to know anyone there and I doubt I'll be able to hang around Avery and Aiden while I'm there. They have their own frat house and I'll be in the dorm rooms."

"I'm sure you guys will have plenty of time to hang out. Now come on, your Dad is waiting in the car downstairs." She grabbed the last suitcase, and we headed downstairs.

It was a pretty short drive to the school, but my parents wanted to get me in there earlier and make a quick stop to see my brother, who hopefully remembered they were coming today and made his shared house somewhat manageable for their visit.

My heart continued to pump nervously as I thought about seeing Aiden again. It has only been a few months since he and Avery had last come home for the weekend to visit, but every day that I was unable to see or talk to him has been brutal. Our time spent together in University was going to be different than when we were all in high school together.

Despite taking after my mother with her gorgeous, good looks and athletically built body, I looked nothing like the many girls Aiden showed interest in during our high school years, he never looked twice at me.

But over the summer my body finally decided to fill out and catch up with my age, instead of being a 19-year-old in a little boy's body. This was going to be my year to stand out and what a coincidence that this was the year I finally reconnected with Aiden in a place where frat parties are plenty and anything could happen.

My parents helped me bring my bags and boxes into the dorm rooms and set up my side of the room before we had our tearful departure. Then, I was finally left on my own.

It wasn't until later in the morning when my roommate finally arrived, a sweet girl named Isabelle who was studying music and had a huge celebrity crush on Henry Cavill, judging by the many, many posters she hung of him.

I was halfway through unpacking my suitcase when the door flew open, and I was tackled by two large bodies. "Ryles!"

"Ugh, can't breathe. Get off!" I struggled to push them off me.

My older brother Avery helped me off the floor and pulled me in for a bear hug.

"Do you need any help unpacking?" Aiden asked.

I could feel the sweat perspire on my hands as soon as my eyes landed on his, the familiarity of their blue warmth washed over me and almost caved in his arms.

"I don't have a lot of stuff, and classes don't start for another day," I said.

"Then, let's go grab something to eat. I can show you all the good places to go around here," Avery offered. "You also have to come to check out the frat house and see the guys, they've been dying to meet you."

"Sounds good, let me just change really quick." I pushed them out the door and rummaged through my suitcase to find a clean pair of jeans and a shirt to trade out my joggers and sweatshirt.

We walked around campus sipping on Starbucks as Avery and Aiden took me to all the local and hot spots that students frequented, including the campus bar that was pretty loose on checking I.Ds. After that, we were headed to the infamous Alpha Sigma Phi Frat House that Avery has taken so much pride in as the house's President, Aiden of course being the Vice President or whatever the titles were.

When we walked into the house, I was greeted right away with loud hollering and shouting coming from the living room.

"Hey guys, come meet my little sister!" Avery called out.

I heard what sounded like controllers dropping to the ground before two towering guys rushed around the corner, both of them built like damn trucks.

"This is Carter Romero, our Treasurer, and the official Hazing King." Avery pointed to the one with short-cut dark hair and tanned skin.

"Pleasure to finally meet the littlest Parker's sibling." He stuck out his hand for me to shake.

"That's Noah Knight, our House and Scholarship Manager." He pointed to the other guy next to Noah with shaggy blonde hair and bright green eyes who gave me a small wave.

"I'm Ryan Hayes, and I'm the house Secretary and Academics Chair. We've heard a lot about Avery's famous little sister, and word is you can drink him under the table." A preppy kid with curly brown hair and glasses that slightly hid his brown eyes.

"Thanks for the warm welcome, I've heard a lot about the house as well and I look forward to these infamous parties I hear you guys like to have," I said with an excited grin.

"Well then you gotta come tonight!" Carter said. "It's our first party of the semester, so it always goes out with a bang."

"She just got here, give her the night to settle in," Avery frowned.

"I'm up for it if you guys don't mind me bringing a plus one."

"What plus one?" Aiden asked.

"Yeah, you've barely been here an hour, who have you met already?" Avery piped in.

I rolled my eyes. "I meant my roommate, geez. I don't remember asking for two brothers, by the way."

The guys chuckled. "I can't wait to see these two in big brother mode, I never thought I'd get to see that," Carter said and slapped Avery on the back.

"Yeah, yeah, alright. Let's get you to the main building, you still need to grab your locker keys and cheer uniform. What are your classes like this semester? Have you gotten your schedule yet?" Avery bombarded me with questions as he pushed me out the door.

