I am so sorry for the delay. You know, life happened and stuff! Anyway, here's the next chapter and I hope you like it. As I promised their relationship will progress further.

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters mentioned. All the rights to them and Grey's Anatomy belong to shondaland and ABC.

Here's a thing about college students; they can barely hold interest in anything longer than a week if there isn't any new information which was why the whole 'Grey-Shepherd' scandal was basically a thing of the past for most of them by now. Sure, there were still some rumors and whispering whenever Meredith or Addison were around but everything pretty much calmed down for now.

Jackson knew from reliable sources, namely April who opened up more to him after they learned the whole truth, that the Shepherds were getting a divorce and Derek and Mark weren't talking to each other anymore. He also knew that Derek and Meredith were trying a serious relationship since there were apparently more feelings involved than anyone expected. Nobody really knew what was going on between Addison and Mark, not even April but it didn't seem as though they were together.

Either way the campus fell back into its daily grind; Reed still avoided Charles, Charles still whined about that, Alex had somehow convinced Izzie to start a relationship and Jackson was falling in love with April more and more every day.

Everything would be pretty perfect if April wasn't so adamant about them being strictly friends and nothing more.

It was not like Jackson didn't try; he flirted with her more and more, but he also respected her wishes and being friends was better than not having her in his life at all.

It scared him somehow, how fast she became so important to him. He never believed in the concept of love at first sight. He always thought that it was just some stupid idea that the movie industry planted in the heads of helplessly romantic teenagers and adults. That was until he met April Kepner at that party.

He wasn't even sure anymore what made him fall for her in the first place. Honestly, she wasn't the kind of girl he typically went for. Getting to know her he learned that she could be incredible loud and perky, so completely opposite of him, and yet it made him only fall harder. Maybe it was because of that, that she was so different from his past flings and girlfriends that made him realize that he wanted something real with her. If they were to be together he wanted it to last which was why he took it so slow now. He didn't want to rush into things and pressure her into a relationship she wasn't really ready for. When they would be together it would be because she wanted him just as much as he wanted her. And for that day he would wait.

To him it wasn't a question of if the day would come but when it would come. He was sure that she felt something for him too, although her feelings weren't as strong as his… yet. She must have felt the chemistry between them right from the first moment on that porch. And the way she blushed whenever he complimented her, which was quite often, reassured him that there was something slowly building up between them, something great.

He slumped into his seat at the cafeteria table opposite of Charles. He had spent the entire morning at training, and the coach had been pushing them extra hard since the Big Reds from Cornell would be here this evening for the game.

"Exhausted?" Charles mumbled around a spoonful of his spaghetti. Jackson only nodded in response too tired to say anything. He planned on eating a healthy and balanced lunch, as the coach called it, and then taking a nap to be perfectly rested for the match.

"Think you gonna be fit for this evening. I mean it would be a shame If you collapsed in front of April, wouldn't it?" Jackson was suddenly not exhausted at all; instead he leaned forward while Charles could only chuckle at his sudden change of demeanor.

"April is coming to the game?"

"Of course she is. She is practically coming to every game," Charles replied nonchalantly as he kept stuffing food into his mouth.

"What? Why didn't you tell me?" Jackson was far more agitated by those news than he let on to be honest. April being interested in football made her even more perfect in his eyes.

"I am now," Charles was barely comprehensible with his full mouth and Jackson was slightly disgusted by his friend's manners or better lack thereof, "I just didn't think that April's obsession with football was so important."

Jackson furrowed his brows slightly slouching back in his seat. Sure, Charles was somehow right but it still bothered him somehow that he didn't know about this part of her. After all, he got to know her pretty well in the last month; at least he had thought so.

"How comes that she's into football?" he questioned instead of dwelling on that fact. He hadn't pegged April as the kind of girl that was interested in sports, especially not in football. "I guess two big brothers and growing up surrounded by mainly manly farmhands does that to you," Charles shrugged after swallowing, "Besides I think her dad has been a big deal in football once or so."

