Page 107 of Heartache Duet

“Are you in, Connor?”

Ava: No. I’m just sorry you had to witness what you did. A little embarrassed, I guess.

Connor: What I witnessed doesn’t change anything.

“Connor!” Rhys nudges my side. “Earth to Connor.”

I look up from my phone, see him motioning to Oscar sitting opposite me. “What?”

“Game tape after school? Our next game is Philips Academy, and they’re fucking fierce.”

“Yeah, sure,” I mumble and look back at my phone. She hasn’t responded.

Oscar says, his eyes flitting between me and my phone, “Ava wasn’t in AP English this morning. Is everything okay?”

My gaze drifts to him. “She had a rough night.”

He nods, and I see the genuine concern in his eyes. “Ava’s a nice girl. It sucks what happened to her mom.”

I look around the table, see all eyes on us, ears glued to our conversation. “Yeah, it’s uh… it’s tough.”

“If there’s anything I can do,” he says, “for you or for Ava, just let me know, man.”

Rhys adds, “That goes for the entire team, right, boys?”

I look around the table, at my teammates who I’ve gotten closer to over the past few weeks, all of them nodding, agreeing. And maybe Coach was right, and I was wrong. Maybe it wasn’t the worst thing in the world to get to know these guys beyond what they had to offer on the court. Because they all seem sincere, and maybe I’d spent all this time thinking they were judging me when I’d been doing the same thing to them. “Thanks, guys. I appreciate it.”

A flurry of “no worries” and “all good” sounds around the table, and then Rhys speaks up. “Here’s trouble.” He motions to Karen, who’s walking toward us. She drops her tray on the other side of me, greets us all with a “What’s up, fuckboys.”

“Was that your mom at the game last night?” Mitch asks her.

Karen nods.

“Did she get new boobs?”

She nods again. “Provided by husband number six.”

Mitch chuckles. “If they get any bigger, I might make a play. One day I could be your stepdad.”

Karen throws a handful of fries at his head. “Gross, jerk.”

Then Mitch waggles his eyebrows. “You can call me Daddy.”

I ignore the rest of the banter and check my phone.

Still no reply.

Connor: Ava, I love you. ALL of you.

FORTY-FOUR

connor

Another week goes by in a blur, and my time with Ava is limited, at best. And while we try to make the most of what we have, I can feel the distance growing between us, the disconnect. I convince myself that it’s just in my head, that a lot is going on in both our lives and the last thing we need is to talk about my insecurities. Besides, it’s only for a few more months. Once I get accepted somewhere, anywhere, and the season is over, I can focus all my time and energy on her.

On us.

On the end game.

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