I scoff. “You’re ridiculous.”
“It's you, my sweet Persephone. The Goddess of Love. It’s you! That boy is smitten.”
"Wait. Ryen, you do know that Persephone isn't the Goddess of Love, right?" I sit up straight, waiting for her to answer me.
Silence falls over the phone before I hear her let out a little breath.
"Well, no, actually," she responds and I break out into a gasp before chuckling.
"Girl. I thought you knew that Persephone is the Goddess of Spring and like, the queen of the underworld. I thoughts that's why you always called me that. Because I'm the queen to your underworld," I say those last few words with flirtatious sarcasm.
Ryen goes into defense and starts mumbling about how she's googling it and I can hear her tapping on her phone screen as I lay back down in my bed and continue talking.
"Anyway. Bray is Zach's best friend, Ry. I mean, they do pretty much everything together. It's normal to post your friends on their birthday and I think it was really sweet,” I state. The idea that Ryen has in her head is actually insane so I do what I can to combat it, not wanting her to put too much more in my head to overthink, because I'm already doing enough of that as it is.
“Yeah, and when has he ever posted athanks for everythingpost?” She pauses for a second. “Oh, wait. He hasn’t. You’re really doing something to him, girl.”
“Listen,” I start as I sit up again, this time jumping off my bed and walking over to my window. “We’re barely talking. I haven’t done anything to him. Can't it just be a nice gesture? Maybe he's in a good mood. And what do I have to do with anything he does regarding my brother?”
I hear Ryen sigh over the phone before I hear voices echoing outside my window. I lean inward to peer out, and that’s when I see Mom, Dad, and Bray out front; Brayden testing out his new bike and I can see the biggest smile on his face.
“Well, I’m sure he had lots to say about those dress pics you sent him.”
I lean back and think of the things Zach said to me last night. Things that I still can’t seem to decipher fully even though I’m sure it’s pretty cookie cutter. He was flirting with me. Or at least I think. I guess when I think about it, I don't really know much about how to flirt. Though, the compliments he admitted to giving me have to be the dead giveaway, but it was also pretty evident in the way he struggled to be straight with me. Something that makes more sense now that I’ve read through the messages about a hundred times since last night. But if that’s the truth, if I’m finally reading into his messages the right way, then that means that Zach might actually have a crush on me too.
“Maybe he was little . . . weird. I don’t know. But it doesn’t have to mean anything.”
“I guess we’ll have to wait and see,” she sing-songs.
“For what?” I ask.
“For the party,” she replies “Tonight, Cadie baby. Tonight, you are making your move. Oh, and Cadence?"
"Yes, Ryen?" I sigh.
"I'm still calling you Persephone."
10
Zachariah
People have already started to show up and you’re nowhere to be found.
The text I received five minutes ago from Cadence, but I missed it because I was in the shower. I won’t lie, I kind of lost track of time. I kept myself busy most of the day trying not to overthink the conversation we had last night. It was too far. And I keep telling myself that I’m not doing anything wrong, but I know it’s not that simple.
So I buckled down on emails to colleges and focused on tweaking my social media accounts to make sure that myhighlights were visible. And then I checked in with some of the coaches I’ve had previous conversations with. I spent all day putting in the work that I could to make sure that I am being seen. I know that scouts plan to attend a few of our games this year, it’s inevitable when your team has gone undefeated for almost two years now. Which is why it puzzles me that I have absolutely no wind of security with any college teams. I know I’m good at what I do. I know this is what I was meant to be doing for the rest of my life, so why is it that I feel like I am slipping through the cracks?
It’s honestly putting me in a terrible mood. But as I stare at the text from Cadence, something shifts a little. I feel that little spark of sunshine she always brings to a room and I know that once I see her, I’ll feel a little better.
I dry myself off before throwing on my clothes. Knowing Brayden, he’ll probably be rocking as close to a suit as possible, he wanted the dress code to be more than casual but not quite formal. But I decide to go with my dark wash jeans and black V-neck t-shirt. He’ll live.
I fix my hair in the mirror, apply deodorant, and spray my cologne on before reaching for my phone to finally reply back to Cadence.
Don’t worry, little one. I’ll be there. Eager to see me?
I send the message and as I reread it over and over, I’ve realized what I’ve just done. I just called her a fucking nickname.Little one. It just slipped out. And while I can justify it as truth—she really is littler than me—I know that’s probably not why I said it. But I don’t really know why I said it and I almost regret it,but it’s too late because I see that she immediately starts texting back.
Mayybeee….
