Page 105 of The Late Hit
They both stand, Mom kisses my forehead and Dad squeezes my arm.
And with that, my eyes drift shut again. The last thing I see is my parents leaving the room. But it’s the last thought that keeps me from drifting into a deep sleep: where’s Brynn?
It’s not long, or at least I don’t think it’s long before I’m stirred from sleep. A sense of someone watching me washes over me, and all I can think is that Brynn is here. Eyes slamming open, I see the faces of some of my teammates, my best friends, my brothers. Grant, Tyler, and JP are sitting in chairs, scrolling on their phones.
“Don’t you fuckers have a game to get ready for?”
Heads snap to me.
“Oh shit, he is awake,” comes from Tyler.
Then JP is chiming in with his own comment. “We missed your ugly mug too much.”
We all chuckle.
“Pshh, you know I’m fly as fuck.”
“How bad is that brain of yours?” Grant jokes back. And we all laugh before a somber moment stretches over us. “Dude, don’t pull that shit again,” he adds.
The severity cloaks the room.
“It’s not my fault that dickhead hit me illegally.”
“Run faster,” JP quips, and I toss up my middle finger.
“Man, fuck y’all,” I add before finding Grant. “What’s going on with Brynn?”
All three guys look at each other, no one wanting to answer. Staring at them, I just wait.
It’s Grant who pipes up first. I knew he’d be the one to tell me. “She kind of just shut down. We’ve all been trying to check in on her, but she’s a mess.”
I think back to my time on the field, after I got hit. I’m trying to piece everything together. I remember being semi-alert. I could hear the trainers talking to me, both Grant and Tyler telling me, “you’ve got this,” but then it just gets kind of fuzzy after that.
“Di-did I give a thumb’s up?”
Grant just shakes his head.
Fuck.
She had to have been scared shitless, and I know seeing me get hit like that would’ve triggered her past trauma she’s been working so hard to heal. I mean, we just told each other we loved one another, even though I’ve been loving her from afar for years.
“Q, I’ve never seen her like this,” JP whispers.
Head snapping up, my eyes bore into him, but he just looks as worried as I’m feeling. “Explain.”
“Quiet, reserved, lost in her head. Cody’s picked her up from the bar two nights in a row, blacked out in a booth,” JP explains.
“Sunday night, I found her in their backyard, sprawled out on her back in the grass, smoking a bowl with a bottle of tequila half drank next to her,” Grant adds.
“And I passed her on campus yesterday. Her hair was in a mess on top of her head with bloodshot eyes and dark circles lining her face. Dude, she was in the baggiest pair of sweatpants and sweatshirt I’ve ever seen on her. I don’t know how she managed to keep them up,” Tyler says, eyes trained on his folded hands in his lap.
I did this to her.
And my mom’s haunting words come rushing back to me.“Seems everyone you love dies.”
The color drains from my face as my eyes slide over to find Grant’s. He must see what I’m feeling, because he reaches beside him to grab the wastebasket just as a bout of nausea hits me. Grabbing the wastebasket, I empty whatever is in my stomach.
“We’re watching her, Q. We’re trying to bring her back to herself. She might think she’s alone, but she’s got us,” Tyler says, squeezing my leg.
