Page 27 of Falling

“What does that even?—”

The call ends, and I don’t know why I expected anything less from her. I slide out of my seat, pushing my headphones over my ears,and I know I’m going to be here for most of the night. I don’t mind it one bit. I need to tire myself out. I need to clear my thoughts and get them to stop running away like they do every time I see my mom.

I skate until my head starts to hurt.

I skate until my palms ache from where my nails have dug into my skin.

I skate until my legs wobble from the number of times I’ve tried to land my triple Lutz.

I skate until it feels like it’s all I’ll become.

11

MILES

RULE NUMBER 3

“Caneveryone get out so I can sterilize the environment before she comes over?”

I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve tried to get my friends and their BO out of the house before Wren turns up.

I knew it would be a bad idea letting my teammates come over tonight. Usually, Friday nights are pretty laid back with me, Xavier, and Evan, but I was persuaded into letting Harry and Grayson come over too. I haven’t seen them much since I’ve been avoiding the rink, and they put up a good fight about how much they’ve missed me. They’ve been playing on the PlayStation for the last three hours, and I don’t think they’ve looked away from the screen once.

“So, are you going to tell us who this mystery girl is?” Grayson asks through a mouthful of mini pretzels as I pick up an empty chip packet from next to him.

“Not really,” I say, moving into the kitchen.

“It’s Wren Hackerly,” Xavier says. I shoot him a look through the open kitchen, and he shrugs. There goes my plans to keep it a secret until we announce our relationship. I haven’t told Xavier about our plan yet, but he knows I’m hanging out with her tonight. If Wren tells me I can let him in on it, I’ll consider it, but right now, it feels like something that should stay between the two of us.

“Wait. Is that Miss Hackerly’s daughter?” Harry asks in his thick Australian accent, which I still haven’t gotten used to. He’s a freshman, and he’s ridiculously good in goal. He’s probably been the best addition to our team this year. We met a few times during hockey camp over the last two summers, and he quickly became one of my closest friends.

“Yeah. We played Just Dance with Wren and her friends at that party, remember?”

His eyes widen as he turns to me. “That wastheWren Hackerly?” I nod and he shakes his head as if he can’t believe what he’s hearing. “I saw what happened at that competition last semester where that idiot dropped her. It was all online the second I turned up here.”

I hum in response.

Her words have been ringing in my head since I bumped into her at Florentino’s. I know what happened circled around social media, but she always seems so unaffected that I didn’t even question how badly she must have taken the hit. I can only imagine how it would feel to have everyone talking about you and your relationship.

“Yeah, that looked like it sucked,” Grayson adds. “She’s hot, but she acts like she’s got a cork stuck up her ass.” Grayson laughs, and my chest tightens.

I flick him on the back of his head. “Shut your mouth, Gray.”

“I’m just saying, if you’re finding someone to sleep with, you’re better off looking somewhere else,” he says.

“Well, it’s a good job I’m not trying to sleep with her, isn’t it?” The room erupts into laughter like they think I’m joking. I don’t think Wren even tolerates me just as a human. I’m sure sleeping together is the last thing on her mind. I sit across from them and pull out my phone.

Me

Hey, are you on your way yet?

I wait a while for a response,but ten minutes go by without anything. Panic slowly starts to build in me as I pace around the house, making sure everything looks presentable. She’s either bailing on me or something has happened. I consider reaching out to one of her friends, but I don’t want to seem desperate, so I sit and wait for something to happen.

An hour goes by, and the house is empty when she finally responds.

Wrenny

Fuck. I’m SO sorry. I’m on my way now.

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