Page 57 of The Comeback

"Yeah, well. Things changed. The summer after grade eight I got sent off to a private school and my family moved, and we lost touch."

Wrinkles of confusion pinch his brows together. "You didn't have phones?" Good question, right to the point.

"I stopped answering her calls, texts. Cut her off."

"You ghosted your best friend. Harsh. Did something happen?"

"Things were...not good at home. I didn't want her involved in that mess. Plus things were bad at my new school. The hockey team was a bunch of assholes and I never fit in with them."

Bad is an understatement, but there's only so much I can share with Aspen during sharing time. Just gotta get through it.

"The team was shitty too. Not the team that was going to get me into a D1 college, so I convinced Larry to let me transfer back to the public high school."

"Asshole stepdad, check." Larry doesn’t show up for games too often, but when he does, he makes his presence known.

"And I transferred to Mayberry, and..." I swallow hard, every time I remember that day hot bile rises in my throat. "She was there. My first day at a new school. I'd gotten to know the team at training camp, so I was hanging out with them and the handful of cheerleaders eyeing me up. At first, when I saw her it was like the best day. She was back in my life, and I felt happy for the first time in a long time. She called out my name and she looked happy too." I rake a hand through my hair. "Then I remembered how I'd ditched her, and one of the cheerleaders made a snide comment about the music geek, and I remembered the bullying at my old school and my wall shot back up. i couldn't take another two years of that. Get in and get out, unscathed. Not to mention the reason I pushed her away in the first place. I didn't want Larry anywhere near her. Cruel son of a bitch."

"Okaaaayyy. What did you do, Seb?"

I stare at the ceiling, engulfed in shame. "I pretended I didn't know her."

I can't look him the face even after the loud gasp. "Man, that's cold."

"I know. I was a coward, and she paid the price for it. I did say i recognized her and then figured she'd be out of my life, and it felt like my soul was draining out of my body, but at the same time I was actually kind of proud of myself. Like I was doing something good for her. Rescuing her from me and my fucked up life. But I took her choice away. And after that, some of the athletes kind of targeted her, and I didn't do anything to stop it."

"That's pretty messed up. No offence, but how did you even think you had a chance with her after that?"

"She's been here all along. At Lakeview. And I knew, but I stayed away from her all this time, until that night."

"Which night?"

"The kick off celebration. I was tired. It was a shitty day and Jackson was trying to drag me down to the party. I had a shower, walked out, and she was there as if my wish came true. But she was crying. Makeup smeared on her face. And I wanted to fix it. I wanted to take away whatever it was that hurt her now and all those years ago too. And even with the tears she was so fucking hot."

I take another swig of beer to get the rest of the story out.

"We kissed, and then she ran."

"Well I know the rest. I've seen her sing, and seen how well you've been playing. You've been happy. Back to your old pre injury self. What did you do this time?"

"Nothing. Everything. I don't know. But she's the one who pushed me away this time. As she should. She's making the smart choice and I'm not going to stop her."

"I'm going to be honest it's not great, but I think you should still try. Don't just give up and bail out. That's not going to do anything for either of you."

It feels like some of the weight's been lifted off my shoulders, now that I've talked to someone about it. I'm pretty sure I'm not going to take his advice but at least I can try to let it go. That's what I need to do. Let it go.

"And, dude. Maybe you should talk to that therapist you were seeing last year." His eyes are sympathetic, and he's probably right, but it was hard enough talking to a stranger about the injury and the depression surrounding that. Talking about this would split me wide open. Expose every single thing that means the most to me. I'm not sure I’m strong enough for that.

"Thanks for listening."

"Anytime. And as a side note. I really like Abby. She seems like a cool girl. Don't fuck this up for both of you."

Chapter 43

Abby

"Whatareyoutalkingabout? you wrote a new ending to the song? Why? We worked so long on it. It's amazing. It's perfect. Just what we need to win. Why would we mess with that?" Dax is looking at me like I've completely lost my mind and maybe I have. May as well sacrifice that along with my heart, throw in my soul and make it a trifecta.

"Hear me out before you judge. At least listen to it before you jump to conclusions. I went on a creative binge the other night and this is what happened, along with almost three other songs. Even if we don’t win the Hastings, with these, maybe we can break in. It'll be harder for sure, but possible."

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