“Of course. It was the only thing I had left of you,” I said, as I buried into him tightly.
“Actually,” he said, as he gently untangled himself from me, then got up from my bed and walked towards my dresser. I turned over slightly and followed him with my eyes to make sure he didn’t leave. I hadn’t noticed that he had brought his backpack with him. He dropped a knee to the floor, unzipped it, and reached inside, then looked up at me. “This belongs to you,” he said as he pulled out his green hoodie with PATTON on the back. Then he zipped up his bag, stood up, and sat on the edge of the bed, his hoodie in his hands. “I wanted to give this to you on Christmas, but I wasn’t sure that you wanted it. Merry Christmas, baby,” he said. “I love you.”
“If you give that to me, it will destroy me if you ever ask for it back,” I said, softly.
“Come here,” he said, as he held it open for me to carefully dive into.“I don’t ever want it back, unless you’re in it,” he said, as he came in closer, his mouth grazing inside the hood against my ear. “Preferably naked.” Then he reached up under the hoodie to gently caress the fullness of my naked breasts as he lay me back down into the pile of pillows and kissed me, bundled up in his green hoodie, where I was always meant to be. We lay there, cuddled close, as his warm hands rubbed my bare skin, until my eyes grew heavy with sleep from the drugs.
“I think I need to take a nap, I’m still hurting,” I said, as he pulled his hand from under the hoodie and ran it through the waves of my hair.
“Get some rest, I’ll be here working on college essays,” he said, as he got up off the bed and reached for his backpack. Then I rolled over and drifted off to sleep.
That afternoon, after my nap, he helped me search for new schools to apply to. I submitted applications to schools all over the southeast with various programs of interest, and crossed my fingers that someone would accept me, despite my mediocre grades. Now that they were submitted, all I could do was wait. I was grateful for Chris helping me stay focused on writing essays and get teacher recommendations. My options for schools weren’t as long as his, but if none of them come through, I could take a year off, focus on physical therapy, and try again in the spring. The next few weeks of waiting for replies would be glacial.
37
As Christmas break came to a close, the reality of returning to school loomed. I was dreading going back, unsure of how I would be treated after everything that had happened before break. Surely, by now, everyone had heard that I had lost my scholarship, and I could only hope that they wouldn’t give me a hard time. The last thing I needed was to relive the nightmare of that phone call with Coach Avery, but I understood her reasoning. How could she take a chance on whether or not I would be able to play in my current condition?
That morning, when the alarm went off, my Mom appeared in my doorway to help me from my bed to get ready.
“Ready to face the music?” she said in a chipper tone.
“Ready as I’ll ever be,” I said, but I already had knots in my stomach, knowing that I would be the center of attention. Once she helped me get dressed, I looked over towards my desk. “Can you bring me Chris’s hoodie?” I asked, pointing to it hanging over the back of the chair. She walked to the chair, picked it up, brushed her hand across it to smooth the wrinkles, and then passed it to me. I pulled it on, breathing Chris in, as she started to speak.
“I’m glad to see you so happy again, dear. He brings out the best in you,” she said, before walking out of the room.
In the bathroom, Amy was brushing her teeth, and with a mouth full of bubbles, she gave me a little smile.
“Here. I’m done with this,” she said as she passed me the toothpaste.
It was the first time she had extended a friendly gesture to me since seeing her on New Year’s Eve. Calling Chris was the nicest thing she had done for me all year, even if she had first tried to ruin my life and been sneaking around with James behind my back. I no longer cared. After all of the destruction her rumor mill had wreaked on my life, I was just grateful that she had helped Chris and me find our way back to one another.
“Thanks,” I replied, as I squeezed some toothpaste onto my toothbrush. She smiled again, wiped her face, and then walked out of the room. Just then, she poked her head back in the door.
“Need a ride to school?” she asked cautiously.
“Thanks, but Chris is picking me up,” I said. She just nodded, then headed back down the hall.
As I heard the rumble of Chris’s truck pull up outside, the knots in my stomach got tighter. Mom was waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs with a smoothie that I was too nervous to drink.
“Thanks, Mom,” I said, and I took one sip to be nice, then passed it back.
When I opened the door, Chris’s eyes lit up at the sight of me wearing his hoodie again, like old times. A smile grew across his face as he made his way towards our front door to help me to his truck. I waved at my mom as we headed off to school.
“Come here, baby,” he said as he slid me across the bench to put his arm around me. I buckled myself into the center seat and leaned against him, just like the day I did on my way to the hospital. “You nervous?” he asked, as he looked down at me for a moment, kissed me on the forehead, and then looked back out the windshield at the road.
“I feel like I’m going to puke,” I said, as we pulled into the parking lot.
“I won’t let anything happen,” he said, as he looked down at me one last time before finding a spot and putting the truck in park.
He helped me out of the truck, took my backpack to carry it for me, and then laced his fingers in mine, when suddenly I heard someone call my name from behind.
“Allie.”
I turned slowly, my back spasming. It was Griffin.
“I owe you an apology,” he said, with a look of remorse on his face. Chris looked down at me, protectively, then back at Griffin.
“You fucked up, dude,” Chris said to his best friend.
