Status: Newly Adopted

I Must Be Dreaming

You Don't Know My Name

Stanford University 2011

Late in the month of August, summer’s heat seemed to droll on in Palo Alto. Many of the residents were looking forward to the coming fall and the changes it would bring. But none were looking forward to the next season more than the cold-nature Rowan Kowalski, who had spent most of her childhood either in British Columbia or in New England. She was looking forward to the winter months when she could proudly dawn her NHL apparel without bother.

This morning, a Tuesday, was simply one of those days where one wishes just to stay in bed all day. For Rowan, it was no different. She had spent the last hour and a half pressing the ‘snooze’ on her alarm clock because she merely didn’t want to rise from her bed to greet the day. Eventually, she relinquished her desire to stay in bed fore she knew that she had a schedule that she needed to keep and if she didn’t get out of bed she wouldn’t have time to fit in her morning run. If Rowan didn’t get her morning run in there was no way she would be able to tolerate everything that was her life at Stanford University. Now that she was a senior, she would have responsibilities to attend to and underclassmen she needed to help reign in.

“A day’s job is never done,” She sighed shaking her head at her reflection before turning to her closet in search of her running gear.

Rowan stepped out of Lantana Hall ten minutes later, now dressed for her morning run but still not really ready to face the day. When was she ever? Hardly ever, but there was something about the California air that always seemed to help refresh her mind and pump her up for the day.

Before departing on her run, she stretched out her petite frame. Making sure that there wouldn't be any nagging aches and pains so that she could solely focus on what needed to get done. Once she felt that her arms and legs were stretched to par, Rowan took off down one of the palm tree lined roads. There was something about Stanford campus that she loved. Was it the layout, the student life, or the weather?

Well, the weather surely had something to do with it. The warm sun had tanned her skin from the pale that she used to be when she lived in Vancouver. Not that she had gone back for any length of time since her freshman year. Ah, freshman year seemed like so long ago. How naïve she had been. Much hadn't changed since then, she was still naïve but she had developed a thicker skin in reaction to the culture shock she had been put through that year.

Rowan began to feel that feeling she would get when she thought about everything that had happened to her that year, so she forced herself to think of happier thoughts. Anything except that year...

When she passed a group of Freshman all gather around a map, she suppressed a laugh. She knew better than to laugh aloud at them because she had been a Freshman before and remembered how overwhelming it had been her first few weeks on campus so far from home. The iStanford app for the iPhone would help them blend in if they wanted too. Of course, they really didn't need it at the moment because most of the upper class men that would tease them were still asleep except those who enjoyed a good morning run to start off their day. Rowan began to daydream at this point. It was something that she was prone to do especially while she was running which wasn't the healthiest or safest thing for her. But she still did it anyway. As she continued on her run she became so wrapped up in her own thoughts that she didn't the shout of warning, or know that she had ran into someone until she collided with the person, sending them both to the ground.

Rowan groaned as her head clashed against the broad chest of the person she had ran into, an arm around her waist clutched at her under armour work out shirt. She blushed as she found herself lying atop a solid mass of firm muscle. There was something about that person that was comforting to her, maybe it was the hint of Old Spice ingrained in the fabric of his shirt. However, she didn't dare to open her eyes until she heard a distinctly male groan emitted from deep within the man’s chest. Praying that she hadn't ran into a professor or dean, she peaked down at her victim from underneath her eye lashes. Warm brown eyes met her greenish pair and she felt her breath leave her as she pulled back to look over his face. Had she just run into her dream man? Yes, this had to be some dream or alternate reality because there was no way that she would so lucky as to run into a guy like him literally or not. But she had this curious feeling about her, it was like she had seen him before. She knew she had and it frustrated her because he couldn't put her finger on it and it was just out of her mind’s reach.

Her dissatisfaction would come to end when the concerned voice of another man called out in their general direction, "Yo, Andrew, man are you okay?"

Rowan recognized his voice and looked in his direction to confirm the connection. The man, who had just called out to the man underneath her was Griff Whalen, wide receiver for the Cardinals. That was when she put two and two together, looking back down she realized that she had just taken out Stanford's pride and joy: Andrew Luck

"Ohmygod.Iamsosorry." She quickly apologized as she fumbled to push off of him, tears forming in her eyes out of shock and realization to the possibility that she might’ve just hurt the starting quarterback, "Are you okay?"

Andrew nodded and sat up on his elbows,

"Yeah, I'm okay. I've taken worse hit than that. Don't worry about it." His assuring, yet somewhat goofy smile caused her face to flush and she looked away, but his hand came up to make her look at him, "Are you okay?"

Rowan nodded and forced herself to stand up. After she had examined herself quickly she confirmed to him, "Yeah, I will be after I get over the shock running into you, literally. The only thing that's hurt seems to be my pride."

