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Broken Ties 9
I shoved away the sinking feeling in my chest. I had three colleges on my list: Pittsburgh, Connecticut, and Iowa. But things had moved slow last year. Coach Ford and Dad constantly reassured me not to worry, that I still had time. But how could I not? I wasn’t like Sofia. I didn’t have my future all mapped out or a 4.0 GPA. I was an average student with average life goals. Except for football.Football was my shot at being something, at making my mark.“Hey, you okay?” Ezra noticed my sullen expression.“Yeah.” I gave him an easy smile. Because that’s what people expected of me. I was the laid-back one, the joker, the good guy. I didn’t take myself—or life—too seriously.“Hey, you guys want to go to Riverside after we’re done here?”“No can do, I’m meeting Ashleigh. We’re going out with McKay and Pen,” Ezra said, dragging his jersey over his head.“Of course you are.” I smiled. He and Ashleigh spent a lot of time with Gavin McKay and his girlfriend Penelope. But McKay was good people
Broken Ties 10
“What? I just want to know that the first girl to catch your eye in forever is worth it.” Leo smiled, but I was too caught on his words.Eli’s new girl.New girl.His girl.My chest tightened and I inhaled a sharp breath. “Me and Poppy go way back, yeah.” “So is she?” He stared at me expectantly.“Is she what?” I gawked, confused.“Is she worth it?” Fuck.Well that was the million dollar question, wasn’t it.No.Say no.But I pasted on a fake smile and said, “Yeah.” I almost choked on the words. “She’s worth it.”Poppy“DO YOU HAVE TO SHOW OFF?” Sofia asked me as I flipped over again.Traipsing over to her, I dropped down onto the end of the lounger. “I need to burn off some steam.”“Can’t you do it without looking so… graceful?” Her lips twisted, and I returned her smile.“You’re just jealous you’re not as bendy as I am.”“Maybe.” She chuckled. “I have brains. You have brains and bendiness. It doesn’t seem fair somehow.”“You do know bendiness isn’t officially a word, right?”“It is
Broken Ties 11
“She doesn’t need to be. Leo is one of the best guys I know.” His eyes lingered for a second and then he motioned for me to get in.“Leo, Sofia. Sofia, this is my best friend, Leo.”“Hey.” He barely looked twice at her, and I was aware of a strange tension between them.“Hi,” Sofia clipped out.“Everything okay?” I whispered.“Fine.” She smiled but quickly averted her eyes.Crap.“Ready to bowl?” Eli chimed, either unaware of the atmosphere in the car or trying to gloss over it.“I can hardly wait,” Leo murmured.My brows crinkled. He didn’t seem too pleased to be here, and Sofia looked less than impressed at her date for the evening.“I can’t wait,” I said with fake bravado.Maybe this was a bad idea.But it was too late now.“Oh my God.” Sofia grabbed my hand and held me back while the guys headed for our lane. “This is the worst. He doesn’t want to be here.”“I’m sure that’s not true. Maybe he’s just having a bad day.”“I love you, babe, but you’re a terrible liar. He hasn’t looked
Broken Ties 12
“Is he trying to piss me off?” Sofia glared at Leo as he sat, more interested in whatever was on his cell phone than our conversation.After bowling we’d gone to Cindy’s Grill for something to eat, but the whole date had gone from bad to worse.Sofia had won at bowling, which only sent Leo spiraling into an even worse mood. Eli got pissedat him and the two of them had a heated discussion on the ride over here, and Sofia wanted to leave.But I’d begged her to stay, hoping that we still might salvage the night.I was rapidly losing hope though.“Dude.” Eli elbowed his friend in the side and Leo winced.“What the hell was that for?”“Poppy asked you a question.”“She did?”“You’d know if you were listening—”“Okay, I’m done.” Sofia shot up. “I’ve tried, I really have. But I’m done. I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?” She gave me a small smile, but it didn’t reach her eyes.And I got it, I did.If our roles were reversed, I would have wanted to leave too.“We’ll give you a ride home,” Eli said
