The morning after the incident at New Mexico State, Lucy sucked it up and dialed the number she’d been staring at for the last ten minutes. Through her mom, who was already talking about a lawsuit against NMSU, Lucy had obtained Blue’s father’s cell phone number. Before Lucy approached Blue, she wanted to reach out to his dad and apologize for how everything had turned out. The media had been having a heyday with the coverage for the last twelve hours.

“Hello.”

Oh, boy, he did not sound happy.

“Mr. Reed? This is Lucy Avila. I’m the former mas—”

“I know who you are.” That was it. No other comment or opening.

“I’m really sorry about … everything that went down yesterday. It wasn’t my intention—”

“What was your intention?” he shot. Without giving her time to answer he said, “Your cute little stunt turned into the biggest media circus in a year. My university hasn’t been involved in a scandal like this since the email scandal in 2008! You have no idea what your little unsanctioned visit will cost.”

Lucy knew the details. Over a hundred people arrested. At least 31 treated at the hospital. None dead, thank goodness. If anyone had lost their life, Lucy didn’t know how she’d live with herself. But the repercussions had only just started. The little bit of media coverage that Lucy had allowed herself to watch painted Jeff Reed as the evil architect of the whole disaster.

Like the idiots in the skybox last night who had treated her as if she wasn’t a real person, just a big cartoon, the media had given Lucy a free pass as if she didn’t have free will. As if she hadn’t been the one who had made such horrible decisions. She had been working on a public apology most of the day but before it went public she wanted to reach out personally. Blue’s dad wasn’t making it easy.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Reed. As I said—”

“Twenty-four hours ago, I was on the short list of candidates to take over as university president next summer. I had a ten-million-dollar donation within my reach. Now, because of the stupid actions of a selfish, immature girl, I’ll be lucky if I keep my job and there’s a chance I do jail time!”

Lucy was aware of that. In the hours she’d spent with the police the night before, they had asked repeatedly if she planned to press charges. The last thing the situation needed was escalation due to her vengeance; she wouldn’t pursue any sort of legal retribution against Mr. Reed or his guests. She also wouldn’t sit here and let him scream at her and call her a stupid girl.

She told him, “I’m sure we can be civil about this.” It was the first sentence he had allowed her to finish, but he wasn’t about to let her go on.

“Civil? Civil!”

Lucy could practically see the red rising from his neck to his face.

“Where was civility when you led the unwashed swine of your so called university into a private viewing box, and like the animals that they are, they trashed it. No surprise there. And yet, who is the media looking at? Not the people who caused tens of thousands of dollars in damage. Not the ones who started a brawl. And of course not the cute little innocent Loco Lucy, who is content to sit back and laugh as everyone fights to clean up the mess she caused. I can only hope that when Blue’s brother Jesse gets involved with a woman, he seeks out a higher class of person, say, a convict, or a prostitute. That would be less embarrassing to the Reed name.”

“I did not call so that you could abuse and demean me. I do not have to listen—”

He said something, trying to interrupt her, but Lucy pushed on.

“—to your insults, but if you would like to discuss this like adults, I am willing to take responsibility for my role in the events.” At some point in there, her voice had caught with anger or some other emotion and Lucy hoped it wasn’t misinterpreted. The last thing she wanted to do in front of this bully was cry.

He laughed. A mocking, cruel, scoffing laugh. “Adults. Now you want to act like an adult? That’s rich, I don’t think you even know what the word means. So why don’t you just go off and cry to someone who cares, all while you blame someone else for your asinine actions. Just don’t come crawling to Blue. He doesn’t want anything to do with you after you embarrassed, no, humiliated him in front of the entire country. You want to know his exact words? How could I have been so stupid? How did I not see that that girl was nothing but a selfish, out of control little bi—”

Lucy hung up, wishing she had been recording the conversation. The media would have killed for that kind of scoop. Oh how the New Mexico Board of Regents would love to hear how a major university’s Athletic Director talked to a woman who had already been assaulted by his friends right in front of him.

No, that kind of vengeance was misplaced and unproductive. As pointless as the tears trickling down her face. It had been hard to find the courage to call and apologize, and being treated like that was not what she’d expected. She’d been certain that the incident with the drunk guys and the pushing and vulgar words was all just a fluke that had been out of Mr. Reed’s hands, but apparently that was the type of behavior common to the boys’ club in his skybox. Apparently that’s the kind of family Blue was raised in—put on a professional face to keep up the image, but when you are alone, then let your true self come out.

