When Gracie is humiliated after following her best friend's brother to college and finds he's moved on without her, she grows closer to his rival--the captain of his basketball team--the infamous Kalen Rush, and suddenly Gracie wonders just what len...
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"Are you...alright?"
Franny's voice was concerned, a tinge of the fear from the encounter with Kalen's dad still coloring our interaction.
"Fine."
I was clearly not fine.
His father had done more than accost me.
He'd taken my confidence and the surety I felt with Kalen and stomped it into the ground.
Because, honestly, what was he doing with me anyway? Satiating some morbid curiosity about the daughter of his father's lover? Toying with me?
Or was it more than that? And if it was, did it even matter because of his future plans? He would either be joining the NBA or taking over his father's company, and though his father's company would be a more feasible option for a relationship between the two of us, I knew what his real dream was.
He was going to become a famous basketball player, someone destined for greatness and to become legendary, not just rot away in a nice town leading his team to the championships year after year until he graduated to an office job.
"Gracie?"
"I said I'm fine, Franny."
The game ended in a flourish with Kalen on the bench and Colby holding a red soaked rag up against his nose from his fight on the bench right alongside him.
The two men were glaring at each other from my vantage point that I could tell, and while one had tried to help the other break up their fight, I knew another one was brewing on the forefront between the two of them.
I couldn't control Colby's emotions, and while I knew that Kalen wasn't some irrationally jealous man, he did have a way of pushing Colby's buttons in just the right way to make him explode, and in doing so, it would only prove to be disastrous for everyone involved.
"You really don't seem fine. Do you want to get out of here?"
The buzzer went off and despite losing our best players, we still won by over twenty points.
The stands emptied as students flooded the court and others exited the stadium, but I was rooted to the spot, watching as Kalen disappeared into the locker rooms with the rest of the team.
"You ready to go?"
"He wants me to meet him, after."
"Okay, well I can go with you? Unless you'd rather go alone?"
"No...no, can you come with me please?"
"Of course, Gracie."
Frannie walked with me through the crowded concourse and waited for the team to start filling out one by one, hair damp from recent showers and gym bags slung over their shoulders while they waled up to family and friends waiting for them.
