“You okay?” Greg asks gently.
I can’t respond right away, but then I nod. “I’d always rather have the truth than get smoke blown up my ass, so yes. I’m okay.” Or at least, I will be.
When Greg drops me off at home, he gives me a long hug. “Can I call you again sometime?” he whispers.
Why not, right? Michael’s moved on. Why shouldn’t I?
19
OLLY
MAY
Sienna’s dad slaps me on the back. “How’s your rehab going, Olly?”
He rented out El Toro, the best restaurant in town, to celebrate Sienna’s graduation, her new company, and Ben getting drafted to Houston. I keep scanning the room, hoping to catch a glimpse of Maggie, but if she knows I’m here, there’s a chance she won’t come.
“Great. My doctor says I’m on track.” He says no such thing, but I’ve inferred as much since he hasn’t told me otherwise. And I need to hype myself up so I feel like I can handle the season. So I tell everyone what they want to hear. What I want to hear. Not “I’m cautiously optimistic.”
The white lie bothers me, but the last thing I need is to be brutally honest with Alex Escalante, the school’s biggest booster. Because if someone overhears me and that shit ends up on that stupid blog, the Lone Star Stud Report, I might have to kiss my scholarship goodbye.
I have no idea how those people know so much about me. Why the hell do they care who I’m dating? My roommates think it’s hysterical. Because they all know my love life is the most boring out of the household.
Why? Because from the moment I saw Maggie at my sister’s wedding, she’s all I can think about.
Even if she is dating that asswipe Greg.
How do I know? Because I saw them.
I’d planned out everything I was going to say to win her back. Samuel even wrote it down for me as we talked it out. He gave me a great pep talk about how nothing mattered except getting my girl. His party had gotten wilder than he planned, and we had to stop so I could sign a few autographs and take pics with fans, but I’d been all smiles. I had shit figured out.
Only to show up at Maggie’s the next night and see her make out with Greg on her porch.
Full disclosure: I don’t know for sure if they were making out.
It was dark out there, and I was hiding behind a bush, but what else would they be doing out there, late at night? If she’d been mine, I’d be making out with her. Hell, I’d have her in bed with her feet in the air, introducing her to the Holy Spirit.
In that moment, the cold hard truth slammed into me. I’d lost her. All because I hadn’t gotten my head out of my ass and raced home from the wedding and demanded she talk to me. I should’ve stood under her window until she listened.
Reluctantly, I turn my focus to the party. Most of the team is here, and I congratulate my friends who were drafted last month. I put on my best face and pretend I’m not depressed as fuck that I’m not going pro with them in the fall. That I have to suffer through another year of living in a house full of smelly guys who leave their shit everywhere.
Don’t get me wrong. I love them like brothers. I’m just tired of living like a college student. Tired of my grueling schedule and having to balance classes and training and games.
Not that going pro is a cakewalk, but if I’d been drafted, I’d have that paycheck and a nice apartment and not have to worry if Gramps can afford his insulin. I wouldn’t have to come down to the kitchen and find that one of my roommates had eaten my leftovers or accidentally puked in my gym bag instead of the trash can.
My eyes snag on the vision waltzing through the front door.
Magnolia.
Her hair is down, and she’s wearing a little sundress. She’s so beautiful, she takes my breath away. But her cheeks look hollow, like she’s lost weight recently.
Is she having money trouble again? Is she not getting the groceries she needs?
Why the hell haven’t I grilled Sienna more? She’s been strangely silent on the topic of her bestie.
She and Sienna hug, but the two of them look somber for some reason. Next week, Ben and Sienna will be moving to Houston. The girls are probably sad to be separated.
I feel like a thirsty man dying in the desert, steps away from a drink of water. But Ben and Sienna’s party doesn’t seem like the appropriate place to break the ice with Maggie. For all I know, she’ll toss her drink in my face.