Broken Ties 13
A question I had no intention of answering.What if it didn’t?At lunch, I stopped by Mom’s office to see if she wanted anything. It was something I did sometimes, to spread a little love to one of the most important women in my life. But when I approached her slightly ajar door, Coach Ford’s voice made me stop dead in my tracks.“Dammit,” Mom said. “You’re sure?”“Yeah, spoke to him myself. They’re not interested.”“It’s his top pick, he’s going to be devastated.” No.No.I scanned the empty hall, checking that the coast was clear before inching closer.“The bottom line is they have better players on their list. Aaron is good, but he’s—”“Not good enough.” Mom sighed, and I could imagine her brows pinched with motherly concern.“What do we do now?”“Wait to see what Connecticut and Iowa say. Maybe try and get him to think about some Division II or III teams. He might stand more of a chance. Or he stays the course, applies to one of his top picks for an academic program and tries to g
Broken Ties 14
Relief flowed through me and I nodded. “Can we go for a ride?” “Yeah.” She smiled but it didn’t reach her eyes. “Okay.”“Ready to talk about it?” Poppy asked.We’d gotten ice creams from Sprinkles before I’d driven us down to our spot down by the lake.“Pittsburgh doesn’t want me.”“Oh, Aaron, I’m sorry. I know how much you wanted to go there.” I shrugged. “It’s no big deal.” The lie gnawed at my insides.“Is that why we’re eating our body weight in ice cream sitting out here?” A knowing smile played on her lips.Fuck, she was beautiful. All that long dark hair and thick dark lashes that framed her big green eyes. Everyone thought she was all her mom. But whenever she looked at me with that intense gaze of hers, I saw her father.Something I’d spent years trying to ignore, only to remember twice as hard whenever my thoughts wandered into less than innocent places.“Oh God, do I have sauce on my face or something?” She blushed, grabbing the sun visor and pulling it down to check the mi
Broken Ties 15
Lily wasn’t like me. She was shy and quiet and found it difficult being around a lot of people. Mom was constantly fussing over her. She didn’t fuss over me. In fact, when Lily was going through a rough patch, she barely even had time for me.“Hey, what’s with the frown?” Aaron slung his arm around me and I laid my head on his shoulder.I loved Aaron’s hugs. He always made me feel so safe and cherished. I didn’t tell him though because his ego was already big enough, but he really was the greatest.Aaron the Greatest. I smothered a laugh. Maybe it did have a nice ring to it.“Am I a bad person for being jealous?” “Of Lily?” He frowned.“No, of course not, it’s horrible for her. I mean, the way Mom is always there. Like the two of them have this special club that I’m not a part of.”“They do not have a special club, Poppy.”“Sometimes, it feels like they do. Like earlier, I tried to go and say hi and see if Lily was okay and Mom basically shooed me away.”“I’m sure that’s not—”“Aaron,
Broken Ties 16
In time, my feelings for Aaron would fade into the background. And I wouldn’t look at him and feel the ground shift beneath me. Feel the butterflies take flight in my stomach, my heart pounding inside my chest.“Listen, do you want—” Aaron’s cell phone started blaring and he muttered something under his breath, grabbing it from its holster.“What?”“Yeah, she’s with me.” He turned to me and mouthed, ‘Sofia.’ “No, we’re not—Sofe, it isn’t any of your business. Yeah, yeah, okay. Bye.”He hung up and exhaled a long breath.“Everything okay?” I asked, aware that once again things felt tense between us.Sofia wouldn’t make a big thing about us hanging out together, but she would have questions.Sure enough, my cell vibrated and a faint smile traced my lip at her predictability.Sofe: What’s going on?Me: Aaron wanted to talk, so we’re talking.Sofe: Together… alone… in his car?Me: One point to you!Sofe: I want details. ALL the details later.“Let me guess. She wants to know what’s going
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