Chapter 1
As the first snowflake settled, it whispered secrets of a winter tale waiting to unfold. Many more flakes followed, soon covering the bare branches of the majestic trees on campus with a soft blanket of sparkling finery.
Angie stuck her tongue out, capturing the falling flakes and giggling with delight. She loved snow to a fault. The fluffy flakes soon soaked her hair as she twirled around. She hadn’t bothered to put her hat on, or even to button her coat, when she rushed outside upon seeing the first tentative flurries.
Angie danced along the quadrangle in her giddiness, laughing, catching the big flakes, and drawing a few amused looks from other passing students. Then her heeled boots slipped in the fresh snow along the concrete walk.
WHOOMP!
Angie was suddenly staring up at the glistening trees. Even stranger, she seemed to be lying underneath a bear. What the fuck is a bear doing on campus!??
Her bear theory was refuted when the large creature in his puffy parka muttered in a rumbling baritone, “Oof. Fuck! I’m so sorry!”
Angie looked up to see the creature adjust his wool cap, revealing two hazel eyes and a familiar face. “Kevin?”
Kevin’s face was beet red as he rolled off her into a sitting position. Now he could focus on her. He nodded. “Angie?”
Still a bit stunned, Angie gave him a tiny smile.
“I’m really sorry about that,” said Kevin. “I totally didn’t see you coming.”
Angie’s head had cleared by now. “It’s not your fault. My boot skidded on the snow and I slid into you.” She sat up and waved at the fresh skid mark across the walkway.
“Ah.” Kevin got up and reached a hand down to Angie. She took it and found herself back on her feet in a flash. Shit, he’s pretty strong!
“You’re not hurt, are you?”
“Only my pride.” She brushed off her coat. “I’m kind of notorious for frolicking in fresh snow.”
Kevin grinned. He had spent way too much time this winter surreptitiously staring at how wavy Angie’s dark locks became after she rushed into their Psych class, her hair wet with snow.
“There’s nothing wrong with a snow frolic, but where’s your hat?”
She waved vaguely in the direction of her sorority. “I guess I forgot it.”
He slipped off his backpack. “No worries, I keep a spare in here.” Before Angie could protest he slid the knit hat onto her head.
“But... how do I get this back to you?”
“Won’t you be in Psych class tomorrow?”
“Oh. Yeah.”
“Then just try to remember to bring it, Miss Notorious.”
“Hmph. I’ll bet that you’re notorious for something, too.”
Kevin smirked. “Yeah, sure. Mostly I’m notorious for being the guy Angie Campbell won’t go out with.”
Angie’s cheeks flushed and her eyes flashed at him. “Kevin, you asked me out once last November, and it was on a Thursday. I told you that I had study group!”
“That was the only night they showed the film.” He shrugged. “I figured you were just letting me down easy.”
Angie muttered in frustration, “For fuck’s sake. You mean you thought I was lying to you??”
This conversation was not going well. Kevin rubbed a large hand over his face and tried to regroup.
“Okay, I possibly misread that situation and made a bad assumption. I apologize.”
Her face softened. “Apology accepted.”
They stood in silence for a moment, neither of them exactly sure how to proceed - but neither of them especially eager to leave. Kevin cleared his throat and took the plunge. “So where are you off to now?”
Angie thrust her hands into her coat pockets, watching the snowflakes dancing in front of the lamps lining the walk. “I dunno. It’s Sunday and the dining hall is closed. There’s not much in the fridge at the house, either. I guess maybe I should stop frolicking, take the bus to Wegman’s, and get myself something for dinner.” She gave him a sidelong glance. “Um, unless you could maybe drive me there? What do you say, Dillman? I would really appreciate it.”
Wheels turned in Kevin’s head. If he drove her to the store he would gain maybe another half hour of her company, but then what? He would drop her off at her sorority and go back to his place? Fuck it. You already know how it feels for her to shoot you down, just get some balls, Kevin.
“How about we go to Smooshburger instead? I’ll still drive.”
Her face brightened as she considered his counter-offer. “Huh. Can we get both fries and onion rings?”
“Absolutely.”
