*(Zania's POV)*
Being with Safeer for four years feels like living inside a highlight reel—except lately, the replays feel blurry, like someone smudged the screen when I wasn't looking.
We're in college now—he's playing D1 basketball, I'm on the volleyball team. We're that couple people point at and whisper about. The ones who made it out of high school are still together. The ones everyone expects to get married after graduation.
Everyone thinks we're goals.Sometimes we are.Sometimes... not so much.
"Babe, you're gonna be late to your lift session," I call, tying my shoelaces as I sit at the edge of his dorm bed.
He's still half-asleep, shirtless, afro flat as board in the back like i didn't tell him to put a bonnet on or something before going to bed, rubbing his eyes like a five-year-old who doesn't wanna get up yet. If this moment were from a year ago, I probably would've climbed on his lap, teased him, kissed him awake.
Now, I just watch him.
There's a space between us lately. Not physical—we still sleep in each other's arms most nights. But emotionally? It's like we're holding each other from opposite sides of a glass wall."I need five more minutes," he mumbles, but reaches for my waist like muscle memory, pulling me closer as if to prove we're fine.
I let him.
His head rests against my stomach. My fingers run through his hair trying to fix it while he lays there, But my chest still feels heavier than it should."Big game on Saturday," I say softly.
He nods against me. "Gotta win this one.""We always win," I reply automatically.
Back then, I'd say *we* when talking about his games. Because it never felt like *his* court or *my* court. It felt like we were each other's everything.
Now, I'm not sure.
He finally drags himself up and throws on a hoodie. He steps close, presses a quick kiss to my forehead. "Love you," he murmurs, distracted.
It lands differently than it used to."I love you too," I whisper, but he's already leaving.He doesn't see the way my smile drops the second the door shuts.
*(Safeer's POV)*
I love her.
I swear I do.
But lately, it feels like I'm trying to hold onto something with slippery fingers. And the more I try, the more I feel like I'm failing... at everything.
Basketball feels like pressure now, not passion. Scouts are watching. Coach is on my ass. My dad keeps saying I need to be "better." Not good. *Better.* Always better. And i should drop all of it at the same timeZania... she's the only thing I have that feels like home. Except even she's been feeling distant, and I don't know if it's her... or if I'm the one fading.
After my lift session, I see my phone blowing up in the locker room.
**Zania:** *Practice done. Wanna grab lunch after?***Zania:** *Or are you with the boys today?***Zania:** *Just lmk.***Zania:** *Nvm, I'll just eat alone.*
My chest drops.I stare at the last text longer than I should.I should text back.I should run to her.But I don't.Instead, I sit there, drenched in sweat, feeling like a coward.
And for the first time since I met her, I wonder...When did loving her start to feel like a responsibility instead of a choice?
YOU ARE READING
when i fell for the wrong player
Teen FictionHe was my forever, until he became my heartbreak. Zania Carter, 19, captain of the college volleyball team, has loved Safeer Smith for four years. He's the star basketball player, her first love, her safe place... until one drunken night at a colle...
