Lucy couldn’t believe that what Blue’s dad had said was true. After ten days, Blue still hadn’t called or texted anything new. Just that final message about them being done that had made her want to throw her phone across the room. Of course, when the news broke about his father resigning as Athletic Director and police still considering charges against Jesse Reed and some of the other men involved, she understood how serious it was.

It made sense that Blue didn’t want anything to do with her, but the way he’d just cut her off completely and left her out in the dark was still hard to swallow.

So she went to work and did her job and tried to think of ways to make amends for the people who had been hurt, but kept coming up empty. Charges were being pressed against the people who had started the fight and destroyed property. The only thing Lucy could really think of to help the situation was to refuse to press charges against anyone.

Beth, Sheila, and Jazmine—all loyal Lobos, though not as rabid as Lucy—were furious at first and pushed her to sue, but once Lucy explained where she was coming from, they had backed off into supporting roles, and helped keep her spirits up. Going out with them a few times over the last week and a half had been a lifesaver for Lucy. That and a bunch of exercise to try to keep her mind off it all.

The university was covering the hospital bills of the people who’d been injured, but it still killed Lucy that she’d been the trigger of it all. If only she could go back and change that one decision

Lucy hadn’t been able to avoid the coverage of the event entirely, but she’d avoided what she could. It was just too painful to watch. That guy who had filmed the whole thing had put it up on YouTube. Part of Lucy wanted to see everything and know everything, but a big part of her knew that she’d see Blue, standing back and not coming to help her. Whether he was laughing along with his dad, or just too bored, or whatever, she didn’t want to see it.

Then she’d see him suddenly decide to step in and suddenly become her protective Hulk, barreling through guys in the skybox, then leading her through the crowd like a bulldozer, then once she thought he was done for and was going to be torn apart, emerging explosively so that he could lead her to safety again.

She didn’t want to relive the sense of being abandoned.

She didn’t want to fall in love all over again.

It seemed contradictory that she could feel both of those simultaneously, but nothing made sense ever since the stupid skybox decision.

Lucy’s cell phone rang and she grabbed for it like a falling woman reaching for a handhold. Then she relaxed. It wouldn’t be Blue. Not at this point. Not after so long.

Chato. That was weird. He hadn’t called her since she’d gotten home from Peru. What was wrong? What else could possibly go wrong?

“Hello?” said Lucy.

“Lucía,” said Abuelita, then launched into a string of Spanish too fast and unexpected for Lucy to follow.

“Abuelita,” said Lucy, switching her mind into Spanish mood. “Slowly. Please.”

She translated in her mind as Abuelita said, “What is going on up there? I saw the videos from the university. What is going on with you and Blue?”

Also in Spanish, Lucy responded, “Well, nothing really. Ever since … well, you saw it. No, his father and I talked and he hates me, and basically Blue doesn’t want anything to do with me.”

“Oh, you forget all about his father,” said Abuelita in her confident, colloquial Spanish. “You think anyone wanted your little princess of a mom to get involved with the son of immigrants? The Rhoades were like some sort of royalty in Albuquerque and here she comes and falls for a guy who barely speaks English.”

“Sounds like she had a hard decision to make.”

“No,” said Abuelita immediately. “Her decision was easy. It was already made because she knew she could fall in love with whoever she wanted. It was her family that had to decide if they would keep loving her.”

Having grown up much closer to her mother’s side of the family, since they lived in the States, Lucy had never heard the story from this angle. She knew it was a rich girl-poor guy story like Rose and Jack from Titanic, but until falling in love herself, it hadn’t meant so much to her. Money wasn’t an issue between her and Blue, but family sure was.

Abuelita was still talking and Lucy had to rush to translate it all into English so she didn’t fall behind. “You are going to have a hard time with that Mr. Reed. I saw him in the video. Imagine punching your own father.”

“What are you talking about?”

“In the video,” said Abuelita. “Chato showed it to me.”

