Page 15 of Falling With a Spin

“Yeah, we will be okay. We are going to get Laney the help she needs.” He sighs, shaking his head. Pain shows in his eyes, but it’s gone as fast as it appeared. He is a twenty-seven-year-old with ashy blonde hair that might start turning gray if he continues to work here. He’s young for a manager but I could tell this wasn’t what he wanted to continue to do.

“Alright, I will see you on Monday. If you need me, please call.” I walk past him to the back, grabbing my stuff. I wave them goodbye and walk out the front doors.

Pulling out my headphones, I hit play on the newest playlist as I walk back to campus. It has a variety of songs that either make you want to headbang or dance in the rain. Usually, the music calms me down when I feel my anxiety start to rise, but the closer my feet bring me to the gymnasium, the worse it gets.

I suck in a deep breath, wiping the sweat from my hands onto my leggings. I check the time on my phone for the millionth time seeing that it’s six p.m., their practice usually ends around now. I open the door and quietly walk in towards the bleachers to watch them finish off practice. However, my plan fails when my foot catches onto something, and I go down instantly with my arms flailing as if they were a windmill. A very high-pitch squeal comes out of me as basketballs go everywhere. I cover my head to make sure none of them bounce on me.

I lift my head off the floor to see all the guys looking down at me, attempting to hold in their laughter. Chad is on the far end of the court shaking his head, and their coach is narrowing his eyes at me. My face instantly goes red, and my hands fly up to cover the embarrassment that they have witnessed.

“Oh, my god, Emma,” Caleb runs to help me up. “Are you okay? What are you doing here?” He shoots off each question as if he is in a speed round of trivia. I look up at him to see a smile that doesn’t quite reach his eyes. He tries to hide his concern but doesn't quite succeed.

“I came to see you and Chad finish up practice. I miss both of you, and it was supposed to be a surprise.” He is still holding onto me like his life depends on it.

“We just saw each other yesterday, Em. But, how about you go sit down and meet us after practice is over?” He guides me over to the bleachers and starts to walk away. He stops and turns back towards me, “Oh, and thanks for the mess that we have to clean up from you now.” He shakes his head, laughing as I flip him off.

“Sorry, Coach,” I yell, and he glares at me with crossed arms before instructing the boys on a drill.

The boys return from the shower, and I see Caleb walk out first. He comes up to me and hugs me. It wasn’t a lie when I said I missed him because I do.

Before coming to college, we would spend almost 24/7 with each other, especially when things started to get rough with his family. We don’t talk about it anymore, but his mom was diagnosed with schizophrenia when he was just five years old. When she would have tough days, his dad would drop him off at our house, and he would be with us till he came to pick him up. One night, Caleb came over and didn’t leave till the following day, and when his dad came to pick him up, his eyes were puffy and bloodshot, his clothes were wrinkling, and his hair was all messy. Caleb and I were still young, so I was confused as to why he looked the way he did. But when I looked towards my mom, I knew something was wrong, and after that day, I didn’t see Caleb for a while. That's when my mom sat me down to explain that his mom was no longer here. I crawled into her lap and cried. I cried for Caleb, who had lost his mom. I cried for my mom, who had lost her best friend. It was a few years later when I found out that she took her own life when Caleb’s dad was dropping him off. It took Caleb a while to come back around to be the kid who was smiling and loving, not having a care in the world. He got there with time, but it still wasn’t the same without his mom here. You could see it even when he tried to hide it. I know him well enough.

“How are you doing?” I ask him. He takes a seat next to me, leaning back against the seat behind us.

“Since yesterday?” He lifts an eyebrow at me. “I’ve been fine. What are you doing here?”

“I told you-”

“Yes, you are here to see Chad and me because you miss us. But you haven’t come to watch a practice in months.”

Well, shit. I’ve been caught red-handed.

“I came to talk to Chad; that's really all.” I throw my hands up in defense.

“Hm, okay deKanter. I will let it slide, whatever it is you're hiding from me. But I have to run. Somehow, I have a ton of homework to catch up on,” he grumbles and stands up to leave.

“Wait!” I stop him. “I have this for you.” With a questioning look, I hand over the hoodie to him that Taylor gave me this morning. He shrugs it off and says he’ll call me later before walking out the door. I catch a slight smile on his lips, and a thousand more questions pop into my head.

A few minutes later, Chad walks out with his buddies behind him, and he comes right up to me. Wrapping his arms around me and lifting me in the air, spinning me around. A small laugh leaves my lips, and the warm feeling that's always there returns.

He sets me down, and I look up at him, taking a deep breath.

“I wanted to say I'm sorry for the other day. I overreacted, ruining our anniversary. I trust that you wouldn’t lay a finger on me or look at other girls.” I nervously pick at my fingernails as we stand there in silence.

He cups my cheek and lifts my face to look at him. His brown eyes sparkling. “It’s okay, baby. I forgive you, and I’m sorry, too. I love you so much.” He leans down to kiss me. “Plus, I find your overthinking adorable. No one else is going to love it as much as I do. You’re mine, baby, and nothing will change that.” He pulls me in for a hug, and a smile crosses my lips.

We are finally back to our normalcy.

Chapter 6

Emma

Over the next week, Chad’s behavior has gone back to normal, and things became easier and smoother between us. He’s been leaving me good morning text messages, meeting me outside my classes to walk me to the next one, and even skipping out on his gym days to have lunch with me. During my shifts, he would hang out or work on homework. It’s nice to see this change in him. It proves that everything that happened on our anniversary night was a misunderstanding. He even promised to make it up to me.

Tonight, Taylor is dragging me to a party. Usually, Chad doesn’t like it when I attend parties without him, even if I don’t go often. But I’ll be arriving with Taylor, and since the party is being held by one of the guys on the basketball team, Chad will already be there to help set it up.

Letting out a frustrated growl, I throw the eyeliner on the counter. I will never understand why girls go through the torture of drawing a black line on their eyelids every day. Yeah, I did it for the dance recitals because I had to, and I usually would have Izzy do it.

Reaching over to the makeup wipes, I scrub off the black liquid for the tenth time. My eye is practically red now from the rubbing. Picking up the eyeliner once more, I lean over the sink, putting all of my concentration into making sure this line is straight. My bathroom door bursts open right as I’m halfway through the line, and my wrist twists, causing a black line to go upward on my eyelid.

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