I Must Be Dreaming

Once 'Gladiator' was over, Chase and Griff began 'sword fighting' with a pillow and an inflatable bat. It was quite the comical sight of two grown men to behold. They were acting like children. No not children, brothers. Yes, they were acting like brothers and they were in all but blood. All of them were brothers. They had suffered together, learned together, fought together, won together, celebrated together, lost together, and suffered together, and because of all that they had grown together. They all had forged a bond that would last long after they went through commencement and went on towards the next phase of life. Rowan recognized this and secretly wished that she had bonds like that. It would’ve been nice to always have a support group to rely on when tough times come. At the moment, she wasn’t sure if she had that anymore. Turning her attention back to the boys, she was surprised to see that they were still taking whacks at each other. She thought that they would’ve seen how idiotic they were being by now. But they hadn’t. That was until both Chase and Griff grew bored by like swords and they began to wrestle on the living room floor until Coby and Andrew had pull them apart.

After that ‘duel’ if one could call it that, everyone fell into silence because they were not really sure of what to say or do because of Rowan's presence. No girl had witnessed them in their true habitat. Usually, they at least attempted to have more self-control around the other girls that had been brought over. But none of those girls had ever been brought over by their starting quarterback. For him to bring a girl over must mean that she was extremely special to have him so comfortable with her. Sure, she might be easy on the eyes, but there had to be more to her than that to attract Andrew’s attention and for him to keep her around. None of them could quite figure it out just yet. Maybe the more they spend time with her; the more they might be able to see. Rowan felt as if all eyes were on her as the group sat quietly around the room as if they were waiting for something to happen. It was like they were examining her, judging her. Like they were trying to decide whether or not she was right for Andrew. She hoped that they didn’t assume the worst about her or for them to think that she was here for all the wrong reasons. She wanted to given the chance to show them that she didn’t want any of that. Even if she didn’t really know what she wanted. The tension melted away when David DeCastro decided to poke his head through the door with an offer,

"Anybody feel like going out for a couple beers?"

Most of the guys were quick to get up except for Andrew. He didn’t have going in mind when he had invited Rowan over. He wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to go out. He didn’t what she would think of him if he did decide to go out. If he did, he would want he to come with them. So Andrew looked at Rowan unsure of what he should do. He saw that she was looking over the back of the couch back towards the door where David stood waiting for the rest of the guys to get ready. It was until David cast a look toward Andrew that he saw Rowan and informed her with a raised eyebrow,

"You can come, too. If you want."

Rowan smiled, sheepishly, but graciously declined his offer, "Thanks, but no thanks, I don't drink beer."

There was a collective gasp from the rest of the guys in response to her statement. They must’ve been surprised that a co-ed wasn’t down to go drinking. She didn’t care though. She wasn’t really in the mood for alcohol. Normally, she would’ve jumped at the chance to go out, but she really just didn’t have it in her for that sort of thing that night. She’d rather spend her time curled up on a couch watching movies. That’s what she had planned on doing and she wasn’t about to change her mind.

“What do you mean you ‘don’t drink beer’?” Chase inquired as if he was speaking for the group as a whole after he dashed down the stairs towards the living room because Andrew and Rowan were still seated on the couch.

"I only drink the good stuff. Like vodka, whisky, bourbon, rum. Mostly, vodka cause it's the easiest to hide." She saw them begin to smile at her statement and continued, "But I don't really feel like going out and getting wasted."

David nodded, seeming to have accepted her statement before looking at Andrew and asking him, "So I'm guessing you're gonna stay with her?"

"Yeah, but I don't feel like going out anyway," Andrew confirmed with his friend; while in the back of his mind, he was hoping that David caught on to the fact that Andrew wanted to spend some time with Rowan without any interruptions. The bigger man seemed to catch on as he bounded up the stairs to collect any of the lagers.

