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We ate our breakfast quickly and then I rushed to shower and get ready. By the time I came out of the bathroom Tyler was passed out on my bed. I laughed quietly before going over and laying down next to him.

“Well shit! If I knew it was nap time I wouldn’t have bothered to shower!” I said loudly, laughing as he sat up quickly.

“Sorry!” he said hurriedly. “I didn’t mean to fall asleep.”

“We really don’t need to hang out if you’re that tired, Tyler. You had a really late night. It’s not a big deal.”

“No! We do! Nap time is scheduled for later, before dinner,” he said with a grin. “By the way, pack a bag. We’re going to a nice restaurant for dinner. Bring a dress.”

“That’s not necessary,” I said nervously, looking down at my hands. “Honestly. I’m good with like, pizza. We don’t have to go anywhere fancy.”

“But I wanna take you! No arguments. I have this whole day planned,” he replied, leaning down to catch my eye. “You’re gonna love it.”

“Okay,” I said quietly. “I’ll give you today. I will do whatever you want today. Got it?”

“Got it,” he replied, nodding. “I will impress you. I promise,” he continued with a wink.

I threw some clothes in a bag and then we were on our way to his apartment. “We’ll just drop off your stuff and pick up Marshall,” he said. “I was serious about that walk.”

“Sounds perfect!” I replied with a smile. “I’ve always wanted a dog but I was never allowed to have one.”

“You weren’t ALLOWED to have a dog?!” Tyler said, looking at me with wide eyes.

“Nope!” I said, laughing a little. “Not that my family would have been the most loving environment for one anyway,” I continued, rolling my eyes. “It’d probably run away after one week under my roof.”

“Why do you say that?” Tyler asked, looking at me curiously.

“Hey, I ran away as soon as I could didn’t I?” I replied, laughing. “Not the healthiest of environments. I’m sure you’ll get to hear all about it sometime,” I continued, giving him a tight smile.

“Yes I will, considering you’re going to tell me all about it later,” he said, nodding in my direction. “But for right now, I’m going to give you the afternoon you’ve always wanted with a dog.”

“That sounds fantastic,” I said, leaning my head back on the headrest and looking at him.

He glanced in my direction and shot me a smile. After a few minutes of driving he reached over and grabbed my hand.

“You will tell me about your parents later, yeah?” he asked, sounding genuinely concerned.

“I’ll do my best,” I said quietly, giving him a slight nod.

We pulled into his parking spot and made our way up to his apartment. Marshall immediately attacked Tyler at the door again and then calmly made his way to me, acting more shy.

“I’ve never seen that dog be that calm, ever,” someone said, popping his head out of the kitchen.

“Freddy, right?” I asked, laughing.

“You are correct!” he replied with a smile. “And for the record, we’re keeping you around if Marshall keeps acting like a little angel.”

“Sounds good to me!” I said, patting the dog on the head. “I’m growing kind of fond of him anyway,” I continued, shooting Tyler a wink.

Tyler grinned at me as he grabbed my bag. “I’ll just throw this in my room and grab the leash and we’ll head out, yeah?”

“Okay!” I replied as Marshall immediately got more excited. “You like the sound of the word ‘leash’ don’t ya boy?” I said, getting down on his level and petting him a bit more.

“He sucks you in pretty quickly, doesn’t he?” Tyler asked, laughing as he handed me the leash.

“He’s just so cute!” I exclaimed, hooking the leash onto his collar. “Okay. We’re ready,” I said, standing and grinning at Tyler.

We left the apartment and headed down the street, Tyler letting me hold onto Marshall. After walking for a while I finally asked, “So, where are we going?”

“There’s a dog park just a little while down there,” Tyler replied, pointing. “A lot of the guys have dogs and we all kinda meet up there when we have Saturday afternoons off.”

He started laughing when he noticed my eyes widen. “It’s not a big deal, Riley! You’ve met them all already. Plus, they bring their wives, girlfriends, kids, whatever so it’s not like you’ll just walk straight into a huge group of guys. The wives and stuff are all super nice too.”

“Oh God, I’m meeting WAGs,” I said quietly, giving Tyler a nervous smile.

He started cracking up as he took the leash from me and threw his arm over my shoulders. “Riley Garrison,” he said in between laughs. “You worry way, way too much. Trust me, I’m the only one who bites,” he added with a wink.

I leaned into him a bit, but shot him a mock glare before I broke into a small smile. “You’re such an idiot,” I muttered, laughing. I looked up then to notice a large group of people a few feet in front of us.

“Riley!” I heard before I noticed Brad start walking towards us. “I’m so happy you came. I was telling all the women how hilarious you were and I think they were starting to think I had just made up a girl
for Segs here.”

“Ah, Marchy,” Tyler said cheerfully. “They all know you wouldn’t have the imagination to make up someone as awesome as Riley.”

The crowd gathering started to laugh lightly and I suddenly felt very put on the spot. “Uh, hi!” I said, glancing around. “I’m Riley? Tyler’s… uh… friend?” I added a smile at the end to make sure I didn’t seem stuck up or anything. All the women started laughing and I could feel the blush creeping up my cheeks.

“No, no, honey! We aren’t laughing at you!” One of the women who looked pretty young came up and grabbed my hand. “They broke us all in by bringing us here without warning us. We all know how nervous you are,” she said, smiling genuinely. “I’m Katrina! I’ve heard a lot about you actually. I’m this idiot’s better half,” she added, gesturing at Brad.