“On YouTube? Wait,” Lucy wondered if she’d misinterpreted. “Golpear?” she said in Spanish. “Un puñetazo?”

“Of course,” said Abuelita. “A punch in the face.”

Lucy still couldn’t believe it. “Blue gave his dad a punch in the face? Why?”

“Well, girl, because he was trying to stop him from rescuing you. Don’t tell me you haven’t watched it.”

That explained a lot but also raised a lot of questions. At least now Lucy knew why he’d taken so long to come to her aid once things took a bad turn. But why would he go so far as to punch his dad in the face, only to completely turn his back on her and ignore her? Lucy’s phone was working; she’d checked it over and over, but he hadn’t responded to a single text and he hadn’t called her. She was going to have to watch that video after all.

“No, Abuelita. I couldn’t bring myself to watch it. I shouldn’t have been up there at all. The mascots are supposed to stay down on one corner of the field.”

“Garbage,” said Abuelita. “You made a bad decision. No one can blame their decisions that were far worse on you.”

“But people got really hurt, and a lot of property was damaged, and Blue’s dad was fired.”

“More garbage.” Abuelita was hearing none of it. “Did you punch anyone?”

“No.”

“Tell anyone to start a revuelta?” Revuelta? The word was unfamiliar. Oh, it was a revolt or a riot.

“No.”

“Throw chairs?”

“No, Abuelita,” said Lucy. Apparently the story had reached South America in full.

“That is right. So stop blaming yourself. Make your apology and move forward in your life. And talk to Blue. At least talk.”

“But he won’t return my calls or texts.”

“When your grandfather courted me, we didn’t need phones or emails or any of that. When Blue fell in love with you, it wasn’t because of a text.”

Could Lucy really do it? Could she approach him face to face when he’d made it so clear that he wanted absolutely nothing to do with her? After that text about how he wanted her to leave him alone forever, how would he react to seeing her in person? It could be very, very awkward.

But everything had started with a bad decision on Lucy’s part, and like Abuelita said, she needed to apologize, then move on. And until she knew that Blue had heard her apology and acknowledged it, even if he couldn’t accept it, she’d never be able to move on and forgive herself.

“I’ll do it,” said Lucy. “It’s going to take a few weeks to get a trip to Utah together, but I’ll go, and I’ll make him see me.”

“Chica,” said Abuelita. Girl. She went on in Spanish. “You can’t wait three weeks. Find a way to go sooner. Find him, before he starts thinking he can live without you.”

“But I can’t take any more time off work after that trip to Peru. I’m stuck here in New Mexico.” Maybe she could swing a Friday night to Sunday trip. Her bank account would let out a death rattle, but two days was more than enough to show up and make him listen to her apology.

“Then get him to come to New Mexico or catch him when he is there. Don’t wait.”

Lucy was still making flight plans in her head when Abuelita said, “I love you, bye,” and ended the call.

“Adios,” said Lucy into the dead phone.

There was no time to waste. It was Tuesday and there was no way she could go any sooner than Friday. A quick internet search brought up airline tickets for $300. She could swing it, but she wouldn’t be able to afford to eat once she got there. But Friday was three days away and after talking with Abuelita she didn’t think she could wait that long to see him. Driving was a cheaper option, but at ten and a half hours each way, it would have to be a there and back trip. So many options, but none of them good

Wait. The YouTube video. Abuelita had seen what Lucy had experienced through a vision-obscured helmet. Abuelita knew why Blue hadn’t come directly to her aid, and there was more behind it than Lucy imagined.

At YouTube.com she searched “Lobo Lucy at NMSU” then reluctantly added “fight”. The first search result was what she was looking for, what she’d been avoiding, but the title called it a riot instead of a fight. Just don’t read the comments, she told herself as she clicked Play.