"Aw, come on, you guys are such fun suckers!" Chase whined, he had hoped Andrew to come and bring Rowan with them. It would've been a fun to find out how much the girl could handle before she was wasted out of her mind. But he figured that Andrew wouldn’t let that happen anyway, he seemed rather protective of Rowan, which was even more unusual than him bringing a girl to the house. He wondered why she was so different than any other girl on campus.

Chase was about to open his mouth to beg them both to come but Griff didn't want to hear it and he didn’t want to waste anymore time waiting on him so he pulled Chase out the door by the collar of his shirt, "Quit complaining! See you guys later!"

Once the guys had departed, Rowan fell back into the couch with a sigh of relief. It wasn’t that she didn't like them or anything. It was just weird that her and Andrew were supposed to be 'hanging out' and they showed up. She hadn’t been expecting to meet them all at once like that. It was a tad overwhelming. She wasn’t really a new people person. She heard Andrew laugh from somewhere above her. She almost felt obligated to flip him off but decided against it.

"You hungry?" Andrew inquired.

Rowan nodded and sat up, opening her eyes to see Andrew's merely inches away from hers. She gasped, almost silently, and looked down as she realized if she were to move any closer that they would be kissing. Butterflies erupted in her stomach at that thought. She wondered what it would be like to kiss him. She wanted him to kiss her. Looking back up, she saw that Andrew's eyes weren't on hers; they were on her lips. Was he thinking the same thing she was? Should they kiss? Was it the right time for them to kiss? Did they feel comfortable enough with each other to kiss? Should she kiss him? Or should she wait for him to kiss her?

Sadly, Andrew didn't do either. Instead he pulled back, clearing his throat before asking her, "Do you still want Pasta?"

Rowan blushed embarrassed by her prior thoughts. At first, she was afraid that she wouldn’t be able to speak coherently but she surprised herself when her voice was able to come through for her. Even if the reply was as simple as,

"Yeah, pasta is still great. Can I help?"

"I was just about to ask you the same thing. Did I mention that I suck at cooking?" Andrew admitted, sheepishly as Rowan rose from the couch and followed him into the kitchen. He had been weary of cooking for her in case he screwed it up and made himself out to be an idiot in front of her.

"Do you have a hard time boiling water?" Rowan teased as she sat up on the counter top. Andrew shrugged, pulling out a pot to boil the water in and cook the pasta in.

"No, but I can never tell when the pasta is done." He informed her filling the pot up with water, placing it on the stove, and turning on the burner.

“Pasta is done when it is soft, or as Italians call it: ‘Al dente’.” Rowan laughed, as she moved to sit on top of the kitchen counter so that she could watch what Andrew was doing without seeming to hover. It wasn’t long before she noticed that he had skipped something and she decided to point it out to him,

"You need to put in some salt."

"Thank you for reminding me." Andrew replied, sarcastically, but he seemed to appreciate her help none the less as he grabbed the salt shaker, "How much?"

Looking back, he saw Rowan only shrug, "Just a few shakes and get a wooden spoon so the wait doesn't boil over.

"The spoons are in the drawers underneath you." Andrew pointed out, not really wanting to put his hand between her legs to get into the drawer. Even though it was highly tempting to make her squirm. Now, don’t get him wrong he wouldn’t mind some action with Rowan, but he didn’t want to push her beyond what she was ready for. Besides he had just wimped out on a chance to kiss her. How backwards would that be to try a move like that?

Rowan blushed, hopped down to pull open the drawer, and then got the only wooden spoon out. After retrieving the cooking utensil, she walked over to the shove and placed the spoon into the boiling water. But when she tried to move away but strong arms wrapped around her to prevent her from doing so.

"Sparky..." Rowan muttered, conflicted as to whether she should lean back into him or just stay where she was. Why was it so hard to decide? Why was he being so confusing? It was like he couldn’t decided if he wanted to pull her in close or keep holding her at arms length.

"What?" Andrew inquired, smiling down at her. It made her melt. Why did she have to like him so much? When all this could be was a fling? She should've kept a tighter reign on her heart. She didn't want to have her heart broken. She didn’t want to fall for nothing. She had managed to not have that happen to her in twenty-two years and she wasn’t damn near gonna let it happen now!

