Page 60 of Offsides

Ellie appears behind her, clearly attracted by the sound of raised voices. “Who went bowling?”

“Eli took Dani bowling last night,” Piper throws over her shoulder in a rush.

“Ohhhh. That sounds fun. Did you have fun?”

Leave it to Ellie to get to the most important part. “I did. We had a lot of fun. We ate junk food, we bowled terribly, and when I got a strike, Eli celebrated with me like it was the winning throw at some massive bowling tournament.”

My roommates are all grinning like this is the best news they’ve heard all year. “And?” Piper prods. “What happened after that?”

“After that, we went back to his place.”

“Bow chicka wow wow,” Ellie sings.

Autumn whacks her on the shoulder, and Piper rolls her eyes. “Seriously?”

“What?” Ellie protests.

“And?” Piper prompts again.

Before I can answer, my phone vibrates in my hand. Thankful for the distraction, and assuming it’s Eli, I glance at it. But it’s not Eli. Eyebrows furrowed, I read the text three or four times, trying to make it make sense.

Luke: I made a mistake. I miss you. Can we talk?

“What is it?” Piper asks, the sentiment echoed by Autumn and Ellie.

I show her my phone, the text from Luke open on the screen.

Piper grabs my phone out of my hand. “That bastard,” she mutters.

Autumn and Ellie flank her, reading the text over her shoulder. “Are you kidding me with this shit?” Ellie exclaims. “How dare he come crawling back now trying to get you to take him back?”

If I weren’t so irritated by Luke and his terrible timing, I’d be entertained by how incensed Ellie is.

Autumn shakes her head. “I can’t say I’m surprised. This is his MO after all.”

“True,” Piper agrees, handing me back my phone. “What are you going to do?”

“Block him,” Ellie says before I can answer. She crosses her arms. “You’re going to block him, right?”

I look at the phone in my hand, not sure what to do. I don’t really want to talk to Luke. Piper is right. He’s a bastard. Now that I have something to actually compare him to, I realize that he never treated me very well. But I was so used to being treated badly anyway, so used to being ignored by guys I was attracted to, so used to just being One of the Guys and Not Like Other Girls that I was grateful for any amount of attention I received. Luke was the first boy who ever expressed any romantic interest in me.

But was it really romantic?

Nothing he ever did for me could be considered romantic by any definition of the word. He never took me out on dates. He never made me a priority. If I didn’t feel like doing something he wanted to do, he bullied me into doing it anyway. He broke up with me when it was convenient for him, so that he could fuck whoever he wanted guilt-free, while still keeping me hanging on, waiting around for him to come back.

Of course he thinks I’ll still be waiting around this time too. Why wouldn’t he think that? I always have before.

While all of that seems to support Ellie’s position that I should block him, we do have a lot of history together. And that history makes me feel like I at least owe him a response to let him know that I’ve moved on and to leave me alone.

“Yes. Yes, I will block him. I’m just going to let him know that while he might miss me, the feeling is not mutual. I’ll send the message, and then I’ll block him.”

I look up to see varying expressions of approval on the faces of my roommates. Autumn gives me a wide smile. “I like that plan. Good for you for moving on.”

Quickly typing out the message, I hit send without a second thought. And I open his contact card, scroll down to the bottom, and hit block. “There. Done. Now, is the shower free? Or is Jackson in there? Because I would like to take a shower and change clothes.”

Everyone laughs. “I’ll tell Jackson to finish up,” Autumn says.

“Thanks, guys. I know I’m not the best at expressing it, but I really do appreciate all of your help.”

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