Page 13 of The Sky Between Us

I snored in reply because I had no idea what else to say. Hazel was a hard nut to crack and I should have been focusing on my career instead of obsessing over her. Especially knowing that I’d have to face her father, my coach, for the next two hours, and he won’t let me off the hook as easily for being distracted. Thankfully, he couldn’t read my mind and see that it was full of his daughter.

“You need to take it easy,” Elliot continued. “You will burn out even before our next game, captain.”

Our third game was coming up and I needed all my focus on the field. I had to bring my A-game in practice and after practice. Yet, my body ached for her.

“Not a chance,” I muttered, cracking my neck. It felt so good to release all the tension that has been building up in me all day long.

Until someone crashed into me.

“AIDEN!”

“Hey there, buddy,” I looked down to see Sky and I matched his wide grin. He was adorable and his grin was contagious. Something him and his sister didn’t have in common. “What’s up?”

“I can watch the practice. But don’t tell Hazel, she said I shouldn’t. But she was coming here too.”

Many girls came to watch our practice and drool over us. Coach or the team never minded. Having an audience was almost always a good idea. It only sucked when Coach was in a bad mood and he kept shouting at us. Based on his look he seemed calm. So far. His eyes were on Sky and me, carefully sizing up the situation.

“I think Hazel likes you,” Sky blurted it out and started giggling. “I like a girl, too. And she hates soccer too. Just like Hazel does. Do you know any tricks?”

I laughed and ran my hand through my hair, ignoring the excitement that zipped through me. Hazel liked me. She was hiding it damn well, but this piece of information might just make my life easier.

“Listen, buddy. I’ll give you tips after our next practice. You and me.”

“Cool!” Sky did an excited skip and turning on his heels he ran away towards the bench to watch the practice.

Coach’s eyes still felt heavy, and giving into them, I walked over to him. His gaze never once left me and I knew I should be intimidated, but I wasn’t. I haven’t done anything. Yet.

“What’s up, Coach?” I asked with an easy tone. After all, I was the captain.

“We are starting with sprints,” he called towards the team and blew into his whistle. His eyes fell on me once again. The same eyes Hazel had, the ones I desperately wished to look at me all day long. But this was different.

“Be careful, son,” he said. His voice was sincere, but it had a warning edge to it.

“I don’t get it,” I shook my head slowly.

Wasn’t he supposed to scare me off instead of protecting me? I was confused. Even more than before. But it seemed like confusing people ran in the family. Coach was always direct and never sugarcoated anything. But now he was giving me cryptic messages.

“Just be careful,” he repeated and nodded towards Sky. “He gets attached easily, and I don’t want him to end up hurt.”

“Hazel asked me to play with him,” I shrugged, because honestly, I didn’t understand why I’d be hurting Sky. He was a cool little kid who wanted to kick a ball with me. Nothing else. I was more interested in having his sister stare at me while we did it than the playing part, but I kept it to myself.

“Yes, I know. Well, Hazel needs to learn to say no to Sky,” he said, shaking his head and then blew into his whistle. “You still have your sprints, son.”

I nodded and jogged away feeling even more confused and messed up than before.

Coach never called me ‘son’. That in itself was weird. Plus, his disapproving voice of his daughter caught me, and I remembered Hazel saying that her parents wanted her to work in a Starbucks. It seemed like she tried to do everything to get her parents approval, yet it still wasn’t enough for them. As I did my sprint I kept wondering why. I couldn’t put two and two together. She was cold and bitchy, but that was her mask in order to protect herself. Something happened to her. It wasn’t until my teammate Matt kicked the ball into my stomach and I doubled over that I remembered her saying.‘Some mistakes can’t be forgiven or left behind. Some mistakes leave a mark on us and we have to carry their consequences forever.’

“Fuck,” I shouted picking up the ball and kicking it back to the team. Something did happen to her, I just needed to figure out what.

Chapter 4

The music was blasting through the radio and I could feel the rhythm crawl under my skin. The notes made me shiver as my body wanted to move. I desperately needed to let my body follow the music and lose myself. I wanted to turn my brain off and just dance. Freely and happily as before.

But I couldn’t.

I needed to think of my assignment in order to stop myself from mentally choreographing to the music. I knew this song. I knew the lyrics. All I wanted to do was match it with my moves. Follow it and forget about everything. Just for those short two minutes I wanted to be myself again. I pinched my skin to focus on the pain. It usually helped me resist the temptation. But after a few sleepless nights, thanks to my nightmares, I wanted to do those pirouettes that my brain kept replaying.

Looking around in the empty coffee shop I watched as the sun lit up a few tables at the front of the store, while everything behind still hid in the shadows. No one could see me, and I probably had a few minutes before Aiden came in for his shift. I threw the cleaning wipes on the counter and stepping into my preparation, I did a tentative pirouette. It’s been five years since I’ve danced, and every inch of my body missed it. Hell, missing dance was an understatement. Dancing was like breathing for me. When I stopped, I started drowning. For five years, I was floating on the surface, battling my inner demons, and not letting myself breathe. But as the body is losing oxygen, the brain stops functioning and natural human instincts kick in one last time to save our lives. That’s what happened when I let myself get carried away and dance. I couldn’t stop with one pirouette. The single turn transitioned into jumps and my body could finally freely follow the music. I had five years worth of emotions locked away deep down in my heart, and everything inside me was about to come undone. All my hard work of keeping it together. All my efforts seemed like I didn’t regret every second. I was about to lose everything I’ve worked for once again. But this time, I was trading it for something better. My steps transitioned into my favorite turning combination, the one I did in every solo. I used to be a turner. I could turn for ages but doing that complicated turn sequence after years of not practicing them and on a tiny space required a lot of control. I could feel myself breathing harder, my muscles trembling on the edge of a cramp and my head spinning with all the thoughts and emotions.

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