"Nothing... I just... Where's the bathroom?" She asked, shyly, hoping that the ploy would keep Andrew unaware of how nervous he made her. It worked or so it seemed as Andrew let go of her, pointed down the hall, and gave her directions,

"It's down the hall right before the stairs." Rowan gifted him a small smile before walking out of the kitchen.

Andrew sighed and ran a hand through his hair as he watched her retreat out of the room. Had he just screwed things up? He hoped not. He really wanted this to last. She was different from all the other girls. She seemed so normal, yet interesting at the same time. But he could tell she was still holding something back from him at times. Like she didn’t trust him beyond the level they were at just yet. But who was he to judge her? He was just as scared if not more than she was. He had so much that was expected of him that he didn’t want to make a wrong choice that could reflect badly upon him. He knew that Rowan wasn’t a bad choice; he just had to prevent himself from making bad choices when it came to her.

Rowan didn't know why but she had to get out of the kitchen. If you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen, right? She probably would've said or done something she would regret. She wanted so badly to give in and just allow her heart this happiness but she was scare of the consequences if it turned sour and she didn’t have a friend to turn to.

Eventually, she gathered herself up enough to push off of the locked bathroom door. Still shaky hands fumbled to turn on the faucet before she cupped her hands to collect the cool water and splash it on her face. Almost immediately, the liquid brought the desired relief that she needed from the heat she had felt from being so close to Andrew in the kitchen. A knock on the door brought her back from her reprieve and back into the real world.

"Hey, Ro, are you ok?" Andrew's concerned voice inquired from the other side.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Rowan told him, quickly turning off the water and toweling off her face before she opened the door. She smiled up at him like nothing was wrong and she hoped that the concoction of emotions didn’t show through. Andrew only smiled back at her as he offered her his hand and asked,

"Wanna help finish supper?"

Rowan took his hand and nodded, "Yeah, I'd love, too. What do you need done?"

Andrew thought for a minute before replying with a smile, "Nothing."

Rowan raises an eyebrow at him in question, confused why he would ask for help if he didn't need it.

"I need help eating it." He explained as they walked back into the kitchen where a large plate of spaghetti on the island, two forks, and two glasses of red wine. Rowan blushed at the implication.

"A Lady and the Tramp tribute?" She joked as she took a seat after she had taken in the layout of their meal. Part of her had hoped that he had staged this because of the possibly that it might lead to what happened in the movie.

Andrew sat down across from her, with a blush rising upon his cheeks but shook his head, "You know, I hadn’t thought about that, but sadly, I didn’t. If I had I would've had cheesy Italian music playing in the background. To be honest, all the normal dishes are in the dishwasher because we forgot to run it earlier."

Rowan was suspicious of this answer but said a quick prayer of thanks and then began to dig in. After about her third bite, she realized how hungry she was. Looking back at her day she hadn't eaten breakfast or lunch because of Quinn. She would have to get back at her roommate for the lack of sleep.

Pausing to take a sip of the wine, Rowan looked over to Andrew rather sheepishly. He had a stunned expression on his face, probably due to how quickly she had been eating. He probably hadn’t seen a girl outside his family eat as aggressively before. Most girls might’ve been dainty about it or might not have really eaten at all. But there was no way that Rowan wasn’t going to eat. Especially, after not having eaten all day.

"Sorry, I didn't get breakfast or lunch today because Quinn kept me up all night." Rowan explained, twirling the pasta around her fork into a neat little ball.

"Why?" Andrew questioned, taking a bite himself. Rowan wanted to laugh, but she was afraid that he might not understand her humor unless she explained herself first.

"Not why, but how." She corrected him and then continued, "Quinn spent the entire night talking to Dallas. They didn't say goodnight until like four!"

Andrew had wondered why she hadn't gotten up until three when he first received her text earlier that day. Usually, Rowan would go for her morning run, shower, and eat breakfast before she even shot him a text. But this news did bother him because her friends were being rather inconsiderate. He wondered why she hadn’t said anything about it to them yet.

