Page 73 of Trick Play
“Okaaaay.” I’m not sure where she’s going with this. She and Eli text like every day, so that’s not exactly unusual.
Clearing her throat, she glances down at her phone, back at me, then at her phone again. She sucks in a deep breath, then hands her phone to me, the screen unlocked and open to her text messages. “You should read what he’s saying,” she says with her eyes closed like she’s bracing herself for something terrible.
My brows pull together, because I’m thoroughly confused. But I take the phone from her outstretched hand, blinking at the most recent message. But it doesn’t make any sense. Like, I know how to read the words. They’re English, and they’re all words. But all together like that, they don’t make sense. Scrolling a little, I find the beginning of the most recent conversation.
Eli: What’s going on between Piper and McAdam?
Dani: They’re dating or whatever. She won’t actually call him her boyfriend. Says they haven’t had the “DTR” talk, but he basically is. Pretty sure you knew that already, though. Why?
Eli: Um, she kinda came up today.
Dani: Why?
Text doesn’t communicate tone of voice of course, but I’ve spent enough time with Dani and Eli together that I can just imagine how this would’ve played out face to face.
Eli: Apparently McAdam’s using Piper. He’s only with her to get back at her brother.
The second time I read those words, everything in me freezes. Seizes up.
“I’m so sorry, Piper,” Dani whispers, and I blink at her, just realizing that she’s still here, still in my room. Witnessing me getting my decisions thrown in my face. Again. It seems everyone was right not to trust my judgment. It clearly can’t be trusted.
Numb, I hand back her phone.
“Are you okay?” she asks, clearly unsure what to make of my nonreaction.
I shake my head. No, I’m not okay. I’m not sure I’ll ever be okay again.
* * *
Time passes. My phone rings. I turn it off. I don’t know who’s calling, but I don’t want to talk to anyone.
I hear voices outside my door. Dani and someone else. Quiet, like they’re trying not to disturb me. Not that it matters. I’m disturbed regardless of their volume.
The sun goes down and my room grows dark since I don’t get out from my cocoon of blankets and turn on the lights.
How could I be so stupid? Again?
The questions pound in my head, an incessant drumbeat. Gray tried to warn me. All along, he suspected Cal’s intentions.
He used me.
I thought he cared about me. I thought he wantedme.
He just wanted Gray’s little sister. So he could use me to screw over my brother.
But he didn’t. Gray’s still the starting quarterback. Cal’s still the backup.
And I’m just screwed.
* * *
“Piper,” Dani’s voice breaks through my cocoon of numbness. I think I may have slept, but I’m not really sure. Everything’s just a timeless, hazy blur. “You need to eat something, at least. I ordered a pizza. Come out and have some food.”
I don’t respond. Maybe she’ll think I’m asleep. But the light clicks on, filtering through the blanket covering my face. The room is so small that the sound of her footsteps barely registers before she’s pulling the blankets back, peering down at me with a mixture of concern and sternness on her face. “Come on, Piper. It’s been hours. I know …” She pauses, pursing her lips as she takes a deep breath. “You’re better than this. You’re upset, and you have every right to be, but you don’t get to shut down and quit. You only have to get through two more days. Your boyfriend turning out to be a douche isn’t enough of a reason to take an incomplete. And even if they would let you, you’d still have to make up the final later. Do you really want to do that? After how hard you’ve worked all semester? Seriously?”
I blink up at her as the banked fire behind her words penetrates the fog I’ve wrapped around myself. But she’s right. It would be exceptionally stupid to fuck up this semester too after fucking up the last one. I’d just be proving everyone right, wouldn’t I? One thing goes wrong, and I completely self-destruct.
This is exactly why my parents and brother think I can’t be trusted. Exactly why they watch me like I might combust at any moment. Because look at me. Apparently this is what I do.
