Fuck. This was a mess.
“Hey, is everything ok?”
I started, quickly turning around to see Forest with his brows furrowed.
“Yeah, sorry, my best friend had to have surgery on his knee again and he didn’t tell me,” I said, leaning against the wall.
“That’s shitty,” he said, looking concerned.
“Well, we are fighting and… and it’s just a mess,” I said, not wanting to get into the details. “He’s… just… giving me space because I asked for it and I messaged him because I missed him, but he didn’t answer. That was the team’s social media manager tellingme he had to have surgery for his knee again.”
“The team's social media manager?” He cocked his head.
“Yeah, he plays for the Colorado Yeti’s, got injured in March and now he’s having to have surgery again because the first one wasn’t successful," I said, looking up at the stars.
“Damn, that's rough,” he said leaning against the bar with me. “Was the fight so bad, you couldn’t just go visit him?”
I'm in love with him. I wanted to say it, but if I wanted anything to happen between us, I had to keep my mouth shut.
“It was a big misunderstanding that blew up into something more and now it just feels like?—”
“There’s too much to say and you don’t know where to start?”
I looked over at him and for the first time it felt like someone other than Sam actually understood me.
“Yeah, exactly that,” I said, wondering who he had fought with and left things unsaid.
“I wish I could give you good advice, but I’m shit at talking things out,” he sighed, running his hands through his hair. “But I can tell you that saying you’ll call tomorrow will turn into years and the next thing you know you’ll be strangers. Then you really won’t know what to do and having any kind of relationship will be hard.”
Forest looked forlorn. Like a lost puppy. Now it made sense why he was constantly moving. Was he running from something he should have done or maybe it was too late to do?
“Thanks, Forest,” I said, pulling him in for a hug,
We both needed it.
“You’re welcome, Jude,” he said, clearing his throat as we leaned into the hug that lasted a little longer than necessary.
“Another drink?” he asked.
“Nah, I think I’m going to go home,” I said. “My mind is all over the place and I won’t be good company.”
He nodded. “You ok to drive?”
“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” I said, pulling out my keys. “Thanks, for everything, Forest.”
“Any time.” He gave me a small smile before walking back into the Boozy Bandit.
My stomach soured at the thought of him taking someone home. Maybe I should—Nope! I needed to go home and sleep on what the hell I was going to do about Sam. That night all I did was dream about Sam and Forest. My dreams were not helping me one bit.
5
sam
Going through another surgery wrecked me. If I thought I was depressed before, I had no motivation to do anything. If they didn’t have PT people coming to me, I don’t think I would be doing it. Nothing makes you feel more alone than coming home to an empty apartment after you've had surgery again.
My teammates had been great, the only reason I hadn’t been completely comatose. Ro, Hunter and Valencia had brought me food and kept me company. Cap and Clark had stopped by too, and as much as I wanted to stay here, I knew I needed to move to Sterling Ridge. Staying here was only going to beat me down. If I wanted to keep playing, I needed to get out of Denver.
I needed Jude.