“Okay then, Dillman. Lead the way.” She flashed a smile, brushed the snow from her shoulders and buttoned her coat.
Kevin was captivated by Angie Campbell from the first classes of the fall semester. He visited Gil, the RA and resident guru of all dating questions in his dorm, several weeks into the term to discuss his crush. Gil got straight to the point.
“You looking to hook up with her or are you going for a relationship?”
“Oh, I’m definitely looking for a relationship.”
“Well, that’s admirable. Tell me more, Kevin. I need data.”
Kevin rubbed his chin. “Well, she’s smart. It’s obvious when she speaks in class, and I admire that. She smiles at me sometimes. A lot, actually. She doesn’t dress or act like a slut. She’s never given me any bitch face. She’s got real personality.”
“She’s in Sigma Kappa, right? That could mean considerable exposure to fuckboys.”
“I can’t speak to that. I don’t think she’s that type, but that’s just my gut reaction.”
“Fair enough. How do you know her?”
“She’s another Psych major, and she’s in two of my classes.”
Gil grinned. “That beats gender studies in my book. But dammit, Kevin, you gotta talk to this woman and find out more about her, like learning her interests and values. I need some details. Otherwise I have nothing to go on. And if you find her attractive, you should be talking to her every chance you get.”
Kevin took a bite of his oversized burger and suffered the greasy consequences dribbling into his neat beard. He grabbed a napkin from the pile and looked at Angie.
Gil’s words rang in his head as he watched her. She was making soft, near orgasmic noises prompted by the onion ring she was chewing. Her dark hair was mostly dry now and displaying those random waves that he loved.
“I guess you really like those onion rings, Ang.”
Angie glared at him. “The onion rings are awesome here, that’s why I wanted to get them. But what’s with this ‘Ang’ shit?”
Kevin shrugged. “Well, you call me Dillman, right?”
Angie took a bite of her burger and chewed thoughtfully. “That’s a fair point I guess. You just never called me ‘Ang’ before, it kinda threw me.”
“Well, what would you like me to call you?”
Her brow furrowed. “I guess I never thought about it. Maybe ‘Ang’ is okay, if it’s between us in private. Otherwise I prefer Angie. Just don’t ever call me ‘Angela.’” She paused, her face showing a sudden look of concern. “Hey, does my calling you ‘Dillman’ bug you?”
“Hell no. I’m just trying to understand the rules.”
Angie laughed. “This is our first real date, and you want to know what the rules are? Okay, dude, here are some rules. If you piss me off, I’ll let you know. If I piss you off, I expect you to let me know. In either case, we then do what’s needed to fix it. Does that about cover it?”
Kevin was laughing now, too. “Are you saying it’s really that simple to date you?”
Angie took another bite of her burger. She also reached for an extra napkin. After she wiped her mouth, she looked at Kevin. “Dating is never simple these days. That’s why I won’t go out with just any guy, trust me. You scored some major points for asking me out for the best burgers around, especially after I made you wipe out. But don’t rest on your laurels, because I can take points away pretty goddamn fast.”
Kevin steadily met her gaze. “Well, I guess I’m willing to take that chance. I think I can earn some more points along the way.”
Angie stared at him, then her mouth slowly eased into a smile.
Kevin dropped into Gil’s room to give him an update.
Gil laughed. “Those are her rules? Man, are you lucky. The real sorority skanks have ‘rules’ like, you can’t tell them not to dress like a slut, you can’t complain when they’re grinding on some other dude at a party, you can’t complain about them being half-naked on Insta, shit like that. They moan if you have any boundaries whatsoever. This babe just says she’ll tell you when you’ve pissed her off and you’ll fix it together?”
“Yeah. I guess my read of that is she’s relationship material, despite her being kind of feisty. Or maybe because of it, I dunno. We talked about a lot of other stuff, too. She shares my views on not having a bunch of casual hookups. But Gil, we’ve only had one date, and that was a spontaneous one. I don’t even really know how she feels about me.”
“Well, how did your date end?”
“I drove her back to the house and we sat in the car there talking for a bit. She put her hand on my arm, said she’d see me in class, and we said goodbye. Then she went in.”
