To surprise my long-distance boyfriend, I flew two thousand miles to his college. I got there just in time to see him walking back onto campus. I was about to call his name, but he walked right past me. Didn't even glance. Excuse me? A second later, my phone buzzed. Liam: Babe, this is gonna sound crazy, but I just saw someone who looked exactly like you. Liam: Don't worry, I only have eyes for you. Didn't even look twice. I actually laughed out loud. I snapped a quick selfie right in front of the university's main gate and sent it. Me: You sure you don't want to look again? 1 About sixty seconds later, the same guy who’d been too cool to give me a second glance reappeared, completely out of breath. He’d sprinted back. His eyes—these soft, sloping puppy-dog eyes—were practically glowing. He was even better looking than in our video calls. Sharp features, but a sweet expression, and just radiating that restless college-kid energy. I was also getting the full effect of his 6'1" frame. "Chloe?" His voice was breathless, full of genuine shock. "I thought you said you couldn't come 'til next month?" Liam was clearly not prepared, but his voice was vibrating with excitement. It sounded deeper and better in person than it ever did through my earbuds. This was the first time we’d ever met in person. In fact, we’d only seen each other’s faces for the first time last week. I’d been in a three-year, long-distance relationship with the ridiculously handsome college kid currently hyperventilating in front of me. It started my senior year of college. I had too much free time, got obsessed with an MMO, and was absolutely terrible at it. I met a guy online who offered to carry me through raids. He carried me for a while, and then when I got busy with my internship, he’d log into my account every day to do my dailies. It was a completely platonic, revolutionary friendship. Until one day, while I had him on Discord, my mom waltzed into my room, smiling. "Sweetheart, trust me on this, I found a few great guys. Sons of my friends. All handsome. Just meet them, for me?" I couldn't really say no; they were all family friends. I agreed to at least have coffee. As soon as my mom left, a voice crackled in my headset. "Chloe... um... I'm... I'm pretty good-looking, too, you know." ...That was three years ago. "I have a work trip in the area soon, so I came a few days early to see you," I said, pausing. "Are you... happy to see me?" Liam’s eyes were still locked on my face. "Happy? Of course! Have you ever seen the campus? I can give you a tour." "Actually, I..." I’d been here before, for work. Before I could finish, someone walking by bumped hard into my shoulder. I stumbled forward, falling straight into him. Into Liam’s chest. I felt him suck in a breath, but his hands just gently steadied my shoulders. As soon as I was balanced, he stepped back. "We, uh, we can walk." Weird. This is the guy who called me 'babe' and 'my girl' five times a day. But in person, there was this... gap. Not a bad gap. Just... new. We had shared so much over three years, from gaming to our private lives. We’d sent each other more than a dozen gifts, all through the mail. Now, he was walking right next to me, and I could feel him stealing glances at my face. It was easier for him, being taller. I finally looked up, catching him mid-stare. I smiled. "So? Do I look like my videos?" The guy next to me turned bright red, right to the tips of his ears. After a long pause, I heard him mutter, "You look... so much better than your videos." 2 Obviously, I wasn’t going to fly across the country to meet a guy I’d been dating for three years without knowing what he looked like. Liam was younger than me. When he first confessed his feelings, I figured it was just a teenage crush. He’d just graduated high school; it was hormones. The main reason I said yes? I loved his voice. I never thought it would last. But Liam was... persistent. And just like that, three years flew by. My "little boyfriend" was about to be a senior. "Chloe, I have a basketball game in a bit. An intramural championship. Do you... want to come watch?" Liam asked suddenly. I raised an eyebrow. I’d only ever heard him brag about his skills on the court. "Of course," I grinned at him. "That’s the whole reason I’m here. To see you." My boyfriend’s brain seemed to short-circuit again. I tried to remember the few cringey high school games I’d been to. "What do you want to drink? I'll bring you a Gatorade or something." "Oh, anything is fine," he said. "Really?" I crossed my arms. "Because I seem to remember you saying you hate peach-flavored anything, even though you love actual peaches." Liam blinked, clearly stunned I’d remembered a random comment from a late-night call. He gave me a quick tour, and then his phone buzzed. His teammates, telling him to get to the gym for warm-ups. "Chloe..." He looked like he wanted to say