Page 21 of Halftime

I knew it. But Faith was obviously still skeptical. “What did he say?”

I mean, I knew he would have told the truth. He knew most of it. But I wanted to hear how Faith felt about it, and I thought if she told me what he’d said in her words, I’d know what was up with her.

Faith crossed her arms. “He said enough that I’m here willing to listen to you.”

He’d told her. But she wanted to hear it from me. Maybe to see if the stories matched. I didn’t care. This was my chance to clear the air, to get closure, whatever. I was taking it.

“I didn’t sleep with the girl, the one who was in my bed that night, but I thought it was you, so we made out.”

I had cheated that much, but not knowingly.

“How could you think it was me?”

My knee was jiggling again. “I drank too much at the party. I felt sorry for myself. I know, your grandmother was sick, but I’d really needed to see you. I went up to bed, and I dunno, passed out, fell asleep. I woke up with someone kissing me. I think I might have been dreaming about us, and then it was like the dream came true, and I thought your grandmother was better and you’d come up to surprise me.”

I tried to figure out her expression, but she was in the shadows, and what I could see wasn’t showing much. She didn’t say anything, and she was still here, so I continued.

“She asked if I had a condom, and then I knew it wasn’t you. I freaked.”

Had I ever.

“Cooper said you screamed.”

I shrugged. “I was still pretty drunk. Whatever I did brought a bunch of guys up to my room and scared the girl. I knew I needed to tell you before you heard it from anyone else. The guys said no one would tell you, but I had to be honest. We’d promised we would be.”

Faith had insisted that if I didn’t want to be with her, if I didn’t want to do long-distance dating, I should tell her. She’d rather hear something from me than find out I’d been like her dad. No wonder she hadn’t wanted to speak to me.

“The guys took my phone, but I found another one. I don’t even remember exactly what I said, but it came out wrong, obviously. When I tried to call back and couldn’t get an answer, I realized I’d messed up.”

“There were a lot of sorrys, a didn’t mean to, and mention of a bed and condom. It didn’t paint a good picture.”

There wasn’t a good picture to paint, but it wasn’t the one she’d seen. It hadn’t beenthatbad. I couldn’t read her voice. Was she still mad? Relieved? I couldn’t tell.

“I’m sorry I didn’t explain it better. It must have been horrible to hear that and think something had happened.” I knew the way her dad cheated and the weird way her home was as a result. I’d never wanted to add that to her pain.

She sighed. “I don’t know if I should apologize for not listening to you, but the way it sounded… I wasn’t ever going to accept that. I knew the long-distance thing was a bad idea.”

I opened my mouth, the words were right there, ready to blurt out. I hadn’t messed up at long-distance dating. It had been a misunderstanding.

But I’d broken up with Holly before the summer. I wouldn’t try long distance with her, even though I knew Faith and I had been broken up before we’d really had a chance to try it.

If Faith and I hadn’t been separated by distance, I wouldn’t have fallen asleep drunk because I was missing her. If there’d been a problem, I’d have talked to Faith in person, and I’d have explained everything. We wouldn’t have had this misunderstanding. So maybe she was right about long distance?

Fuck. I had no idea.

“I’m sorry I’ve believed you did that all this time when you didn’t. I just… If you’d really done that, I couldn’t let you try to talk me around it. You get that, right? The way my dad always does with my mom?”

“I understand.” And I did. I’d never been around when those uncomfortable talks happened, but Faith had overheard some of her parents’ fights, and her mother had, in my opinion, overshared with her daughter. It’s why I’d always known I had no chance to explain to her. Maybe Cooper had really done me a favor tonight.

She pulled on her hair, something she did when she was nervous.

“I have no idea what we’re supposed to do now.”

I didn’t, either.

“I know you think I’m wrong, but I don’t think we’d have made it through the year,” she said. “Being apart was going to be a problem. And now, well, we’ve both moved on. I know you have a girlfriend, and I respect that.”

Shit. I couldn’t say I was about to break up with Holly. It would sound sketchy as hell. But did I want to be with Faith again? I didn’t know. A lot had happened this year. But I’d missed her. And I didn’t want to walk around ignoring her or trying to avoid her. If nothing else, the team would give me shit about that. Cooper would, anyway.

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