Jackson only nodded letting it sink in. He had seen how close April was with Mark and he expected that her relationship to her other brother was fairly close as well. "Are you going with her?"

"Yup," his friend answered plopping the 'p' at the end, "Reed is not really interested in football so we're going together with George."

Jackson suddenly realized that it must be a common occurrence for the three to attend the games together. He had really underestimated how close April and Charles were making it even weirder that they hadn't met until the party,

Thinking about the party sparked another idea in his mind. "Hey, if we win, which we will, some fraternity is throwing a party. You three should come."

Charles pondered his offer for a moment clearly not as excited about the idea as Jackson. "I don't know… maybe. I will talk with the others."

"Great," the quarterback answered enthusiastically realizing that this was the best response Charles could offer at the moment.

They were getting ready in the tunnels waiting for their cue when Izzie came bouncing in basically jumping at Alex and pressing her lips against his for a firm kiss.

"Good luck, babe," she whispered against his lips as they parted sending him one last wink before storming out of the tunnels and joining the rest of her squad. A few of their teammates chuckled until Alex sent them a dirty look. "You guys are just jealous."

They quickly turned away from Alex minding their own business while Alex let out a low huff, "Idiots."

This time Jackson wouldn't help but chuckle at his friend's behavior. He had truly become a different person since he started seeing the cheerleader regularly.

"What?", came his annoyed question immediately and completely expected.

"Nothing," Jackson assured him still wearing an enormous grin, "I just think that it's cute how much you changed for Izzie."

"Shut up!"

"No, seriously you're a better person. That's something I never expected happening," he continued. Obviously he enjoyed it to mess with his friend a little bit.

"Whatever. You're just jealous because you could have had her and now it's too late," Alex grumbled trying to get him to stop. Jackson sobered up at that. "Trust me, I'm not jealous."

"You sure 'cause I have a hot and awesome girlfriend and you're a sad and lonely single?", Alex pressed on raising his eyebrows unconvinced. Jackson could only shake his head; if Alex only knew.

He leaned slightly forward to catch a glimpse of the stands that were slowly filling with people. He knew that somewhere among them she was standing and he couldn't remember ever feeling so motivated for a game.

"I'm anything but sad and lonely."

Charles watched how a big smile blossomed on April' face as the teams made their way on the field. He was very well aware of his best friend's feeling for the redhead but he couldn't figure out yet what his friend felt for the football player. Seeing her now and the way her eyes lit up as she caught sight of the quarterback he slowly realized that Jackson's crush might not be as one-sided as he thought.

He was happy for his friend, of course. The guy deserved someone who truly cared about him and his feelings, someone who wasn't after him for his looks, his money or his name. Charles had seen enough girls over the years who had only been interested in Jackson because of that and while Jackson pretended that he didn't care since he used them too, Charles was aware of how much it really hurt his friend.

Still, he couldn't help but feeling a bit bitter. After all, Reed still refused to talk to him. At this point she didn't even acknowledge his presence anymore. April stayed adamant about the fact that Reed was still trying to sort out her feelings and while he tried to believe that he couldn't help but thinking that she just wasn't interested in him and didn't want to hurt his feelings. He made his mid up about asking April again when the players settled on their benches and the game began.

"April?"

"Hm?" Her eyes stayed focused on the field as she waited for him to continue.

"Did Reed by any chance mention me lately?"

"Please say yes!", George suddenly exclaimed from beside April, "He hasn't been able to shut up about her, more than usual. It's seriously annoying."

"Thanks, George," Charles retorted sarcastically giving his roommate a dirty look.

April who stood between the two men sighed heavily. "She did."

"She did?!" , the two others asked surprised in union.

"Okay, this is probably breaking so many rules of the girl code or whatever but I just can't do this anymore," she mumbled more to herself than to anyone else before turning to face Charles.

