Page 69 of Infatuated as They Come
It all happened in a millisecond. One moment I was up in the air, arms out straight, and then the next I was losing my balance and ending the stunt much earlier than planned.
It was Natalie and Millie that stopped me from crash landing right to the ground. They kept me as steady as possible until my feet finally found grass.
“Whoops, I got you!” Natalie said from behind me. “Are you okay?”
“I’m so sorry!” I cried out. I had accumulated a few falls from cheer, but never when doing something as simple as a liberty. “I don’t know what happened.”
“It’s okay.” Millie gave my back a rub. “Just a tiny fall.”
I could see the other girls completing their liberties with ease, the spotters guiding them down to the grass as the last of the routine was over and done with. I felt shame creep up on me, my cheeks as red as my uniform.
“Hey, it’s okay, it was one stunt,” Millie whispered into my ear. “Don’t worry about it.”
Millie was sweet. She could probably see the embarrassment on my face. My hands rubbed at my arms, feeling my hot skin as I looked at the crowd. Why couldn’t I stop looking for him? And why hadn’t he showed up? Andwhy had I barely seen him ever since we moved to this stupid, big city?
My humiliation still felt very much present as Claudia draped an arm around my slumped shoulders. “I messed up,” I said. “I’ve done that move so many times. I don’t know what happened.”
She squeezed at me. “It’s okay. Don’t stress. Are you hurt?”
I lifted up my leg and stretched it out. “No. I fell okay. No pain.”
“That’s all that matters then. It was an accident.”
“You’ll never let me help with the choreography again. I don’t blame you.”
“It wouldn’t be cheer without a fall every now and then, right?” She shrugged.
“I guess not,” I mumbled.
“Exactly. Nothing to lose sleep over! Go Falcons!”
The game flew by and then there were the dozens of hugs and kisses on the cheek, the girls still oh so cheery, but I felt anything but. We all said our goodbyes before I shoved my pom poms into my bag, zipping it up with much more vigor than necessary.
From the corner of my eye, I could see some of the other girls with their boyfriends, and all I could wonder was where mine was.
I blew out a breath of air, feeling strong hands on my waist—hands I’d recognize anywhere. I turned to see Sawyer, his hair slightly tussled in the way that I loved, but his brows were furrowed and his eyes were full of worry.
“Is it over already?” he asked.
I nodded and hooked the strap of my gym bag on to my shoulder. “Yeah. All done. Go Falcons…”
“Holly, I’m so sorry,” he said, voice sounding strained. “I know how much this meant to you. I should have been here.”
“Well, there’s always next week,” I said, twisting one of my white sneakers into the ground. “It’s not a big deal.”
I was in his arms the next second, his arms wrapping around me as he pulled me close. I wasn’t even sure why I was so upset. Sawyer had seen a whole bunch of the routines I had come up with in high school, but tonight just felt special. It felt different. It had all been planned out in my head:he’d show up on time and the routine would go by without a hitch and then we’d grab dinner and take it home and cuddle on the couch all night.
“I’m sorry I missed it,” he said, holding my waist tight. “I fucked up tonight.”
“It’s just a stupid cheer routine,” I said, giving my head a shake. “It’s not like you’ve never seen me cheer before.”
“But tonight was different. This was your night; this was your routine. I wanted to see you cheer. You asked me to come and I couldn’t follow through on one easy fucking request.”
“It’s okay,” I said, forcing a smile.
“It’s not. You’re allowed to be mad at me. You’re allowed to be angry when I fuck up, and I fucked up really bad tonight.”
“Work comes first.” I pressed my hands to his broad chest. “I get it. It’s okay.”