She brought me around and introduced me to the rest of the women there, also reintroducing me to the teammates that were present. Eventually I found my way back to Tyler, who was talking to Brad, and he casually wrapped his arm around my shoulders again.

“How ya doing?” he asked, looking down at me.

“I am very, very overwhelmed,” I said quietly, glancing around. “Never in a million years will I
remember all those names.”

Him, Brad and Katrina all started laughing. “It gets easier,” Katrina said. “I was overwhelmed too at first. If he keeps bringing you around you’ll definitely figure it out soon enough,” she added with a smile. “And judging by how comfortable he was to bring you around in the first place, I’d say you’ll be sticking around for a while.” She threw me a wink before grabbing Brad’s hand and pulling him away.

“So what do you think?” Tyler asked, pulling me down to sit on the grass. Marshall immediately came over and climbed into his lap.

“They all seem really nice!” I said, smiling as I started to pet the dog. “A little intimidating,” I added quietly, glancing around at the women wearing fancy jackets and jeans before looking down at my yoga pants. “They’re all so, put together. Like, jeeze. You’re at a dog park.” At that Tyler started laughing so loudly he was drawing attention. “Stop it!” I whispered, hitting him in the arm. It wasn’t long before I started giggling too.

“I’m sorry,” Tyler said, gasping for air. “Those words are just… 100% what goes through my head every time I come here.” He stood up before reaching for my hand and pulling me up next to him.

“We’ve gotta go,” he said, finally putting on a serious face. “On to round three of wooing Riley.”

I rolled my eyes, fighting a smile when I noticed that he hadn’t let go of my hand after helping me up.
We quickly called out our good-byes and started making our way back to his apartment.

“Sooo…” I said slowly, getting his attention once we were away from the park.

“Yeah?”

“What exactly is ‘phase 3’?” I asked, smiling and swinging our arms.

“It’s a secret,” he whispered, looking down and winking at me. “I’d tell you but then I’d have to kill you and well that would kinda be a bummer on the plans…”

I smiled but narrowed my eyes at him. “Hmm…” I pondered out loud. “Is this taking place at your apartment or are we just dropping Marshall off?”

“Okay. I’ll give you that. It is happening at the apartment.”

“Okay… I’ve got nothing,” I said, frowning. I glanced up to see Tyler fighting a smile.

“You really don’t like surprises, do you?” he asked, casually.

“Not even a little bit,” I said, sighing. “But I’ve got a feeling that whenever I’m with you I’m just going to be along for the ride, aren’t I?”

“Just for the next little while,” he replied slowly. “I’ve gotta fool you into thinking I’m interesting and then, when you’re invested I’ll go back to being my normal old boring self,” he continued, grinning at me.

“I’d be willing to bet that you are far from boring,” I said, laughing as we walked into his building.

When we got inside Tyler told me to go sit on the couch in the living room and wait for him. I narrowed my eyes skeptically but then decided to just trust him and went in to sit down. A few minutes later he came in with a bottle of wine and two glasses.

“Tyler, it’s the middle of the day,” I said, staring at him.

“It’s actually 3 o’clock. And we’re going to watch a super romantic movie and drink wine like the classy people we are.”

I started laughing as I took a glass from him. “First of all, I’m only 20 and far from classy. Just so you know what you’re getting into,” I started with a wink. “Second of all, if you plan on me making it out to dinner, I’d be stingy with the wine. And third, what movie?”

“The Notebook,” Tyler said sheepishly, glancing down at me. I started cracking up and he stood there in shock. “What?” he finally got out. “That movie is so romantic!”

“I am not watching The Notebook with you!” I said after I got myself together. “Come on. I’m not that kinda girl. Can’t we watch like, an action movie or something?”

“Absolutely not,” he said with a grin, sitting down next to me. “We’re watching The Notebook and you are going to enjoy it. Plus, whether you admit to it or not, deep down every girl is a Notebook kinda girl.”

I rolled my eyes and smiled as I settled in, letting myself cuddle into Tyler a bit. I took a sip of my wine as he put his arm around my shoulders and pulled me closer. “See, how could you hate this?” he whispered in my ear as the movie started playing.

We were about three quarters of the way through the movie (and completely finished the wine) before I started sniffling a little. “Riley?” Tyler asked nervously.

I looked up at him and started laughing through my tears. “I told you I hated this movie,” I said, giggling. “It’s so sad!”

I paused when I noticed that Tyler was still staring down at me. I knew before he moved that he was going to go in for the kiss but it still surprised me when I felt his lips on mine. It didn’t take me long to catch up and before I knew it he was laying on top of me on the couch and things were getting more heated.

“Ah! My eyes!” I heard from above the back of the couch. Tyler broke away and looked behind him, starting to laugh.

“Oh shut up,” he said. “We aren’t doing anything. Clothes are still intact. Nothing’s showing.” He shot me a wink as he sat up again. I stayed lying down, putting my feet on his lap as I smiled up at Freddy.

“I told him I didn’t want the wine,” I said before I started giggling.

Freddy shook his head before he started to smile a little. “I honestly didn’t think the Notebook thing would actually work,” he said, sounding awestruck.

“Neither did I,” I whispered. Freddy started laughing as he walked away, leaving us alone once again.

“So,” I said, finally looking at Tyler. “What’s phase 4?”

He smiled as he pulled me up off the couch. “We have reservations for phase 4 in a half an hour, actually,” he replied, pulling me towards the bedroom. “We better get dressed!”