2. Tatum

Tatum

Chapter two

Snow falls from the sky a lot harder now, and I check my app to see what the heck is going on with the rideshare. That's when a winter weather warning starts blaring on my phone to let me know that shit is about to get bad a lot faster than anyone was aware.

The sky darkens in a matter of minutes and people are now running around the town like chickens with their heads cut off. The only people that seem to be oblivious to this chaos are the Panthers' fans—they're probably used to snow. I don't think I've ever even seen snow. So, to say that I'm in shock is a complete understatement.

I call my dad immediately, not seeing any progress on the rideshare app and I've been sitting here for about forty minutes now. The melted snow flattens the texture of my hair and I'm sure my makeup is smearing. I find a little awning at a nearby building to stand under, but I was not prepared for this cold weather to hit like it is.

My dad doesn't answer; the snow starts to come down in barrels. I try my dad again but still, no answer. I'm starting to get really worried about how I'm going to get home. Everything about today sucks.

I start to feel the cold bite my bare arms and I shiver under the awning. I see cars drive past on the street in front of me and think for a second that maybe I could flag one down to see if they'd give me a ride somewhere.

But my brain tells me that I'd just be embarrassing myself even more than I've already been today.

Just then, a black SUV slows down toward the end of the street. I look down at my phone and see it's almost been an hour of me waiting here and my phone is on a twelve percent charge right now. I look back up right as the SUV stops at the stop sign about ten feet in front of me and the window rolls down. The only thing I can see through the layer of snowflakes in front of me is a very masculine looking arm waving me toward the car.

I freeze for a second, knowing that I probably shouldn't take an invitation from a stranger who thinks waving at me from his car window will lure me in. But it's freezing, my face hurts, my phone is about to be dead, and the snow is building dangerously thick on the ground right now. So, the warm car offering me a ride is like candy to a kid at this point.

I ignore my gut feeling and cover my head with my bag as I book it toward the car. Snow crunches under my shoes as I run over to the passenger door. It opens for me before I even have a chance to reach out for the handle and I hop in, noting that the driver is leaning back over the console after opening the door for me.

"Thank you," I say as I step inside and close the door after me.

A car behind us honks and the driver continues through the stop sign.

"Are you okay? It's too cold out here for you to be standing around like that," he says. His smooth-whisky laced voice bends me in half because I was not expecting that to come out of the person next to me.

I look over to the man driving the car. While I'm soaking wet and nearly out of breath, he's dry and wearing hardly any clothes. He's got on a pair of shorts that squeeze his upper thigh muscles which are thick as tree trunks, if I'm being honest. His arms—flexed as one grips the steering wheel—are also just as big and toned as he shows them off in a tank top. You know the kind with the cutouts on the sides? He's wearing that kind of tank top, and I can see every smooth edge of muscle in his arms and the side of his chest.

I feel my stomach tighten as I take in the man next to me. He's all tanned skin and messy blond hair. He looks over at me as I sit in silence, having not answered his question or whatever he said because I'm too captivated but how fucking delicious he is to look at.

The lump in my throat makes it hard for me to respond to him or open my mouth at all.

"You good?" he asks, and I realize I'm being really fucking weird but also, I'm in a car with a stranger right now and I don't know where I'm going to have him take me.

"Yeah, I just…" I think of what to tell him. Surely, the truth will suffice but how pathetic is the truth right now? I try to mold myself to the cushion of the seat, enjoying the warmth radiating from it.

"Heated seats," he says after analyzing me.

My cheeks heat and I feel so out of my comfort zone.

"I was waiting for a rideshare. I didn't think it was going to snow." I am doing everything I can to avoid looking at this man, so I turn my head toward the window and watch as we drive through the blizzard that seems to be only getting worse.

"You wouldn't have gone too far in one of those Uber cars anyways. You're supposed to get up to three feet in the next two hours and by the looks of it, maybe more." It seems so normal for him to be having a casual conversation with some girl he just picked up on the side of the road. Like he can talk to anyone about anything. It's kind of comforting but also alarming.

