Invisible String (w|w high school romance)

Jealousy

Riley POV:

Practices this week had been brutal, especially practice on Monday. All I can say is I feel bad for any of my teammates who partied a little too hard over the weekend. Our practice consisted of all conditioning. I lost count of how many times I ran back and forth on the field. It's not like we were out of shape or anything. Coach just wanted to make sure that we were ready for our next few games. As the season progressed, we would play much harder teams then we did last week. Our 2-0 win over High Point proved that there was still some room for improvement.

As we wrapped up our Tuesday practice, I laid back on the turf with my legs bent. My body was sore from the past few days. As everyone else walked off to pack up their things, Harper laid down on the turf next to me and mimicked my position. I turned my head to look at her, my eyes squinting slightly from the sun, and I saw her already looking at me. A beautiful smile on her face.

I could never get sick of seeing her smile.

"What are you doing?" she asked. "Laying on the turf." I deadpanned. She rolled her eyes and laughed. "Obviously. I meant like why are you laying on the turf?" she asked. "Don't tell anyone but I'm a bit sore from the past couple days." I responded. She gasped and faked shock. "Our captain is out of shape?" she joked. I kicked her gently as she laughed. "No just sore. I remember my freshmen year, after our first hard practice, I laid right here in the center circle. I was exhausted and back then I really wasn't in as good shape. One of the captains that year, Kayla, laid down with me and asked what was up. After that day, she would stay after practice with me and help me with some more drills. I definitely wouldn't be the player I am today without her." I explained. "She sounds like great person." she replied and I just nodded. "She was. She actually plays soccer for a nearby college. Maybe we could go watch a game sometime." I said. "Sounds like it would be fun." Harper said.

After a couple more minutes, the last few players on our team had left, likely to go get ready to watch the boys game. Harper quickly hopped up to her feet and looked down at me, holding out her hands. Without questioning it, I took her hands and let her help me up. I stood across from her, our eyes fixed on each other. My hands rested gently still in her hands. A couple more moments passed before she gave my hands a quick squeeze before dropping them. "Come on, lets go get ready for the boys game." she said. I walked with her to the parking lot before we went our separate ways to our cars.

The boys game was much later than ours had been. The game started at 7, so it was going to be cold sitting there on the bleachers. I put on a hoodie and slipped on Josh Ashton's number 23 jersey over it. I matched it with a pair of grey sweatpants and my ugg neumel boots. After I slipped them on, I wiggled my feet around in them. I loved my uggs, they were easily my favorite pair of shoes. I grabbed my black and green Scranton High beanie with a pom pom on the top and slipped it comfortable over my head and ears. I grabbed a small blanket from off my bed and left for the game.

When I pulled into the parking lot it was 10 minutes before game time. I parked my car and walked over to the stadium gate. I handed the attendant the money for my ticket and walked into the stadium. It was easy to spot my teammates. They were sitting in the student section. The majority of them sported a boy's alternate jersey like myself, while the rest were dressed in black and green to match our school colors. As I approached the student section, I spotted Harper sitting between Lexi and Kylie. She wasn't wearing Drew's alternate jersey.

A feeling I couldn't describe filled me and I gently rubbed the spot over my heart trying to make it go away. I don't know what is was. Guilt maybe? Because I was wearing Josh's jersey? Or was it relief that she wasn't wearing Drew's jersey?

I walked up the bleachers and over to my friends. Kylie saw me first and quickly got up to give me a hug. "What's up co cap! We thought you weren't going to show for a minute." she said. 'You know I wouldn't miss this." I replied. When Kylie sat back down she moved over slightly to make room for me to sit between her and Harper.

When Harper had first saw me, her face was covered with a smile but it quickly faded when she noticed me wearing Josh's jersey. Yep, that feeling was definitely guilt. As I sat down next to her, she turned her attention back to the field. I fidgeted with the balled up blanket on my lap while I contemplated what to say to her.

On the field, Drew ran over to the bench and dug through his soccer bag. When he found what he was looking for he jogged over to the fence in front of the student section.

"Hey Harper. I forgot to ask if you'd wear this at lunch." he said as he leaned over the fence. I looked at Harper. She glanced at me with an unreadable expression on her face before looking back at Drew and smiling. "Toss up that jersey." she said. She got up and climbed down a couple rows of the bleachers before Drew tossed her the jersey. She caught it effortlessly and he winked at her before he jogged off to rejoin the warm ups.

Harper walked back up the bleachers with the jersey in hand and reclaimed her seat next to me. I watched as she shook her head gently to get her hair out of her face before slipping the jersey over her hoodie. She turned to me with a fake smile. "Now we're matching!" she said with false excitement as she nudged my shoulder. After that she turned her head back to the field.

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Riley POV:

It was now halftime and Harper still wouldn't talk to me. She kept her attention on the game the whole time, only taking her focus off of it to talk with Lexi. I leaned over to Kylie to whisper to her. "Can you do me a huge favor and make up some excuse for you and Lexi to get up?" I asked.

Kylie turned to me with confusion over her face. "What? Why?" she questioned. "Please just do this for me." I begged. Kylie seemed to understand as she nodded and stood up. "Hey Lexi. Wanna come grab some snacks from the concession stand?" she asked. "YES!" Lexi said quickly. She sprung up from the bleachers and practically dragged Kylie away with her before Harper could stammer a protest.

She shook her head glaring at me before turning back to the field. I had to talk fast before the girls could return and Harper could go back to ignoring me. "I'm sorry." I said. "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings."

Harper waited a couple seconds before turning away from the field to look at me. "Do you even know why I'm upset?" she asked. I looked down at my hands folded over the blanket on my lap and nodded. "Yeah." I said quietly. "I swear to you me and Josh isn't a thing. It's all just rumors." I said as I fidgeted with my fingers.

"Well you don't really help those rumors when you two exchange jerseys." she said bitterly. I stopped fidgeting with my fingers to look at her as I nodded. "I know. I'm not really ready to explain this to you now but me and Josh are really close. He's my best friend and he's always been there for me when I needed him. But I promise you that's all he is to me. We seriously are just friends." I said.

She looked at me for a couple seconds before she nodded her head. "I believe you." She said. I couldn't help but break out into a smile. As she smiled back at me, I saw her shiver a bit. I held up the blanket on my lap. "Wanna share?" I asked. She nodded her head with a smile but as I unfolded the blanket she burst out laughing.

"How are we both supposed to fit in that blanket?" she said, still laughing. "That's the smallest blanket ever." I spread out the blanket over my shoulders and arms. Placed the blanket over Harper's shoulders, her hand reached up to hold it in place. I then wrapped my arm around her waist and pulled her into me. I felt her breath catch and I smirked. The blanket was now securely wrapped around the two of us. "Like that." I stated cockily.

She rolled her eyes with a smile and snuggled impossibly closer to me. She rested her head on my shoulder and I gently placed my head on top of hers. A couple minutes later Kylie and Lexi came back carrying four Styrofoam cups of hot cocoa. "We brought back cocoa!" Lexi said happily.

The two girls returned to their spots on the bleachers before handing both me and Harper our cups. I grabbed mine with the hand holding the blanket because I refused to take my arm from around Harper. I took a sip and looked out of the corner of my eye at Kylie. She next next to me with a knowing look on her face. I turned my head slightly to look at her.

"Good job." she said quietly enough for only me to hear. I smiled at her before turning back to Harper. I gently kissed the top of her head before laying my head back on hers. The game was about to continue but I knew I wouldn't pay much attention to the rest of the game. All my focus was on the beautiful girl sitting next to me.