The Perfect Touchdown

Nineteen

I pursed my lips as Leah went white in the face.

"How much of that did you hear?" I asked him.

He scoffed; his words and glare directed at Leah. "I heard enough."

"Well, then I'll leave the both of you to it," I said and walked back into the house. I could feel the nervous energy from Leah even after I closed the door and couldn't help but laugh a little before I went back to join the guys at Mario Kart.

I kept my eye on the back door and made sure Leah didn't try anything weird as Noah did, but they stood at a distance and talked for a long time, there wasn't any yelling even. I looked away again to zone into the game and went I looked back after; they were both gone.

"I'll be right back," I said and bumped Carter.

"We won't wait for you!" he called back, and I just flipped him the bird.

I searched the house for either Aiden or Leah but couldn't find either of them downstairs. My heart started to pound, and I tried my best to keep my thoughts from thinking the worst case until I found my brother out front.

"Have you seen Aiden? I have something to ask him."

"He went to his room."

My heart stopped dead. "Was he alone?"

Avery nodded. "Why wouldn't he be?"

"Okay, cool, just making sure I won't be walking into something I don't want to," I chuckled nervously and rushed off before he saw right through me. I breathed a sigh of relief once I was back inside and ran up the stairs to his room.

Aiden was sitting on his bed with his phone in his hands, but he put it away as soon as he heard the door open. "What are you doing here?" he asked.

"Why didn't you come back after your talk? Was it that bad?"

He shook his head. "She cried a lot and made a lot of terrible excuses for her behaviour, but it wasn't that bad."

"Is she still here?" It would be embarrassing for her if she was.

"No, she left after that, Ryan is walking her back right now."

Oof, that had to be awkward, but they always stuck to their word that no female walked home alone from their parties, no matter how much we despised her.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

I shrugged. "It was harder to control my laughter than it was my anger, to be honest. She can say whatever she wants, I know the truth and that's all that matters." I beamed at him and wrapped my arms around his waist.

He smiled back, but I noticed that it didn't touch his eyes like it normally did.

"Is everything alright with you?" I asked with a frown.

He nodded and kissed my cheek.

"Are you sure?" I pressed.

"What is there for me to be upset about?" He pursed his lips, and I couldn't help but feel the nervous energy off of him.

But I didn't want to push him too hard if he wasn't ready or able to talk about it. I just needed to give him some space and hope that he would come to me eventually.

"Do you feel up to going back to the party? I think I might turn in for the night," I said.

He shook his head. "I'm done for the night, too."

I could tell the mood was extremely off and nothing was going to happen between us, but I was more than content to just fall asleep in his arms.

~*~

I hoped by the next day that things would have returned to normal for Aiden and me, but over the week he seemed to avoid me further than before. We stopped our in-between class meet-ups and closet hook-ups. He stopped texting me when he got back to the house after practice or at night before we went to bed.

I tried asking him a couple of more times if everything was alright, but he continued to brush me off and tell me it was, but there was no reassurance despite how nervous I clearly was about the situation.

This weekend though was my surprise date night for Aiden and me. I had it all planned out thanks to Kendra and Kinsley, who had a better idea of hole-in-the-wall places around campus that we could go to and not have to worry about others running into us.

I chose a small diner that is said to have amazing ribs, which is Aiden's favourite. Then, after that I had tickets to one of his favourite bands that I was lucky enough to discover were playing in the next city over, less than an hour away.

This was going to be the redemption and night out that we needed to hopefully help get him out of whatever funk he was in. There was just one more day until the weekend and I was overly ecstatic to tell him about our date plans after the game later.

I could barely contain my excitement as I got ready in the changing rooms. I caught myself several times smiling while I thought about it and had to remember to keep my face composed before someone asked me about my goofy grin.

Leah was particularly quiet the entire time we changed, but she didn't seem upset or down in any way, which just made me even more suspicious. I made sure to keep an eye on her during the game and see if she even so much as looked in Aiden's direction, but she didn't.

Aiden, on the other hand, was a complete mess on the field. The coach pulled him off several times to scream at him to get his act together, but he looked defeated from the beginning. I tried to catch his eye a few times, but he never once looked in my direction.

My heart was pounding, and my hands sweated, which made my cheer routine even more difficult, but I managed to make it through with no mistakes despite how occupied my mind was too.

'What is going on with him? I have a really bad feeling.'

After the game was over, San Marco sadly lost this game, I went to change quickly and waited for Aiden outside the locker room, but he didn't come out even after everyone else did. I waited until I thought there was no one else in there and walked in to see Aiden on the bench, similar to how he was in the bedroom after the party.

"Hey, what's going on?" I asked softly, afraid of accidentally setting him off.

He sighed in frustration. "I'd rather be alone right now, Rylee."

My chest stung a little when he didn't call me by my nickname. He only ever used my full name when he was really upset.

"I get that, but you've been avoiding me all week. It's been making me really nervous, and I think we need to talk." I bit my lip and crossed my fingers.

He chuckled dryly and turned around. "Yeah, you're right, we need to talk. Rylee, I don't think I can do this anymore."

My heart stopped and I heard my blood freeze over in my ears.

"W-what? What do you mean?" I cried.

"I can't keep sneaking around with you, it's tiring. I want a relationship I don't have to hide, and I don't always want some Pitbull brother on my back to worry about every time I want to just meet up with my girlfriend."

I searched his face for any sign that he was lying or joking, but there was no trace.

He was dead serious.

"You've got to be joking...that's your best friend! We can easily just talk to him about all of this if that's how you really feel. Why didn't you at least come to talk to me about your feelings, before deciding you need to end this?" My hands started to tremble, and my heart was pounding so loud I could barely hear myself.

"Give me a break. If was that easy, we would've done that weeks ago. Just face it, Rylee. We aren't meant to be." He grabbed his bag and walked past me, not sparing me a single glance back.