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I’m sure he did, but he’s probably way too excited to notice I didn’t reach out. If they won, I mean. He’s the starter now. Things will be different for him this year. Busier.
He’s the man everyone will look to. The one they’ll chase after.
The one the girls will want.
“I have to go.” I jump up, offering Ari a quick hug.
Her lips curve, a question in her pretty brown eyes she doesn’t ask. “Maybe I’ll see you before I head back to campus on Sunday?”
“Maybe.” I nod. “Have fun at Noah’s game this weekend.”
She nods back, and I spin, quickly escaping before anything else can be said.
But before I head into the child center at the team’s headquarters, I pause outside the door and pull up Instagram. TheAvix Inquirer, the newspaper page dedicated to Avix University, pops up, and the photo brings tears to my eyes.
It’s him. Of course it’s him.
His hair looks nearly black, from sweat or water I couldn’t say, but it looks good on him, the front tips flat against his forehead. His jersey is littered with green stains, the giant number four in the center having met the field at some point today. He has his helmet lifted high into the air in victory, but it’s the familiar cocky tilt to his lips and wild gleam in his dark eyes that has me inhaling deeply.
I don’t have to read the headline. It’s clear as day he came out on top.
Backing out, I tap the search engine and type out the question burning in my mind.
What are the average yards thrown in a college football game?
I wait and wait, and when the answer pops onto the screen, a mixture of sorrow and happiness flickers through me. Closing my eyes, I take a deep breath. “Way to go, Superstar,” I whisper.
Maybe one day he’ll forgive me for the mess I’ve made of us.
Or maybe he’ll become so famous he won’t even remember my name.
Maybe that will be for the best.
Maybe Mason and I aren’t meant to be, and there’s someone else out there who can give him what I can’t and better.
The mere thought is as devastating as the others.
Maybe I’m an idiot, and the story of us is not that serious.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Mason
Before,September
She’s so beautiful.
Her hair looks longer and a little lighter than it did over summer. FaceTime calls don’t do her justice, and we’ve had plenty of those.
It’s nothing like sitting across from the ocean-eyed blond who talks with her hands and expresses every word with her whole body. She looks…happy. Smiling and laughing.
What makes it even better is every ounce of her attention is locked on me.
Fuck, I like it.
“Oh my god, and when you did that thing where you pretended like you were going to throw the ball and all the other guys slowed and you just ran right past them to the end?”
My smile is fucking geeking, face hurting from its force, but I can’t stop. “It’s called the end zone,” I tease.
