you missed practice
Her reply comes fast.
didn’t know attendance was emotionally monitored now
I almost smile.
Almost.
Stop.
Because that’s the problem.
This isn’t supposed to matter.
But it does.
More than it should.
I lock my phone.
“Film in twenty,” Coach calls. “Don’t be late.”
“Yeah.”
I grab my bag.
But I’m still thinking about the empty seat.
Still thinking about how quickly I noticed it.
And how wrong it feels that I did.
Jace walks past me on the way out, lowering his voice.
“You’re cooked.”
“I’m fine.”
He laughs once.
“You’re not even close.”
That night, I don’t sleep properly.
Again.
Not because of practice.
Not because of pressure.
Because I keep seeing an empty seat in a gym I’ve been in a thousand times.
And for the first time—
it doesn’t feel empty.
It feels wrong.
