Page 65 of The Sky Between Us

Anger boiled inside of me and my head was spinning with thousands of new questions.

Maybe I am wrong. I kept convincing myself like an idiot. Maybe he isn’t Sky’s father, just a friend.

My eyes moved, reading the comment which consisted of eyeroll emojis and one single word: Smooth.

From an account called: HazelM9

The reply from Jake was simple: Love you babe.

My heart clenched, as if Kellerman had reached out and stabbed a knife straight into it. I let it bleed as I stared speechless at the picture from 2015. A piece from the past that made my present crumble. I knew the guy that destroyed Hazel was out there playing soccer. I toyed with the idea many times that I would recognize him based on Sky or I would just know it was him when I see him. But what were the chances that I was in love with the girl that was destroyed by my number one rival? Many times, I wished to be like Jake Kellerman. I wanted his speed and crazy footwork, I desired his affluent parents and the easy, carefree life he could lead. But his true colors were the ones he had shown Hazel when she most needed him, and those were ugly. I could have never done what he did. But Hazel was right, it was worth it for him. He had everything. Just not her.

Clicking on the HazelM9 account, I just wanted one last confirmation despite Instagram’s notification that the account has been disabled six years ago. I could still read her bio.

Hazel McCarthy

Stuyvesant High School Cheer

Mini ’07 / Junior ’10 / Teen Best Dancer ‘13

YAGP Finals Top 12

Managed by @msaagency

Speechless, I stared at it as I couldn’t believe it. This was her past. All these titles, agencies and accomplishments. Everything she’s been hiding was just one click away from the world to see who she was. Potential wasted because of one stupid mistake which wasn’t even her fault. I never knew she'd lost this much until it stared me in the face. Black and white, no avoidance.

Anger, and hatred that I’ve never felt before has fallen on me, allowing me to only see red. The vein in my forehead pulsed from the rage passing through my bloodstream. I wasn’t an aggressive person. Usually, I was pretty level headed. As a captain, it was always my job to cool down the hotheads. But I couldn’t promise myself I wasn’t going to murder Jake Kellerman when I saw him during the next game. I couldn’t see any other outcome of our encounter but my fist connected with his face, any part, preferably nose, because I really wanted to break something on him and at least if it was his nose, there would be a lot of blood involved. Plus, it wouldn’t mess with his soccer, instead it would fuck up his ego and his pretty face.

“Hey babe,” Hazel’s happy voice greeted me as she bounced towards me still in her tiny uniform. The brunette girl from her team and another guy, who was doing the lifting on her heels. They were all still in their cheer clothes so I had no idea what took them this long.

“Hey.” I managed to say, slipping my phone back to my pocket and pasting a smile on my face. I could do this. I could fake a smile for all our sakes.

“This is Giselle and Leo,” she made the introduction and I shook their hands with a polite smile.

“Nice to meet you. You guys did great,” I said, extending my arm to hug my girl. Hazel snuggled to my side and looked up at me with her beaming smile. The same one she was wearing in the picture from six years ago. My stomach dropped and I had a sensation that she punched me straight in the gut. It wasn’t the usual nice feeling when she smiled at me and my world turned upside down. This one felt more bitter.

They engaged in a conversation, before Hazel fished the phone out of her pocket and stared at it for several long seconds. Tilting my head to the side, I rested my chin on top of her head to glance at her screen, and she swiped, showing me Sarah’s message informing her that they have the table. My overactive brain calmed down a bit, but the bitterness in my mouth still lingered.

“We better get going. See you at the party,” she looked at her friends and I politely waved at them, turning to get into the car.

Hazel caught my hand pulling me back towards her, her now green eyes slowly turning into brown. “Everything okay? You seem weird…”

“Yeah, just a long day,” I shook my head and let go of her hand. I reached inside the car to get her lily's out. “I got you these. Congrats, you were amazing, I couldn’t take my eyes off of you.”

Her eyes immediately lit up as she pushed her nose into the flowers, inhaling their scent. “Aiden, these are beautiful and my favorites. Thank you.”

“You deserve them,” I muttered, hugging her close to my chest, my arms holding her a little tighter as emotions rushed over me. “You deserve the world, baby,” I whispered into her curls, my voice husky from sentiments.

Hazel hung onto me as if she could feel my inner torment and battle that was going on inside my head. I was mad at her for not speaking up, I was angry at Kellerman for what he did and I was kicking myself for not realizing it sooner. The way she knew his game as if she studied him. I kept going back to our living room in Fresno, playing out the way she uncomfortably shifted while watching the game, how she buried her nose in the phone most of the time, the annoyed sigh that would leave her every time the commentator praised Kellerman. It was all right in front of my face.

She was his, before she was mine.

And I detested myself for thinking I would always come in second to him. Both in soccer and in life.

Chapter 15

“Can we talk?” Aiden has finally approached me after hours of being distant.

We’ve spent the entire dinner dancing around the awkward silence between us, while Elliot and Sarah remain completely oblivious to whatever was going on. They simply enjoyed their meal and each other’s company. Their love was easy. Our love was becoming more complicated with every turn we made. It felt like taking one step forwards and three backwards. Secrets still lingered in the space between us, filling up the silence with heavy anticipation. Sooner or later, we needed to place all our cards on the table. I had barely a week to give him the full story before he found it out in the worst way.

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