Page 86 of Weak Side

I stood up in annoyance and peered down at him. I didn’t have to sit here and listen to him. I didn’t have to worry about my mother and her bills because, for the first time in her life, she opted to grow up.

“Chad, one day you’ll find someone that you won’t want to change. You’ll find someone that you’re willing to give up every last dream and hope for, even when they tell you not to.” I tapped the top of his hand. “That’s love, Chad. Not this.”

He said my name a few times before I made it to the door to The Bex, but I kept heading to my car, fumbling with my keys to get to the dorm to be with the one person who taught me that sacrificing your hopes and dreams only meant something when no one expected it.

I slipped past the first floor and ran up the stairs, determined to tell Theo that what he just saw at The Bex wasn’t at all what he thought it was. The last thing I said to Theo was that he and I were never supposed to last, but I realized pretty quickly that what we shared had nothing to do with how it started and only how it ended.

I ran my hands down the front of my jeans and wiped the sweat off, noticing how eerily quiet the hallway was. No one was loitering around, and everyone's doors were shut. It was quiet. So quiet I could hear my labored breathing and thrumming pulse.

As soon as my hand reached out to our door handle, though, I felt my heart slip to the floor. There was a lump the size of a boulder sitting in my throat, cutting off my breathing at the sight of my favorite light-purple scrunchie hanging loosely on the doorknob. I blinked back the tears, but instead of turning around and running like I usually did when a problem presented itself, I pulled the scrunchie off and flew inside the door, preparing myself for the sight.

“Are you serio—" I stopped in my tracks as Theo flew up from the floor with nothing but a pair of black athletic shorts on. His muscular chest glistened with sweat, and his brown hair stuck to his forehead before he wiped it with the back of his hand, showing off his splotchy cheeks and furrowed brow.

“Claire?”

I stood in the doorway and flung my attention to every corner of the room, looking for whatever girl he’d brought home. When I came up empty handed, I let my shoulders deflate, and we both looked down at the scrunchie in my hand before I let it fall to the floor.

“I put it on there so you wouldn’t come in here.”

I hated the sound of his voice because it sounded so discouraging, and I noticed the way he kept pulling away, like he couldn’t stand to look at me. My lip trembled, but I clenched my teeth and took a step farther inside our room, keeping the door open in case I needed to bolt.

“Why?” I asked.

Theo stayed in the exact spot I found him in, and my hand stayed on the doorknob, my grip tightening with dread. “I wasn’t sure I could take seeing you after you were with him. Why do you think I’m in here, doing push-ups, after already tiring out my body on the ice?”

I managed to force a swallow through my tight throat as Theo took a step toward me, finally keeping his sights set on me.

“I wanted to rip you out of the booth so fucking bad I couldn’t see straight. I wanted to take you back to our room and kiss you until you fully understood how I felt about you, but instead, I got inside my car and forced myself to drive away so I didn’t turn back around and pummel his smug face because goddamnit, Claire. He doesn’t deserve you! You deserve better.”

A tear slipped down my cheek, and I quickly moved to brush it away, but Theo erased the rest of the space between us and beat me to it, keeping his hand on my face.

“Can’t you see your worth? He sure can’t. You deserve someone who will do anything to make you happy. Not someone who likes to watch you hurt for their own sick games. You need someone who—"

I stopped him mid-sentence. “Someone who refuses to join their dream team in the NHL because he thinks the owner of the team hurt his fake girlfriend?”

Theo didn’t linger long on what I’d said, because he continued to rant with his hand tightening on my cheek like he was afraid to let me go. “You have never just been my fake girlfriend, and you know it.”

“You’re not giving up your dream for me, Theo. That’s ludicrous.”

He scoffed, his hand shaking against my face. “You don’t know me at all if you think I’m going to play for someone who hurt you.”

I shook my head. “Stop.” My heart began to pulse something hot through my body, and the thought of letting him stand here, thinking that I didn’t care for him in the way he cared for me, made me want to double over.

“No, I’m not gonna stop,” he urged. “You don’t have to be mine, but I’m yours, and you’re just gonna have to deal with it. My dreams and goals mean absolutelynothingif you leave this room thinking I wouldn’t give up every last one to show you your worth.”

A tight sob climbed up my throat, and my shoulders caved as I stood, peering up at the absolute purest, most worthy person I had ever known.

“Please don’t cry. You don’t understand what it does to me.” His face was a mix of worry and confusion.

I shook my head before letting a breath fly from my mouth. “Am I included in your future?”

Theo’s other hand cupped my cheek, and he had me in a hold so tight I couldn’t move even if I had wanted to. “Haven’t I proven that? I’d do anything for you, and I’d do anything to get you to stop crying, even if that means letting you walk out that door and into someone else’s arms. If you’re happier with him, go.”

“No.”

“What?”

“I was sitting at The Bex with Chad to tell him that whatever he thought he felt for me wasn’t love. It wasn’t love when I stayed with him to secure my mother’s job, and it wasn’t love when he threatened me into allowing him to go off with other girls until the end of the school year because of the money my mom owed his family. But I’m so thankful he did, because now I know what love is.”

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