I could not believe Rose was doing this right now, here of all places, after a crucial win against the Hollywood Stars. This was the last thing I needed right now. It was my comeback game after my two-game suspension. It was an intense game with emotions that were hard to settle down from, even after a quick shower in the locker room. I wanted nothing more than to drive home, change into my pajamas, open my bedroom window, and let the sound of the ocean waves crashing into the shore lull me to sleep.

Instead, Rose waited outside the locker room, completely ignoring the other girlfriends and wives who were waiting for their significant others as well, and jumping on me in front of the others.

“We need to talk,” she said so everyone could hear.

I looked around. The group of girlfriends - Emma, Harper, and others - looked away, pretending they hadn’t heard Rose’s words. Rose had never gotten close to the group - which I understood, to a degree. Rose was busy and she wasn’t a typical girlfriend. I do wish she would at least say hi, maybe go out with them every once in a while. Just do it so It wasn’t so awkward. Sometimes, I felt as though Rose wrote them off as insipid and dependent, maybe even women who craved money and and security. She saw herself as separate, as better, because when we met, she already had her own money and didn’t need mine.

The thing was, these women were not that way at all and Rose would see that, if only she gave them a chance.

“Let’s go to my car -“

“I’d rather not.”

I cut her a look. At the very least, she could have gotten into my car so no one would overhear us. There were too many people down here, too many ears. I had just gotten back from a suspension and I didn’t need anymore drama surrounding me right now. I wanted to focus. I wanted to concentrate on winning, on getting two points every game in order to make playoffs. I didn’t want to deal with this right now.

“Okay,” I said slowly. “Whatever you want to talk about, I don’t want to do it here.” I raised my brow, trying to emphasize my point.

She nodded. “That’s fair,” she said. “Where would you like to go?”

I thought for a moment. “The general parking lot,” I told her. “At least that way, no one will even notice we’re there.”

She nodded her head and proceeded to follow me up to the exit. I wished she had let us talk in my car. No one would be able to overhear us there, and on top of that, no one would suspect there was anything wrong with us. It would look like a couple having a discussion in the car.

Somehow I knew, deep down, that this wasn’t going to be a good conversation. I had an idea about what would happen when we spoke and for some reason, I was more concerned about what other people would think if they heard the conversation rather than the issues regarding the conversation in the first place.

After a moment in the elevator, we were on the ground floor. I nodded to the doorman as he held the exit open for us, and we walked out from a private doorway where no one could really overhear us unless they happened to be walking by. And even then, it was doubtful they would know who I was or recognize my voice.

“What’s going on?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest. I wanted to get this over with. My bag and keys were still in the locker room and I was starving. I wished we could have discussed it in my car while we were driving home.

“Drew, I don’t think I can do this anymore,” she said. I could see the sadness in her eyes, the regret, but also the determination too. “I’ve been with you for five years and you’ve known since the beginning that one of my goals, one of the things I wanted, was to settle down and have a family.”

I nodded. “Okay,” I acknowledged. “But you’ve known that I wanted to focus on my career.”

She nodded. “Yes,” she agreed. “I just thought we would both come to a point in our relationship when things got serious where we would talk about what we wanted, where we would start a new chapter in our lives.”

I refrained from rolling my eyes. I didn’t want to seem like a dick but starting a new chapter in our lives was not something I ever thought of doing... ever. Maybe professionally, sure. The phrase really pissed me off though, because it implied that it was so easy to do when, in reality, what she was asking me to do was completely against what I wanted.

“Rose, you forget that you’re the one leaving in July,” I pointed out before she could continue. “If you wanted to settle down, why even accept this offer?”

“Because it’s something I’ve been waiting for my entire career,” she replied. She looked at me for a long moment, her eyes running over my face. I wasn’t sure what she intended to do, if she was trying to read my face or communicate with her eyes or what. “And I realize that one of us has to budge.”

That caused me to pause. I glanced around. The arena was exiting. I could hear the shouts and whoops and low murmurs of talking amongst our fans. I wished I could be one of them right now rather than here, in this moment. I hated myself for even thinking that because Rose was special to me and I hated feeling that way about her.

“I want to follow my dream and have a career I’m passionate about and I’m progressing in,” she continued. “And I also want to have a family and be in a committed relationship. You want to have a career you’re progressing in and you’re proud of too, but you want to keep things light. You want a commitment and support but you don’t want to move forward from that. And that’s okay... but for you to have your dream, I have to give up mine.”

“I never said I didn’t want -“

“I know Drew,” she said, “but you can’t guarantee when you’ll want it, either. I hope you find someone who you’ll just know you want it with instantly, you know? I had that with you, but I’ve realized you didn’t have that with me. And that’s okay. It’s not your fault. I’ve accepted it. The long nights when you weren’t there... I think I’ve always known. I’m just not that girl for you. I’m not. I do hope you find her though.”

“Rose,” I said, my voice soft. I didn’t know what I wanted from her, because everything she said was the truth. All I could offer her was, “I’m sorry.”

“I am too,” she said. She kissed me on the cheek. “I’ll head home first and grab my things. Maybe when things settle down, we can stay in touch.”

As she disappeared into the crowd though, I highly doubted that would ever happen. Rose was gone for good.