something. I just smiled. "Go. I know where the gym is. I’ll see you there." He walked away, looking back over his shoulder three times. I wandered around a bit, stopped at a campus market to grab two bottles of water, and then slowly made my way to the gym. There was already a decent crowd. It was a game between two of the big colleges. The two teams had different jerseys, black and purple. I could hear the chatter around me: "When does it start? I've been waiting for this game all week!" "I know, right? The business school and the CS department? It's like they pick their players based on looks." "Hey, they're not just pretty! They can actually play." "That guy from the CS team..." I was too busy eavesdropping to pay attention until someone snatched one of the water bottles right out of my hand. "Sis! No way, is that you?" a way-too-loud voice yelled. I turned. The first thing I saw was a mop of bright red hair, followed by a purple jersey. I watched as my giant, 20-year-old brother, Ryan, chugged half the bottle in three gulps. "Chloe, what are you doing here? Did you see my Instagram story? Did you know I had a game and came to support me?" Ryan slung his sweaty arm over my shoulder. I stared at the water bottle, now half-empty. "You... you're playing?" "Hell yeah," my brother said, hugging me tight and pointing across the court. "See that guy? Black jersey, number 9?" I looked. My stomach dropped. It was Liam. "That's my nemesis," Ryan growled. "Your... nemesis?" Ryan gritted his teeth. "The girl I like is into him. And that asshole? He keeps telling everyone he has a girlfriend he's been dating for three years." "I even asked his friends. They've never seen this girl. Not once. Even if she goes to another school, wouldn't she visit?" "He never posts her, no pictures, nothing," my dear brother announced, his voice full of conviction. "I’m calling bullshit. He doesn’t have a girlfriend. He’s just saying that to build a 'loyal guy' reputation!" "..." Well, about that. 3 "Maybe he really does have a girlfriend," I offered, trying to sound casual. I glanced back at Ryan. That ridiculous 'I'm a rebel' red hair. Ugh. "Impossible," Ryan said. "I've been watching him. There are no girls." Is that so? My eyes drifted to the young man in the black jersey doing stretches, a small smile playing on my lips. "Sis, see that girl over there? White dress, super pretty?" Ryan whispered, nudging me. "That's her. Hannah. My dream girl." I looked. A very pretty, long-haired girl in a white sundress was standing near the bleachers, holding a water bottle and staring—at Liam. Ryan’s voice was full of angst. "What's so great about him? He's just a stuck-up prick. I'm just as hot as he is!" I finally understood. My brother—who had coasted through life on his looks, the self-proclaimed "King of Campus"—was having his first-ever romantic failure. The girl he liked, liked someone else. And that someone else didn't like her back. This had turned Liam into Ryan's mortal enemy. "You just watch, Chloe," Ryan said, wrapping his arm around me again. "I'm gonna destroy that guy on the court. Make sure you get your phone out. Record my highlights!" "..." Before I could answer, "Black #9" suddenly looked up from his warm-ups, scanning the crowd. His eyes locked right onto our section. I was standing near the back. I wasn’t sure if he could see me clearly. But his gaze froze. His brow furrowed. He was staring straight at us. And he looked... pissed. "Oh, shit. Is he challenging me?" Ryan finally let go of my shoulder, his competitive spirit ignited. "It's on." He jogged onto the court, still holding the water I’d bought for Liam, and paused only to wave at Hannah, begging her to cheer for him. Hannah, clearly, was only watching the black team. The game started. The whistle blew. Both teams were good. The crowd was loud. I saw why people were excited. And the two most aggressive players on the court? Ryan and Liam. Ryan’s always been an athlete. If our family wasn't rolling in it, he probably would’ve gone pro. "Damn, Liam is playing dirty today," someone behind me muttered, then yelled, "NICE! Three-pointer!" On the court, Liam was impossible to miss. He was fast, fluid, and just... intense. The score was tight. It was genuinely exciting. Then, disaster. Ryan went up for a rebound, collided with another player, and landed wrong. He went down. Hard. The gym went silent. 