Andrew chuckled and moved so that he was sitting, "That's good. I was more worried that you had gotten hurt than I had."

It was Rowan's turn to laugh, "You're joking, right? I landed on top of you! Besides if I had hurt you the entire student body would be out for my head if you weren't healthy enough to play on Saturday." She offered him her hand, which he accepted. Gritting her teeth, she ‘helped pull’ him to his feet which was rather difficult because of how massive he was compare to her tiny frame.

Rowan swore she heard Griff laughing from somewhere in the background at the sight before him. Which made her wonder how bizarre this situation must have looked to a passing eye. She knew no one would stop to ask what had happened seeing as no one had gotten hurt.

"Thanks for the hand," Andrew mentioned as he dusted himself, awkwardly. He didn’t really know what else to say after what had just happened. Rowan collapsed her hands behind her back and looked down at her feet,

"Yeah... It was no problem...." She was going to continue but Andrew cut her off,

"Do you wanna go grab something to eat?"

She was about to refuse but her stomach growled in protest. She felt herself blush again. She knew that she had better go grab something to eat before her first class but wasn’t sure if she should take up his invitation.

"I'll take that as a yes." Andrew decided for her, placing his large hand on the small of her back to guide her to the nearest dinning station. As the pair walked away, Andrew tossed one last look at his teammate and waved, "I'll catch you later, Griff."

Rowan figured that the dark haired man had just nodded and headed off in the opposite direction in which they were on heading. Andrew had set them on coarse towards the Toyon Dinning Hall, which was the closest eating station in their vicinity.

Once Andrew was confident that she wasn’t going to runaway from him, he removed his hand from the small of her back. He wasn’t sure why he had been so adamant about eating breakfast with her. She had taken his breath away from the first time he laid eyes on her right before she had plowed him over and after she had captivated him. He knew that this was his chance to get to know the mysterious girl a little better because in a campus like Stanford’s he knew he might never see her again. Call it out of character for him to act this impulsive, but there was just something about her that he wasn’t going to be able to let go of and he had to make the most of his opportunity now.

When the pressure from Andrew’s large hand was no longer guiding her, Rowan took a step away from him. Not because she wanted to get away but because she didn’t want to draw any unwanted attention to him or herself. This proved to be difficult because she found herself being drawn closer to him by some invisible magnetic force. Occasionally, their hands would brush as they walked sending little trimmers of electricity up her spine cause her to shiver with captive delight. She wasn’t sure why she was so drawn to him. Sure, he was an strapping young man and seemed to have a good head on his shoulders. He was also chivalrous, which something that she always looked for in a man even if it was something that she didn’t truly desire in her future partner. Eventually, she decided to chalk it up to just being around the football progeny that Andrew Luck merely is since she couldn’t find any other rational reason.

About halfway there, Andrew decided to speak up, "So do you run into people often?"

Rowan could tell he was trying to make a joke out of it to maybe clear some of awkward tension that was leftover from their run-in earlier. She thought was rather cute and endearing of him to at least not to try and hold her tendency against her. Deciding that was going to play along, she pretend to count on finger but then she shook her head, "No, it's usually trees and stop signs."

Andrew laughed until he saw that she was being serious and then he almost stopped from his apparent surprise,

"Really?"

"Yeah, I always seem to start day dreaming during my morning runs. I've been told it's a personal problem or that I might actually start to fall asleep while I run." She informed based on her own interpretation of what had just happened. Andrew gave her a look like he didn't believe her, but Rowan was adamant about this being the truth,

"I'm serious, come with me on a morning run sometime and I will prove it to you."

He smiled then asked, "Is that an offer?"

Rowan rolled her eyes at him, "In your dreams." Part of her still felt like she was dreaming. How could this possibly be real? Was she really going to eat breakfast with Andrew Luck? She pinched herself just to make sure and as a sharp pain travel through her nerves she gathered that this was very much real life. Now with that restraint out of the way, she found some courage to look at him and wondered why he wanted to eat with her. Andrew smirked when he caught her looking at him, he realized that he couldn't believe what he was doing. He had asked her to breakfast and he didn't even know her name.

"So you clearly have me at a disadvantage because you know my name but I don't know yours." He decided to point out to her. Rowan smiled and decided to hang it over his head a little as she stepped up onto the retaining wall next to the side walk the were on, walking across it like a balance beam.

"What makes you think I know who you are, hot shot?"

"I know," Andrew challenged, keeping an eye on her to make sure she didn't fall, "Because of you're reaction when you realized just exactly whom you had knocked over."

Rowan considered this for a moment, was she really that easy to read? Normally, she considered herself to have a pretty damn good poker face, but Andrew saw right through her. It was strange because no guy had ever seen through until him. This had her thinking that there just might be something special about him after all. Something that she might want to look into later on.