"Haven’t you said something?" He asked after digesting his thoughts. He hoped that she might open up a little but Rowan shrugged and looked at him, sadly from over the rim of her wine glass,

"I think she's still mad at me... They both are."

Andrew was surprised that Dallas was mad her. What had she done to him? As far as he was aware, the only problem the ginger might have was with him. Andrew had seen the way her friend had regarded her from a far and figured that he was jealous, but he chose not to point it out or let it bother him, "What did you do to her?"

Rowan sent him a weak smile and listed off her offenses, "I lied the morning I ran into you that I had ran into a tree again. I had forgotten that Quinn, Dallas, and I had made plans to go out to breakfast. I lied again when I ran into you the second time and then again when we hung out at the library. Other than that I haven’t done anything else."

Andrew laughed as he remembered the first time he had met the woman now sitting next to him. He never expected it, but it had happened. He was hurt that she hadn't told her roommate, but did he blame her? No, not at all. If Griff hadn’t been there he never would’ve told the guys about their first encounter.

"Why didn't you say anything?"

Rowan shrugged, again, "Cause I didn't know if I'd actually ever see you or talk to you again. I thought it was just a one time thing to being with but I guess not."

Andrew smiled at her in response and noticed that she hadn't touched the pasta since they had started talking about her friends. He felt bad for chasing away her appetite. It was refreshing to see a beautiful girl like Rowan actually eating real food.

"Are you gonna eat anything else?"

His question surprised her, but she shook her head. Talking about the situation with her friends had caused her to lose her appetite. She hated that the situation with her friends was causing her to stress out so much. Maybe she needed to branch out a little farther and make some new friends. Maybe she could hang out with some of her old acquaintances more often than be miserable being tortured by the people who were supposed to be her friends.

"No, but I will later. Can we watch another movie?" She inquired instead almost like a child. Before Andrew could answer, Rowan had slid out of the tall bar stood and her feet were settled on the tile floor.

Knowing that he had no choice in the matter, Andrew shrugged with a sigh and offered, "Sure. Go pick a movie and I will get this cleaned up."

"I already have 3 movies in mind." She informed him, picking up the plate and dumping what was left of their meal in the trashcan. She then put it in the sink to be cleaned later on.

Andrew shook his head at her and picked up the forks and wine glasses, "And those would be?"

"'Tangled,' 'How to Train a Dragon,' or 'Rio.'" She listed off, taking the glasses and silver ware from him and then placing them in the sink. Andrew gave her a confused look, he had never seen any of them before, but he remembered from the trailers that they were for kids. So he wasn't sure which one to pick...

"Which one is your favorite?"

"I like all of them." Rowan shrugged, "So it doesn't matter to me. You pick one."

Andrew pondered for a moment. He was glad that he did have to choose between the three Twilight movies. But still... He was choosing between 3 Disney movies. He didn't really know anything about them so he just picked,

"Tangled?" He saw Rowan's eyes light up at his words.

Andrew had hoped he had made the right choice but apparently, he had judging by her reaction as she skipped out of the kitchen and into the living room to set up the movie. But he didn't follow her; instead he snuck up to his room and retrieved a blanket from his bed. He didn't want to have to get up during the movie just in case she got cold. It would save him time and seem like a thoughtful gesture.

Making his way downstairs, he realized how quiet the house was without all the guys in it. It was a nice change, especially since he would get to spend some uninterrupted time with Rowan. It was extremely rare, the guys would say unheard of for him to be a girl to the house. Before he had no reason to bring back some girl that he didn’t care about. But, now he had found a girl that he did truly care about in Rowan and he hoped that he could indulge in more quiet time with her as time went on. As he entered the living room, he didn't see Rowan until he walked around to the front of the couch. She was resting her head against its arm, her eyes held a drowsy cast to them, but he decided not comment.