"Why'd you let me into your car anyways?" I decide to ask. Usually, the last thing anyone wants to do is worry about picking up a stranded stranger and figuring out where to take them.

"I passed by you about five minutes before I came back and stopped, figured you were waiting for a ride that would never show." His admission warms me; not many people would think the way he did.

Despite my love for football, I don't attend games at the stadium too often. So even if this weird ass blizzard wasn't happening right now, I have a feeling that he'd be right, and I would have been waiting a long time to get out of that hell zone.

"Well, thank you," I offer him as I turn my head to look at him, catching him right as he turns to look at me. He smiles, which reveals his small dimples and the little beauty mark under his right eye.

Gosh, he's gorgeous.

"Holy shit, what happened to your face?" He looks back and forth in a panic between the road and my face.

Immediately, my hand flies to my cheek as I remember the evidence of that stupid football player's carelessness. "Some asshole-" I start to say but then I'm cut off by the sound of my phone ringing.

It's my dad.

"Go ahead," he says to me, and I notice I've got three percent battery left so I answer it quickly.

"Dad!"

"Sorry, sweetie. The power went out and the service lines went out too," he says to me. "Who would have known we'd be caught in an actual snowstorm."

"How bad is it over there?" I ask, feeling panic rise in my chest.

"Been coming down for hours now. Where are you?"

"I'm um, catching a ride with a friend somewhere. I don't know where just yet." I look at the man in the driver seat out of the corner of my eye, feeling nervous about letting him hear my conversation.

"Is that your date?" My dad asks. "How did it go?"

"No dad, it's not my date. He um…I kind of got stood up, okay? But listen, my phone's dying so once I get somewhere, I'll call you and mom as soon as I can. Stay safe and…"

Click.

Great. It's dead.

I huff under my breath feeling annoyed but also worried that I won't get back to my family any time soon.

I feel his eyes on me as he watches me from the other side of the car, so I turn to give him the attention he wants.

"Go ahead, laugh at me for getting stood up," I tell him and he just smirks.

"I wasn't going to laugh," he says and I roll my eyes. "I was going to say that whoever is dumb enough to stand up a girl who looks like you, is out of their mind." He turns back to face the road, weaving us onto a highway.

I don't respond to his compliment, I don't really know how to. So instead, I change the subject.

"Umm, where are we headed?" I ask.

"There's a hotel about five minutes away," he tells me, and I feel somewhat of a relief knowing we'll be off the road and into a warm building soon.

"Is that where you'll be staying?" I ask, watching the snow start to get heavier and heavier as it falls from the dark sky.

"Yeah. The whole team is staying there at least for the night. If we have to stay all weekend, we will. We have a bye-week next week, so making it back home is the least of our worries right now. Visibility will suck for the jet anyways."

"What do you mean head home? Where are you from?" It also registers that he said the whole team, which has my mind somewhat concerned.

He looks over at me with a very confusing look. Almost as if he thinks I'm playing some kind of game.

"Really?" he asks.

"Umm, yeah. I don't have superpowers and just know who everyone is and where everyone is from," I say to him wondering why the hell he'd expected me to just know.

"North Carolina," he says slowly and that's when I see the glimpse of blue hanging from his ignition. It's a Panthers lanyard. "Offensive tackle," he adds on almost as if to brag. But he picked the wrong girl to brag to.

"Stop this fucking car!" I shout, obviously in a very irrational request.

"What?" He looks out, his head going every direction trying to figure out why I'm shouting at him to stop in a panic.

"You! Do you realize how douchey you are? You think that just because you're some hotshot, you can just throw footballs into the stands and move on with your life because you scored ONE touchdown?!" My blood starts to boil when I relive the shit of a day all over again. Getting stood up. My team lost. The football that was thrown at my head. This stupid unexpected snowstorm.

"What are you talking about?" he asks, a little more annoyed this time.

"My face." I point.

And then his eyes widen, and his posture tightens.

"You did this to me, asshole."