I was going to flirt.
Me:I’m in hot demand, didn’t you know? I’ve got men in every city.
I added a little winky face emoji and sent that text and then waited for a response.
Ethan:I believe it. I’d say you beat them off with a stick, but I’ve seen those legs of yours. You don’t need a stick.
I swallowed as heat raced to my cheeks. There was a laughing emoji at the end. Was he making fun of me? Or was he just teasing? I couldn’t tell and my first reaction was to assume the worst. After all, if that’s what I thought about myself, it only made sense that others thought it too.
Not sure what to do and the band starting up, I slipped my phone backinto the pocket of my hoodie and shoved my hands in as well. I didn’t want to get upset but I couldn’t help but fear what Ethan really thought.
Was I just fooling myself to think that he could really care about me like that? Or was I just a girl who had an empty studio for him to use? If that was the case, then he might as well date my mom for all I cared. I had access to the same things she did.
My phone chimed again, but I chose to ignore it. I didn’t want to hear what he had to say. I was used to other people making small jabs at my weight but I never expected it from him.
I was the idiot who’d begun to care for him.
Olivia was cheering as the team ran onto the field, followed by the cheerleaders. It was salt in the wound when I saw just how skinny and perky the cheerleaders were as they shook their pom poms and chanted something about being aggressive.
A rock had settled in my stomach as I wrapped my arms around my waist and leaned forward. I wanted to run home and hide in my room where Ethan couldn’t hurt me. Juilliard couldn’t hurt me. And I’d be alone, which was okay with me. I’d accepted that fate a long time ago.
I just needed to endure this game and then I’d be free.
These things only lasted like an hour, right? I could last an hour.
ELEVEN
ETHAN
Cooper’s meaty hand came down on my shoulder like an anvil as he passed me on the way out of the lockers. “Good game, man.”
“Thanks, Coop. You too,” I said. It had been a good game. We’d not only won, we’d slaughtered the other team. I should have been ecstatic, laughing it up with the other guys but instead, I felt like I was going to lose my mind if I didn’t find Collette soon and get some answers.
Ryan slid onto the bench seat next to me as he wrestled on his combat boots. “You coming out with us to celebrate?”
“I, uh…” I hope not. “I’m not sure yet.”
I glanced down at my phone. Still nothing. My after-game plans were entirely dependent on a cute little brunette who still hadn’t responded to my last text.
Do you have a boyfriend?
This should not have been a difficult question to answer. My gut churned as I realized that the fact that she hadn’t answered…? That was probably my answer right there.
Idiot.
I was such an idiot. How had I never thought to ask her that before? I guess I’d just assumed that she would have said something. We’d spent enough time together that surely a boyfriend would have come up by now.
But then again, I’d never heard her talk about Olivia before, and the two of them were apparently best friends.
I stared down at the T-shirt in my hands. Maybe it was time to consider that I didn’t know Collette nearly as well as I’d thought I did. But seriously, who was that blond guy sitting next to her?
How did she even meet him? He was wearing Oakwood colors so I went to school with him. Or did I? Man, my head was a mess.
“I’ve got to go find my parents,” I said, not bothering to stick around while Ryan finished getting ready. I walked out into the crowded hallway and scanned the crowd. No sign of a short brunette with curves to die for. The thought of her sitting up there in the stands, all cute and natural and genuine…
The smile on my lips died a quick death when I remembered the blond guy leaning over and her smiling at him and?—
“Great game, son!”My dad’s booming voice came from my left and I watched as the crowds parted for him like he was freakin’ Mayor Moses. He was beaming at me with pride, my mother smiling more sedately as she followed along behind him with Chrissy.