After she had gotten the movie set up, Rowan saw something move out of the corner of her eyes and her body tensed, automatically. Making herself look, she felt silly because she should've known that it was Andrew. Seeing that he had brought a blanket with him made her smile. How thoughtful could this man be? Sitting up, she reached for not just the blanket but for the man who had brought it down for her and pulled him down next to her.

Andrew sat down next to the armrest and Rowan, after wrapping herself in the blanket, nuzzled into him. The combination of being close to him and the warmth of the blanket made her feel safe. It was like her personal temporary heaven and she didn’t want to leave. She pressed play to start the movie and allowed her musings to die off so that she could invest herself into the movie.

'This is the story of how I die...' Flynn Rider's voice begins his narration and then continues on to explain the background to the movie.

Looking up, Rowan saw that Andrew was intently watching the movie. It was something she hadn't expected but was glad that he was paying attention. Rowan, however, was beginning to feel the full effect of her exhaustion as the movie went on. It didn't hurt that Andrew's hand was tracing soothing designs up and down her arm.

Rapunzel and Flynn had just made it to the castle when Andrew felt Rowan's breathing slow. Looking down, he saw that her eyes were barely open. His heart when out to her. It appeared that she was more exhausted than she had originally thought. He was upset that her friends had driven her to the point of exhaustion. How unfair was it for her to lose sleep over something so petty?

But back to the movie, the mood shifted when they were out on the lake in the gondola and they were waiting for the lamps to be lit. As the little paper lamps began to float around them, Rapunzel leaped to grab the front of the boat, her watchful eyes filled with wonder. Sadly, another song began but it’s Disney so what do you expect? This time it was a song of romance that captured the scene through the thoughts and feelings that both the hero and the heroine were thinking and feeling at the time. It was slower paced and it began to lull Rowan to sleep. Eventually, she couldn’t fight it off any longer as her eyes closed the rest of the way and darkness consuming her conscious.

Andrew would've stopped the movie when he noticed that Rowan had fallen asleep but he felt that he would’ve robbed himself of the ending if he stopped it then. He wanted to find out what happened. He knew it wasn’t over yet. He had a feeling that it was close to it at least, but with Rowan's slow, even breathing and the warmth her body was producing he, too, was beginning to fall into sleep's tempting trap.

Unknowingly, he shifted them so that they were laying on the couch, with him in-between the back of the couch and Rowan. Out of instinct and desire, he wrapped an arm around her waist to pull her closer to him. Breathing in her hair's sweet smell, he wondered if he had ever smelled a more soothing scent before he, too, finally fell asleep.

******

Sometime after midnight, the guys stumbled in. Whispering and giggling like schoolgirls. No, most of them weren't drunk. Coach Shaw would kill them for it and no one wanted extra OTs or worse the rope. Not a good way to start any week of practice. Most of the guys were smart of enough to know how to enjoy themselves without getting trashed. After all, they were smart enough to get into Stanford, weren’t they? Okay, so maybe that doesn’t apply to drinking or having a good time

What most of them hadn't expected to find their starting quarterback and his 'friend' sleeping together on the couch or the TV screen showed the main menu of some Disney princess movie. Chase made a move to steal the blanket that was draped over top of them, but Dave and Chris both pulled him away from the pair and then ushered the rest of the guys towards their respective rooms. There was no way they were going to let any of them ruin this for Andrew. He had never bothered any of them, why would they let that happen to him. So they weren't going to let the goober ruin it. But once she left later on that day, they were going to let him have for watching a little girl movie.

******

Later on that morning, Rowan woke up feeling much warmer than she was normally used to feeling. It made her sigh, happily and nuzzle closer to its source. She also felt slightly cramped like she had been sleeping on a couch…

That's when it hit her. She had fallen asleep on the couch watching 'Tangled' with Andrew. Blinking, she found that she hadn't even taken her contacts out. Groaning, she buried her face into her pillow because she knew she'd be dawning her glasses for the next couple days.

Curse her sensitive eyes!

