Page 139 of Built to Fall
“Are you looking for Grant?” Braxton asks.
My back straightens, and I say, “I was.”
“We’re going to Sal’s Diner. He’s already there,” Meredith tells me, right as Braxton says, “Get in!”
“I—” I stop myself, swallowing hard again. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”
“So what? You’re going to stay here and mope instead of just going to him?” Braxton asks, making Meredith glare at him.
The ache in my chest tightens, pulling taut like a rubber band about to snap.
I look back at the stadium doors, at the ghost of the place where I thought it would all fall into place.
Maybe it still can.
“Come on,” Meredith urges. “He’s probably waiting for you, just like he was all night.”
I take a few steps toward the car before hesitating again. “He left,” I say suddenly, my voice hollow. “How could you say he’s been waiting for me when he left without me?”
“Lina.” Meredith steps forward, taking my hand in hers. “Just because Grant left without you doesn’t mean he gave up on you. He could tell you were upset and wanted to give you space.” It’s the most reassuring thing she’s ever said.
I blink hard, the words slicing through the thick fog of hurt clouding my brain.
“He was checking his phone every minute while we were waiting outside the bathroom,” Meredith continues, squeezing my hand. “He didn’t want to push you. He thought if you wanted to come, you would.”
Braxton leans over the center console from where he’s sitting in the driver’s seat, his voice softer this time. “He looked like shit leaving the stadium, if that makes a difference.”
It does.
God, it does.
But fear is a heavy thing, a living thing, curling around my ribs and dragging me backward.
“What if it’s too late?” I whisper, more to myself than to them.
“Then let it be because you tried,” Meredith says simply. “Not because you stayed standing in a parking garage.”
A tear slips down my cheek before I can stop it, and Meredith smiles sadly, tugging me toward the car.
“Come on, Lina.”
And somehow, on legs that barely feel like mine, I get into the car.
* * *
During the ride to Sal’s diner, my palms were sweating and my heart was pounding a frantic rhythm against my chest.
And when I walk through the doors, I’m met with the loud atmosphere of nearly the entire football team being packed inside. It only takes a second before I spot Grant in one of the booths in the back corner.
I recognize Cam sitting closest to the window next to him, but I have no idea who the guys sitting behind and across from him are.
Whether or not I should approach him doesn’t even feel like anoptionat this point. I’ve come all the way here and worked up the courage to talk to him.
There’s no going back, and that sentiment echoes through the sound my heels make against the linoleum floor as I approach.
“Grant,” I say, my voice trembling.
His head jerks up immediately, brown eyes wide and raw when they land on me.
