Brennan couldn't fall asleep. The only window in her little dorm room was wide open and the moonlight was pouring in. She couldn't believe she had made a new friend. Someone she knew she could say anything to and he wouldn't judge her.
Knowing she wouldn't even get a decent nap before her 7 AM class, Brennan got up and got ready for the day. She packed her backpack and headed out the door with an hour and a half left before class started. She just started walking, not knowing exactly where her feet were taking her.
Brennan thought about the night before and how much fun she had. She had never stayed up so late talking to a guy, let alone just a friend. They talked about his family and she avoided that subject. She talked about her studies and the cool new ice age warrior her professors were letting her help identify. Booth never questioned her on her family and for that, she was thankful. As much as she liked Booth, she wasn't yet comfortable discussing her troubled past. Booth never did say why he had been raised by his grandfather, but since he hadn't pushed Brennan for her past, she didn't push either. She guessed he was from a broken family too. At least now she didn't feel so alone.
She ended up sitting in the park where they had studied the day before. For Chicago this time of year, it was unusually warm. At almost six o'clock in the morning, Brennan was comfortably warm in her jeans and sweatshirt, knowing it would get warmer as the sun came up. As she sat on a bench near the same study spot from yesterday, Brennan couldn't get her mind off of Booth. Not only was he quickly becoming her best friend, she knew he would be her closest friend for the rest of her life.
There was no way the star quarterback was going to fall asleep that night. He sat on his futon in his dorm room in the dark. His roommate, Drew, wasn't there and Booth knew Drew had probably spent the night with some chick he met at the bars. There was no reason for Booth to not turn on the TV and watch the late edition of Sportscenter but he also knew he wouldn't actually watch it.
Bren. He wanted to hang out with her again. She was the kindest tutor he had ever had and that was saying something, since he had gone to tutors at an early age at Pops' insistence. Bren had a way of dumbing down the anthropology concepts without making Booth feel completely stupid. She was patient with him when he didn't understand something and explained things in a way he could understand. At one point, she had even attempted to relate something to football. Booth chuckled. Bren didn't understand the first thing about football and it was cute to see her try so hard to make his studies appealing to him.
When Booth tried to explain it to her at the diner, it took her awhile to catch on, but now, when she goes to the football game on Saturday, she'll at least understand what the idea and the point of it is.
Booth was excited for Saturday. He wanted to show Bren what he could do on the field. She seemed genuinely excited for the game and was glad he gave her several tickets so she could have her roommate go with her. Bren wanted someone else there at the game with her to explain things she wouldn't understand as the game was going on.
Booth got ready for class early. He didn't have class until 8 but he decided to just take a walk and study what Bren had taught him yesterday to keep everything fresh in his mind. He headed for the park by the Main Library. There were benches he could sit on without directly sitting on the dewy grass. He had his mp3 player on and he was focused on picking a song on his way to a bench when he tripped over someone's long legs sprawled out from another bench.
He picked himself off and wiped some dirt off his jeans.
"Sorry, I didn't…Bren?"
Brennan was watching clean himself off with a grin. "You fall a lot," she commented, "I hope this isn't what happens when you try to throw the football."
He shrugged his shoulders. "Only for you," he smirked. Brennan could feel herself blushing and she knew she couldn't hide it.
Booth sat down on the bench next to her and they talked until it was time for Brennan to go to class. Even then, Booth didn't want to leave her company so he walked her to class. They made plans to meet at the diner for lunch. And when they were at lunch, they made plans to meet for dinner at the residence dining hall.
They sat at a table for two in the dining hall and ate in silence.
"Sorry this isn't the diner, Bren," Booth said between giant bites of his cheeseburger.
"It's not a problem, Booth. I don't expect to go out to eat every day." She picked at her less than appealing salad. The food in the dining hall was like an all-you-can-eat buffet full of leftovers and everything was at least a day old. "How's your burger?"
"Eh, it 'snot the same as the diner. Diner's WAY better..." he said with food in his mouth, "Let's at least go there for dessert!"
Brennan nodded and took another bite of the limp spinach. Booth threw his burger back onto his plate and announced, "Well, I'm done. What do you say, Bren? Diner?" He leaned close to her, waiting for her response in noisy dining hall.
She could smell him. He smelled like a boy. Go figure, of course he smells like a boy, Brennan thought, but not sweaty, nasty boy; like a perfectly groomed, takes-care-of-how-he-looks boy.
Her heart panged with emptiness, knowing he was too good for her, that he would never fall for a geeky girl like her. "Let's go. Does the diner have any other desserts besides pie?"
The week ended quickly and Brennan was both excited and nervous to see her new best friend do what he does best.
Maggie couldn't believe Temperance invited her to a football game. Tempe even had tickets right behind the home team bench on the fifty yard line. Maggie couldn't fathom how her previously un-cool roommate scored such sweet tickets but Maggie wasn't complaining.
