Page 187 of Vegas Heat

The closer we move toward the expansion draft, the busier Cooper gets.

And that also means he’s been spending alotmore time with my father.

They’re analyzing players, watching games, and strategizing, and my dad has been spending more and more time at either our house or Cooper’s, which means I’ve been spending less and less time with both of them. My own schedule has started filling, too, as the internship has suddenly become like a full time position, I’ve been working more and more with Kaylee, and my school schedule only gets in the way.

We’re a week out from the expansion draft and I’m editing a video to give Zelda to post to the Heat’s TikTok account when Mia calls me in tears.

I haven’t spoken to her outside of class in weeks, and Dylan has been avoiding me at the stadium. We haven’t been put on any projects together, so I haven’t even had a chance to ask him how Mia’s doing.

“I’ll be right over,” I say before she can even get a word out.

When I show up at her apartment, she’s positively distraught.

“What’s going on?” I ask, squeezing her in a tight hug.

She gulps for breath for a few beats, and I grab the box of tissues and direct her over to the couch, where she promptly bursts into tears all over again.

“Sorry,” she sniffles as she tries to pull it together. “There’s just so many memories here on this couch.”

I wrinkle my nose as I eye it suspiciously, but I let it go. “What happened?”

“I think Dylan might be cheating on me,” she manages.

“Oh no,” I say, racking my brain for anything I might’ve seen at the stadium. “What makes you think that?”

“He’s going home for Thanksgiving and I saw a text in his phone about how this girl wants to hook up with him while he’s there, and I asked him about it and he got real defensive about how she’s just a friend, liketoodefensive and it feels like he’s lying. So we got into a huge fight and I told him maybe we should just start seeing other people.”

“When was all this?” I ask.

“A couple hours ago. We haven’t spoken since he slammed the door on his way out.”

“Do you have any proof he’s lying?” I ask, trying to remain calm even though I have about ten thousand things I know I need to do at home and this sounds like either a simple miscommunication or a silly fight that they could work out. Still, I know my friend needs me, and she deserves my attention even though we’ve barely spoken recently since we’ve both been busy doing our own thing.

She shakes her head forlornly, but at least the tears have stopped. “No proof. Just a strong gut feeling.”

“I always say trust your gut, but I think you and Dylan are really solid.”

“I thought we were, too, and that’s why this is all so upsetting.” She sniffles, and I hand her a tissue.

“What areyourThanksgiving plans?” I ask.

She shrugs. “My mom and dad are going to my brother’s house in Florida and it just feels like a really long trip to make for a few days.”

“Stay here and celebrate with us,” I suggest.

“That’s really sweet of you. I might take you up on it. I just don’t want to impose or get in the middle of things with you andyour dad or anything.” She leans back on the couch and draws in a shuddering breath.

“It’s not imposing when I invited you, silly.” I nudge her elbow.

“How are things going with Cooper? I’ve been such a bad friend. I’m sorry. I’ve just put all my eggs in Dylan’s basket because I really thought we had a future, you know? I thought he was the one. I thought I’d graduate in the spring with an MRS degree, you know?”

“Maybe you will,” I say, ignoring the fact that she started her rant with a question about me and ended it by turning it back to herself. She’s going through something, and she doesn’t want to hear about how great things are in my own relationship.

Although theyarepretty great. Even though time has been limited for us over the last few weeks, we’ve made the most of our time when we get to have it.

There’s a knock at the door, and I get up to answer it.

My eyes widen when I find Dylan standing there. He looks as sad as she does. I open the door a little wider without saying anything, and he steps in with a friendly nod.

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