off too, buzzing loudly. He pulled it out of his pocket. His face fell.
Sure enough, it was David.
Seeing his name on his phone screen brought me back to reality and realize the gravity of what had almost happened.
David wasn’t one to get mad or upset easily, but I knew he wouldn’t take it well if he had walked in on us like this. Aaron couldn’t lose his one and only friend because of me.
“I have to go,” I said, pushing through the double doors.
“Rachel, wait,” he called after me.
But I couldn’t.
Being around Aaron was amazing but dangerous, and I’d just been reminded of that.
10
The next morning, I dragged myself to the kitchen for breakfast.
Sure enough, my voice was half-gone, my throat felt kind of sore, and I was still tired from an entire night of cheering and staying up way too late texting my friends.
My hair was in a messy bun, and I sported a giant t-shirt and my favorite pair of running shorts.
I took a seat at the table.
Mom already my plate ready. “Gracias, mami,” I told her as I took the plate from her and gave her a half-hug.
Today it was scrambled eggs with ham. Plus a slice of raisin toast because it was my favorite. It all smelled great. I grabbed a glass of orange juice and took a seat.
David came in a few minutes later as I dug into my food. He looked just as tired as I did.
Dad looked up from his newspaper and large mug of black coffee. “How’d the game go last night?” he asked him in Spanish.
“Good,” David said, sitting down and leaning his crutches against the empty seat next to him. “We won but barely in the last minute or so. It was epic.”
Over the next few minutes, my brother gave him the play-by-play.
As he talked, Dad set his paper down. Even though I’d shown him the News app on his phone, he preferred to reading the paper every morning. We had it delivered and everything. He said it reminded him of his father, who’d been the first in his family to learn how to properly read. He had read a newspaper every single morning of his life at five in the morning. “Hm, sounds like it was a great game. Sounds like Aaron has really been stepping up. Good for him. I always thought he just wasn’t confident enough.”
“Yeah, he was incredible,” David said as my mom set his breakfast down in front of him. He said a quick thank you in Spanish and turned back to Dad. “But you wouldn’t even know it from the long face he had on all night.” He laughed to himself, clapping himself on the chest. “Must be girl troubles or something.”
I froze for a second and almost choked on my toast. Luckily, neither of them noticed.
David picked up his fork and started eating, chuckling to himself.
Dad gave us a rare smile at David’s comment but picked up his paper again. “Ah, I remember those days.”
I tried to focus on eating again, but it was hard. Knowing me, I’d say the wrong thing, and they’d find out like that. So I didn’t say anything.
Mom sat down with her own breakfast. “Do you now?” she asked with a knowing grin. Dad cleared his throat and got back to his newspaper.
They had been each other’s first real boyfriend/girlfriend, and they’d been together since. They’d been around my age, actually.
My parents had gotten married at eighteen and nineteen. But for some reason I wasn’t allowed to date.
I just didn’t get it, why they had to be so strict sometimes.
David hadn’t really ever had a girlfriend himself, but my parents had never told him he couldn’t date. They just weren’t as strict with him as they were with me.
I didn’t get it, then again, that was life as a Puerto Rican girl living in the US with very traditional parents.
David’s phone buzzed, and he scarfed down the rest of his food. It must have been Aaron because he hobbled his way over to his PlayStation in the living room as fast as he could.
Aaron.
He had seemed kind of serious and quiet last night when we’d been out eating after the game.
We had hardly looked at each other muchness said another word to one other at Bobby’s, which I knew Scarlett had noticed. Thankfully, she hadn’t said anything, though.
The whole night last night had been weird. I could see now that he’d been avoiding me, but honestly, I’d been