“You didn’t tell me about the paint.”
“What?” Toby panted as we ran around the outside of the field.
“The paint,” I breathed out. “Alexis painted on Daisy’s dorm room wall.”
He didn’t say anything for a minute, and we overtook Ed, who cursed us out. “Honestly? I didn’t know. What’d it say?”
My teeth gritted. “Not important. It isn’t true anyway.”
Glancing at him quickly, I saw him nod and knew he’d probably figured out what it said.
Or something close enough.
“Less chitchat, Burnell! Or you can do twenty more while everyone else hits the showers.”
Cringing at the coach’s booming voice, I shut my head off as much as I could and picked up speed.
The locker room was abuzz with talk of the upcoming away game against Allenby Heights, one of our greatest rivals, but I didn’t really give a shit. My stomach wouldn’t stop curdling, as if I’d drunk spoiled milk. The look on Daisy’s face before she closed the door remained on the forefront of my mind. Shutting off the shower, I grabbed my towel and padded out to my locker to get dressed.
The last thing I felt like doing was heading to a day of back-to-back classes. I’d rather be at home, nursing my wounded pride and trying to figure out what to do next.
“So,” Toby said, catching up with me outside, “you saw her last night?”
I kept walking. “Yes, for all the good it did me.”
“Aww, you got your ass turned down for once, Quinny boy?”
Flicking some damp hair from my face, I muttered, “Shut the fuck up.”
Toby chuckled. “You know, some might say you’re crazy for jumping right into another relationship anyway. Or at least trying to.”
That had me stopping and turning to face him. “Why?” The look he gave me was full of amused surprise. I sighed and continued, “I tried to move on. Hell, I thought I damn well did.”
“And there she was again.” Toby nudged my shoulder, and we started walking again.
“Yeah. Made me feel like all I’d done was put a Band-Aid on a gaping wound. What’s the point in trying to ignore that kind of ache? It only gets worse. It’ll always be there.”
“It’ll always be her, you mean?”
I liked Toby for a lot of reasons, the main one being that we could discuss shit like this without getting called a pussy or being met with awkward, stilted answers or silence.
“Yeah, just her.”
We walked into the cafeteria; the smell of pancakes, sausage, and bacon filled my nose and made my mouth water.
“Well then,” he said as we joined the short line. “Why you still moping about it?”
“What do you mean? I’m not moping.” My shoulders pulled back defiantly.
With laughter in his voice, he said, “Yeah, man. You’re totally moping. Looking like someone stole all your presents on Christmas morning.”
“That bad?”
“Yep.”
I ran a hand through my hair, tousling the wet strands. “I don’t know what to do.”
After ordering, I stepped to the side to wait. When Toby joined me, he asked, “About Daisy? Why?”
“What do you mean, why? She shut the door in my face.”
He shrugged, shaking his head like it was nothing. “You haven’t been shut down much in your life, have you?”
When I thought about it, I realized that no, I hadn’t. “Don’t give me shit. Just tell me what I should do.”
Toby smirked, walking over to grab a few napkins. “You simply keep knocking, dude.”
“Hey, Quinn,” some brunette said, wiggling her fingers at me as her and her friend stepped by me to walk inside. I had no idea who she was, so I gave her a small smile and returned my attention to my phone.
Waiting outside Daisy’s dorm on the steps didn’t exactly feel like my finest moment. The rain didn’t exactly help matters either, but whatever. I’d do what I needed to.
The only problem was, I’d been here since three, and it was now nearing six p.m. I had no idea where she was, if I’d missed her, or if she’d seen me and decided to avoid me.
I thought about seeing if she was at work, but then I worried if I moved, I might miss her coming or going.
Looking down at the game I’d been playing on my phone, I watched as it hit six o’clock and got up. I’d been sitting under the small awning, so I wasn’t completely drenched, but I was fucking cold.
My ass felt numb, and my backpack was kind of wet as I slung it over my shoulder. Ducking my head, I stepped down the steps then stopped when I saw another brunette running down the sidewalk toward me.
No, not toward me, toward her dorm.
“Pippa,” I said, stepping back out of the rain, my chest filling with relief.
She froze, her hand going to her chest. “Jesus, don’t scare me like that.”
Smiling apologetically, I asked, “Is Daisy in?”
Pippa studied me, her brows lowering over her green eyes. “No, she’s not.”
Okay then. This would be harder than I thought. “Can you tell me where she is?” I gave her my best pleading look. “Please?”
Sighing, she looked around, then leaned against the doors. “Making her wait after what you guys did was a pretty shitty thing to do. No, what you guys did was pretty shitty. A lot shitty. But she felt bad enough. She’s been torn up about you ever since we started here, and then this?”
“I know,” I murmured, looking away as my guilt manifested into something big enough to rip me in half. But I couldn’t give in to it. Or else I might miss out on another chance—what could be my last one—with the person who’d always mattered most to me. “I want to fix it. I’m trying to. I can’t do that if she won’t see me.”
“How long have you been sitting out here?”
Scratching the back of my head, my cheeks grew warm. “Uh … a few hours.”
“A few hours?” Her voice rose high above the pattering of rainfall.
“Yeah.”
She bit her lip, looking unsure for a second before saying, “She’s at work tonight.”
I cursed roughly, feeling like an idiot. “Right, I’ll head there then.”
“Quinn,” Pippa said, halting me at the bottom of the stairs. Raindrops splashed onto my cheeks, sliding down my neck and under my hoodie. “Don’t fuck it up again.”
Giving her a hopeful smile, I said, “I won’t. I can’t.” Then I marched off in the rain to find my girl.