Page 53 of The Baller

I groaned quietly, but said “okay,” anyway. The last thing I wanted was to go to a breakfast where I’d be photographed and stared at while having to hold conversations without getting tongue tied. It was the type of thing Ben and Henry excelled at, but I’d somehow missed the gene.Enjoying itwould be a massive stretch.

“Be good, enjoy class. Call me later,” she said, before the phone went dead.

I fell back on my pillow, and stretched out. The tension in my body eased out the longer I made myself. Every muscle relaxed, and I could almost feel myself falling back to sleep.

If I thought about it, I’d been sleeping better since last week after the run Lux and I went on. It had been so good to get my body moving in a space that didn’t consist of my yoga mat on the floor by my bed, that I’d had Jake and the guys take me out a couple more times on the same route.

I’d been in my disguise as a Lions’ fan, and even though I couldn’t be sure, I was almost certain no one noticed me. No one had bothered me. I’d jogged in peace and come back buzzing with endorphins and optimism that everything would soon be okay.

Huh. I stopped stretching. Perhaps that’s what this feeling was.

Optimism.

I hadn’t tossed and turned all night. I hadn’t been awake since three a.m. worrying about what other thing would happen that day. I hadn’t needed to drag myself from bed to get ready for class.

To prove myself right, I flung back the covers and jumped out. Millie still wasn’t done in the shower, so I killed time with brushing my teeth.

“Hey, you wanna go for breakfast? We don’t have class until ten.”

She wiped the water and soap from her face and peered at me through the glass of the shower door. “You want to go for breakfast?”

I nodded. “Yeah.”

“This morning?”

“Yeah. Morning is when one normally eats breakfast, right?”

I think she mumbled, “Sounds good,” but her head was back under the water, and it was more of a gargle.

“Where do you want to go?”

“Anywhere. Why not the place we always get coffee from on the way to class?”

“Okay, I’ll message Jake and tell him.” I spat a mouthful of toothpaste into the sink, waiting until she’d turned off the shower to rinse it away. “But you need to hurry up or we won’t have time.”

That got her moving.

An hour later, I was digging into a stack of pancakes covered in maple syrup and strawberries, and watching Millie demolish a bowl of yogurt and granola before starting on a massive, fluffy cheese omelet like she’d never eaten before.

Around us, other students were eating their breakfast, though a little less like they were trying to bring on chronic indigestion. Some were at the booths by the window, study books laid out on the tables in front of them while they crammed before class, others had their laptops and were typing so quickly they were in danger of burning their fingerprints off.

Millie swallowed her mouthful. “This is amazing. We need to eat here again, instead of just dropping in for coffee to-go.”

“Yeah. I like it in here.”

“I like that you’re in here, too,” she smiled, before picking up her coffee and looking at me, her expression more earnest than I’d seen in a long time.

“Me, too.”

“And you’re feeling okay?”

I nodded truthfully, instead of just in the way I normally did to put everyone else at ease that I wasn’t on the verge of a daily panic attack. “Yeah, I feel good. Must be all the sleep I’ve had this week.”

“And the running,” she grinned. “I’m glad you’re going again. It makes me happy that you’re doing it for yourself. I’d come with you if I could keep up with you.”

“One day, Mills, one day.”

“It’ll never happen. We know this, but it truly makes me happy you’re going, and that you have a new running buddy.” She waggled her eyebrows with a smirk, then slowly placed her elbows on the table. “I need to tell you something.”

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