Page 76 of High Baller

Trey - I love you x

Every time I get a message, I stare at it for a while, wondering if I should reply or not. There have been times where I've just lain in bed and read them all. I’ve cried myself to sleep, missing him, missing him making me smile. But then I'll remember walking in that morning —I’ll remember it all and put my phone away.

"Finn and I thought we should go out tonight, and you're coming with us." Calvin isn't asking me, he's telling me. Maybe a night out would be nice, just something to make me feel like a normal person again.

"I think that'd be good,” I say with a nod. “I suppose I need an outfit.” I spin around toward my room as I hear a loud bang. I look back over at Calvin who’s smiling at me. “You already got me an outfit, didn't you?"

He lifts a bag. "I did, and it looks amazing." He smiles, and I begin to feel a little more excited that I agreed to even go out with them. He’s been asking me for a while now.

As my phone rings again, I hand it to Calvin. "Take my phone for the day, it's giving me a headache now." Derek’s been trying a lot harder today to talk to me; he even got Ariel to call me, but I ignored that call, too.

I walk into the kitchen and grab a bottle of water, then take in my empty living room.

Calvin walks over to me as he lowers the phone. ”Derek said you have a delivery, and it'll be with you any minute.”

I stare at him. What on earth would Derek be getting for me? "If it's more flowers, then I really don't want to see them.” I never thought I'd be getting so many flowers in my life. It's like Trey has them sent to my house every hour.

"In the bin, they go,” he sings, and the humor in his tone makes me smile. “We'll be leaving in two hours to go to the pub first, so we best start getting ready." He throws my phone back to me. "I think Instagram has missed you." He walks away from me as I open the Instagram feed. I smile, seeing that some of my followers have asked when I'll be posting again. Maybe it's time to get my life back to they it was before Trey came into it.

I lean on the counter as I hear the knock on my door. I haven't opened my door once, still thinking it could be the press, so I’m not about to start now.

"Your delivery is here, it's a lot bigger than flowers,” Calvin says. I lean to the side a little and see a couple of delivery guys walk into my living room.

I walk over and sign the hand-held device, and take the note that's taped to the large box.

‘I'm so sorry for what your parents did to you, and I wish that I could take all the pain away. I understand that you don't want to talk to me, but I also remember the excitement, and the joy in your eyes when you got this gift.

I hope it makes you smile again.’

Taking a knife, I cut the tape and pull the box open. I take a step back as I look at the vintage table with a record player on it. Calvin walks over and starts looking through the vinyls that have come with the player.

Calvin gasps. ”He's got you every single one that you had, and a few extras on top.” He picks one up—Queen. I told Trey that I was looking for this one and wasn't able to find it.

I don't know what to say. I don't even know what I should be feeling. Happy that Trey remembered my love of music and which one I wanted, or hurt that every time I see this, I'll always think about him.

"I'm going to start on the wine, then I'm getting ready." I walk away from Trey's gift. I still don't know how I feel about this. My emotions are still all over the place for me to choose what I want with Trey, or if I want anything at all.

“I’m ready to take pictures. Shall we start with how our the night begins?” I stand in front of the mirror, and Calvin walks over to me so we can take the picture. I post on Instagram with the caption: Night out with this sexy man.

"Enjoy tonight, Sky, you deserve a night of fun." Calvin gives me a kiss, and I laugh as my phone beeps for a text message. "That didn't take long.”

We both know who it is. I've blocked him and most of his friends from Instagram, but the only one that I still follow and follows me is Tracy, and it looks like Trey has found out and Tracy’s giving him the details.

Trey - You look beautiful, as always.

This won't be the last message from him tonight, as I plan on posting a lot more pictures of my night out. Tonight, I'm going to have fun and forget the last few days.

***

Last night was fun. There were some reporters that took pictures of me as I walked into the bar, but they left straight after that, and my night was peaceful. Trey sent me a message with every picture I posted. I knew he would, and Tracy has a lot to answer for. The messages got so frequent, that in the end, Calvin just took my phone off of me, and told me that tonight was for me to smile and have some fun—not think about Trey every two minutes.

We sit on the floor in my living room as we eat our sandwiches. Calvin and Finn stayed over last night. Well, Calvin has been over every night. He said that he didn't feel like I was safe alone, as my parents could come knocking on my door. I haven't said anything to him about leaving, as I do like him here. Anything is better than being in an empty house by myself.

"You got the mayonnaise just right this time," Calvin tells me.

This mayo dressing has taken me some time to get right, but I'm so happy with it now. I'm working on a chicken dinner recipe, too. I’m glad that I have a love of food and cooking to pass my time. I get to try new things and enjoy the taste of it after. Well, not all the time. There are times where it's that bad, it goes straight in the bin.

"Thanks, took me long enough to find the right things to put in there," I tell him.