Played by Natasha Stories Page B

same white roses with red tips that were in the vase.
    "These are so pretty! I've never seen
anything like them," I remarked, while Rihanna labored to pin the corsage
on my shoulder without sticking me.
    "The florist said they're called Fire
and Ice. I thought they were pretty, too," Drew answered. Then, addressing
Rihanna, "C'mon, Ri, we need to go. Don't you have it on yet?"
    Just then, distracted by his demanding
tone, she jabbed me with the corsage pin and I yelped. "Never mind, Ri,
I'll get it," I said, taking everything from her hands.
    "Sorry," she muttered. I felt bad
for her. Ri was the life of the party, so why didn't she have a hot, sexy date
to bring her flowers? Because, her best friend was impatiently waiting for me,
instead, I thought. Maybe if he hadn't met me, he'd have taken Rihanna.
    On the way to Drew's car, I decided to make
sure I wasn't getting between them, once and for all. "Drew," I said,
"Why aren't you and Ri together?"
    The look of horror he threw me was almost
enough to make me laugh aloud. But, I kept my composure and waited for his
answer. "Ew! That would be like being with my sister," he said, a
shudder wracking his entire body. Now I felt as if I had permission to like
this boy. They felt the same way about each other, and it wasn't romantic in
the least. I still felt bad about Rihanna not having a date for her first
Utah-BYU basketball game, though.
    I only learned from Drew once we were on
our way that the team and the school officials were on edge because of violence
that had occurred after the Utah-BYU football game earlier in the year. It
shocked me to know that students from Brigham Young University misbehaved just
as often as students from other places did. They had thrown trash at officials
after the game because they thought they had lost due to a call that the
officials missed. Drew told me that he was having his bench players look out
for me while he was on court, since my seats were only two rows back. It wasn't
unheard of for players to fall into the stands as they attempted to save a ball
from going out of bounds.
    Drew settled me into my seat with more than
an hour to kill before the game started. True to my plan, I had brought my
iPad, and was working on some homework assignments as the stands began to fill
around me. When the teams began filing onto court I stowed it away and prepared
to pay close attention to the game. However, there was never any question about
who would win this game. Once again, under Drew's expert direction, his team
moved steadily to victory, with pandemonium in the stands from fans of both
teams.
    This was one of the greatest rivalries in
the country Ri had told me, since the schools were located less than an hour by
car from each other. BYU was a church-run school, and of course, University of
Utah was run under state auspices. Many times, the two could be considered
indistinguishable, but in the case of the schools, the rivalry was often called
the Holy Wars. Brigham Young University considered themselves the chosen of
God, and Utah was always out to disprove it.
    As soon as the final horn sounded, a couple
of the players who were sitting on the bench at that point hustled me out of my
seat and into the protection of the players exit passage. There I found Rihanna
and the gang waiting to congratulate Drew, who was still on the floor being
interviewed by local media. Once again, he had taken the Most Valuable Player
award.
    As soon as he could get away, Drew came
trotting into the passageway and fans immediately surrounded him. Though he was
shorter than most of his teammates, he still towered over Rihanna and most of
her posse. I was hanging back so as not to be trampled. His eyes found me and
lit up, giving me a strange flutter in my chest. Not for the first time, I
thought that he was very good-looking, though completely different from Justin.
In contrast to Justin's dark brown hair and green eyes, Drew's hair was
caramel-colored, and his eyes were