Page 200 of Out of Bounds

"Um…okay.” I took a deep breath. “Adam’s parties always go late. What time are you coming in? We’ll still make an appearance. And no practice tomorrow, so you can sleep in—"

"I don’t want to go to Adam’s party."

I sighed. "Ryan…"

"Can I have you to myself? Please?"

It wasn’t like I wanted to say no but his schedule was just getting too demanding. Some days, the only time I saw him in the mornings was practice and then there was someone with a whistle around their neck to whisk him away.

"We keep skipping things," I told him as gently as I could. "Your calendar’s getting batshit crazy—and I know you’re not doing it on purpose—but you don’t see any of them anymore outside of football. The guys are really excited about this."

The door opened and June poked her head in. “Kassie, we’re doing group photos.”

I held up a finger, motioning towards the phone.

The door closed just as quickly but the line was still silent.

"I just want you to myself," Ryan said, his voice low. "You’re the only one I’m thinking about right now. I don’t want to share you with anybody."

I leaned back against the wall and gazed up at the ceiling. They’d be so pissed if we ditched another thing with them again. It constantly felt like we were juggling glass balls and if I felt like that, I could only imagine how Ryan felt.

“Hey?” I straightened up. “I amsoproud of you. You were amazing. Seriously, better than amazing.” He was still quiet overthe phone but I pushed on. “Second quarter, we were all freaking out at the screen—”

"It’s going to be like this, isn’t it?" he interjected. "All the time like this."

Oh…Ryan.

I hesitated. "I don’t know."

Except we both did. I’d be leaving for Florida and Ryan would finish up his junior year and then…pro football. I didn’t know anything about that but if I wanted to gamble, I’d guess the schedule would be even more intense.

And it was so weird having a phone conversation about it. All I wanted to do was hug him. I could hear how hard he was taking it.

Slowly, I pushed up. I had an idea on how to turn the conversation around.

80

Ryan

First Thing I See When I Come Home

I put my head in my hands, breathing deep. My muscles ached. The adrenaline wore off thirty minutes ago and even if I was pleased we won the game, that was buried down deeper than anything else. I thought I had four hours left until I got to see Kassie again. That was gone.

The rest of the guys got to go back. I had to stay.

Talking with the coaches and the analysts and the directors was important. But I couldn’t stop the heavy weight on my shoulders.

I’d been working with the football schedule for so long. Nothing had ever bothered me about it and when I took on the captain title, I’d accepted it without a second thought. That was all before her. Now, I was losing out on my time with Kassie.

"Ryan?" Kassie asked gently. “What time are you coming in?”

I took a deep breath. "Two in the morning.”

"Guess what?”

This is how it’s going to be.

Me, brooding over the shit schedule, and Kassie trying to make me feel better, when that wasn’t her job.Myjob was to make her feel better.

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