Page 64 of The Sky Between Us

Committed to what, I wanted to ask, but I bit my tongue. Elliot wasn’t committed to anything. Maybe to soccer, but that was more like fun for him and not a future plan. Don’t get me wrong there was nothing wrong with not committing to another person. Before Hazel I was the same, but only because I was juggling work, school and soccer. I always used that as an excuse and now look at me, I even added a girlfriend and her son to the mix. I still needed to work on making this sound more like humor instead of sarcasm.

Starbucks grew empty with Hazel shifting around her schedule to fit all the practice’s she had, but I admired her dedication that she didn’t quit. She didn’t need the money, but she said she wanted to see this through and prove to herself that she could stick to it.

“What happened after?” I asked, returning back to the original topic, Elliot and Sarah.

“She broke up with me,” he said, his face puzzled. “I mean, can you break up if you are not even dating?”

“Apparently,” I shrugged suppressing a laugh. That must have hurt his ego.

“Quite stupid. Anyways I went after her and told her she can’t break up with me, because I’m breaking up with her,” Elliot went on.

Real mature.

“Then we argued and had sex in the garden.”

I blinked, confusion clearly written all over me, because my friend explained. “It was a heated moment. And she said I can only make her come if I agree to properly date her. I was concerned she would tell others I couldn’t make her come so I agreed. That chick is crazy.”

Clearly, she was the only crazy person in this story. Those two were a match made in Heaven.

“Interesting,” I tilted my head and observed him. “So, you have a girlfriend now.”

“Yes, but surprisingly, she is less clingy now. Like I had to text her today because she didn’t say a word all day!”

Sometimes I wondered if my best friend was the same age as my sister. But it didn’t make me love him any less.

I shook my head. “That’s cool. So, Sarah is coming to the game and to have pizza, and then to the party?”

Elliot typed on his phone for a couple of seconds then nodded. “Yes. She also has some new dress for Hazel that you will love.”

“Oh, I always love to take off those dresses,” I winked with a grin. Sarah really had a good eye for styling my girl and she enjoyed experimenting on her, so I couldn’t wait to see what her newest creation would be.

Despite being at a football game and feeling the excitement of the crowd buzz through my body, my eyes were glued to Hazel. It was strange considering that I religiously followed the NFL and I enjoyed watching our team play. But with my girl standing on the sidelines with her skimpy light blue skirt with white and dark blue outlining as well as a halter top. Baywater printed across her chest. The school colors really complimented her features, but my eyes were more glued to her exposed midriff and legs, especially when she did several cheer stunts in a row. Her sideline cheering made me smile, and the excitement was written all over her face as she giggled and screamed when the team scored. It kind of made me want to be on the field and play, or request having a spirit squad on our next home game so I could watch her.

Scratch that.

She would have been a huge distraction. It was enough to know she will be sitting on the stands watching me. My heart tightened from the excitement to have her there, wearing my jersey, my number and the same genuine smile she was sporting all night.

At their halftime show, I watched with pride as she stood in the second row performing their routine, climbing on the shoulders of her partner and executing tricks and flips I’ve never seen her do. No wonder she was always sore and in pain. What she did on that field was impressive. But it did give me a few dirty ideas to use in the bedroom.

“Holy shit, didn’t know your girl can smile,” Elliot whistled as he watched Hazel jump up and down the sidelines encouraging the crowd to cheer the team on.

Her eyes found mine and her smile grew wider. With the help of her white pom, she waved at me, excitement rolling off of her. I winked down at her and the pink blush on her cheeks was evident.

The crowd went crazy behind me as I remained oblivious to the game and the end of it. The Dolphins won. All around me, cheers erupted, loud thumping noises and screams surrounded me. On my left, even Sarah was shouting and hugging Elliot, but my eyes remained on Hazel’s face. Happiness lit up her eyes as she jumped up and down hugging Claire. They bounced around in a circle laughing. Another brunette joined them and Hazel hugged her too while Claire hurried to the field to hug Ewan. According to Hazel, they finally became official last weekend. I wasn’t sure how I felt about my girlfriend being in the loop and knowing all the newest gossip. She used to be a ghost around campus and suddenly when we would walk, I wasn’t the only one being greeted and receiving attention. She’s got an equal share of it.

Making my way out of the stadium, I said my goodbyes to Elliot and Sarah and lingered by my Audi to wait for her with the flowers. I even left half of the window open for the flowers to breathe because I wasn’t sure they could survive otherwise. It was only 66 degrees Fahrenheit, but still, better to be safe than sorry. To pass the time, I scrolled through Instagram, reading the comments from my post last night which was a picture of the team. Everyone was getting hyped up over our Final Four game. It’s been a long season, since August, but our very last one in college D1 soccer. I wanted to make every game count. Especially the last two, if we are lucky. Especially since my girl wanted to watch me play for real and not for fun. Hazel and I have been together for months and not once did she show up to our game. I understood why, but it hurt. Playing against Harvard had to be my best game to show her how good I was. Plus, the scouts. My stomach knotted from the thought that there will be people representing my dream soccer company coming to watch me and Kellerman, of course.

A long sigh left me as I swiped my thumb over the screen and searched for my rival. Just to check how he’s been doing. Taking a quick read through his bio that stated Harvard Men’s Soccer Captain, Harvard GOV ’22. Surprise washed over me by his major, but I didn’t really bother, after all I was studying sports management. We both wanted a professional career and our undergraduate diploma was something to fall back on once soccer fell through. My eyes moved lower to check out his posts, maybe find a video of him playing just to see what he was most proud of, when I caught a small bold line between his bio and pictures.

Followed by Hazel_McCarthy, Elliot_D229 and 29 others.

My heart sank staring at that small line. What was going on? Why was Hazel following him? She never cared for soccer. She only just recently started using Instagram and why would she follow him, she barely followed 200 people.

The wheels of my brain kept spinning, trying to make sense of what I was staring at, but nothing came to my mind. It remained blank, like a clean canvas ready to be painted with worst case scenarios. And just as my mind caught up to me, my body already reacted and my thumb scrolled through the more than thousands of posts Kellerman had until I reached the bottom, back to 2015 where a familiar face smiled at me through the screen. Clearly, she wasn’t smiling at me but at the boy standing next to her. Her hair hit almost down to her butt with big curls. She was wearing ripped denim shorts which were too short for a fifteen-year-old, barely covering her asscheeks, with a white tube top. Her beautiful face was covered by make-up making her almost unrecognizable. But the smile was the same. I could recognize that smile anywhere. She was on her tiptoes trying to hug the guy’s neck. The guy hugging her back was at least two heads taller than her, grinning down as his arms hugged her close, almost touching her butt.

It was Jake Kellerman.

The caption for the picture read:I keep her on her toes.

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