leaned in and kissed me.
~~
I went early because I knew it was going to be rough on me. Garnet asked if she needed to come to, but I told her no. This was something I had to do on my own.
Now, here I stood, staring at my uniform. The room was already stationed with all of the practice jerseys, and pads were neatly hung. On the back of everyone’s helmet was a black sticker with the number twenty-one on it.
As always, the locker next to mine was Dart’s and full of his things. Marshall was still dressing it. I had heard of other teams that had members die recognize the players by bringing out their things for every game at every practice and game.
I swallowed the lump of grief and tears back that were damn near choking me. Would I be able to do this? Since the first time I ever walked on to a football field, Dart had been with me. This time, he wouldn’t be.
I touched my jersey, feeling the silky material between my fingers. I thought about Garnet. Waking up with her in my arms was keeping the fog away. However, the words of her tattoo were replaying in my head at this very moment.
Never to suffer would never to have been blessed.
I remember that night at Fat Patty’s with her. I told her the time we had with our loved ones was a blessing, even if it hurt when they were gone.
Dart taught me more in twenty-two years about being a good, selfless person that I could ever learn in a lifetime. I needed to do this for him. I needed to show him that I wasn’t going to let these opportunities pass me by without giving them my all.
I touched the cool plastic of the helmet and traced the number twenty-one with my finger.
This was our time.
Chapter 33 – Garnet
My life could be described as a roller coaster. I thought it was like that anyway. How else could I truly detail the last six months of my life?
Between Mom dying, graduating high school, my summer of a drunken sex fueled fun, moving to college, gaining a boyfriend, and Dart dying, how else would you depict my life but like a roller coaster.
“Garnet,” Daisy was in my doorway.
I was stretched out on my bed, trying to relax. It was Friday, and Dash was with his coach right now, seeing if he was able to play in tomorrow’s game.
“How are you doing?”
“I’m okay.” It wasn’t a complete lie. I wasn’t okay at all. Dash had worked so hard this week. If he didn’t play, I don’t know what would happen.
“Have you heard anything yet?”
I shook my head.
“I’m sure that it will all be fine.”
I prayed that she was right. “What about you? Are you okay?” That seemed to be the starting question to all of our conversations.
“I slept almost five straight hours last night.” I watched my sister toy with her engagement ring.
“Well, I’m happy about that.” I gave her a small smile.
Daisy walked over to my bed, and laid next to me. I could tell she had something on her mind. I figured it was about Dart. However, I understood that she was still reeling from the loss. I was glad that she had slept some more last night. Her eyes weren’t as bloodshot or puffy.
“Anything going on?”
“I went over to the sorority house, and…”
I saw the tear creep out from the corner of her eye.
“Hey, it’ll be alright.” I rolled onto my side. “What happened?”
Daisy patted the tears away with her fingertips. “The girls were talking about setting me up with this frat guy.”
“What? Those dumb bitches.” I had the urge to go over there, pull out their hair extensions, and punch them in their breast implants.
“Garnet, they were trying to help.”
“No, they weren’t,” I shouted. “They’re being inconsiderate.”
“Well, anyway I said no, and now I’m just thinking about my future. I never thought that I would be alone.” She twisted her ring again.
“Daisy, you won’t be alone.”
“I’m not so sure. You know,” she paused for a second, before clearing her throat. “I saw Dash on the other side of the courtyard today, and for a split second, I thought it was Dart. I thought that I had finally woken up from this nightmare,” she sobbed, covering her face with her hands.
I lay my head on her shoulder, letting her know I was there for her. It was still strange to me how a month