"Listen, Reed is my best friend and if either of you tell her that I told you this, I will come after you…" Both, George and Charles, gulped at that because in the two years of knowing April they learned that you better not mess with April Kepner. Let's just say that having to stand up to her brothers taught her quite some things, "…but Reed hasn't been able to shut up about you either and it's so annoying."

At this point the others were speechless and the game was long forgotten. Instead they impatiently waited for what April had to say next. "The reason she's avoiding you is because she actually has feelings for you. She just has no idea how deep those feelings run and she is afraid of figuring that out. You know how things ended with her parents and you're one of her best friends. She's afraid that she's going to lose that if something more happens between the two of you."

April sighed after she finished her small rant. Charles on the other hand was completely taken back by those revelations. Sure, he had hoped that Reed reciprocated his feelings but he definitely hadn't believed, not even in his wildest dreams, that she actually did.

"You need to give her more time to come around to it herself," April finally concluded before turning back to the game. Charles nodded dumbly while George was wearing a huge smile right now happy for his roommate.

The med student was snapped out of his thoughts when April suddenly enveloped him in a fierce hug. He then noticed also how the people around them were cheering and his eyes slowing wandered back to the field.

"Did you see that?! Touchdown! Jackson is awesome! That was incredible!"

And as Charles watched his small friend ramble off he couldn't help but think that maybe Reed wasn't the only one who would eventually come around and face her true feelings.

"Congratulations!" Some guy clapped him on the back as he made his way through the house. They had defeated Cornell triumphantly and he had played one of his best games yet. All thanks to one woman that he was still desperately trying to find.

Charles had texted him early that they had decided to come to the party. He had sounded rather excited and Jackson had no idea why but he could figure that out later. First he needed to find April in the mass of celebrating students.

Suddenly someone stumbled into him causing him to sway slightly trying to regain his balance. He was actually rather annoyed; he had been looking for April about half an hour now and still hadn't seen her, or Charles or George for that matter.

As the couple in front of him regained their balance he realized that it was none other than Alex and Izzie. Both of them had clearly had a drink too much.

"Jackson!", Alex suddenly growled loudly. "We won!" Izzie beside him was giggling furiously as she held onto his frame.

"I'm aware," Jackson stated irritated. He really wasn't in the mood to deal with either drunken Alex or drunken Izzie. He knew from experience that both of them were pretty annoying in this state.

"I'm so proud of my baby. He made such a great game," Izzie slurred before attacking Alex mouth which turned into a full-blown make-out session immediately. Jackson was barely able to slip past them in order to continue his search. Sure, he was very happy for his friend but that didn't mean that he wanted to see stuff like that.

He rounded another corner and finally saw April standing in a corner talking to Brad. His heart made a little jump at the sight of her. Her red hair was slightly curled and she only wore light make-up. She had a crimson scarf thrown around her neck and her tight sweater had the same color fitting for the occasion.

For a few moments he simply stood there watching her. As she talked to Brad she made animated gestures and expressions and he was still sure that the whole room lit up when she smiled.

Slowly, he walked towards where they were standing in the farthest corner of the room. Once he was in earshot he cleared his throat. April's eyes flickered to his immediately and as she recognized him huge smile spread upon her features.

Before he knew what was happening she had wrapped her arms around his shoulders enveloping him in a bone-crushing hug. "Congrats," she whispered into his ear just before she pulled away from him still wearing a huge smile.

"I'm gonna go now," Brad suddenly piped up beside them. Jackson had completely forgotten about his teammate by now.

"Okay. See you on Monday," April told him with a small smile which he reciprocated as he disappeared into the sea of students. April looked after him until she lost sight of him while Jackson's eyes stayed fixated on her. She was beautiful.

"So you enjoyed the game?", he asked once she met his gaze again and he detected the slightest blush on her cheeks.

"Yeah, I did. You were great."

"Thanks," he replied with a small smile as he couldn't keep his eyes of her. He was mesmerized by her. They were standing pretty close, so close that he could count the freckles that were spread over her cheeks and nose. "How come I didn't that you like football so much?"