"You're acting worse than Dad right now, he already forced me to make a list and check it twice before we left the house. I have everything I need already; I just need to unpack."

"Then, let's get you unpacked."

"Why are you shoving me out the door?"

"I'm tired of my friends checking out my little sister," he grumbled.

I slapped him on the arm. "Don't start that now, no one is checking me out. Now, drive me back to the dorms, I'm not walking back."

"I don't have any gas left."

"I'll drive you back to the dorms," Aiden said.

My heart lurched in my chest at the thought of a car ride alone with him after not speaking for almost a year.

"O-okay."

"So, how did your Mom take the move this morning?" Aiden asked into the silence of his truck.

"Just like Avery, she couldn't wait to get me out the door," I chuckled, but it came out a lot more forced than I wanted it to.

"She's just excited that you're following in her footsteps. My Mom used to always say that you were the daughter she always wanted."

Just another reminder that I was nothing more than a little sister in his eyes.

I forced another smile. "What time is the party tonight?"

"Just text me whenever you guys are ready, and I'll come and get you. Avery is going to be busy setting up for the party."

"Okay, thanks for the ride back, Aiden. I'll see you tonight," I said and hurried to get out of the truck.

My heart pounded the entire way to my dorm room. This was how it always was when I was around Aiden. I can never control my feelings and my emotions are all over the place.

This was supposed to be my year to start anew, but I wildly underestimated how much I thought I had grown this last year being away from Aiden. My feelings for him were just as strong as always.

Isabelle walked through the door with boxes in her hands.

"Hey roomie," she said and set the boxes down. "Are you okay? Your face is really red."

"Oh, yeah, just a little warm in here."

She cocked a brow. "Is it a little hot in here, or was it a little hot in that two-seater truck?"

I felt my face deepen several shades.

"I saw you run out of there like the thing was on fire. It's understandable when you're sitting next to a guy that gorgeous. You never mentioned you had a boyfriend," she said.

"He is the furthest thing from a boyfriend, he is my brother's best friend. We all grew up together."

She shrugged. "That doesn't explain why you're blushing so hard."

"Nothing gets past you, does it?" I muttered. "Moving on, please. My brother's frat house is throwing a party tonight, do you want to come?"

"I'm not sure those parties are really my scene," she frowned. "Isn't there a lot of hazing and weird frat ritual stuff?"

"I think that's only if you're joining as a member, this is just one of the many parties they are going to throw, it's what my brother does best."

"I can go for a couple of hours, but I need to be up early tomorrow so I can snag the first spot at the rental office tomorrow. I want to be the first to get the picking of musical instruments from what they have available."

Isabelle jumped in the shower while I used the only vanity mirror we had to throw my blonde hair into a tight, high ponytail and do up my makeup with my usual natural look. I picked a pair of comfy skinny jeans and a pullover-cropped sweater.

"Wow, I envy the body of a cheerleader."

I chuckled. "I bet you wouldn't envy the workout routine of a cheerleader."

"Right, you are. Is our ride almost here?"

I checked my phone and saw the message from Aiden that said he was waiting in the parking lot. "Yeah, let's get going."

It wasn't until we got there that I remembered the awkward seating situation that Aiden had with his truck, which forced me to sit smack dab in the middle of Isabelle and him with my shoulder pressed up against his.

"Hopefully this place isn't far," Isabelle muttered.

"Don't worry, it's close enough. Did you guys want to stop and get any drinks?" he paused and looked at me. "I already got a case of twisted tea in the back for you."

I had to keep my facial muscles from breaking out into a ridiculous grin and felt Isabelle nudge me. "I have an early day tomorrow, I won't be drinking too much," she said.

"Suit yourself."

By the time we got to the Alpha Sigma Phi house, the entire place was lit up and we were met with heavy bass the minute we stepped out of the truck. Aiden had to lead us toward the front door because even the lawn was covered with people.

"I think I saw your brother in the kitchen before I left." Aiden tried to yell over the music, but I only managed to hear a few words. He carried the case of my twisted tea into the kitchen and a few of the guys started to holler in excitement.

"Hey, hands off, that belongs to my baby sister!" Avery yelled across the room and rushed toward me with a beer bottle in one hand and a Wii remote in the other.

"Did you really have to yell that across the entire house?" I scolded him.

"Aw, don't worry about it, little Ryles. Everyone here already knows not to mess with my little sister, or they'll be castrated in their sleep."

I rolled my eyes and pushed him off to grab a twisted tea from Aiden.