They made their way to their seats and Maggie couldn't contain her excitement.
As the pre-game festivities began and players were announced, an event security guard came up to the roommates. "These seats are for family only, girls. I'm sorry but you'll have to go to the student section," the guard said.
Maggie started pouting. Brennan, on the other hand, was firm and kept on the lookout for Booth.
"Miss…" the guard kept gesturing for Brennan to follow her roommate back up the stadium steps.
"I'm sorry, sir, but I have tickets. My brother gave them to me," she said, not taking her eyes off the giant huddle of football players getting ready for kickoff. She still hadn't seen Booth.
"Who's your brother?"
Brennan just pointed. The guard smiled. "You're Robinson's sister? Oh…well, I guess I can see the resemblance. My mistake, girls. Enjoy the game." The guard walked away and Maggie stared at her roommate in awe.
"I can't believe you got away with that! So who did you really get the tickets from?"
Brennan kept looking for Booth. All of the players were stretching on the field in a mass of purple and white, the school's colors. She couldn't tell one person from another. But then she looked up at the giant video board to see pictures of the starting lineup on offense.
"Him!" Brennan shouted when Booth's picture scrolled across the board, "I got the tickets from him!"
Maggie's jaw dropped. She began to stutter, "Th-that's who…who I brought back...how did you…when did you…"
"I tutor him. I'd say we're pretty good friends. He's making excellent progress in his anthropology stud-"
"How is he in bed? He wouldn't go all the way with me." Maggie looked at Brennan with intense admiration.
"We're not…I'm not sleeping with him!" Brennan shouted.
"Then how did you get the tickets?"
"He's my friend. He gave them to me. Plus, he told me it would be an opportunity to observe another part of American culture. I've never seen this part of our culture before. It would make a very interesting research project."
Maggie seemed disappointed for Temperance. She wanted her roomie to have a love life. She wanted to gossip with Temperance. She wanted Brennan to act like a girl for once.
The Wildcats won the game and Brennan had almost lost her voice cheering for Booth.
After the game, Booth had some team commitments but told Brennan on his way to the locker room that he'd come to her dorm room as soon as he was done.
It was a few hours later that Booth showed up. He had the post game press conference, team meeting and then he cleaned himself up before he went to see Bren.
"Can you believe it?!" Booth cried as he walked into Brennan and Maggie's room, "Fifteen completed passes for 306 yards, baby!"
Brennan looked up from another paper she was in the process of writing and said, "I don't know what that means."
"I'll explain on our way to the diner. Let's go! Some of the guys are gonna meet us there. They wanna meet you." She grabbed her bag as Booth pulled her out the door.
Brennan met all of Booth's best friends. All of the guys from the offensive line eyed her like a twig they could snap with their pinkies. The wide receivers, running backs and safeties introduced themselves and went back to discussing who the better player was: Walter Payton or Mean Joe Greene. The defensive line all gave her a nod of the head and continued discussing their strategy for the upcoming game. The smaller special teams kids sat in a corner of the diner with piles of food on their table. Booth made the comment that they wanted to play a bigger role on the team than just kicking and punting so they were doing everything they could to bulk up.
Brennan and Booth took a table by the windows and sat by themselves. For the most part, they were in their own little world surround by Booth's closest friends. Occasionally, someone would come talk to him, ask his opinion on a play they were thinking about running for the next game or come to find out what the status was of Bren and Booth's relationship. By the time Brennan and Booth left the diner, Brennan had been asked out on a total of 23 dates, all of which were turned down by Booth for her.
They walked back to his dorm room, chatting the whole way about football and how excited Brennan was to observe such a "strange aspect" of culture. They watched movies in his room and Brennan met Drew. After each movie, she analyzed the anthropological characteristics in it and even quizzed Booth on some of the things she had been tutoring him over. She even suggested they watched Sportscenter. Booth was in one of their top plays, throwing a Hail Mary pass with just three seconds left in the game. The receiver scored and Booth was a hero again.
"Pops and Jared are excited to meet you next weekend. I really want you to come to more of my games," he said after Sportscenter was over.
Booth received no response. He looked over to Bren. She was curled up in the corner of the futon, sleeping, even though the volume on the TV was louder than a departing airplane.
He picked her up and put her in his bed. It wasn't lofted like hers so it was much easier to get in and out of his bed. She hardly squirmed as Booth laid her down and covered her with the comforter. As he got the futon set up for him to crash on, he heard her call for him.
"You don't have to sleep there. You sleep here. Your bed is big enough for two," she mumbled, turning on her side to face him. He slid onto his bed slowly and kept close to the edge. He felt Bren shiver and he moved closer. Before he knew it, she was sleeping soundly, using his chest as a pillow and all he could do was smile.
A/N: Let me know what you think!
