Page 48 of Against the Clock

I shouldn’t have gotten mixed up with a football player.

My hands shake as I push the black bathroom door open. A huge mural of a beaver in a pink dress and an inexplicable coconut bra fills the space behind the sinks.

I stare at it, bracing my hands on the counter, trying to breathe.

I barely know Daniel Harrison. We’ve had a couple of fun times, yeah.

A cheer goes up outside, the Hot Dams filling the bar chanting Daniel’s name.

I am sick at the thought of him being hurt.

I pull my phone out of my back pocket, and before I can think better of it, I’m dialing his number, the taste of beer sour in my mouth.

It clicks through to voicemail.

“Daniel, it’s Kelsey,” I say, then pause. “I… you… I hope you’re okay. God, Daniel, I hope you’re okay.”

Cameron appears in the mirror next to me and she takes the phone from me, pressing the button to end the call.

“Babe,” she says, and I fling my arms around her, sobbing into her shoulder. “He’s okay, Kelsey. He got up.”

“That guy hurt him,” I say. “He hurt him on purpose, and for no reason.”

“Yeah, everyone knows Rhett Edwards is the biggest asshole in the league. Daniel’s okay though, Kels, he walked it off. He’s okay.”

I scrub the tears off my cheeks with the palm of my hand, and Cameron gives my shoulders a tiny shake.

“You really like him, huh?”

“It’s stupid,” I sniff a little and Cameron huffs a laugh, then pulls me in for a hug.

“How you feel isn’t stupid, Kels.”

“I hate football.”

“No,” she says on a sigh. “You don’t hate football. You looked like you were having fun tonight. You were having fun tonight. You hate what football took from your dad. You hate that the league didn’t help him like they should have.”

“Are you trying to make me cry?” I ask.

“Do you want me to be mean to you instead?” Cameron asks, squinting at me. “I could slap you if you want.” She raises her palm, wiggling her eyebrows and giving me a smile that’s pure evil.

“I barely know him,” I tell her, leaning my butt against the sink. And immediately regret it, cold water seeping through my jeans.

“You don’t have to be in love with someone to be worried when they get tackled like he did.” Cameron’s still scrutinizing me. “Especially with what your dad’s been through.”

I peek in the mirror, fixing some of the mascara currently migrating from my eyelashes.

“Kelsey, he’s okay. He was slow getting up, but he got up.”

“I just… I just don’t know if I can watch him get hurt,” I confess.

The bathroom door swings open and Cameron huddles close to me as a crew of half-drunk women push into the space.

“Are you guys waiting to go?” one says. Her friend grabs her wrist, her Hot Dam t-shirt tied up tight around her waist.

“Oh my god,” she says in a hushed whisper. “You’re that girl. From BeaverTok.”

“You guys,” the first girl screams. “It’s the girl that managed to get her claws in Daniel Harrison!”

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