Disclaimer: I forgot to do this at the beginning of the first chapter. I do NOT own Bones, no matter how much I want to.
Booth was waiting at the library. He had been twenty minutes early. Booth was still slightly hung over from last night but could remember everything about Bren. She was gorgeous. Long, brown hair and the most tender blue eyes he had ever seen.
Seeley Booth prided himself on being a gentleman. He didn't consider himself an 'ass man' or a 'breast man'. He loved eyes. It was his way of getting to know someone. Pops had taught him from a very young age that eyes are the windows to the soul. And Seeley Booth knew that he could see deeper into eyes than anyone else could.
Booth could see Brennan coming down the walkway. They had both agreed before they parted ways last night to meet outside the North entrance and find a quiet study space from there. It was a warm fall day. Hardly breezy or chilly. Perfect football weather, the quarterback thought. On a day like today, he'd normally be playing catch or a pickup game of football behind his residence hall. But he valued his education and his football career and the coach required a 3.7 GPA to stay in good standing on the team. His GPA was border line being way too low to play. The Wildcats were undefeated so far and Booth had every intention of taking his team all the way to the national championship game. His team needed him.
"Hiya, Bren!" Booth shouted as she approached. She smiled back at him and gestured to the building.
"Shall we?"
He rocked back and forth on his heels, hesitated and then said, "You know, I have a great idea. It's wonderful outside and before you know it, we'll be walking to class in three feet of snow and there will be zero visibility on the field."
"What does visibility have to do with class?" Brennan was confused.
"For football. You know, like, when I go to throw the ball at my wide receiver, if it's snowing, I probably won't be able to see…you know what, let's just study," he said, cutting himself off after noticing her extremely confused look.
Brennan began walking toward the entrance when Booth stopped her.
"Whoa! Bren! Can we, uh, study outside? It's nice and I brought a blanket for us to sit on. Oh, and I brought snacks too!" He stared at her eyes. They seemed to study him, look him over and when she noticed his begging puppy-dog eyes, she laughed.
Brennan grinned at him. "Sure. But you have to focus. If you lie down, you'll fall asleep. Just promise me you'll sit up when we study. No slacking!"
"You got yourself a deal, Bren!" Booth said excitedly. There was a small park right across from the library. It was shaded and not too crowded, but it was a common travel path for students between classes.
Neither Brennan nor Booth have any classes Wednesday afternoons so they sat and studied, Booth trying as hard as he could to not seem incompetent. Brennan, on the other hand, was patient with him. She knew not everyone was as intelligent as she was but Brennan knew Booth was trying to impress her with what little he knew.
"Booth!" someone shouted. He whipped his head around to see four guys coming down the sidewalk, cutting through the park.
"Hey! Adam, Brandon, A.J. and Tyler, this is Bren, she's my anthropology tutor. Bren, these guys are on the team too." He said, introducing them. Brennan waited impatiently for Booth to stop talking, but she didn't want to be rude so she didn't interrupt.
As they walked away, Brennan commented, "You do know that if you don't pay attention to what I'm trying to teach you, you're not going to learn it."
"Sorry, Bren. Those guys are my best friends though. I'm sorry. Look, I'll pay attention now, I promise," he told her. His warm smile melted her. Perfect teeth, too, she thought. He really is symmetrical.
By the time he had almost mastered three of the six chapters covered on the upcoming test, they had eaten all of Booth's snacks and the sun had started to set.
"Wow, I didn't even realize what time it is," Booth said, checking his watch, "You going out tonight?"
Brennan shook her head. "Why should I? It's completely irrational to go drink, especially when you're underage. Not only could you be arrested, but you're killing multiple brain cells!"
Booth shrugged. "Well, instead of going to the bars tonight, wanna go get some grub? I'm starving. And I could use a break from all of this studying."
Brennan smiled and Booth smiled back. They got up, packed up their books and headed for the downtown restaurants.
Booth led them to a little diner just off campus. It was affordable but still delicious. He ordered for both of them.
"Hey! I wanted a salad!" Brennan yelled at him after the waitress walked away.
"Trust me, this stuff is to die for. I bring girls here all the time," he said, nonchalantly.
"This isn't a date, Booth. We're just eating dinner," Brennan told him, matter-of-factly.
"Oh. Well. Uh…yeah I know, but I'm just telling you this place is good. If you know what to order," he said. He leaned back in his chair and stared at her. She was looking around, taking in her surroundings. It seemed as if she were observing the other customers too, using her anthropology knowledge to apply ideas to this situation.
Brennan suddenly could feel his eyes on her. She turned to look at him and he just smiled. Brennan grinned back and asked him to explain football. Booth lit up and told her about why he had come so far to live his dream.
It turned out Booth was from Philadelphia and his grandpa and brother can't always make it out for the games.
"They're coming for family weekend next weekend. But not this weekend. Hey, I get four free tickets to every game to give to my family. No one's going to use them this weekend and they're just going to go to waste. You should come to the game. Bring your roommate if you want!"
"I'll think about it," Brennan replied. She was hesitant. She didn't want to look like a fool in front of every other fan who knew a lot about football. But, then again, it would be an excellent opportunity to observe a kind of culture Brennan had never witnessed before. She agreed and told Booth she'd accept the tickets.
He was thrilled. The tickets were right behind the home team bench. Booth could look up to the stands any time during the game and know she would be encouraging him.
They were fast becoming friends and they sat in the restaurant until late in the morning, Booth eating slice after slice of apple pie. Brennan sat there watching him. She didn't like pie. She didn't see the point of adding so much sugar to something that already had natural sugars in it.
He talked about football while she talked about her research studies.
Booth didn't mind that, across the street at his favorite bar, Adam, A.J., Brandon and Tyler could see him in the window talking to the same beautiful girl they saw him with earlier. He didn't mind that he was missing out on free cover night at the team's favorite bar. Booth was with his new best friend. And so was she.
Brennan had found what she was looking for at college, besides a higher, quality education. She found a friend that she knew would be there for her. She felt like she could talk to Booth all night long.
They stayed at the 24-hour diner until four in the morning, when Brennan realized she had a 7 AM class soon. Feeling embarrassed that she had lost track of time, Booth walked her back to her dorm room and made sure she was okay before he went across the street to his residence hall.
As Brennan climbed into bed, she felt a huge grin spread across her face.
Booth did the same.
A/N: Wow, I've been just floored by the response I've been getting from this. I hope you all like this chapter just as much. I don't think I mentioned this before but if you're wondering where I got the idea, I had a dream one night after the 100th episode and this is pretty much what happened. Any dream with Booth is a good dream :) Anyway, let me know what you think! I have more on the way.