That’s what hurt the most. Lucy thought she had Blue pegged for a man of integrity, yet he had stood back way too long watching and listening as his friends assaulted and demeaned her. No one wants to stand up to their father, but so many lines were crossed before Blue found his backbone.

What happened to the stand-up guy who had taken her on the vacation of her dreams with no strings attached? Hadn’t it been Blue who lost the game of Chicken when she acted like she was going to take off her shirt? Where was the firefighter hero who had saved Tia Santa’s life? Who had she stayed up with later than the moon on the side of a cliff without being scared of being taken advantage of? Was it really the same guy? Had he really said the things his dad claimed?

It just didn’t sound like the Blue she knew. And, it was easy enough to find out. Blinking through tears, Lucy found Blue’s contact and dialed. Almost immediately the phone started to ring. And it continued to ring. And with each ring, Lucy’s confidence faded. He knew it was Lucy calling and he wouldn’t even pick up and talk to her? Didn’t even have the decency to tell her himself that he didn’t want anything to do with her.

But what about the guy who’d she’d spent hours and hours talking to on the plane as if they’d known each other their whole lives, but somehow couldn’t live without knowing more about each other? That was the guy she had to talk to.

The tone chimed for a message.

“Blue? It’s Lucy. I’m … I don’t even know how to say how sorry I am about everything that happened. I understand you’re angry and I want you to know that I’m sorry and I want to talk to you about it. Please call me. Let’s talk. I was mad yesterday … and … I just don’t even know what else to say. I really hurt a lot of people, and I hope you can forgive me. At least give me a chance to apologize to you.” She was about to hang up, but knew there was something else she wanted to say and also knew the voicemail would cut her off any time, so she just blurted without thinking, “And I want to give you a chance to explain yourself—”

Another beep indicated the end of the message recording time and a voice asked if she wanted to re-record the message. She did want to, but she was afraid she would chicken out, and the rambling words she’d already left were better than nothing at all. Even the last thought about explaining himself. She didn’t really know if she wanted the explanation or if she just wanted to give him a chance to explain. Did it really matter?

Lucy darkened her phone and stared at the blank screen. It would take a few minutes for him to listen to the voicemail and call her back, and that was after he even got the message. She still didn’t believe that he would completely ignore her call or that he had said what his dad said. Maybe he and his dad were having a conversation right now about how Mr. Reed had treated her on the phone.

Waiting was driving Lucy crazy. What if he didn’t realize he’d missed a call? Just to be safe, she sent a text message. Just want to make sure you got my voicemail. I’m really sorry about yesterday. Call me.

And that was it. The pressure lifted immediately from Lucy’s shoulders. Yeah, she still had to send out her public apology, and do everything possible to make the rest of the situation right, or at least do what little she could, but the part of the scandal that she’d been most worried about—doing what she could to repair fences with Blue—was behind her. She’d done everything short of driving to his house and barging in on him. The last time she’d shown up unexpected, it hadn’t turned out well.

Of its own volition, Lucy’s hand went to her phone and the screen came alive. Blue was drafting a reply! She could see the three little dots. For minutes she watched the screen, waking it up every time it started to go to sleep. What was taking so long? Was there a chance Mr. Reed was being honest and Blue was drafting the official break-up text?

Lucy jumped when her phone vibrated.

You really hurt my family, Lucy. I don’t see how we could ever get past that. I have to put my family first, and I could never be with someone who has hurt us so bad. It’s over, Lucy. I’m sorry, but I need you to just leave me alone. There is no more Blucy.

There was the proof. It had to be Blue because no one else knew about that silly nickname. She was looking at the end of the best thing in her life.

“It wasn’t me!” shouted Lucy at her phone. “I didn’t do it! I just wanted to have a little fun with the rivalry and get a playful shot in at your Aggie-loving dad and brother! I’m sorry!” Tears turned to racking sobs. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.” Her chest and her voice shook as she repeated that over and over.

And she was sorry. Sorry that she’d made one big, dumb mistake and sorry that she’d been stupid enough to think Blue was someone different than he really was. How could she spend so much time so close to him and not see it? Stupid. No wonder she was still single. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Apparently Blue’s bully dad had been right—Lucy was as stupid as they came.