Hazel
Seeing Colt injured was a strange experience for me. He’d been my rock, my person to lean on and my safe place to land for the past several months, and I realized how imbalanced that was. I hadn’t done much to contribute to his goals and talents, and it was a strange feeling as I thought about my situation with Seth. I’d gone to everything, helped with everything, and then he’d dumped me. Is that why Colt seemed to be getting closer to Marcy? Because I wasn’t helping or supporting him in any way?
I was going to have to change that.
We got him into the house and onto the family room couch.
“Where does your mom keep the baggies? Like for food and stuff?” I called from the kitchen. I was so used to my mother’s over-the-top organization, with labels and everything, that I wasn’t sure where to look in someone else’s house.
“Try the pantry. I think she has one of those basket things hanging on the door.”
Bingo. It was a surprise that he even knew that much. My father would’ve been clueless even with the labels.
I opened the freezer and took out a blue ice cube tray, twisting the sides to loosen them. I dumped them into the bag and zipped it up, carrying it out to him.
“What else can I get you?” I asked.
“I think I’m good. You can hang out and watch a show or something if you want.” It was late on a school night, but something to relax my brain from the constant worry about the play would definitely help.
I nodded, sitting next to him. He smelled like a boy, sweat and dirt, but I wasn’t overly turned off by it. In fact, I was surprised to get a whiff of the fresh deodorant he wore. “How does Ben know if your ankle is sprained or not?”
Colt turned to look at me, our faces only a few inches apart. “Um, he, uh, well, he works in a physical therapy office. His girlfriend, Serena, sustained a sprain worse than mine, and that’s kind of how they started hanging out together.”
I turned to the TV, feeling self-conscious so close to him. I mean, I was usually so on top of my clothes and my hair, making sure I looked put together all the time. But this afternoon, I’d thrown on a pair of more fashionable sweat pants and put my hair into a ponytail before heading back to the school to block out the scenes, preferring some comfort since I was still trying to figure out all the things about this play.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you wear your hair up like that.” Colt’s voice caused me to turn, a slight panic pressing down on my chest.
“Is that a bad thing?” I said, giving a half-smile as I realized I sounded like him in the truck.
He shook his head. “No, I think it looks good on you. You always look good.”
I might have beamed a bit too much at that and had to turn away so he wouldn’t notice how embarrassed I was. I mean, the compliment was amazing, but my growing crush for my best friend was now to the unnerving part. Successful relationships were few and far between, and if things didn’t work out, I’d lose him forever. I wouldn’t survive the rest of the year without him.
His phone buzzed on the coffee table, and I leaned forward and picked it up for him, reading Marcy Johnson as the sender of the text.
I handed it to him, my emotions going from panicked to frustrated in seconds. It wasn’t like they’d spent that much time together to be at the level of casual texting one another, but again, I had to remind myself he was free to date whomever he wanted.
I leaned back, trying to glance at the text from the corner of my eye. Sure, I was trying to push away these feelings of jealousy, but my friend from drama was texting my best friend and new crush, which threw me for a loop.
Hey! I heard about your injury from one of the guys. Are you okay?
I tried to breathe shallowly so he wouldn’t know I was trying to read their conversation. We’d never kept secrets from each other, well, except for me not talking about Seth in any capacity, but I wasn’t sure with all the new stuff going on in our friend relationship if that would change our dynamic.
I’m good. Just home resting. Hazel is taking care of me.
When he put his phone down, I pretended to be watching whatever sports competition show about ninjas he’d turned on.
“Where’s your family?” I asked, trying to get my mind into balance. He was talking to Marcy, but he’d mentioned I was with him. Was that a good thing or a bad thing? It had been a while since I’d been in the dating realm, worried about what a guy was thinking or overanalyzing everything he said or did, and while I wasn’t quite to the point of taking the plunge again, I was probably giving off the jealous vibe.
“I think they had something tonight. Oh, Wyatt had a game up in Groveton, and Nash had a soccer game down south. They had to divide and conquer, so they weren’t at my game.”
I turned and gave him a knowing look. “Did you tell your mom you got hurt? Or your dad?”
His eyes opened wide, and he said, “Um, nope. I should probably do that.”
Another text came in before he was able to call his parents, and I saw Marcy’s name again.
Awesome. Let me know if I can do anything for you and see you at practice tomorrow night.