She shrugged as her eyes drifting away for a second as she blushed deeper. "I just didn't think that it is that extraordinary."

"Everything about you is extraordinary," he breathed without hesitation causing her to duck her head slightly in order to hide her blush. In that process one of her curls fell in front of her face. He didn't even think about it as he reached out to tuck it behind her ear. April's head shot up instantaneously looking eyes with him.

She wore a somewhat startled expression and he wondered if this was it, their moment. If he leaned in now, would she pull away or would she kiss him as well? Was she ready for this, for them? Was he?

His hand rested on her cheek, his thumb slowly grazing her cheekbone as he moved closer to her. He decided that he would never know what could happen if he didn't try. And April showed no signs of pulling away; instead she watched his every move carefully holding her breath.

He was just about to close his eyes when someone behind them suddenly called out her name. April hastily took a step away from him and out of his reach, so that his hand fell to his side.

"There you are!" The person turned out to be George who came running towards them. "I need your help. Charles had one or two drinks too much and is now fully convinced to go see Reed."

"Ugh," April groaned, "I knew that it would be a bad idea to tell him. Go ahead, I'm coming."

George nodded before making his way towards the exit while April focused on Jackson again. "I'm so sorry but I've got to go. I'm sure you understand."

Of course he did and he hated it. "Do you want me to come with you?"

"No," she shook her head vehemently, "This is your night, you should celebrate. I'm sure we're able to handle Charles on our own. Don't worry. Have fun, champion."

She stood on her toes pressing a small kiss to his cheek before following George. Involuntarily his hand went up to where her lips had been mere seconds ago.

"I didn't know you had a girlfriend," some teammate of him muttered excitedly suddenly and before Jackson could correct him he was gone. Honestly, he didn't want to correct him anyway.

After April had to leave so abruptly the last night, Jackson made himself the promise to kill his best friend as soon as he saw him. That moment came earlier as anticipated as Charles texted him the next morning asking him to come to the common room very much like last time.

What Jackson didn't expect when he entered said room was the redhead sitting opposite of Charles handing him some water.

He might or might not have checked his phone again to make sure that his friend had ordered him here (he had) before he fully stepped into the room.

"Hey, you alright?" he asked trying to fake concern for his friend although he was incredible mad at him.

"Yeah sure," Charles mumbled as he saw him and motioned him to sit down side him. April shot him a genuine albeit unsure smile as he sat down as told. "April here slept with me," Charles continued causing Jackson's eyes to bulge out after what he just heard.

Charles quickly noticed that and hasted to add, "As in, she stayed in our room since I was apparently so wasted and she didn't believe that George would be able to do first aid if necessary."

Jackson visibly relaxed at that slouching into the cushions as he tried to sneak a glance at April but she averted his gaze twiddling with her thumbs in her lap instead. He just hoped that things between them wouldn't be awkward after last night.

"By the way, opposite of you April was capable of preventing me from making a huge mistake." Jackson rolled his eyes in response while April giggled slightly.

Before either of them could say anything else Reed basically stormed into the room halting in front of them and breathing heavy.

All three of them looked up at her expectantly, especially Charles but she just kept staring at him. It was April who broke the silence as she asked her best friend, "Everything alright?"

"Nope. I'm done with this…" she trailed off unable to find words to describe the situation she and Charles were in, "Date. Next Friday."

Charles was about to jump up in excitement when Reed raised her hand to stop him and signalize that she was going to continue. "But if we're going to do this you guys are coming with us. We're having a double date."

With that she left giving them no chance to object. Jackson tentatively looked over to April only to see her blushing furiously. "Well, that was more than I expected," Charles spoke breaking the tension and a small smile graced April's face as agreed with him.

Suddenly, Jackson wasn't angry at all anymore.

Next time: double date!

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! You know, I was just writing this when suddenly the whole story developed in my head. I now know how this is going to play out and trust me, it's going to be a lot more angsty than intially planned.

Until next time!

(Btw you can totally leave a review if you want. It would make my day.)