Harleigh
“You’re sure you’re okay?” Nix asked me for the third time today.
It was Friday.
Game day.
One of the most important days of Nix’s life, and I’d almost messed it all up.
All day, butterflies had fluttered in my stomach, making my skin vibrate. If someone asked me to recite today’s classes, I wouldn’t have been able to tell them a single thing. All I could think about, all I could focus on, was holding myself together enough to support Nix.
Celeste didn’t think it was a good idea. Nate neither. But I needed to be there. I needed to dig deep and go.
It was all arranged. Chloe would meet me and Celeste at the back entrance once most of the crowd was seated, and then we would sneak under the bleachers and watch from there.
It wasn’t ideal, not when Nix deserved to have someone in the stands watching him, cheering him on. But it was the compromise I could handle. Would handle, for him.
“I told you twice already,” I chuckled, “I’m fine.”
“B, you don’t have to protect me, I can handle the truth…”
“Don’t you have a game to prepare for? Coach will tear you a new one if you’re late.”
“You’re really coming?”
“Yes, I’ll be right there. I promise.”
“Okay.” He let out a steady breath but all I heard was the relief there. “I’m not making a huge fucking mistake, am I?”
“Why would you even say that, Nix?”
“Because it’s college, B. A scholarship. Guys like me—”
“Guys like you deserve a chance. They deserve a shot at a better future.”
“Fuck, I love you. You know that, right? No matter what happens tonight at the game or when people find out… it won’t change how I feel about you.”
His words rumbled through me like thunder in the distance.
“I know. Now go. You have like ten minutes to get there.”
“Shit, yeah, okay. I’ll see you later.”
“Good luck,” I said, my stomach churning. “And Nix?”
“Yeah, B?”
“I love you.”
His breath caught and my smile grew.
“Love you too.”
He hung up and I clutched my cell phone in my hand.
I’d agreed to go to the game, but only if he agreed to go celebrate with the guys for a little while after. He hadn’t wanted to say yes, but little did he know, I had a plan.
A reckless, terrifying plan.