A chuckle rumbled through her 'pillow' and caused her to pull away only to end up being trapped by what she presumed to be the back of the couch. Peaking from underneath her eyelashes, Rowan saw a familiar face. A face she was becoming more and more fond of the more she’d look at it.

"Good morning." Andrew greeted her, warmly. His smile told her that he had either been awake before her waking up process or had been woken up by it. Of course, Rowan buried her face in his shoulder (which had ended up becoming her pillow at some point during the night) to hide the blush that had arisen on her face because he was seeing her at one of her more vulnerable states.

"Morning." She muttered in return. However, the response was muffled by the soft material of his T-Shirt and must have sounded rather intelligible. But she realized that this gave him a chance to discover that she was a slow riser. Andrew only laughed more at her but not in a mean way. He laughed because he thought her morning behavior was rather cute. Cute was the word he wanted to use? Yeah, cute works he guessed. He moved his hand to tilt her face up so that she would look at him but she buried it back into the crook of his neck.

"Boston, you know you don't have to be afraid of me." Andrew teased her.

She mumbled something, but her words once again were distorted by his shirt. He rolled his eyes at her childish behavior and then asked her, "What was that I didn't quite catch what you said?"

Glaring up at him, she pulled away from his shoulder. The smile she was fighting to hide was the only thing that betrayed her faux anger.

"I am not afraid of YOU. I am just a slow riser." She informed him, evenly. He nodded, accepting her reply,

"I see..." He trailed off, trying to think of something they could do this morning and then he remembered, "I believe you invited me to join you on a morning run at some point."

Rowan blushed, she also remembered this, "I believe you were the one who invited yourself and my reply was 'in your dreams.'"

Andrew laughed, knowing that this was true. He had invited himself to join her.

"I wanted to see if you really do day dream when you run." He admitted, scratching the back of his. Rowan was embarrassed by this and blushed, even though that incident had led them to this point. So why not let him in a little more? It couldn't hurt, right? There were no strings attached at the moment.

"Fine, let me go change."

She finally agreed and moved to get up, but as she moved she discovered that their legs had tangled over the course of the night. Both blushing, they disentangled themselves and at the same time trying to avoid any more embarrassment.

Once they had achieved that, Rowan stood and went to Andrew's room to change. A new rush of excitement filled her as she did so. This was the first time she'd have a running partner capable of keeping up with her pace, if not perfectly able to surpass it. She was looking forward to the challenge but had a feeling that they would probably end up focusing on each other rather than running.

She found an upstairs bathroom to freshen up in because she felt so greasy and disgusting that she needed a quick birdbath to liven her up. She was surprised to find that it was actually clean, almost sparkling. She had expected the room to be all grimy and nasty with dirt and man sweat. She wondered if they had a cleaning person come clean for them. Pushing that thought aside as she made her way back down stairs to find Andrew waiting for her by the front door in a different set of clothes.

"You change fast." Rowan pointed out as she looked him up and down, his board shoulders, well muscled arms and pecks. His shorts hid his thigh but the rest of his legs showed how conditioned his body was and then there were his massive feet... You know what that means.

Gosh, she needed to quit hanging out with Dallas so much. He was perverting her mind! But there was no shame it when it came to someone who was admiring you the same way.

Andrew did the same thing, noting how proportional she was from her tiny feet and well toned calves to her hip, taunt torso, lean arms, her chest was prefect in proportion to her size, her shoulders were graceful, swan-like neck, and her heart shaped faced.

Rowan felt her body heat up as she felt his eyes travel over her body. It didn't make her uncomfortable, but she was nervous about what he thought of her. She would never ask him though, because he could lie if he wanted to. She didn't think he was that kind of guy, but you never know sometimes...

"You're beautiful, you know that right?" His words were a pleasant surprise.

"Thanks." Rowan blushed, unsure of what else to say as she rubbed her forearm and kicked her feet nervously, "No one besides my family has ever told me that."

When was she going to stop excepting the worse of people? She still had a hard time with those kinds of this. Andrew hadn't given her any reason to doubt or think lowly of him. In fact, he had been nothing but kind to her. Shouldn't she stop putting space between them whenever they tried to get closer to her?

