TWENTY-SEVEN
Brooke
Austin called the next morning and invited me to breakfast. He sounded hungover, and sorry. I agreed to meet him, but walked over instead of letting him drive me. We both needed to say we were sorry. We both needed the truth.
“So, what are we going to do about the Jocelyn situation?” He asked after we ordered.
I smiled at the word “we.”
“Well, I should move out right away, but I have nowhere else to go. And I feel sorry for her. She’s not going to be able to come up with the money to break the lease.”
“Is your name on it?”
“Yeah, but I’ve got some money saved up. I can pay a few months to get out of there, but I still don’t have anywhere to go.”
“You could move in with me?”
“And Trey and your other roommates? No thank you.”
He laughed.
“They’re not that bad.”
“It’s going to be a big enough adjustment living with you.”
“Oh, yeah? You think so?”
I felt his hand rubbing my back.
“You don’t?”
He glanced away a moment.
“Yeah, I guess it freaks me out too. We fight so much.”
“Over stupid stuff,” I said.
“Mostly stupid.”
“I didn’t mean like unimportant stupid. Jocelyn is causing a lot of drama. I thought I could trust her, but now…”
My voice trailed off.
“You don’t trust her anymore?”
“No, and I do trust you.” I stared into his eyes. “Can I trust you?”
He answered with a kiss as the waitress returned with our medium pineapple and ham pizza and pitcher of iced tea.
“Thank you,” Austin said to the waitress.
She walked away.
“Do you thinking someone actually even threatened her, or do you think she made it all up?” He asked.
“It makes sense why she ran out of the police station so fast. But honestly, I have no idea. You know what she’s like. She could have plenty of enemies out there.”
“We need to agree that Jocelyn isn’t going to come between us.”
“That’s up to you, too. If I recall, you’re the one…”
“Okay,” I said, cutting him off. “I’m to blame too. We both let her manipulate us.”
He picked up a slice and took a bite off the end, cheese trailing from his mouth. After sprinkling some parmesan cheese on mine, I bit off a healthy-sized piece.
“You want to come back to my place? After we finish eating?” he asked.
I sighed, thinking of what was waiting for me back at my apartment.
“No, I should go to my place and let Jocelyn know I’m moving out. Maybe I can find someone who wants to sublet their room or something. Just until we get this all figured out.”
“Maybe. I’ll ask around.”
“Thanks,” I said. “For everything.”
“Don’t mention it.”
He scooted off the bench and stood up. As I looked up at him, the smile vanished from his face. I craned my neck to see over the back of the booth.
“Hey, Coach,” Austin said.
The way his voice caught in his throat told me this wasn’t good.
“Austin. I heard you might be here.”
“Heard from who?”
“Doesn’t matter. You know my team rules, right?”
“Yes, Coach.”
“And you’re breaking one of them right now. That’s not good for you.”
I glanced around the dining room, seeing quite a few people looking at us, but I didn’t recognize any of them. Had one of them called the football coach on us? What was the big deal, anyway?
“Hello,” I said, standing up and offering my hand. “I’m…”
“This is my cousin Brooke,” Austin blurted out.
“Your cousin, huh?”
The coach turned his attention to me. I smiled and bent my elbow to raise my hand close to my chest in a mini-wave.
“I’m his cousin. Nice to finally meet you.”
“You better not be lying to me, Austin.”
“I’m not, Coach. I know your rules, and I appreciate you helping me go pro.”
“I know a lot of people,” he said. “And my rules are in place for a reason. I can’t have you go making a fool of me, now can I?”
“No, Coach.”
“I should go,” I said. “Talk to you at the family reunion, cuz.”
He nodded his head at me. I walked away, wondering what the hell had just happened. Was it really that serious? None of it made sense.
On the way home, the confusion turned to anger. Had Austin really chosen football over me? Was that stupid ball of his more important than me?
I stopped thinking clearly as I got worked up the closer I got to my apartment. Would I not be moving after all? All the drama pissed me off.
Why couldn’t any of this be easy?