Page 56 of The Fantasy League
FIFTEEN
ABEL
I fucking missed her.
So much so that I bought her a plane ticket to California without a second thought. And I didn’t have a single fucking regret about it. Between our incessant texting and multi-hour-long video calls, I’d been glued to my phone for the past thirty-six hours straight.
I couldn’t take it anymore.
I needed to see her in person.
Twelve days felt like a fucking eternity without her around.
I wanted to hear that laugh. I wanted to make stupid excuses to touch her just so I could watch as she leaned into me. I wanted to kiss those fucking lips again. And again. And again.
It was almost like there was a silent vow that hung between the two of us, not to mention the kiss. And I was okay with that for now. Some things were just better to talk about in person.
Instead, Scarlett roped me in on the phone, telling me tales about her childhood growing up and the crazy antics she and Mae got up to in college. I sat back and listened attentively, admiring how lovingly she spoke of her family.
I knew Mom did the best she could, raising me all by herself. I never went without meals or clothes on my back, even if it meant she had to work three jobs in order for me to do so.
No matter how many trips around the world I funded for her now, it would never be enough to repay her for everything she’d sacrificed for me over the years.
Yet, hearing Scarlett talk about her family confirmed that some part of me was still sad for the kid version of myself who missed out on having a big family growing up and instead spent most of his nights all alone practicing football drills on the field next to our apartment.
What Scarlett and her family had… that’s what I wanted our future to look like.
After ending our call last night, I couldn’t sit still at the thought of seeing her. The entire half hour I was supposed to spend relaxing and winding down before bed, my legs were restlessly begging for me to get up and move.
So I gave in and scrambled around the house, cleaning every surface and organizing everything down to the plates and cups in the fucking cabinets.
I wanted everything to look perfect for when she arrived. The house was half-mine after all, so I wanted her to like it.
When we’d bought the house, I’d envisioned coming back here for vacations after the season and spending a few weeks here during the summers before camp started, much like I was now.
The only thing that was missing was more people to enjoy it with.
Granted, Aera’s name was on the deed too, but somehow, I’d managed to avoid her the entire time I’d been in town so far.
Or so I thought until I peeked at my phone between takes earlier this morning to see if there were any missed messages from Scarlett and instead saw that Aera was the one who had bombarded me with notifications.
I quickly unlocked my phone and skimmed through her messages before thumbing out a reluctant reply.
Aera:I have important news. Mandatory dinner Sunday night. Tequila’s Restaurant @ 7pm don’t be late.
Aera:And if for some reason you don’t show, just know that I’ll show up at the beach house. Or worse, I’ll be waiting on your doorstep the second you get back to Miami.
Aera:Better yet, I might even tell the pressallabout our little secret.
Abel:Fine. I’ll be there.
Aera:Wear something nice. I’d rather be caught dead than be seen sitting next to you at a five-star restaurant in sweatpants.
That was Aera for you.
I shoved my phone into my gym bag and headed back out to the practice field that the advertising company secured to shoot our commercial.
It was an unusually hot day out today and the black T-shirt and shorts they had me wearing made me sweat profusely. The breeze helped a bit, but fuck, I hoped they could edit all this sweat out of a commercial.