"Not even Quinn or Dallas?" Andrew asked with confusion written all over his face. Rowan laughed before telling him,

"They are family." She informed him then went on to ask, "You ready to go, Sparky?"

Andrew nodded and smiled at her, "Yeah, Boston, I'm ready to go. Are you?"

"More than you know!" She smirked and walked out the door that he had opened for her.

The sun was just as it had been the previous day, bright. It was another brilliant day to enjoy outside. Even at eight am on a Saturday when there were very few people up. The lack of activity around them was another thing for Rowan and Andrew to appreciate. Well, more Andrew's sake than Rowan's, she didn't care if people were watching or talking about her but she didn’t want to provide the rumor mill with anything that might give Andrew a bad name.

After they had both stretched out they planned on taking her normal route down toward Stanford Stadium, which would take them past her dorm but there wasn't any need to stop by at this point. Rowan didn't want her ‘virgin eyes’ to be scared. Besides that would be one of those weird, creepy things that Dallas told her people did all the time. Every time, she questioned why she even wanted to live on this planet anymore with all morons. But then, she looked at Andrew and she knew that there were at least a few good people out there that made this planet more tolerable. Meanwhile, Rowan attempted to maintain a comfortable pace so that Andrew and her could talk while they ran/jogged.

"Hey, I hate to admit this, but I can't keep a conversation while I'm running." Andrew stated her after about 7 blocks. He was surprised that Rowan was able to, "How can you do it?"

Rowan shrugged, "I always have. It helps that I lettered in Cross Country and Track in High School. I was good enough that I could've ran here."

"Why didn't you?"

Rowan sighed and shrugged again, "Honestly? I hate running competitively. I hate running, too. So why continue doing something I don't like. Plus it brings up some bad memories..."

"Oh ok. I get it." Andrew agreed, wondering if those 'bad memories' had anything to do with the issues she had with guys other than Dallas. He knew he'd be crossing the line if he asked more about it so he didn't, "So... When's your birthday?"

Rowan laughed, "Random, but ok, December 12th. What about you?"

"September 12th." He informed her. This caused Rowan to frown, then stop and grab his arm so that he would turn around before she complained to him,

"That was two weeks ago! Why didn't you tell me?"

Her pout made him feel guilty. Sighing, he ran one of his giant hands over his face,

"I’m sorry, Ro, it slipped my mind. I just had a small get together with the guys and my family. They kinda sprung it on me so I didn't really have a choice. I don't really like celebrating my birthday."

Rowan rolled her eyes and laughed, "God, you can't even be an attention whore on your birthday. It's like you're the anti-attention whore!"

Andrew sort of growled and went to grab Rowan, but she quickly moved put of his grasp. He tried to catch her again and she evaded him again. As this went on for several more minutes, they moved off the sidewalk and into the grass lawn. Eventually, he made her slip up and he caught her around the waist with his arms. She only struggled trying to get free, playfully smacking him and eventually she did. Rowan made a break for it and almost ended up running into innocent by-passer when she did.

"Oh my god!" Rowan gasped, placing a hand on her chest, "I am so sorry."

"Jesus, Boston, you gotta watch where you're going! You almost-“ Andrew jokingly scolded her as he jogged over to see if the two girls were alright but then paused when he recognized the girl, whom had become another one of Rowan’s victims, “Mel? How did your game go last night?"

The brown haired girl smiled at Andrew and rolled eyes almost like a sister would to her brother. She, then gave an indifferent shrug almost looking a tad disappointed when she informed him, "We lost, but we have to stay focused we play SC tonight."

Andrew nodded and then looked back to Rowan, "Oh! I completely forgot! Mel, this is my-" Awkward pause, "Rowan Kowalski. Ro, this is my sister Mary Ellen."

Duh, of course she should've known that Mel was his sister. They looked so much alike. Same kind of facial structure but Mary Ellen's was more feminine, but they shared the same smile and hair color.