4 I froze, then automatically started pushing my way through the crowd. By the time I got to the edge of the court, Ryan’s teammates were already helping him off, handing him over to a trainer. They were heading toward the locker rooms. The crowd was thick. Someone jostled me, and I stumbled. By the time I looked up, Ryan was gone. I pulled out my phone and called him. It rang for a few seconds before he picked up, hissing in pain. "S-Sis?" "Where are you? Are you okay?" "Yeah, just twisted my ankle. It’s fine. My buddy's taking me to the campus clinic. Probably just need to ice it," Ryan said. "Are you still watching? Text me the final score." "..." That's what he's worried about? The game kept going. But with Ryan out, the purple team’s energy flagged. The score difference started to widen. Liam was just too good. His passes, his dribbling, his shots—they were all clean, sharp, and brutal. A guy in front of me whistled. "Man, Liam is playing for an audience today. Is his crush here or something?" Someone else laughed. "Right? This isn't the NBA, dude." Without Ryan, his team's defense fell apart. The black team won by a handful of points. The gym erupted in cheers. I watched Liam, the center of everyone's attention, immediately scan the crowd. He was looking right at me. People were already moving to congratulate him, to hand him water. They already had cases of water by their bench. But Liam ignored all of them and started walking, weaving through the crowd, straight toward the bleachers. The crowd around me stirred. Even his teammates were yelling, "Liam, where you going?" I saw him wave them off, too far away to hear what he said. I saw Hannah, the girl in the white dress, step forward and hold out her water bottle to him. I couldn't see her expression, but I heard the "ooohs" from the crowd. A pretty girl and a star athlete. It was a picture-perfect moment. Liam said something to her, pointed vaguely into the crowd, and Hannah turned, looking lost, searching for... something. And Liam just walked right past her. He was electric. Everyone's eyes followed him. And for the first time since graduating, I felt that high-school feeling of all eyes on me. This was different from a boardroom meeting. Liam stopped right in front of me. The crowd went quiet, all eyes landing on me. My clothes—a silk blouse and tailored slacks—were definitely not "college-student-casual." "Chloe," he said, breathing hard, sweat dripping from his hair. "Where's my water?" This absolute drama king. The star of the game, walking past everyone, to demand a drink from his mystery girlfriend. 5 "Sorry," I said, feeling a little guilty. "Someone... drank it." Ryan, that little rat. "You have one right there," Liam said, his eyes dropping to the second bottle still in my hand. I looked down at the water. "Oh. But... I already drank from this." I’d taken a sip right after I bought it. It was cold. I couldn't resist. You could tell the seal was broken. Liam's gaze softened. His eyelashes were long. "So? Can't I drink it?" His voice was so soft it felt like he was pouting. My heart did a stupid little thump. "Well, if you don't mind..." Before I finished, he'd taken the bottle from my hand, twisted the cap, and started drinking. He tilted his head back, gulping it down, his Adam’s apple bobbing. A drop of sweat ran down his temple and neck. It was... distractingly hot. He finished half the bottle before lowering it. "Ready to go, Chloe?" "Don't you have to go back to your team?" "Nope." I glanced back at the court. His teammates were definitely staring, their faces a mix of confusion and gossip. Liam gently took my wrist and started walking. When we were a safe distance away from the gym, he stopped. "Chloe, I need to hit the locker room and change. I'm disgusting. Can you wait for me in that empty lecture hall right there?" He was covered in sweat. I had no objections. While I waited, my brother messaged me. Ryan: Sis, my friends said Liam’s mysterious girlfriend was at the game. Did you see her? Was she hot? ... Me: Gorgeous. I have, after all, a very healthy self-esteem. Ryan: I don't believe you. Ryan: No way she's hotter than Hannah. Me: Does Hannah even know your name? Stop dreaming. As expected, my brother exploded. A stream of all-caps messages came through, which I ignored. Liam was back. He’d run. He'd changed into dark jeans and a white v-neck tee, and a silver chain I recognized—one I'd sent him—rested against his collarbone. He smelled amazing, like cheap, generic-brand body wash, but on him, it just smelled... clean. His hair was still damp. I smiled. "Why didn't you dry your hair?" Liam paused. "I didn't want to make you wait." He was a young man, but I still saw him as the 18-year-old kid who’d bragged to me on Discord. It was a filter I couldn’t shake. "I'm starving. Want to get dinner?" I asked. "Yeah. Okay." He'd been here three years; he knew the area. He took me to a place he said had the best food and atmosphere. Right before we went in, I checked my phone. Ryan had sent me a list of his favorite places. This one was at the top. Ryan: CHLOE, YOUR BROTHER IS INJURED AND YOU'RE JUST THINKING ABOUT FOOD? Ryan: Fine. I'm starving. Bring me back takeout. I Venmo'd him $1,000. Me: Handle it. Ryan: [Received $1,000] Ryan: SISTER, MY QUEEN, I WILL ALWAYS SUPPORT YOUR REIGN! "..."
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