“I did tell him. I told him everything. I should have looked at the hockey schedule before I did that.”
“I mean, aside from all the bad stuff that’s happening now, the fight was kind of hot,” Eva said.
“I’ve been beating myself up over it,” I said. “One second hating myself. The next second turned on because I can’t stop watching the videos of the fight.”
“Then the next second you’re begging us to go out for coffee,” Zoe said.
“So I can apologize to you both,” I said. “I need you both right now. I can’t get through all of this alone.”
“Through all of what?” Eva asked.
“Whatever happens,” I said. “I have no idea what happens now. There’s no plan. There’s no direction. And I’m not going to fight it.”
“What about fighting for Maverick?” Zoe asked.
“He requested to get traded,” I said.
“Duh,” Eva said. “You know why he did that, right?”
“To get away from me,” I whispered.
“To get closer to you,” Eva said.
“Your father can’t do a thing if he’s not on the team,” Zoe said. “I think that’s pretty sexy and romantic.”
“I think it’s stupid,” I said. “When all these stupid rules are my fault. Maverick never did a thing wrong and now he’s paying for my past and my mistakes?”
“And what if this guy loves you that much?” Eva asked. “What if he loves you enough to go through this just to be with you?”
“That makes me feel a lot of pressure,” I said.
“Because you’re worried about the future,” Zoe said. “You’re afraid to love Maverick the way you say you do for the same reason why you’re afraid to take any other real photography gigs. You fear loss and failure.”
“And guess what, Madison?” Eva asked. “We all do. Look, I just handed in fifty pages of a book and was told it sucks.”
“Sometimes I suck at singing,” Zoe said.
“Okay, I get it,” I said. “Maverick is my song. He’s my horror novel. Okay?”
“Vampire horror?” Eva asked with a grin. “Nibbling between your legs?”
“Ignore her,” Zoe said.
“I always do,” I said. “I’m really sorry to you both.”
“Don’t be,” Zoe said. “You could have called us. Texted us. We would have answered.”
“Of course we would have,” Eva said.
“You could have called or texted me,” I said.
“Eh, we liked waiting for you to reach out to us,” Zoe said. “Shows… commitment.”
I rolled my eyes. “That stupid word.”
“That stupid word means a lot to people,” Eva said.
“I love him,” I said. “Okay? I really do love him. And I’m going to do something about it.”