On The Rebound (Steinbeck U #1) - L.A. Cotton Page 0,123
It made my heart full watching their friendship blossom.
“This is it.” He lurched forward. “Dodge... that’s it, El... reverse pivot...” His fist clenched. “Layup, hit the—YES!” Zach was out of his seat again cheering Jasmine’s name as she celebrated with her team.
I gave up after that. Zach only grew more animated and excited as the Steinbeck High Sabers took the lead.
And when the final whistle blew, declaring them the winners, Zach was the first one on the court, congratulating them.
“Are you nervous?” Jasmine asked Zach, tucking into her chocolate sundae. It was our post-game ritual. Win or lose, we always got ice cream at Flippers after a game.
“Nervous? Is that a joke?” Zach scoffed. “We had one of the best seasons on record.”
“Yeah, but it’s the final four. Duke, Auburn, and Purdue are all looking—”
“Don’t say it.” He jabbed his spoon in her direction.
“Whatever, man,” she chuckled. “I’m just saying, you sound mighty sure of yourself.”
Zach licked the last drop of ice cream off his spoon and threw it into the glass, slinging his arm over the back of my chair. “It’s ours, it has to be. For Dec.”
Sadness washed over Jasmine. “Yeah, you’re right. You’re totally right. It’s for Declan, no way you won’t bring it home.”
I dropped my hand to Zach’s knee and squeezed gently. It had been almost three months since Zach’s parents had made the heart wrenching decision to switch off Declan’s life support. They’d wanted one last Christmas with their eldest son, and they’d gotten it.
Tim had taken it the hardest, but after Declan’s latest round of MRI scans, the doctors had confirmed what nobody wanted to believe: the damage to his brain was too extensive.
Zach had been surprisingly strong throughout the whole ordeal. Not long after we made our relationship official, we’d both visited his brother. Zach had taken some time to tell him about us, about the team, and Jasmine, and then with me nestled into his side, he’d said goodbye.
He’d made his peace with it, even if it took his parents a little while longer.
Leaning down, Zach brushed his lips over mine, completely ignoring Jasmine’s gagging sounds.
“I love you,” he whispered, the words affecting me as much now as they always had.
“I love you too.” I laid my palm on his cheek, running my thumb over the corner of his mouth. “But you need to behave while we’re on Elsa duty.”
“Heard that,” she muttered.
“Guess it’s time to return Elsa to her castle then.” Zach winked at her.
“One day, I’m not going to be a kid anymore and I’ll be able to tell you exactly what I’m thinking.”
“You’re fifteen. Still plenty of time to be a kid.”
“Cantaloupe, a little help here?”
It was a standing joke now. Zach called Jasmine ‘Elsa’, and she called me ‘Cantaloupe’.
“You’re on your own with this one, Jas, sorry.”
“Ugh.” She rolled her eyes. “One day, Zach... I’m warning you.”
“I’m shaking in my boots.”
“You are such a dork.”
“Now that, we can agree on.” I held up my hand and she high fived me across the table.
“Oh crap, is that the time?” Jasmine checked her cell. “I need to get home anyway. Macauley Denver is picking me up at eight.”
“Macauley Denver? Who the fu—who the hell is Macauley Denver?”
“Just a friend.” She gave a little shrug as if it was no big deal.
“Doesn’t sound like a friend to me, El.” Zach practically growled the words. “It sounds like a boy, that’s what it sounds like.”
“Yeah, so? We’re friends.”
“And just how old is this Macauley?”
“He’s sixteen, he’s in tenth grade.”
“Oh, hell no. Does your mom and dad know about this?”
“They know, not that it’s any of their business…”
“Have they talked to you about the birds and—”
“Okay, that’s enough of that.” I clapped a hand over Zach’s mouth. “Remember what we talked about?” I narrowed my eyes at him.
“I remember.” The words were muffled against my palm.
“We can’t overstep.”
He nodded, and I slipped my hand away. “We have to stick to the rules, Zach. Freya made it very clear, we—you—can’t keep overstepping.”
“Got it, I got it.” He pouted.
Jasmine’s shoulders shook with quiet laughter. “You should see your face.”
“You should see Macauley’s face after I’m done with him should he ever lay a—”
“Zach!”
“What? She’s fifteen. I know what kids that age are like. Remember what we were like?”
“That’s different.” My cheeks pinked.
“No, it isn’t.”
“This is fun and all,” Jasmine said, “but I have a date.”
“See,” Zach muttered. “It’s a date. She called it a date.”
“Jasmine, let’s go.” I stood up. “We’ll leave the crazy