Page 51 of Lost in the Current of You

He cleared his throat. “I’ll, uh, make sure to ice it when I get home then. For your peace of mind, of course.”

My lip twitched. “Of course.” I was silent for a moment before asking the question that had been rattling my mind. “What are you still doing here?”

At that, his jaw clenched and he looked away for a moment. The crease between his brow was back and I wanted to do anything to smooth it back down. But I waited instead.

“My dad drove me here for the game. Said he wanted to watch my game and the fool I was let him take me. But halfway through it, I watched him walk away with his phone to his ear and he got in his car and left. He just left me a text to say he’ll be back and to not leave until he does. So I declined all the lifts people offered me and I’ve been waiting for, I don’t know,” he glanced at his watch. “Two and a half hours.”

“Reece…” I started.

“Don’t. It’s fine. I’m fine. I thought I might as well get some practice in, right? It's probably what he expected of me.”

My heart pulled at the shadow of pain behind his eyes as he tried to make light of the situation. His voice betrayed him though with the way it shook on the last sentence and I couldn’t handle it. I turned around and started to walk away.

“Wait, where are you going?” His voice sounded alarmed and when I turned back to him, the sight of panic made my stomach drop.

“I’m coming around, just hold on.”

He sighed, the muscles in his shoulders relaxing at my words. I made my way to the gate, opened it, and when I turned around after shutting it, he was already making his way toward me. I couldn’t stop myself. My heart hurt for him. I rushed to him and wrapped my arms around his neck, squeezing him close and tight. He was stiff for a moment, but he was quick to wrap his arms around me in return and pull me closer. He tucked his face into the crook of my neck and I heard him release a shuddering breath.

I don’t know how long we stood there, holding each other as if it were the only thing that kept us standing, breathing in each other's comfort. His arms felt like the safest place I’d ever known, and I hoped it was the same for him. I wanted to be that for him.

His tight grip on the back of my shirt loosened and he pulled back slowly just to rest his forehead on mine. His eyes were closed as I peered up at him, tracing the curve of his eyebrows to his fluttering eyes and the bow of his lips. The sharpness that I had seen when I first got here had softened.

When he finally opened his bloodshot eyes, the sadness dissipated, and what took over had my heart stuttering. The way he looked at me was something I could only identify as adoration. His hands lazily trailed up my back, over the curve of my shoulders, and cupped my face.

He worked a swallow as his eyes flickered between my own. “I don’t know what I would do without you.”

I furrowed my brows as my lips ticked up. “I just hugged you, Reece. Nothing special.”

He shook his head. “It was much more —”

His words were cut off by a long horn sounding behind us and we jumped apart.

As Reece was facing the road behind me he was able to see who was there, and as soon as he did, his body went rigid. It was immediate, the look of detachment that overcome him and very much not like the person who just held me in his arms like I was his lifeline.

I turned, noticing a man half out of his car with a very stern look on his face. From the similar facial features, I knew immediately who he was.

“Get in the car, Reece,” his dad snapped.

Reece pressed his lips in a thin line as he nodded. “Yes, sir.” His tone was bitter and I’d never heard him speak like that.

He turned and grabbed the bucket, his glove, and bag from the ground next to the mound. Reece’s dad completely ignored my presence as he hopped back in the car. As Reece stormed past, his parting words were a muttered ‘I’m sorry’ and a flicker of a glance before he barreled through the gate and threw his things in the back seat of the sedan.

Once Reece was sitting in the passenger seat, Reece’s dad took off but not before I heard him start to berate Reece through the opened window.

“What do you think you’re doing? You think getting distracted by some blonde is going to get you to the big leagues?”

The rest was a muffled sound, but it stuck in my head and started swirling. It was a stab to the heart to be reduced to ‘some blonde’, but mostly to really witness what Reece had confided in me about — about the way his dad controlled him, about his hopes and dreams tugged like puppet strings by his father.

And all over again, I felt helpless. Wanting nothing more than to rescue him from the constraints.

20

It was Christmas day, which always seemed to turn out disastrous.

Dad always had a soft, caring heart, which unfortunately caused him to invite Mum to our Christmas dinners.

Mum didn’t have any family around here to celebrate with. Her parents – my Gran and Pop – had passed a few years earlier and her uncles and aunts lived in other states, so she resorted to working through the Christmas holidays. Dad didn’t like that idea. He thought Christmas was a time to relax and enjoy being in the presence of family. I agreed, to some degree, but my mother didn’t have a relaxing bone in her body.

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