Page 124 of Burnout
“Yeah. I ran into her last night.”
“And?” Jane prompts.
“She’s doing good. She has a meet tomorrow.”
“Are you going?”
“No,” I say slowly. “I wasn’t invited and I don’t really think she’d be too excited to see me.”
“Why not?” Flynn looks up from his phone, brows furrowed.
Archer returns without Brogan.
I shoot him a very clearsave meexpression, but he ignores it and asks, “What?”
“He’s about to tell us how he screwed things up with Avery,”Hendrick says and signs.
It’s loud in here and even though Archer can read lips, it’s a struggle sometimes for him to follow along with a group conversation.
“She wanted more or nothing at all.”
“More?” Hendrick asks with one brow lifted.
“She wanted more than casual,”I admit and then clear my throat.“But I’m leaving again tomorrow and only going to be back on the occasional weekend until after the season is over.”
“So you just turned her down?” Jane asks. Disbelief makes her big, green eyes go wide and her jaw drop.
Damn, it’s hot in here. I take a drink of my water.
“It’s the best thing right now. I can’t be there for her when I’m not going to be around.”She should have someone that can spend time with her, take her out to dinner, and watch her compete. And someone that will be there for her to hear about every detail of every boring day, too, because those are the moments that matter. A lot of life happens in the days that don’t get marked on a calendar.
It’s quiet for several long seconds and then Archer nods.
“Yeah. Long distance is hard,” he says. “I know several buddies that have tried it and almost no one has made it more than a semester.”
Hendrick takes his time choosing his words, but also nods his agreement.“You haven’t been seeing her that long, so maybe keeping it casual is best. Distance and time can give you space to work out how you feel about her.”
“Sure,”I say, but I don’t really need either of those things. I know how I feel about her. But somehow that just makes it all the more important that I do the right thing by her.
I thought my chest was going to crack open as she stood there telling me she loved me.
“What do you think, Hollywood?” I ask.
Jane shrugs slowly. “I really like Avery, but if you’re not sure about her than I think you made the right decision.”
Not exactly what I was hoping for, but at least she didn’t tell me I’m an idiot.
“I liked her too,”Flynn says. “And I liked how you were with her. But I guess I’ve never seen you with a girl before so maybe that’s just your face when you’re getting laid regularly.”
I level him with a look that makes him blush and go quiet. “I hope you don’t talk to girls at school like that.”
His shy smile widens.
Brogan plops down into his empty seat. “What’d I miss?”
“Knox turned down Avery. They’re over.”The way Archer signs the words as he says them makes it feel especially brutal. I don’t like the way that sentence looks or sounds.
Brogan turns to me. His usual friendly and playful expression is gone. “You moron.”
