Hate to Love You - Chapter 67: Chapter 67

Hannah
T: Wait there, I'll come find you.
I was standing outside the Chemistry building, having just spent the whole morning with Professor Adakai, leading the lab session as TA. My hands felt like they were going to freeze off, and so I quickly put my phone back in my pocket. Lifting my hands to my mouth, I blew into them, warming them up before shoving them into my pockets.
I hated the cold. It forever plagued me, and now that we were in the middle of winter, there was no escaping it. Except when I was with Tristan — he was always so warm.
For that very reason, I hadn't slept alone in months. That and Tristan was remarkably talented at getting me to stay whenever I considered going home, and because I missed him when we weren't together, I never put up much resistance. It didn't matter anyway — these days I had fewer and fewer reasons to go home.
Jenny was moving in with Matthew, Penelope had long since moved out and we still couldn't find a replacement we all agreed on. Amanda had a new boyfriend, so she was gone most of the time, and Molly was moving now that she'd transferred to the major she wanted. Aqua just came and went as she wanted. She was nice enough, but she always had better things to do than stand around and talk. I couldn't blame her, considering I was of a similar mindset.
Things were changing, and I wasn't upset about it. If anything, these last few months had taught me to embrace it, especially as I knew life was about to get a whole lot crazier with the NFL draft approaching us. Tristan, along with his agent, manager, and lawyers, were already preparing for everything, and by all means, it should all go smoothly.
Sobering at the thought of his departure, I nibbled on my lower lip.
I kept telling myself I would be fine, but who was I kidding? I was going to miss him so much. We had a life together now — routines and habits built around each other. We were our own little team, always putting in the effort to help and care for one another because that's what you did when you loved someone. It was also why we'd both committed to therapy, working on ourselves, and strengthening our relationship — we wanted to give each other our best.
And so far, things were good.
After agreeing to the restraining order on Dylan, I had yet to hear anything. When I first asked him about it, Tristan just smiled, kissed me, and said the lawyers were handling it. When I pushed, he let me know that the restraining orders had been granted. And he promised that I would never have to see Dylan ever again. It was a strange promise, and I had no idea how he intended to keep it, but sometimes you just had to smile and nod when your boyfriend said he'd never let anything or anyone hurt you. While that was impossible — it was the thought that counted.
Beth did eventually call me, but it was only after our Winter Break. She let me know that she would be returning to Dale, to the music program, and that therapy was going well. We spoke a little bit about Dylan but she still seemed to be heavily effected by what happened. I told her it would take time, but things got better. She'd meet someone better, one who wouldn't treat her like absolute garbage. Since then, we texted occasionally or whenever she wanted to talk about something with Dylan. It wasn't my favorite activity — discussing my ex, but I would do it if it helped her get over him.
Growing impatient, I glanced around at the groups of students walking around the front entrance of the library, and smiled when a random person greeted me.
That happened a lot these days.
I was getting recognized around campus, and I knew it was solely because of Tristan. It was certainly an adjustment, and after the attack, it took a while before I felt comfortable with strangers walking up to me at random times.
At first, Tristan tried his best to shield me from as much of it as possible, but it was nearly impossible given the extent of his fame. People always wanted to talk about him, and when you were his girlfriend, that made you a prime target for those kinds of conversations. I was forced to learn how to navigate those interactions.
Especially with the sheer number of parties we had to attend. But, in the end, all those parties had nothing on the National Championship game's celebration. That win sparked a whole week's long celebration.
The streets had been filled with crowds of singing, dancing and cheering people. There were parties up and down every street, and no one got a wink of sleep all week.
A great number of things happened on that night. People climbed all the traffic lights, toppling a couple over until the police got involved. A weird amount of dumpster fires were started and the fire department had to be called to douse all of them. Someone mowed dicks all over the rugby field. And stuck hotdog wieners on sticks all over the lacrosse field. And poured thousands of gallons of orange juice on the ice rink, leaving it to freeze overnight.
One guy was found duct-tapped to a statue of one of the university's founding fathers — naked. And then the fire department had to be called again to come get a whole bunch of severely hungover people off several roofs.
College life wasn't boring, I guess.
"There's my sexy little Eskimo." Tristan suddenly appeared next to me, curling an arm around my waist and ducking down to give me a quick kiss.
He'd been teasing me about my overly puffy jacket and obscenely fluffy hood all morning, but I ignored him. It was the warmest jacket ever and I was about to make it my whole new personality for the winter.
"Laugh all you want, but I'm warmer than you, Hoodie Boy."
This time, I was referring to the dark red hoodie he was wearing, along with the small red-hoodie raccoon keychain hanging from his backpack. I'd managed to convert him when I convinced him to get matching hoodies with his number on the back. I didn't do it to be a cute couple — I did it because I wanted something I could wear to his games and because I knew he'd like hoodies if he just tried them. He did, and now he had three of them.
If I was lucky, he'd walk around his place in nothing but a pair of sweatpants and his unzipped black hoodie. During those mornings, I never looked at his face when he was talking to me.
"Oh, I bet. Now let's get you warmed from the inside." He smirked when he saw my expression change. "I was talking about coffee. Get your mind out of the gutter, babe."
My jaw dropped open. "Who could blame me when almost everything that comes out of your mouth is a double entendre?"
He started steering us in a direction, keeping his arm around me. "So now you're blaming me for all of your dirty thoughts? I suppose I should be flattered."
I narrowed my eyes at him, and he responded with yet another grin, saying, "Come on. Let's get something in you before you scream."
