Eli Morgan wasn't supposed to be on campus that day. Coach had canceled practice last minute, and with two hours to kill before his next class, he'd wandered the quad like a dog off-leash—nose to the wind, a lopsided smile on his face, sun in his curls. The world looked good today. Breezy. Green. Alive.

That's when he saw her.

Sitting cross-legged beneath the oak tree, tucked in the shadow like a secret, flipping through a battered paperback like time didn't apply to her. Something about the way she existed—quiet and unrushed—froze him mid-step. He'd never seen her before. He would've remembered.

Eli blinked, tilted his head, squinted just in case the sunlight was messing with him. Still there. Still... unfamiliar.

He shifted his path and made a beeline for a bench nearby, pretending to stretch. Peeked once. Twice. Hell, maybe three times. Yep—still didn't ring a bell.

After about ten minutes of not-so-subtle glancing, he gave up the slow approach and stood, jogging a few paces to where his teammate DeShawn leaned against a bike rack, earbuds in, phone out, one eyebrow already raised.

"Hey," Eli said, jerking his chin toward the tree. "You know her?"

DeShawn looked. Squinted. Then scoffed like Eli had just asked if the sky was blue.

"You serious?"

Eli blinked. "Yeah. She new?"

"She's been here since last fall, man."

"No way," Eli said, brow furrowing.

"Way," DeShawn replied, dragging the word out. "Same psych lectures. Even had the same lab section last semester. Sat two rows behind us, I think."

Eli turned back to the tree, something unsettled and curious settling behind his ribs.

"Huh," he murmured, watching as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and turned another page like she hadn't just rearranged the orbit of his whole damn afternoon.

He'd seen hundreds of faces on campus. Thousands, maybe. But somehow—not hers. And now that he had?

He wasn't about to forget.

Not a chance.

Eli ran a hand through his curls, gave himself a quiet "Alright, Morgan, don't be weird," and crossed the lawn.

Each step made him a little more aware of how loud his boots sounded on the grass, how fast his heart beat even though he wasn't running. He'd talked to a hundred people before. This was nothing new. So why did it feel like stepping into something delicate—like snow that hadn't been touched yet?

She didn't look up until he was close.

"Hey," he said, voice soft with the slow drawl that always clung to him when he wasn't thinking too hard. "Didn't mean to interrupt. Just—mind if I sit?"

She glanced at the empty stretch of grass beside her, then back at him. A silent beat passed.

"I don't bite," he added quickly, holding up his hands with a crooked grin. "Promise."

That got a small nod. Enough.

He dropped down onto the grass with an easy sprawl, not too close, but not shy about it either. He let the quiet settle for a second before glancing sideways.

"I'm Eli," he offered. "Morgan, if you listen to Coach long enough. Sunny, if you ask my brothers. Or the team. Or, well... anyone who knows me."

She gave the faintest lift of an eyebrow.

"You're probably wonderin' why I'm talkin' to you like we're gonna be friends or somethin', huh?"

No answer. Not a no, either.

He chuckled, rubbed the back of his neck. "Okay, fair. I just—I saw you sittin' here, and I thought, no way I haven't seen her before, right? So I asked a buddy. And turns out, you've been here a whole year."

He let the moment breathe.

"That's on me," he admitted. "Guess I had my head up my ass more than I thought."

A slight smile. Barely there, but it counted.

Eli's grin widened, sunlight catching in the warmth of it.

"Well," he said, resting his forearms on his knees. "If you're open to it, I'd like to fix that. Make up for lost time. Maybe start now."

He didn't push. Just sat with it. Sat with her. Like he had all the time in the world.