sweaty. “Where, I mean, where are you going?” Please don’t say across the country. Please don’t say on another continent.
His grin spread. “I was going to go to Columbia.”
Crappy, crappy, crap. That was in New York. That was across the nation. Wait. He said… “Was?”
He nodded. “I sent an email to Cain this morning. They offered me a soccer scholarship a while back, but I turned them down. Things changed recently.”
My chest squeezed. My hands got sweaty all of the sudden. Did I dare hope? “Yeah?”
“They emailed me back this afternoon. I’m in. They gave the scholarship away to someone else, but they’re going to do their magic and get me in and on the team.”
“Are you serious?” I might have been hyperventilating.
“I’m serious.”
Who does that? Sends an email in the morning and hours later gets into school?! Cain was not an easy school to get into, either—although it had been for me.
“I saw you play, but you must be some soccer star.”
“I am,” he confirmed, gloating. “We didn’t talk about it, but that’s why I didn’t show up here till February. I wanted to finish the season at my old school.”
I remembered watching him.
He loved it. That was obvious, but it’d been more. It was as if he was doing what he’d been born to do. The whole afternoon was special, but when Zeke brought the ball out, I watched Blaise. He couldn’t take his eyes off it. It was like it was a part of him and how dare Zeke be holding it instead? Then he merely took it from Zeke and the rest was something I knew I’d never forget.
It was special. A moment that Blaise was letting us in, letting us see him, and he wasn’t hiding. He wasn’t giving attitude. He was ferocious and hungry. I had felt the power from him as he tore off, leaving Zeke behind. It’d been about him and the ball, no one else. When he stopped later, he was panting, but so had I been.
A dark excitement curled through me, leaving tingles in its trail.
I was near breathless now. I couldn’t wait to see him play again.
The lights of Fallen Crest were nearing, and I needed to get my head on straight. So much was making it spin. I took a breath. One thing at a time.
I had no idea where Zeke’s house was.
Blaise gave me directions, and as we got close, I could see it lit up like Christmas in Times Square. Cars and trucks lined his driveway and both sides of his street.
Zeke was having a party. Why hadn’t I realized that over the phone? Zeke and party were almost interchangeable.
Blaise got quiet, observing me as I parked and then just sat there.
“I can run in and grab the pizza,” he offered. “You can stay here.”
My chest squeezed even harder.
He knew I had issues. I’d told him some of them, but I hadn’t told him the rest yet. We both had things we needed to work through.
I looked at him. “This thing with you and me?”
“Yeah?”
“Are we… Are you…?” What was I saying?
He leaned toward me. “Are we what?”
I couldn’t say it.
I felt things for him, emotions I didn’t dare share. I didn’t want to scare him away, and I was still scared of it myself. But if we were going to…you know…be something, I should brave a party for him. A normal girlfriend would do that. A normal girlfriend would set aside her issues and go be with her poor beat-up man as he went to see his best friend.
I could be a normal girlfriend.
Right?
Blaise was still waiting, so I forced a smile. “Nothing. Let’s go inside.”
Yeah… I had a feeling I should’ve stayed in the car.
34
Blaise
My face hurt. My hand hurt. Walking even hurt, but we were going to get that pizza for Aspen. I was doing it, no matter how much my body told me to sit down, roll over, and fall asleep for a month.
I held her hand as we walked, and my head pounded to the music before we even neared the front door.
The door burst open, and I was blasted with pain.
I stopped, groaning before I checked myself.
Two guys paused in the open door.
“Dude!” one of them said. “You’re our fucking hero, man.”
Jesus Christ. I didn’t even know this guy.
“Yeah.” I offered a small smile back, but I ground my teeth. My head wanted to split in half. I kept walking.
“Don’t touch him!” Aspen jerked her hand from mine to block