He went on to ask her, "So are you going to tell me now?" Rowan found it funny that he still towered over her even when she was standing on the 4 in. retaining wall. She had never realized just how vertically challenged she was until she had met the man standing next to her now.

To answer his question she sent him a flirtatious smile and said, "Where's the fun in that? It's too much fun watching you squirm as you think of all the possibilities."

Holy shit, where is this coming from? I have never talked to a guy like this before.

Unconsciously, she was biting her lip. She really wanted to tell him everything about her, but she wanted to play hard to get. She didn’t want to seem easy like the whore core dancers who danced on the sidelines at every football game. She wondered just how many of those girls had been in Andrew’s bed. No, he didn’t seem to be the type to do something like that. He had an awkward air about him and the way he talked wouldn’t be that attractive girls like them.

She continued on for at least half another block before she realized that he wasn't walking with her anymore. So she turned around to locate him, which wouldn’t that hard considering his size. She saw that he was standing back where she had last looked at him. Placing her hands on her hips, she shook her head at him,

"You coming, Lucky?"

Her words brought him out of whatever trance he was in as he retorted, "Lucky? Is that the best you can come up with?" He jogged to catch up to her. She gave him a slight shove and smiled at him,

"No, I could probably think of worse but right now I am too hungry to try." She admitted to him.

"Well, let's get you something to eat." Andrew suggested as they finally made it to the dinning hall, he rushed ahead to hold the door open for her.

"Why aren't you a gentleman?" She complimented him as she walked past him and inside the cafeteria. Once Rowan was inside she grabbed trays for both of them and handed one to him as caught up to her. He sent her a thankful smile,

"Why did you think that I wouldn't?"

"Oh, you know most football players have a tendency to be rather self centered and football consumed." Rowan pointed out, as she grabbed a serving of biscuits 'n' gravy and a blue muffin as they went down the line. She looked back to see him piling on the food. Two helping of biscuits 'n' gravy, two pancakes with maple syrup, a plate of bacon, two pieces of white toast, and a banana. Her jaw almost dropped but she wasn’t surprised. Guys, particularly guys who were athletes ate a lot and often to maintain the amount of energy they would need for practice or a game.

Andrew sent her a questioning look, but Rowan could only shake her head at him as she grabbed a carton of chocolate milk. When they arrived at the cashier's station, the lady made quick work of ringing them. Both of them sliding their student ID cards to pay.

After paying, Rowan looked around the rather empty hall and chose to sit towards the back for Andrew's sake. They ate together in companionable silence, both sneaking glances at each other as they did so. Every once in awhile one would get caught and would quickly look down at their plate to hide the blush that would creep onto their cheeks. From an outside point of view one could tell that there was a lot of attraction between the two. Even if they hadn’t realized yet themselves, they still made a very cute couple. Eventually, Rowan decided to speak up and ask a rather generic question. One that he probably got asked all time,

"So are you excited about the game on Saturday?"

Andrew nodded as he swallowed what was in his mouth before answering, "Yeah, I'm always excited for a game. I'm really looking forward to this year and playing with a good group of guys."

"Well, you should. I think that we have a good team this year. Everyone wants to see you guys go to a bigger bowl game since you guys won the Orange Bowl last year. I think it’s a lot to ask for at the start of the season. Right now I bet you guys are just focused on playing well together and winning games before anything else.” Rowan agreed with him before bringing up something else he was probably tired of hearing about,

“Everyone's looking at you to be the first overall pick for next year's NFL draft and that you're going to win the Heisman Trophy, as well."

"Don't forget a BCS championship, Future Pro-Bowler, League MVP, a couple Super Bowls, and a future Hall of Famer." He rambled off, like it was no big deal. It was funny how lightly he was taking things right now, but there was something that gave off the impression that he didn’t like talking about himself all that much. Maybe it was the way; he kept looking away from her or how he quickly made the conversation about her.

"But enough about me, what about you? Are you coming to the game on Saturday?"

Rowan nodded, as she took a sip of her chocolate milk, "Well, it depends on if I get assigned to cover it." He gave her an odd look. "Ok, so I'm a Journalism/ TCOM Major. I write for The Stanford Daily, do some blogging stuff independently.."

"Nice, so what year are you?" He questioned, hoping that he could ask enough questions to get her to tell him her name.

"I'm a Senior. What are you?" She fired back, quickly.

Andrew smiled and leaned toward her, "I'm a senior as well, if you want to get technical about it I was red shirted as freshman. My major is Architectural Design."

This surprised her for a moment, "Architectural Design, eh? Not something I would've pinned you to be studying."

"Eh?" Andrew teased her slight accent. She stuck her tongue out at him. "What would you pin me to study?"