"Thanks for getting the drinks for me, real soon it's going to be me. I can't wait for that day."

He chuckled lightly. "There's no need to grow up so quickly. This is your first year with a different taste of freedom, you should enjoy it while you can."

"This coming from the guy who had girls crawling in his bed at the age of 15?" I teased.

He downed the rest of his beer and tossed the bottle. "I'm a dude, Ry. We aren't built the same."

Yet, he has never looked at me like he has any of the girls he has chased before.

I forced a smile and banished the depressing thoughts from my head. I wasn't here to wallow in what couldn't be, I was here to explore what could be. Aiden was soon called away by one of the guys to join their Wii competition and I took the opportunity to wander the house, but soon realized that would be a lot easier said than done.

The room was packed from wall to wall with people jumping around or stumbling in every direction. I quickly became claustrophobic and felt I couldn't breathe, and I squeezed my way to the back door. Once I was on the deck, I sucked in a deep breath and welcomed the slightly cool air but could still feel the pounding of the bass in my chest.

I looked back to the house to see if I could spot Isabelle and quickly saw her behind the music station. It looked like she was going through the playlist with Noah to see what he had lined up for the night and was engrossed in whatever they were discussing.

As long as she didn't feel out of place I didn't feel guilty about leaving her alone and enjoyed the peaceful night air. I sat outside for a few more minutes before I decided to go back inside. I barely turned around when I heard the sliding glass door open, and a bunch of voices break out into the silence.

"Check this place out. These San Marco guys really go all out for these frat parties," I heard one guy say. I stood up from the chair at the bottom of the deck stairs and tried to peek at who had come out, but didn't recognize any of them, and one of them had a shirt on that said Jacksonville State. Clearly not students from San Marco.

"Hey, who's over there?" One of them called out to me.

'Oh, shit. I don't feel like confronting these guys.'

I tried to sneak around the side of the deck and out the side gate, but I was spotted through the wood banister.

"Wait, is that...Rylee Parks?" I heard my name called and stopped in my tracks. I looked behind me to see a

I turned to see a familiar bright blue-eyed guy, but no name came to mind.

"I'm sorry, do we know each other?" I asked.

"We met at Emma Perry's afterparty for prom, do you remember? I was wearing a Miami Dolphins sweater, and you ripped me a new one, then taught me why the Patriots are ten times better. I'm still not convinced, though." He winked. "My name is Jake Porter, does that ring any bells?"

The name didn't, but that heated and drunk conversation sure did. I remembered running into this gorgeous guy and wanted to work up the courage to hit on him until my drunk ass saw his sweater and went off on him instead. I was both hoping I would never see him again, and that I would, but he wouldn't remember that fine detail.

"You have better luck with me remembering that conversation. What are you doing here? Do you go to San Marco?"

He shook his head with a nervous smile. "Not really, we go to Jacksonville State."

'Aw shit, why is fate never on my side?'

Jake and I moved back onto the deck and sat down.

"You have a lot of guts showing up to a San Marco frat party. I guess I can assume you and your friends are also on the Jacksonville State football team, right?"

He slapped a hand to his chest in fake surprise. "How did you guess?"

I chuckled. "Well, I should warn you now, my brother is captain of the San Marco Tigers, and I start my first year as a JV cheerleader this year for that exact team."

"Then this must be my lucky day."

"Oh, how so?" I was barely in my drinks, but I already felt the liquid courage coursing through my veins as the flirtatious conversation flowed between us.

"I was hoping I'd get more excuses to see you, and it turns out I'll get to see you at every game with San Marco. I used to dread those, now I'll have something to look forward to." He flashed me a cocky grin but for some reason it made me laugh rather than gag.

"Wow, you really are the sweet talker."

He leaned a little closer. "It's pretty easy when you have someone so sweet to talk to."

I opened my mouth but was cut off by sudden loud shouting behind us that came from inside the house. I stopped and listened only to recognize Avery's drunken voice as he raged at someone.

"Oh, shit. That's my brother," I muttered.

"And that's my captain," Jake said and pointed to the person whose face Avery crowded.

"I had a feeling this was going to happen," I said and rushed inside.

Jake went ahead of me and grabbed my hand, which made my heart jump into my throat, and guided me through the crowd with a lot more ease than I had earlier. We made it to the front of the crowd and saw the group of guys Jake was with, and they looked like they were about to fight Avery and his frat brothers.

