“Okay well whatever happened between you and Trist and Jake or whoever the fuck, Trist can kiss his football dreams goodbye. Coach Adams already knows. His scholarship is revoked and he’s off the team. Fighting is a hard no. And this isn’t even fighting, Trist fucked him up bad.”
Tessa’s eyes close tightly, her chest feeling heavy and her heart beating so hard against her ribcage she feels they might break.
“Oh my God,” she says again, tears pouring, her breathing getting faster, “Abigail why did you have to tell him!”
“Are you kidding?” Abigail asks Tessa calmly, “As if I had a choice? He straight up told me he would bulldoze me to get to you. He knew something was wrong Tessa. It was either me giving him the information or him forcing it out of you.”
“I understand that he was upset,” Amber said, “But he should have thought about the long-term consequences of his actions. This is like, really bad.”
“Yeah, no shit,” Jordan’s voice comes through, reminding them he is still on the phone, and still pissed. “I’ve watched my little brother work harder than anyone I know to excel at football. And now here he is, the best player on the team, getting scouted by multiple NFL teams, and he threw it all down the drain for a fucking chick!”
His words are harsh, and Tessa lets out a sob, but she understands where Jordan is coming from. She doesn’t feel an ounce of pride that Tristan did what he did last night, even if it was for her honor. A heavy blanket of guilt envelopes every inch of her soul and her body suddenly feels heavy and achy.
“Jordan watch your mouth!” Abigail says.
“Can we focus on what we can do to help?” Amber says into the phone with an exasperated sigh.
“To help what? Even if you all paid for his tuition, he’s still off the team and no one else will take him. He almost didn’t makethisteam because of ‘personality concerns’, and he just fucking proved them all right!”
Tessa is still quietly crying into her hands, countless thoughts of what she could have done differently racing through her mind, going over and over the last conversation they had. They had said I love you. It had been such a special moment. She thought she could trust him with what happened to her and her confession of being in love with him. How did it turn into something so horrible?
“Alright this conversation is no longer productive,” Abigail says dryly. “Call if you need anything from us, Jordan.” She hangs up before he’s able to reply.
“Listen Tess,” Abigail says, wrapping her arm around Tessa’s shaking body, “He made his own decisions last night. He’s a grown ass man. A big ass grown ass man. What he did last night is 100% on him, and he and he alone is to blame for the consequences of those actions.”
Her words are delivered gently and with nothing but love, but Tessa only feels anger, guilt, shame, and frustration, and she has absolutely no idea how to move forward with any of this.
It’s almost 11pm before Tessa finally finds her way into bed. She spent the majority of the day with Abigail and Amber in the living area, speaking with them and letting them console her. They tried to take her out to lunch and on a run, neither of which helped ease her mind. She even made her way onto campus later that evening and was able to find Coach Adams who confirmedthat Tristan was indeed off the team for good. She sat in his chair with tears streaming down her face, begging him to reconsider. And he really was so nice and patient with her, but he also very firmly had to tell her that no, there was nothing that could be done.
“Tristan knew the rules and he chose to break them.”
Tessa cried for an hour straight after her conversation with Coach Adams. She refused to eat dinner, refused to shower away the horrible day she had, refused to call Tristan through the county line that his teammate Aric had sent to her.
She didn’t think she’d be able to talk to him. The guilt swimming around in her gut was poison and seeping into every cell in her body straight to her rapidly beating heart. Did he know yet that he was off the team and lost his scholarship? Would he hate her for the rest of his life? Would he even want to speak to her ever again? Every possible worst-case scenario was plaguing Tessa’s mind, and she was so restless she felt like her legs would fall off from how aggressively she was shaking them.
So late that night while alone in her room while her heart and her mind had a vicious battle, she called her mom, who despite being two hours later than Tessa’s 11pm, still picked up immediately.
“Honey?” Allison’s voice came through warm yet concerned over the line, and Tessa immediately started crying at the soothing sound of her mother’s voice.
“Mom…” She croaked out.
“What is it? Are you okay?” She asked urgently.
“Yeah yeah I’m safe,” she blurted out immediately, hearing the sigh of relief from her mother, “I just…I think I need to come home.”
“Something happened with Tristan.” Her mom said. She didn’t need to ask. She always knew things even before Tessa did; her mother’s instinct was always on point. She also knewthat Tessa was planning on going back to Ohio with Tristan, Jordan, and Katie for Thanksgiving, so this very abrupt change of plans told Allison everything she needed to know.
“Yeah,” Tessa croaked out, barely able to breathe.
“Pack your bags,” Allison said quickly, “I’ll find you a flight out in the morning.”
Tristan sees the judge Monday morning, after a painstakingly boring 36-hour stint in the slammer. For his first time being locked up, it sure was uneventful, and all he thought about the whole time was Tessa. She didn’t answer any of his county collect calls, and she never tried to call him either, and his stomach was in knots because of it.
He was aware that the news of his arrest had made it to Coach Adams, but he didn’t know what the repercussions of his actions would be, although he knew it wouldn’t be good. Maybe he’d be benched the rest of the season or community service. Whatever it was, he could handle. If it meant that he got to beat the shit out of Jake for touching Tessa and making her feel scared and unsafe, he could handle being benched for a few games.
Tristan walked out of the jail building once he was given back his belongings and a stack of paperwork detailing his next court appearance and the community service hours he would be required to complete within the next 30 days. He knew there would be way more punishment than this that would come with more court dates, but if he was able to walk out of jail a free man, he was thankful.
Until he saw his brother waiting for him outside.
