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“Oh my God,” I breathed.
I could remembereverything.
40
FOSTER
Spring practice was mainly just drills and conditioning. We couldn’t work through all the plays yet because we didn’t have everyone who’d be on next year’s team—some of our most promising sign-ons still had to graduate from high school. But I was left exhausted by the time Coach let us go, anyway.
I showered in the locker room before shrugging on a T-shirt and shorts. Then, I nudged my feet into some flip-flops and hefted the strap of my gym bag over my shoulder.
“Yo, Union,” one of the guys hollered as I started toward the door, wincing with every sore step I made. My body definitely needed to adjust to training again. “Want to head over to Duke’s with us and treat us to a couple of pizzas?”
I smiled because I’d been known to do that for them from time to time. But then I had to shake my head. “Not tonight. Sorry. I gotta take another piss test.”
“Are you fucking serious?” Javonte cried in dismay. “Man, what is wrong with everyone? You’re theleastlikely guy on the entire team to get involved in drugs. That is some total bullshit right there.”
I could only shrug. “Rumors are rumors,” I said. “And I gotta feed the mob with the truth. Later, guys.”
When I waved and headed out the door, the others called back, wishing me good luck. I was relieved that they still saw me as the same old Foster and hadn’t shunned me like others had.
I’d had some stranger yell across the quad at me earlier between classes, telling me I should be kicked off the team. Parker had been with me, and I thought he was going to hunt the guy down and kick his ass right then and there, but I’d managed to keep him at my side.
I had to admit, even though I didn’twantso much fame, I kind of missed the golden boy reputation, where everyone actually liked me. It was so strange to me that I hadn’t done anything differently at all, and suddenly perceptions had just turned on a dime because of something someone who didn’t even know me had said. The world was a puzzling place that rarely made sense, that was for sure.
But I was going to keep being me, anyway.
After stopping by the coach’s office and doing my thing, I was finally on my way. At my truck, I glanced across the interior of the cab at the passenger seat out of habit, except Raina wasn’t there. It was beginning to hurt less to not see her everywhere. But I still missed her.
I kept trying to think up stupid reasons to text her, only to talk myself out of it again.
The next step had to be hers.
Sighing dismally, I started the truck and nearly drove all the way home to my parent’s place before I remembered I no longer lived there. So I had to backtrack about five minutes before pulling into my new apartment’s parking lot and killing the engine.
I don’t know what I’d been thinking by taking Raina’s old room. I knew it was to help her not lose the down payment on her lease and because I was holding on to the hope that she’d remember and come back, but God. It hurt to live there without her.
The silence of living alone was odd, too. I was so used to the continuous, boisterous flow of my family around that it was hard to find any peace in all the quiet.
When I reached 2G, I dug my apartment key from my pocket and spent the next few seconds unlocking the door. Then I entered the cool, darkened interior of the front room before flipping on the light and shutting the door behind me with my foot.
Heaving out a lonely sigh, I tossed my bag into a side chair and started toward the entrance of the kitchen, only to pull up short when I spotted a potted blanket flower plant along with the philodendron of Raina’s that I had watered for her sitting side by side on my kitchen table.
Lips parting, I spun around and found her stepping into the doorway that led into my bedroom.
“What the…?”
She entered my living room, wearing nothing but one of my old yellow and brown practice jerseys.
Her feet and legs were bare, and from the sway of her breasts as she walked, there was no bra on under there either.
“Raina?” I gasped, positive I was seeing things.
She waved shyly. “I considered waiting naked, but with my luck, you’d come home with someone else.” She shrugged and winced. “And it’d probably be Little.”
“What’re you…?” I shook my head and took a step toward her, only to stop. “Are you really here? I mean…”
“You mean, is this physically me or am I in another coma?”
