The Hardest Fall

His eyes warmed. “Here you are. Why didn’t you tell me? Wait.” He stood up and lifted the headphones off the head of the guy sitting in the seat across the aisle from me. “Drew, take my seat.”

Just like that, the guy jumped up and Dylan took his place.

As he sat down, a flight attendant appeared from behind us.

With a smile fixed on her face, she said, “Seatbelts, please. We’ll be taking off in a few minutes.”

Nodding, I fastened my seatbelt, and Dylan did the same.

When our eyes met again, I smiled. “Hi.”

My heart leapt at the sight of his easy smile, always so open and warm.

“Hi yourself.”

“Dylan.”

The unexpected voice startled both of us.

“Get back to your seat. I need to talk to you and Chris about a few changes we’re going to make,” said Mark. I noticed the guy waiting just behind him, the one Dylan had swapped seats with. He looked just as uncomfortable as we did.

Intentionally, I kept my eyes on Dylan’s face and watched his brow draw together in confusion.

“Coach, we already have a meeting right after we—”

“Back to your seat, son.”

Son.

Was that his way of saying Dylan was off limits too? I couldn’t be friends or friendly with the guy he himself had sent to live with me? Sure, when he’d given him the apartment keys, he hadn’t expected me to be in the apartment, but still, I was living with the guy.

Dylan did what he asked and undid his belt to get up, but when his eyes found mine, he was still sporting a scowl. I dragged my eyes back to Mark then pointedly looked away before he could say anything.

* * *

It was after we had entered the hotel we’d be staying in for the weekend when I next saw Dylan and Chris. He broke off from his friends when he noticed me standing apart from Miriam and Cash and made his way to my side. He was wearing his black sweatpants, and I could’ve sworn he had a dozen or more of them in different shades of gray and black, just so he could make a girl go crazy. My personal favorite was the light gray. A tight black t-shirt covered his torso and pulled all the attention to his biceps and chest.

“Which room are you in?” he asked, head tilted, eyes on the envelope in my hand.

“Uh, let me check.” I forced my eyes away from his body and opened the envelope I’d picked up from a table where the hotel employees had lined up dozens of them. “Room 412. I’m sharing with Miriam.”

He gave me a chin lift. “We’re on the same floor. I’m with Chris.”

One of his teammates drew his attention by slapping his shoulder so he turned away. I looked around me. Mark was nowhere to be found, but the other coaches were busy trying to wrangle all the guys. Some of them were handing out sheets of paper while others were simply huddled together and talking. My eyes found Chris and when I saw him glancing my way, I forced a smile on my lips, not sure how I was supposed to react. Instead of smiling back like I’d hoped he would, he shook his head and turned back to talk to one of his friends. Feeling more and more alone by the second, I pulled my phone out of the back pocket of my jeans and sent a group text to Jared and Kayla.

Me: Okay, we landed and made it to the hotel. There are so many people and I know no one other than Dylan. Oh, and Mark is pissed at me. When I say pissed, I mean PISSED! But I ignored him on the plane so be proud of me. I’m only texting you guys because I have no idea what I’m supposed to do and instead of standing in the middle of the lobby looking around like a little fish out of water, I need something to do with my hands. Write back so I can stop talking to myself like a weirdo and have a meaningful conversation with you guys instead. Quick. Quick.

“Here.”

Lifting my head, I saw that Miriam was handing me one of the papers the coaches were handing out.

I reached for it. “Thank you.” It was a detailed schedule of what the team was supposed to do and where they were supposed to be at any given moment.

“Cash wants us to take photos of their dinner, just how they interact I think, maybe get a few shots of everyone while they’re eating. After that, we’re free for tonight. Tomorrow, we’ll trail him and do whatever he asks us to do. He said it’ll mostly be meetings, warm-ups, and then the game. We’ll have a meeting of our own at breakfast and he’ll give us more details.”

I nodded and looked up from the detailed schedule. “Sounds good. I think I’m going to skip snack time and head up to our room. Are you coming?”

She looked over her shoulder to where Cash was talking with one of the players. “I think I’ll stick around.”

“Okay then,” I murmured to myself when she walked away after a quick wave.

Dragging my teeth along my lip, I looked around again. Half of the players were already gone. I saw a few standing around the elevators and a few walking toward the back of the hotel where I assumed the snacks were waiting, if the sign with the team logo and Meal Room written on it was anything to go by. I glanced around to see if I could spot Dylan, but with lobby still being so busy, I’d lost him. Pulling my carry-on behind me, I headed toward the elevators.

My phone pinged with a new message.

I let out a huge breath and filed into the elevator with three other players. Even though they were talking among themselves about the following day’s game, I could still feel their curious eyes on me. Ducking my head, I focused on my phone.

While I was hoping it was a text from Kayla or Jared, my already nervous stomach twisted even more when I saw that it was Mark who had texted me.

Mark: Which room?

My fingers hovered over the screen. I was either going to keep ignoring him and try to stay as far away as possible, or I was going to get over it and focus on what I’d come to do. I waited until I was standing in the room before I texted him back. My phone pinged again, but this time it was Jared replying. Feeling the inevitable anxiety creep in, I decided not to write anything back to my friend until Mark found his way to my room, said what he needed to say, and left.

Only ten minutes had passed when I heard the insistent knock on the door. The first thing I did when he stepped in was to tell him that the trip was for one of my classes. I didn’t think he was even listening to what I was saying, because he started in on me before the words had even left my mouth. The energy he was giving off was scaring me, but I tried my best to keep my face neutral. After a long rant about the same things I had become all too familiar with, he warned me to ‘watch myself’ around his boys and strode out.

As soon as the door slammed shut behind him, I took a deep breath and let it all go. I was not going to let him get to me, not anymore.

After sending a quick text to my dad to let him know when he could come pick me up, I worked on some shots I was going to put up as stock photos on a few websites while talking on the phone with Jared. Miriam came up a bit later and eventually announced that she was ready to head down to the team meal room, so I grabbed my bag and my camera then followed her down.

“When will you get back?” she asked once we were in the elevator heading downstairs.

“I’m not sure. Why?”

“Well, the curfew for the team is eleven. Do you think you’ll be back before that?”

“I didn’t think the curfew was for us. Do I have to be back before that?” If I did, that would only give me a few hours with my dad, which wasn’t much considering he was driving in from Phoenix just to see me.