°•°•°•°
Tristan
"Stop this. You're embarrassing me," Hannah hissed, nails digging into my back as I carried her over my shoulder.
"You were the one complaining." I lifted her into a more comfortable position, my hand adjusting its position around the back of her thigh as others turned to watch us pass, some clearly recognizing me — but because of my current situation, no one approached us.
"About my nose. My nose was cold."
"Before, it was your hands—"
"—oh, would that be when you suggested I put them in your pants to warm them up—" she interrupted me, using heavy sarcasm.
"—and then it was your feet—"
"—your legs are longer than mine. Of course my feet hurt from trying to keep up with you—"
"—so if I carry you, we're quicker. And that means you get your coffee sooner. And would you look at that, we're already here," I said as soon as I caught sight of the cafe.
She pushed herself up, twisting to see. "Okay, then put me down, please. I would rather not have everyone continue to stare at us like we're crazy. I'm still normal."
Chuckling, I finally listened to her and carefully set her down in front of me. She folded her arms, glaring up at me. "Keep this up and I'll go back to calling you fuckface."
I arched a brow, the corner of my mouth tipping up. "I don't mind considering you took that nickname quite literally."
It took her a second, but her cheeks flushed a rare red and she spun around to storm off into the cafe.
"I'm not standing a minute longer out here in the freezing cold, listening to the shit that comes out of your mouth."
Chuckling, I hurried after her and we both stepped in at the same time, the gentle hum of conversation and the smell of freshly brewed coffee filling the room. The cafe wasn't too busy now that it was colder, but there was still a line. Without looking at me, Hannah joined the back of it, pulling her hands from her pockets to lower her hood from her face.
Coming to stand behind her, I lowered my mouth to her ear. "I have one more joke to say, and then I'll shut up."
She sighed. "I seriously doubt that, but hit me with it."
"Remember when I said you had a stick up your ass?"
"Hard to forget."
I smirked. "Well, I no longer think that. Because that stick was replaced by my d—"
"Don't you dare finish that sentence in public, Tristan." She turned around, shooting me a warning look.
I blinked innocently. "I was going to say hand. Was your mind in the gutter again?"
"You were not going to say hand. Last I checked, it wasn't pronounced dand." She shook her head at me and turned her attention to Georgia as we got to the front.
She was beaming at us. "What can I get you today? The usual?"
"Please. And can I have six of the chocolate peanut butter cookies? Thank you, Georgia." Hannah returned her smile.
That caught my attention. They weren't Reese's cups, but I liked the sound of them. "You're gonna let me have one bite, right? You have to pay the boyfriend tax."
She thought about it for a couple of seconds and then nodded. "Fine. Do you want anything else?"
I was surprised by how easily she gave in — usually, it took a lot more work than this. "No, I'm good, babe. Thanks."
Before she could pull out her card, I grabbed mine and handed it over to pay for everything. Hannah just sighed and dropped her hand because we'd been through this whole routine before and she never won. After getting her order and saying goodbye to Georgia, we walked back out into the cold. She immediately reached into the brown paper bag and pulled out a steaming warm cookie.
"Here," she said, lifting the cookie to my lips. Obediently, I opened my mouth and took a big bite.
Fuck. That was good.
But when I went to have another bite, she pulled it away suddenly. I frowned. "That's it?"
Smirking, she took a bite out of the half-eaten cookie. "You asked for one bite — I gave you one bite. That was the agreement."
I wanted to argue about how unfair she was being, but when I saw the smug look on her pretty face, all I could do was laugh. Cupping the back of her head as I threaded my fingers through her soft hair, I leaned down to press my lips to hers.
"I love you, you know that," I murmured against her lips, tasting the cookie and a taste that was uniquely hers. Both were equally delicious.
When I finally pulled back, she grinned. "Fine, you can have a cookie." Stepping onto her toes, she pressed another quick kiss to my lips. "Because I love you too." And then she stepped back down and pulled her large, fluffy hood back over her head. "Now let's get out of here, I'm cold."
After promptly announcing this, she turned around and started walking away. Instead of immediately following after her, my eyes fixed on her retreating figure as a familiar emotion settled in my chest. Its intensity nearly paralyzed me, forcing me to take a deep, shuddering breath as I realized, once again, just how much I had to lose. It was especially terrifying because I knew we had something rare. I knew if I messed this up, I'd never find anything like it again.
Shaking my head, I grinned.
I had this in the bag. If the challenge was getting her to spend the rest of her life with me — well, challenge accepted.
Jogging to catch up to her, I placed a hand on her lower back. The need to touch her at all times was an unconscious habit at this point. "So your love's only worth a cookie and a half?"
"No, I just don't want you getting fat."
I nearly tripped over air, mouthing dropping open as I stopped and stared after her. She turned around to face me, trying to keep a straight face, but giggling when she saw my expression.
"Is this what I have to look forward to? A lifetime of mockery and fat jokes?" I asked, brows raised.
She grinned deviously. "Of course. I've got to stay just toxic enough to keep you looking good for long." And then she came closer to reach behind me and slap my ass, surprising me even further. "Keep it up, hot stuff." And then, almost immediately, she blanched in horror. "Oh my God, I'm turning into you."
But I was already in the process of losing my shit next to her, on the pavement, for everyone to see. "Did you just call me hot stuff?" I laughed.
"Shut up. And let's forget that ever happened, okay? My god, what is happening to me?" She murmured.
°•°•°•°
Everyone smiled when they heard their quarterback's loud laughs as his flustered girlfriend tried to put some distance between them. It seemed he was always destined to chase after her, but that was okay.
He liked it.