Gil shook his head. “Kev, she was waiting for you to kiss her.” He pointed his finger at Kevin. “Attraction can be fleeting. You were probably already on her radar. You’ll get one more chance with her - maybe two if you’re lucky. Do not fuck it up, dude!”
“But I didn’t see any signals that she wanted to kiss!”
“Her signal was she didn’t rush out of the car. Believe me, that happens if they didn’t like the way the date went. Women are rarely obvious, but if she’s hanging around like that she’s trying to see if you’ll make a move. You’re gonna ask her out again, right?”
“I guess so.”
“Don’t guess, just fucking do it. It gets easier now that you know she likes you. And start texting her.” He frowned. “I hope you have her number?”
Kevin ducked his head.
“Dude! Come on, grow a pair!”
Angie sensed Kevin’s eyes on her as the professor droned on. She was in a sweater and jeans, her usual winter class wear. But this morning she spent 15 extra minutes with her curling iron before leaving the house, because... well, she wasn’t exactly sure why. It had something to do with this hazel-eyed teddy bear with the biceps, she knew that much.
Angie sighed. If he had just kissed me, I could tell if this was going to go somewhere. Maybe it threw him off that our date was so spontaneous. But we had such a great time...
The class finally ended and Angie spun her head to confront Kevin. “Dillman, I have to talk to you. Do you need to rush off?”
“No, this was my last class today.” Kevin tried to channel his inner Gil. “We could go to the student union and grab coffee if you want to talk.”
Angie grinned. Maybe this guy could read some signals after all. “Sounds good. Let me get my stuff together.”
Kevin looked at Angie over his cup. “So what’s up, Ang?” He saw the look on her face and winced. “I thought you didn’t mind me calling you that.”
“I don’t really mind, Kevin. But I’m still getting used to it, okay?”
He nodded. “I’ll try not to beat you over the head with it.”
Angie had a small smile now. Kevin pulled his thoughts together. Objective one, get her number. Objective two, get another date.
Angie broke into his thoughts. “So Dillman, do you have a partner for the Psych project yet?”
Kevin shook his head. “I’m still kicking project ideas around.”
The shoe dropped. If there was anyone who could adjust to any project topic and run with it, it was Angie.
“Hey, would you like to be my partner for the project?”
Her face broke into a smile. Score!
“Of course I would, Dillman. We have plenty of time to pick the topic. Maybe we can meet up next week to talk it over.”
Kevin’s psyche got a little boost from her eager acceptance. He took another sip and pulled out his phone. “If we’re going to be partners, we should exchange numbers.” He unlocked the phone and slid it across to her.
As Angie typed in her information, Kevin processed the events of the last ten minutes. He had read her hint about the project, she was giving him her number, and she had thrown out that they should get together again soon. That was plenty for Gil to assess.
He drained his coffee. “Would you like another cup?”
Regret showed on Angie’s face. “Sorry, I’ve got a crap ton of homework.” She recalled when he misread her turning down a date, and chose her words carefully. “But some other time, sure. Maybe we could even have coffee after every Psych class.”
Kevin laughed. “Have to be careful with that, my thinking is not at it’s best when I’m totally wired.”
“Oh, and when is your thinking at its best?”
He lowered his head slightly and looked straight into her dark eyes. “I think I’ll let you figure that out.”
“Okay, that’s good, you got her number. From the way you told it, you didn’t even ask for it, just gave her the phone and told her to give it to you. That’s good stuff, Kevin. Women who have social awareness eat up being directed by a confident guy.”
Kevin frowned. “I thought women called that controlling?”
Gil shook his head. “Maybe the boss babe types who don’t respect men do. Those aren’t the ones you want to go after though, no matter how hot they are. You want a partner, not a fucking boss who tells everyone you’re a narcissist if you have boundaries.”
Kevin sighed. “She’s not like that. But I didn’t get another date yet.”
“You have her number. Send her some flirty texts. If she answers in the same vein then you can ask her out. And that bit at the end where you left her chewing on a little hint of mystery, that was also good. She’s left the door open, you just need to take the plunge.”
