With a nod, I went back to the soccer balls that I was drawing. The paint dried surprisingly fast, and it wasn't even transferring to my fingers as I turned the mug.
"We've been thinking of driving to the away game," Nova changed the topic. "Rumor has it Dex will be starting."
My head snapped up so fast, my neck cracked, and both girls gave me a puzzled look. He didn't tell me he was going to start. Then again, we haven’t talked in person for a while, and I guess it wasn’t something he wanted to share over text.
"It's not final yet," Ivy jumped in. "Max told me they were going to finalize it today, so hopefully when they come back from practice tonight, we will know."
I smiled. "I hope he gets to start, and I'd love to join, please."
"Yay," Nova clapped, splashing her green paint all over the newspapers. "Sorry, Ivy."
"It's all covered, so no worries," she shrugged. "I'm so excited for Dex to be back with the team and starting. He deserves it."
"Yes, he put a lot of effort into his recovery," I nodded proudly. "He's doing really well."
The girls exchanged a secretive smile that I didn't care to decipher, and instead, I shifted the conversation. "What are you going to be for Halloween?"
I knew it was Ivy's favorite holiday, and the way her eyes lit up, and she started spitting out ideas together with Max’s funny commentary made Nova and me laugh.
It felt good to spend some quiet time with these girls, and to admit that deep down Daisy was right. Not in her approach or delivery, but the underlying message was correct.I was really giving off uninterested guy vibes to my friends, and I wanted to change that. I wanted to be part of their group.
For the first time, I didn't think about building walls around me and hiding; I wanted to belong and settle in.
After all, I was here to stay.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
ROSALIE
My phone screen read 1:47 AM when I finally gave up on sleep.
I'd been tossing and turning for hours, my mind spinning between calculus equations I failed, Daisy's harsh words that kept replaying on loop, and the constant, persistent thought of Derek.
Always Derek.
The fight with Daisy had left me raw in a way I couldn't quite explain. She wasn't wrong...I did suck at maintaining friendships, at texting first, at being the kind of person people could count on. But hearing it said out loud, with that edge of frustration in her voice, had cracked something open in my chest.
Was I really that bad? Did everyone think I was self-absorbed and distant?
I thought about Nova's comments earlier about me being an “uninterested guy” when it came to friendship. About Ivy always saying, “I wanted to text you but…” About Aaron constantly checking in because he assumed I wouldn't reach out first.
Maybe I really was the problem.
I reached for my phone, thumbs hovering over the screen. It was almost 2 AM. Normal people were asleep. Normal people didn't text their... whatever Derek was to me... in the middle of the night because they were having an existential crisis.
But Derek wasn't a normal person. And neither was I.
Are you awake?
I stared at the message, watching the “delivered” status change to “read” almost immediately. Three dots appeared.
Derek
Yeah. Can't sleep. You okay?
Can I call you?
Derek
