Far Love (Book 1)

2 | Surprise visit

August 19th, 2023

I walk to the kitchen in the morning, where Mara makes breakfast.

Apparently last night I fell asleep because when she opens the fridge for some salsa, I see a full leftover container with my fried rice in it.

I walk over, grab the container and sit at the dining table to eat it cold. Cold leftovers were always good the morning after, this rice specifically.

"How was the game? Did they win?" I ask through a bite of food.

"No, but it was pretty close."

I nod and take another bite of my rice.

Nina walks in, bags under her eyes and I laugh. "Rough night?" Before she can respond, a man walks in behind her.

I close my mouth and wave to him.

Mara rolls her eyes as she turns toward the stove. "If you were trying to sleep while they were still awake, you would have had a rough night," she grumbles.

I laugh then say, "Be nice." I put my hand out for the guy behind Nina and say, "I'm Rylie."

He takes my hand and we shake, "I'm Hudson, it's nice to meet you."

I look between Nina and the man holding my hand still. She looked nervous, but I'm curious to know who this was.

"How'd you two meet?" I ask.

He sits down in one of the chairs diagonal from me and Nina sits down in the other. "She was at my game last night, and she was close enough to the field that I could see her. I called her down to the field when the game was over."

Surprise washes over me, "Oh, so you're a football player? What team? I haven't seen you around here before." I can't even remember who UCLA played last night.

"I go to the University of Washington," he explains.

"So you beat our asses last night?"

He laughs, "Yeah, I suppose so. It was a hard game though if I am being honest."

I smile, "How are you here right now? Don't you have to be back in Washington?"

"No, since our game was on Friday, we can go back Sunday night. A couple of us even have family down here."

"Ah, okay." I look down at my watch and I see a text from Nina.

Nina: I want him out, this is awkward as fuck

I laugh and she cringes. I clear my throat, cross my arms, and look out the window. I act a 10/10 performance with raised brows and everything, "Nina, we have to go to zoomba soon."

Nina turns pale and puts her palm to her forehead.

Hudson looks at her and back at me, "I should get going then."

I giggle, "See you around then."

He stands up, then sits back down, "Actually do you mind if I stay for a little bit? I went to the game last night with one of my teammates and Nina drove me here."

I look between Nina and Mara. Mara rolls her eyes and says, "Just don't get your dudeness everywhere."

"What does that even mean?" he asks, defensively.

She waves an egg-covered spatula in the air toward him, "All that. This apartment is strictly girls only."

It's Nina's turn to roll her eyes, "Since when, didn't you just have a guy over last week?"

"Yeah, but he was also not a hunky football player."

Their banter makes me laugh and I look back at a very uncomfortable-looking Hudson, "Yeah, that's cool. Zoomba can wait, right Nina?"

She grunts, "Mhm."

I smile at Hudson and stand up. "I'm getting changed."

I walk to my room and go straight to my closet.

I grab a pair of basic black leggings and an oversized hoodie. Most likely, I would be home most of the day, so I wouldn't have needed to dress to impress—not that I usually do.

I put on my basic silver necklace with a blue stone in the middle, and exit my room.

When I emerge, there is a laughing Nina and a smirking Hudson. I roll my eyes. So much for my great acting skills, they seem happy enough to spend the rest of their lives together.

I go to the coffee pot and pour a cup of coffee, adding some creamer. I sit on the grey plush couch next to the window in the living area and pull my laptop from the coffee table.

I have been working furiously on this new idea, but something still seems to be wrong with it.

I pull my notebook from the coffee table along with my favorite pen and sit back on the couch reading over my notes.

Fantasy was always my favorite genre, but when I started writing my fantasy series a few years ago when I was nineteen, I started to understand why these things always took so long to complete. The first draft of the sequel has plot holes galore, and they are so hard to weed out.

I open another document in my laptop and name it. I start to type in the same scenes I'd been fantasizing about for months and fall into the world of my mind.

There is a knock on the door and I look up to see that Nina and Hudson went back to her room, and Mara is no where to be seen since I went to my room to change. I roll my eyes and set my laptop down and walk to the door.

I look through the peephole briefly and open it. When I took my look he looked fit enough to be a football player, so I open it.

Before I lay eyes on the man I say, "If you're here for Hudson, he's kind of busy..." I trail off as I lay my eyes on the quarterback of the huskies' famous football team, Dylan Woods.

🪿
Oop well time to meet Mr. Golden-Hair-Woods 🤭

🪿
Katelynn J. Peterson

Published: March 19th, 2023