Austin put his fingers into his mouth and whistled loudly. Four of his buddies yelled and hollered as they rushed up the path toward us. The frat guys stepped back, forming a line.
“About time you guys caught up,” Austin said when the newcomers lined up next to us.
I recognized two of them from the football team. One, Trey, I had helped with a knee injury during summer break.
“What’s going on?” Trey, a defensive lineman, asked as he stared at the fraternity brothers.
“These guys were just about to leave,” Austin said.
He crossed his arms over his chest and grinned like nothing mattered in the world.
“You’re fucking lucky,” Derek said, pointing a finger at me.
Austin took two steps forward, followed by Trey and the other beefy football players. The frat boys took off running down the path, hooting and hollering as if they’d won the confrontation.
Fucking idiots.
I turned my attention to Austin. He dropped his arms and stared directly into my eyes.
“Thank you,” I said as I put my hand on his arm.
Those muscles, though!
“No problem,” he said. “What are you doing out so late?”
“I’m on my way home from the lab. I can’t tell you how lucky I am you were here, those guys are...” My voice ran dry.
“Total creeps. Not all guys are like that, you know.”
“Some are the white knight types, like yourselves?”
“Yeah I guess we are.”
I maintained eye contact.
“You’re Brooke, right?” Trey asked.
“Yeah.” I turned to face him. “You remembered.”
“You really helped with my knee.”
“Good. Sports medicine is my dream.” I turned to Austin. “Thanks again, but I need to get home. My roommate is probably worried sick.”
“I’ll walk you the rest of the way,” he said.
“That’s not necessary.”
Shut-up! Let him do it!
“I insist.” He turned to Trey. “I’ll see you guys at practice tomorrow.”
“Don’t stay out too late,” Trey, said as he held out his fist.
“For sure,” Austin said, bumping the fist with his own.
As the others took off down the path toward the direction the frat boys had gone, Austin turned to me. He still had that cocky grin on his face as if everything always went his way.
“Do you live close?”