"What the hell are you guys even doing here? This is a San Marco party. Is your school so poor your frats can't even afford your own parties?" Carter sneered.

"Chill, boys. We just came to see what all the hype was about, and I hate to say I'm quite disappointed. If you ever want to know how to really party, we always welcome you to check out how Jacksonville State throws their parties," the supposed Captain barked back.

He walked up to Ryan who was idly standing by next to Carter knocked his solo cup out of his hand and spilled the contents all over him.

"Until then, we'll continue to beat your sorry asses on the field. Party up, I'm sure that will help."

I watched as Avery raised his hand which held another red solo cup, but before I could see what happened next, I was dragged through the crowd and toward the back door again.

"Hey, what the hell?" I cried and swatted at whoever hand clutched my wrist. I turned to see the back of Aiden's ruffled head.

"You don't need to be anywhere near that, Ry. I got your friend out of there already, time to go," he said over his shoulder.

"I was talking with someone, hang on." I tried to pull my wrist free, but he only tightened his grip and pulled harder.

"You can figure that out later, things are about to get heavy here and I don't want you anywhere near it."

I tried to look back through the crowd to spot Jake, but I was too short to see over the growing crowd that gathered to watch the fight go down. I just hoped he wasn't in the middle of that, I've witnessed my brother get angry drunk before and he isn't a force to be reckoned with.

If only he had applied that same rage and strength on the field, but I don't think they would allow drunken players.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"Since no one can take you home right now, you guys can stay upstairs for the night."

He dragged me to the front yard where Isabelle was waiting on the grass.

"Hey, I need to head home, I have to be up early. How far would it be to walk home?" she asked.

"About a half-hour walk maybe," Aiden said.

She shrugged. "I've done worse. Are you coming, Rylee?"

"I'm going to stay here, but we'll get someone to walk back with you."

"That's okay, I should be fine."

I turned and noticed that Aiden already disappeared and smiled sheepishly at her.

"Sorry, I don't think anyone here will let you leave by yourself," I said just as Aiden showed up with Ryan.

"Really, you aren't going to give him a chance to change?" I asked.

"Oh, I don't live here, I have a room in the dorms so I'm going back, actually. I can walk your friend back to the girl's dorm."

"Then, let's get going. See you tomorrow!" Isabelle grabbed his hand and dragged him off, clearly in a hurry.

"Well, that's settled. How is everything inside?"

Aiden shrugged. "It moved to the backyard, I think they're fighting it out and then everything should be good. Most people have already left through the back, we should be good to go back inside."

"Where am I staying?"

"You can stay in Avery's room for the night, I'm sure he's going to end up passing out either outside or on the couch."

I rolled my eyes and almost wanted to slap myself for being related to that imbecile. Aiden walked me inside and up the stairs to Avery's room, but groaned when he turned the knob, and it was locked.

"Never mind, you can stay in my room for the night. I'll get his keys later," he said and led me to the end of the hall.

'Oh, god. Sleeping in Aiden's room, this is something I only dreamed of, but never thought I would.'

The only difference was I always thought I'd be sleeping in the same bed as him, not alone. But fate is a fickle bitch it seemed.

My heart hammered in my ears as I walked into his room and recognized all the posters and decorations from his old room back home. The nostalgia was both comforting and not when thinking of how far we have come, and nothing has changed between us.

"I don't have much for you to sleep in, but I'm sure one of my shirts is big enough for you to use as a dress," he joked and threw a Linkin Park band tee at me.

Looking at the shirt I remembered the many times we hung out in the backyard of my parent's place or the basement and listened to album after album of these guys. I'd love to watch him recite all the lyrics and play air guitar to the solos.

"Where are you going to sleep?" I asked.

"I'll use Avery's room; I should go and check on him anyway."

"Why didn't you join the fight?"

He pointed at me. "Someone had to get you out of there. This is the exact reason I told Avery you shouldn't come to these parties; things always end in a fight of some sort. We're lucky Carter and his family are loaded, or we'd never be able to afford the repairs this place needs weekly."

"Awh, you really care about me," I teased, but deep down I hoped he would confirm it in some way.

Instead, he just smiled and pushed me toward the bathroom.

"Get changed and go to bed, there is Advil in the cabinet if you need some. I'll drive you back to the dorms in the morning, goodnight Ry."

I frowned and waved him off. "Goodnight, Aiden."

I walked into the bathroom and looked at my flushed face in the mirror.

'Will I ever get over these stupid feelings?'