Page 31 of Flip the Field
Brady
“Good news,”Amerie answered on the first ring. “My father knows all about you.”
I choked on the bottle of water I had been drinking.
“Brady!” she cried out. “You okay?”
“My dude,” Matthews hit me on the back. I pushed him away and stopped walking.
“I’ll catch up with y’all.” I waved the guys on. We’d just finished practice and were heading to the dining hall for dinner. I held the phone back up to my ear. “What do you mean?”
“You okay?” Amerie squeaked.
“Yeah,” I threw the water bottle in the trash. “I forgot how to drink.” I cleared my throat. “What do you mean he knows all about me?”
“Emmy told him all about the lovely young man I’ve been seeing.”
My heart slowed down a bit.
“I spent the last two and a half hours telling him about you,” She huffed. “While tempering my enthusiasm of course. He doesn’t need to know about everything.”
“Of course,” I entered the dining hall and stepped down an empty hallway. “Besides the uncomfortable car ride, how’s the place?”
“It’s beautiful. It’s built next to these cliffs that drop into the ocean,” She sighed. “Amazing. I wish you were here.”
“Me too.” I really did. My chest had hurt since she walked away from me this morning. Something was off when we weren’t together. I didn’t want to fully admit why, but I knew. I was in love with Amerie. But I still hadn’t told her.
“I have to get ready for dinner. I just wanted to hear your voice,” She sighed.
“You okay? I mean, I know you didn’t want to tell your dad like that, but…”
“Oh, no, yeah, I’m fine,” She giggled. “I’m just being dramatic. It has nothing to do with you. You know that, right?”
“I know.”
“I mean. I am super proud to be your girlfriend,” A door slammed on her end of the line. “I just don’t want my dad in my business like that. It’s like he’s already looking for how our relationship can benefit him.”
I didn’t know what to say to that, but it gave me a weird feeling in my gut. It was better than him looking for ways to end it.
“Listen, don’t worry about me. I’m fine.” Her voice had returned to normal. “What are you up to?”
“Heading to dinner with the guys,” I leaned against the wall.
“Go eat. What time’s practice in the morning?” she asked.
“Eight o’clock,” I pushed off the wall and headed back into the main area of the dining hall.
“I’ll get up early and call you in the morning. We can FaceTime and I’ll show you the cliffs.”
“It’s a date,” The pain in my chest lessened to a dull ache. “I miss you, baby.”
“Me, too,” I pictured the smile on her face and it made the world better. “Bye.”
When she hung up the phone, the pain returned. The uneasy feeling stayed with me all night.
* * *
The unease was still therewell into the morning. Especially when Amerie didn’t call me like she said she would. And it became full on panic when she didn’t return my calls or texts.