"Shut up. My dad was stationed in Vancouver, British Columbia for a while and you kind of pick up their accent." She defended herself and reacted across the table to smack him, but Andrew blocked her hand by catching her wrist,

"I'd think you want to be a Sports Physical Therapist or go into coaching."

Andrew seemed mull over her statement before he replied, "Those roads would've been equally rewarding but I have always had an interest in building things." He paused for a moment before continuing, "I wasn't making fun of you, I think your slight accent is cute."

Rowan blushed and looked down at her plate, pushing the gravy around with her fork. Andrew watched her for a few minutes and felt bad for embarrassing her but he wasn't going to lie. It really was cute to him. In fact, it was another thing to add to that growing list of things he liked about her. She had this witty and energetic air about her would just seem to make people want to be around her. She’d make a great TV personality; maybe she’d become a sportscaster and work for the NFL. She was beautiful enough for the job. Not the conventional sideline reporter type girls with platinum blonde hair and a pencil thin eyes brows. Of course, that was just his opinion and he would probably give it some more thought later on. But right now his hunger was conflicting with his ability to think so he began eating again. He found that he couldn't stop looking at her, willing for her to look at him again. When she did there was still a faint blush on her cheeks.

"Will you please tell me your name now?" Andrew decided to ask again. He was almost begging her now for a simple answer that she decided to withhold from him yet again.

Rowan smirked and then asked, "Only if you win." Holding out her hand to seal the deal. Andrew decided that he would take that challenge as he took her much smaller hand in his, pausing when he felt his skin tingle as grasped against,

"Oh, that won’t be a problem. I want to see you there. Deal?"

She nodded in agreement and then looked around the dinning. Her eyes widened when they landed on the clock.

"Shit." Rowan swore as she suddenly realized that she had lost track of time. She only had 30 minutes to ready for my days classes, "I gotta go."

Standing up, quickly, she almost lost her balance. She couldn’t believe that she had let time slip away like that. Almost forgetting to get her tray, Andrew stopped her and took it for her, "Don't worry, I got it. you go."

"Thank you!" She leaned down to kiss his slightly bearded cheek, hoping that no one saw and that she was being too forward. "See you, Saturday!"

The shocked Andrew nodded before coming back around to himself and called after her, "Yeah, uh… See ya, Saturday!"

He sighed, bringing his hand up to cover the stop where her lips had laid as he watched her walk out the dinning hall doors. He hoped that really would get to see her on Saturday. He wanted a chance to get to know her better. He NEEDED to know her name!

************

Rowan ran back to her dorm as fast as she could. Hoping a cold shower would aviate the giddiness she was currently feeling so that she could focus. As the cold water hit her body, there was no luck. She could still feel the heat radiating off her body like she was no fire.

'Ha, what a pun! I can't believe I spent the morning flirting with Andrew Luck instead of running. It was totally worth it though!'

After her shower she threw on some make up and pulled out one of her favorite v-necks and a pair of denim shorts to wear for the day. She emerged from the bathroom, her best friend and roommate, Quinn was sitting Indian style on her bed and arms crossed over her chest with a less than pleased expression on her face.

"What?" Rowan asked Quinn, suddenly feeling guilty about something but she couldn’t remember what.

"Oh nothing." Quinn started off sweetly, twirling a strand of her dark brown hair around her index finger, "You totally forgot that we were all supposed to meet up for breakfast. Did you run into a tree again?"

"Yeah. I totally spaced the fact that most of the roads on campus are lines with palm trees. Luckily, no one saw this time." Rowan lied to cover up what had really happened. She knew that she should probably tell her but she wasn't ready to share what she had experienced earlier.

Quinn got up from the bed and studied her face, "You're hiding something, aren't you?"

Rowan moved away to grab her MacBook air. Hoping the lab top would protect her from her friend's wrath. "W-what make you say that?"

"Your posture for starters." Quinn informed her, "Come on, Ro, I'm your best friend. You can tell me anything..."

Rowan couldn't bring herself to make eye contact with Quinn feeling guilty about for not wanting to tell about her encounter. But decided to avoid the topic all together as she put her MacBook Pro in her grey Coach tote, "I know and I promise that I will tell you as soon as I figure out what's going on."

Quinn quirk an eye brow at her and none the less agreed, "Okay, fine, but you better tell me when you do. Promise?"

"Pinkie Promise." Rowan agreed, holding out her pinkie and Quinn wrapped her's around Rowan's to seal their promise.

Quinn then looked at the time and grabbed her Gucci bag, "Come on, we're gonna be late to Mr. Bosshart's class."

Rowan nodded in agreement and they both left their dorm room, locking their room behind them. Rowan quickly, scrawled, 'Go Cardinals!' on the small white board on it with a smiley face. Quinn added a few exclamation points, not knowing the significance those words had to her friend.

After they had finished that they left for their class.
♠ ♠ ♠
I hope you enjoyed the beginning of the story.