"You may be his world, but you're the only thing that ever felt like home to me."
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Some people never get second chances. Lilah never thought she'd get one with her brother's best friend.
She's quiet...
Thank you guys for sticking through this and being patient with me! I appreciate every single one of you for reading, sharing, commenting, favoriting, etc!
Have an amazing week :)
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The locker room is loud—voices ricocheting off the cinderblock walls, laughter rolling from every corner as the team celebrates the win. The air hangs heavy with sweat, adrenaline, and way too much body spray. Helmets clatter against the concrete floor. Someone's speaker blasts music that competes with shouted conversations as guys peel off pads and jerseys, riding the high of a clean victory.
I should be riding the high with them.
Instead, underneath the glint of pride, there's a restlessness coiled tight beneath my skin, electric and unrelenting. Something about tonight hasn't been right, and since the game, has left me unsettled. Maybe it's exhaustion. Maybe it's the weight of everything I've shoved down for too long, finally deciding to press back.
For once, it isn't my mom at the center of it.
As if she knew I was getting worried, out of nowhere, she reached out on Wednesday. It was the first I heard from her in a while. Despite it being our typical, casual, short talk—nothing emotional or deep—surprisingly, it eased something in my chest. Loosened a knot I had gotten used to ignoring and carrying around like a second uniform.
Tonight, though, my thoughts keep circling around something, or rather someone, else entirely. That someone being Lilah.
Ever since she shoved her way back into my life, unintentionally and inconveniently, every ounce of concern I used to aim at my own problems has been redirecting itself straight at her. Toward worrying about her. Exactly the opposite of what I want.
I have to remind myself of that as I strip off my pads, muscles tight as I work them free. She doesn't matter to me anymore. We are just temporary partners for a temporary project. Once the assignment is done, life will move on as it was before this whole... situation.
Things will go back to normal.
Coach's presence cuts through the noise as he suddenly enters the locker room. His sharp gaze sweeps over us until his eyes land in my general direction, but mercifully, I can tell I'm not the one he's aiming to chew out as he approaches.
"Kayce," he calls, voice booming. "Hallway. We're going over those second quarter plays. I want to talk about the ones we messed up," he explains, all authority and zero patience.
He's always grumpy, even after winning a game. We're lucky if he ever compliments our skills or how we did. He is the textbook definition of tough love.
Kayce grimaces beside me, shooting me a look that says wish me luck before shoving his helmet into his locker and following Coach out. I hear my name mentioned as they disappear out of the door and into the hall, but I'm barely registering it.