"It's nice to meet you, Rowan." Mary Ellen greeted her, "You can call me Mel."

Rowan took her hand and shook it, "It's nice to meet you, too, Mel. Like I said before I am so sorry. I was out for a run the other day and ran into your brother, literally."

Mel laughed at this and gave her brother a shove, "Jeez, Andrew, why don't you watch where you are going?"

But then it was Rowan's turn to laugh, "Actually, it was my fault. I wasn't watching where I was going, ran into him, and knocked him down on his back."

"It's true!" Andrew interjected, “She’s ran into me twice now.”

"Really?" Mel asked and then whispered in Rowan's ear, "He probably deserved it."

"Probably..." Rowan agreed and winked, "He still owes me dinner."

Andrew raised an eyebrow and folded his arms over his chest, "Since when?"

"Since now." Rowan informed him with a puppy dog pout. After rolling his eyes, Andrew agreed,

"Fine, next Saturday after the UCLA game. Deal?" Holding out his hand for Rowan to shake.

"Deal." Rowan agreed, taking his and shaking it, "I'm good with that."

Mel had been watching the whole interaction and she could tell that her brother saw Rowan as more than a friend. Even though they hadn't talked much she could tell that Rowan would be good for Andrew. She also noticed that they hadn't disconnected their hands yet. She could also tell by the way they were looking at each other that it was time for her to leave. Plus she had a game to go prepare for.

"Well, I will let you guys go. I gotta go get ready for the game tonight. See ya tomorrow, Andrew?" Mary Ellen asked, moving to give her big brother a parting hug, which he returned, and then she turned to Rowan, "It was nice meeting you, Rowan."

Rowan smiled and then nodded, "It was cool meeting you, too. Good luck tonight!"

"Thanks!" Mary Ellen smiled and then went off towards the Maples Pavilion.

Andrew blushed and looked to Rowan, his hand sneaking to take hers once again. "Siblings"

"I know. My sister is coming up for homecoming and my parents are trying to see if my younger brother can come out this year." Rowan agreed, swinging their hands back and forth.

"How old is your brother again?" Andrew inquired as they began to walk back to Andrew's house.

"He's a 18." Rowan told him, "Totally acts like he's 30 though."

"Really? Where is he going to college?"

Rowan thought for a moment, trying to get her facts straight,

"Yeah, for some reason he is extremely mature for his age. I think he said he is planning on going to Boston College on an Academic Scholarship to play hockey. Right now, he is playing in the Ontario Hockey League for the Windsor Spitfires... So he doesn't really have school per say. Just online classes here and there."

Andrew nodded, confused about all the hockey stuff and then asked, "Why is he playing in Canada?"

"Well, for one he was born in Vancouver so he has dual citizenship and doesn’t have to have a green card," Rowan informed him, "It also makes him a better prospect for the 2012 NHL Entry Draft."

"They draft 18-year-olds?" Andrew asked, surprised by the fact that the NHL didn’t require their athletes to achieve a higher education.

"Um... Yeah, they actually prefer that the boys to be drafted younger. They go to the minor league affiliate of the team that drafted them or play colligate hockey. It’s a way to monitor a team’s investments, Rowan explained, how the draft worked for the NHL, which wasn’t unlike baseball, "They want their prospects to develop if they aren't first rounders, instead of just letting them sit."

Andrew nodded at her words, but he understood the practicality behind it. He saw why the NHL would allow such young guys to be drafted; they had the opportunity to go a minor league if they weren’t cut out to play with the pros just yet. He found it interesting that they had the opportunity to attend college if they wanted to. He wondered how their contracts were seen by the NCAA and if they were some kind of exception to the rules.

It was hard to believe that talking about her brother had taken up almost the entire walk back to Andrew's house. So when they were a block away Rowan, sending Andrew a challenging glance, and then made a break for it and Andrew dashed after her, both of them laughing.

(Thanks to her cross country and track skills, Rowan was able to beat Andrew to the front door. But who's counting, right?)