And there she was, standing in the skybox as a group of five or six guys surrounded her. The guy with the video was standing a ways back from the door so he couldn’t catch the entire scene, but she could see Blue coming to stand next to the man she now recognized as Mr. Reed and two other, smaller men. He only stood there for a few seconds as the men’s taunts grew more vicious and lewd. Thankfully the audio on the recording couldn’t pick up what they were saying.

Just as the men started spinning Lucy around by twisting her shoulders, Blue came forward, but one of the short men with Blue stepped in front of him and put his hands on Blue’s chest. Blue side stepped and the guy put his hands out to still block him. Blue spun like he was trying to get past a lineman, but the other short guy was there blocking him.

Even from the grainy video, Lucy could see shock on Blue’s face as he looked at his father’s friends or associates or whatever they were to his father. When his eyes came back up to look at Lucy in trouble, they grew wide and he put one hand on each man’s chest and pushed. They tumbled back like bowling pins, but as Blue stepped forward with murder in his eyes, his shirt collar clothes-lined him back.

Blue’s dad had a hold of Blue’s collar from behind. He was much closer to Blue’s broad stature and had been bracing for the impact. Lucy couldn’t hear what he said but she saw his lips moving. She also couldn’t see Blue’s face, but for a long second or so he looked at his dad. Maybe he said something back, but it seemed as if there was only time for recognition of who had horse-collared him.

So fast she almost missed it, Blue’s hand lashed out and into his father’s face, who immediately released the collar. Abuelita was right! He’d decked his dad in the face!

Next, Blue spun back to where Lucy now lay on the ground and charged forward in full Hulk mode, taking out three of her assailants on his first sweep through them, then proceeded to clean up the rest of them with more punches and some impressive wrestling throws.

Quicker than seemed possible, he was helping Lucy up from the ground. Trying to help her, but she was slapping away his offered arm.

Where was the delay? Where was that 30 to 60 seconds where she had been on her own while he did who knew what?

Lucy backed up the video. From the time Blue stepped up next to his dad until the first hand touched her was about two seconds. Eight seconds after that, Lucy was on the ground, and just one second later, Blue had reached the circle and was mowing down the other guys. Eleven seconds was the entirety of the incident once the first guy had touched her? She would have sworn it was closer to a minute.

Once again she played it back, watching closely to see if anything had been cut, but the video was complete and unedited.

Blue hadn’t abandoned her. The second he realized she might be in trouble, he had come toward her. True, he had taken care at first to get away from the two little men who had tried to stop him with hurting them, but once Lucy was really scared, he hadn’t hesitated to use physical force to send them flying away like the pesky boys they were.

Even his father hadn’t delayed him more than about three seconds, despite his best efforts. Blue hadn’t wasted time talking to him or trying to wrestle out of his grip. And he hadn’t lashed out blindly like the real Hulk would. He registered that it was his dad keeping him from her, and with just enough time to show that it wasn’t a gut reaction, he decked him.

Then he’d rushed to her aid, as if she was in mortal danger, which was exactly how she’d felt at the time. Looking back, and seeing the video, she got a different feeling. It wasn’t fun by any means, and even watching again she was praying for a hero to step up, but there was no risk of death or rape or any of the other unlikely scenarios that had played through her mind when the incident had happened.

Then again, there was no audio now. And there were the tears rolling down her cheeks as she relived it. And there was Blue, standing over her after vanquishing half a dozen attackers and holding out a hand.

Lucy had been wrong this whole time. Yes, she had told herself that she was apologetic and took the blame, but there had been a lot of blame in her for Blue letting her suffer on her own at the hands of his friends. And blame for him not reaching out to her to explain himself. When really, out of everyone involved in the situation, he was the only one who had done nothing wrong.

So why, why, why had he been so silent?

Lucy was done sitting around and waiting. She was going to find out as soon as humanly possible, and if it turned out that what Blue’s dad had said about Blue not wanting to see her, so be it. But Lucy would not sit and wait any longer.

Now, if she just had a plan.