Chapter Eight

Eric took Tami out for ice cream, but the walk there was silent and awkward because she was still upset about his disinterest in living together. While they were sitting and eating their sundaes, at least three girls stopped by the table to say hello to him. One particularly busty one smiled and said, "Are we still on for study group Tuesday?" Still on. Like it was a date.

"Yeah," Eric said. "Jen, this is my girlfriend Tami."

The girl smiled at Tami, but it was a flinching smile. Apparently Eric hadn't mentioned a girlfriend and she was disappointed to discover he had one. "Hey, nice to meet you," Jen said. "Are you a freshman?"

"Sophomore. I go to MWU."

"Oh…is that weird? All girls? I bet that would be soooo hard. Oh, but…you have a boyfriend already." She winced apologetically at Eric. "You don't have the Greek system at all, though, do you? I would hate that. I'm Delta Delta Delta!"

"We have sororities." Tami hoped her voice didn't sound as irritated coming out of her mouth as it sounded in her head.

"Oh. Well, what sorority are you in?"

"I'm not in one."

"Oh…" The girl tilted her head sympathetically. "You didn't make the cut?"

"No," Tami said thinly, "I didn't pledge." The truth was, she'd yet to find the time, between school, work, and Eric. But that's not what she said. Instead, she leveled her eyes at the Tri-Delta and answered, "I prefer not to buy my friends."

"Wow." Jen's mouth fell open. "Nice girlfriend you have there, Eric." She turned and walked away.

Eric scratched his head. "That was kind of rude."

"I know." Tami stirred her spoon in the melted ice cream at the bottom of her cup. "She was, wasn't she?"

"I meant you."

Tami looked up into Eric's irritated eyes. She wavered between anger and remorse. But then he smiled slightly. "You're jealous aren't you?" he asked. "You're feeling a little possessive of me, aren't you?"

"I am not jealous," Tami insisted. "Jealous isn't sexy."

"Oh, well, then you can't possibly be jealous. Because you are definitely sexy."

Tami laughed.

He smiled. "She's just in my math study group," Eric assured her. "I have to have six math or science credits. Once I knock the core requirements out of the way, it's just history and P.E. for the rest of college."

Just then yet another girl stopped by to say hello to Eric, a long-haired Hispanic beauty who looked to be older than Tami, and this one actually patted his head. Touched him. The nerve.

"Tami," he said, "this is Angie. This is Grady's girlfriend."

Relieved, Tami smiled. "Hey, I've heard about you from Eric. It's so nice to meet you."

"You too," Angie agreed. "Eric talks about you constantly. It's nice to finally put a name to the face."

"You want to join us?" Tami pushed out a chair.

"Nah. Thanks, but I have to get home. Grady's making me a late dinner. Can you believe that? Does Eric ever cook for you?"

"He did once in Odessa. He made me his award-winning chili." Tami smiled at Eric teasingly. "I had to add a little tobasco sauce."

Angie snorted.

"Not true," Eric said. "She loved it. And it hasn't won any awards yet, but I fully intend to enter it in the next cook-off."

Tami watched Angie as she went out the door. When the door had closed, she swirled her head back to Eric. "She's gorgeous!"

"I know," Eric said.

"How did Grady…I mean, I like Grady, he's a great guy and all, but girls who look like that don't usually…." Grady was a very big, African-American guy, and the bigness wasn't all muscle either. Grady's bulk had served him in his defensive position, but his teammates called him Fat Albert, after the cartoon character. He was a decent player, but not an exceptional one, and although he'd made it onto the team at UH, he hadn't received a scholarship, and he often warmed the bench.

Eric shrugged. "He rescued her. Chicks dig that whole knight in shining armor thing."

"Rescued her? From what?"

"She was at this frat party, and she was pretty drunk, and this guy was pulling her off toward a bedroom. Grady could tell she didn't really want to go with him. The guy just pulls her into the room and shuts the door, even though she's saying no. So Grady busts down the door and," Eric raised his hand in a punching motion and brought his fist down to the table. "Bam. Kicks his ass. Then he helps Angie home and holds her hair while she vomits. Romantic, huh?"

Tami was feeling a little better about their relationship by the time they began walking back toward the dorms, but meeting Angie had also reminded her that Eric didn't want to live with her. Grady and Angie had only been together a few months. Counting high school, she and Eric would have been together two years by this February.

As they were walking along a path through a wooded area, he grabbed her hand and pulled her over to a tree. It was dark, and the moonlight filtered through the remaining leaves. Most were scattered on the ground all around them. He leaned back against the tree trunk and put a hand on each of her hips. "Look at me," he said.

She did. His eyes were dark pools in the starlight.

"I love you," he said. "Why don't we just get married at the end of the school year? Then we can move in together this summer and no one will say anything about it."

"What?" Tami asked. Was this some kind of a proposal?

"Let's get married," he repeated. "We can move into an off campus apartment this summer. Use my housing allowance."

Apparently it was a proposal.

"I…Eric…"

"Please?"

She snorted, partly from surprise, and partly because of the oddness of his proposal.

"Pretty please?" he asked, smiling. "With a cherry on top? I'd even let you pick the bedspread."

Now she was really laughing.

"Come on," he moved his hands from her hips to her back and tugged her against himself. "Marry me. Just do it."

"I don't know," she said as her laughter trailed off. "It's such a romantic proposal. Give me a moment to recover from your disarming eloquence so I can think about it."

"Sorry," he said. "I'll get you an engagement ring later. I didn't know…you know…I wasn't planning to propose tonight."

"Clearly."

"But then you brought up living together, and I thought…" He shrugged. "I'd like to, just not like that."

"So you were serious about that whole not living in sin thing?"

"I'd rather marry you. Is that so awful?" he asked.

"No."

"No?"

"I mean…no, it's not so awful. And yes, I'll marry you."

He laughed and twirled her away from the tree as leaves broke free from the branches and drifted down over them like a blessing.

[*]

"Thanks a lot, man," Eric's best friend Grady told him Monday afternoon as he spotted him in their weight lifting class. The class was a requirement if Eric wanted to minor in phys ed, but Grady had taken it as a gut. He was strong, if portly. "Now Angie is going to expect a proposal."

Eric shrugged as he sat up on the bench and wiped the sweat from his brow with a towel. "Then give her one. You're not going to do better than Angie. She's your Tami."