Within two weeks, Camilla had moved her few belongingsâmostly clothes and cosmeticsâinto DeAndre's apartment. Much as she would like to have spent twenty-four hours a day in bed with him, she knew that they both needed to study, and he had to spend a lot of time in football practice, to say nothing of participating in games either at their home stadium or on the road.
In late November, she ran into one of her friends coming out of the library. This girl, Cynthia, gazed at her with wide eyes and a peculiar sort of smirk.
"Well, look at you!" Cynthia said as they gave each other a token hug.
"What about me?" Camilla said.
"You're DeAndre's girl, aren't you?"
"I suppose I am."
"You're one lucky female! You must know he's, like, the Big Man on Campus."
"Well, I guess he's a big football star."
"Girl, you don't know the half of it! He's
really, really good!
I mean, this guy could end up in the NFL!"
Camilla was taken aback. "He's that good?"
"So they say. And I have to tell you, he's
never
had an actual girlfriend before."
"Is that right?"
Well, I guess that makes me special.
"I guess he's just choosy when it comes to women."
Cynthia now gave her an even more peculiar look. "Oh, I wouldn't say that."
"What do you mean?" Camilla said, suddenly getting hostile.
"Hey, don't chew my head off! Let's just say there are
lots and lots
of girls around campus who've, um, shall we say, have enjoyed his favors. But he's one of those 'love-'em-and-leave-'em' type of guys. And he seems to have a particular fondness for white flesh!"
Camilla was really angry now. "You're lying. That's just not the way he is. He's sweet and kind and respectful andâ"
"Have you asked him about his past? He's a senior, just like us. Since you don't care about sports, you don't know anything about what he's done before he hooked up with you. But hey, don't sweat it! If he's taken you on as 'his girl,' you should just enjoy it while it lasts."
The obvious implication of Cynthia's comment was that it wasn't going to last long.
Camilla walked away feeling confused and even vaguely horrified. No, there was no way a guy like DeAndreâthe one who had taken such umbrage at his teammates' pounding of her during that locker-room gangbangâwas himself a philanderer. "Love-'em-and-leave-'em," eh? Well, he'd find out that Camilla Stevens was one girl who wouldn't be tossed aside so easily!
She came home to DeAndre's apartment and began cooking dinner. She'd never been much for cooking before, but now she made efforts to improve her culinary skills, even asking her mom for help on specifically Southern dishes that DeAndre might like. (She really wanted to ask
his
mom's advice, but DeAndre had been curiously reticent in giving any information about his parents.) She was lost in thought as she was whipping up some spaghetti and meat sauce, and hardly noticed DeAndre coming into the place until he popped into the kitchen, greeted her with a tight hug and a long, deep kiss on her mouth, and said, "Hey, babe, what's going on?"
"Nothing much," she said moodily, looking away from him.
He could tell immediately that something was wrong. He'd been around her so intensely these last few weeks that he had already come to know every fluctuation in her temperament. He pulled her away from the kitchenâthe pasta was already cooking away in a big pot of water and didn't need much attentionâand led her to the dining table, sitting her down at a chair.
"What's wrong, babe?" he said with obvious concern.
Camilla gazed longingly at him. She already felt so attached to this man, and they had already exchanged such passionate vows of love and devotion, that she could hardly believe he was the kind of man her friend had hinted at.
"I was just talking to someone," she said, looking away from him, "and she saidâwell, she said you . . ."
"I what?" he said, although he seemed to know what she was about to say.
"You've been with a lot of girls," she said, her face crumpling as she came close to tears.
DeAndre just looked at her for a time, saying nothing. Then he sighed.
"I have been," he said at last, "but that was all in the past. I don't do that sort of thing anymore."
"How many did you do?" she asked, almost fearful of the response.
"Oh, Camilla, I don't know," he said wearily.
"You don't know? You have no idea?"
"Well, it's not as if I was keeping count!"
"Can you guess?"
He gazed down at his hands for a long time before saying, "Probably three or four hundred."
Camilla gasped. "That many?"
"Yeah, that many," he said, his voice full of self-disgust. "Look, dear, you don't understand what it is to be a star athlete. I could have gone to some big Division I school like Ohio State or Alabamaâall the scouts were after me in high school. But for various reasons I wanted to stay close to home. So when I came here, my reputation as a football star preceded me. And maybe it went to my head. I knew there were a lot more important things than playing football, but I was young and cocky, and I guess it tickled me to have all these girls throwing themselves at me."
"Butâbut you didn't have relationships with any of them?"
"Not a one."