Page 43 of Quarterback Crush
She tapped on the half open door of Room 16, and I could see Mrs. Blackwell rise from a chair.
“Come in. Hello Nicole. Maya.”
Oliver laid in bed, his left leg in a cast. Several bandages dotted his face, one on his forehead, another on his cheek and chin. But upon seeing me, he broke into a wide smile and adjusted his bed into an upright position.
“Oliver,” I breathed, barging through to his bedside, forgetting that he’d dumped me to go back to Savannah. “Are you okay?”
“I am now,” he said, holding his hand up, indicating he wanted to hold mine.
“This is terrible. What happened?”
Mrs. Blackwell jumped in. “He was in town, on the corner of Third and Russett when a car went through a red light and smashed into him.”
“Oh no!” I cried.
“He had surgery last night, a metal rod was inserted into his tibia,” Mrs. Blackwell said, her tone turning into frustration. “It’s quite the blow. Jed is furious, naturally.”
“But at least you’re going to be all right,” I said, and Mom echoed my sentiments, gratitude that it wasn’t worse.
“Yeah, I’ll survive,” Oliver said, squeezing my hand. “I guess you and me will be watching the game from the sideline.”
I blinked in surprise. “You mean because we’re both injured?”
Mrs. Blackwell stepped in again, sounding a little accusatory. “I asked Oliver why he was even driving through town. He said he was on his way to see you, Maya.”
“Oh,” I mumbled, releasing my hand from his. “You were coming to tell me you’re back together with Savannah and it’s my fault you had an accident and now you’re going to miss the most important game of the season because of me. I’m sorry, truly I am.”
Mrs. Blackwell cleared her throat. “Excuse me?”
“You should’ve just texted,” I said to Oliver, surprised at how clinical I sounded. Maybe I had cried out all my emotion last night. “I would have understood.”
“Wait! What are you talking about? Back together with Savannah? Who told you that?”
“It’s all over our Cheer Chat,” I said. “#Olivannah is back. She posted photos of you two together. And one having dinner at the Golf Club.”
“Let me see,” Oliver demanded.
I pulled my phone out of my pocket and opened up our group chat. Oliver snatched the phone from me. “What the heck? These were taken last week. Reece took them,” he said, trying but failing to restrain his anger. “And I was at the Golf Club for my senior project, not to see her.”
“That’s right,” Mrs. Blackwell said, calmly removing the phone from Oliver’s grip so she could scroll. Anyone taking my phone into their possession would usually cause me great alarm, but I daren’t question Mrs. Blackwell. “Penny Adlam is Ollie’s mentor for his senior project.”
“Maya,” Oliver said, and the room fell quiet. “I was coming to see you...to tell you that...that I don’t want to fake date you anymore.”
“Yeah, I know,” I said, trying to be the bigger person and showing maturity in front of Mrs. Blackwell. “It’s fine, I knew it was only temporary.”
“Maya,” he said, so loud that I clamped my mouth shut by biting down on my lower lip. “I don’t want to fake date you, I want torealdate you. That’s why I was driving to your house.”
“Oh.” Wide-eyed, I turned to Mom and Mrs. Blackwell to see if they’d heard what I heard. Their gentle smiles confirmed it. I looked back at Oliver, his dark brown eyes drilling into me with an intensity that took my breath away.
“Yeah, somewhere along the way, this stopped being fake.” He paused. “But I’m sorry I put you through this. I shouldn’t have forced you to date me. That wasn’t fair to you.”
Okay, the tears were back. My chin crumpled and I could feel an ugly cry coming on. “Well, dating you wasn’t exactly horrible,” I blubbered, trying to pull myself together.
“I’m glad to hear that,” Oliver said with a grin, “but I know some stuff was being said and I didn’t like it.” He looked over my shoulder to Mom. “Mrs. Shelton, I swear my assignment was my own work. I did read one of my brother’s old assignments as a guide, but I wrote it all myself.”
“I appreciate you telling me that, Oliver, but I’ve been teaching long enough to know when someone’s work isn’t their own,” she said, winking at him. “Though I was a bit shocked tohear Savannah’s accusation that I was giving you an A because you were dating Maya.”
“Yeah, she was way out of line,” Oliver said. “I’m sorry about that.”
