Page 8 of The Player

“Oh, don’t be so daft, Aaron. She’s in love with you and has been since you two were younger. You have to fix this.”

Julie, the girl of my dreams, wants me back. My mind reels as I think about what I’ve done. Going over to Bry, he’s deep in a kiss with Holly. Goddamn, she’s such a slut. Tapping him on the shoulder, he looks at me and Holly giggles.

“There’s room for you too.” She extends her free arm my way and the beer I just chugged down is threatening to come back up.

“Give Bry some love, doll. I need your keys.” I look at Bryson and he nods. He understands why and won’t ask me tonight about my fuck up.

Driving my brother’s car to Julie’s house, I wonder if I can fix it. If I were to be with her in public, she would be crucified every time someone saw us. The snide comments my friends make would be endless. Maybe I’m not strong enough to be with her, but I could apologize. Her friendship is too much for me to lose. Maybe I can talk her into wanting to date secretly. Just until we are out of high school.

Jumping out of the car, I rush to get the spare key from the place she leaves it but am shocked to find it isn’t there and the lights are turned off in the house.

Where is she?

Calling Julie, I get sent to voicemail and I curse. Running to the back, her car is there, so I know she’s home. Fuck, she’s ignoring me.

Feeling defeated, I think about going home. But instead, I climb the fence, open the backdoor—because she never locks it—and tiptoe into the house.

I’ll try a thousand times to get her to talk to me, but I’m hoping it won’t take too long to make things right with her.

Walking into her bedroom, I see her there, sitting Indian-style on her bed, crying, and I feel my entire world crumble.

“I knew you would come,” she whispered. “But I don’t want you here, Aaron. You…you made your decision.”

That little hiccup in her throat breaks me apart. “Julie…” I try to get words out, but she throws a book at me and hits me square in the chest.

“Get out.” She sniffles, and I feel my heart tearing into pieces.

“Please, Ju-Ju, let me explain.”

This makes her head pop up and her eyes narrow in on me. “Listen, Aaron, let’s not make this ugly, alright? You have made it extremely clear you don’t want me. In public or any other way. I’m not a dirty secret, and I won’t be one. Leave. Now!”

She picks up her phone and shows me 9-1-1 on the screen. “I’ll press the dial button if you don’t leave. You are intruding. Get out.”

I have no choice but to leave, but before I do, I turn back. “This isn’t fucking over.”

With those words left between us, I leave her house. The next day, I send flowers. And the next and the next after that. They never get returned, but they don’t get picked up from the front porch either.

I’ve tried a thousand times to get Julie to engage with me, but it always fails. Hell, even my sister won’t talk to me, which makes living at home awkward.

The ability to sneak into her house has been taken away with a new security system. My need to hold her is driving me crazy. Almost to the point, I break down and beg her in front of every damn student that I want her. Please forgive me. Still, I don’t do that, and the more I wait, the more I know how badly I’m fucking up.

Months go by, and graduation comes. I’m dreading the end of our school year because I know Julie isn’t going to be moving to Michigan with me. My sister hates me and my brother hasn’t been heard from in almost as long as Julie has been hating me.

My sister is staying in town to run the family’s businesses, which is a shock because she swore she was going to go to college and get out of our little town. It was my only hope that Julie would be safe with Kaylee.

How the hell am I going to keep her safe now?

CHAPTER FIVE

TWO YEARS LATER

What happens when you test out of the first two years of your college classes? You get put into upperclassmen studies, and everyone thinks you’re a freak.

I’m in my senior year at UT Arlington and headed to Baylor Medical College in the fall.

How many friends do I have here?

Zero.

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