Page 16 of Fear of Falling

WYATT

“Hold on, you were stuck in an elevator all night with some random girl?” Max, one of my teammates asked. I nodded, lacing up my skates. “Did you sleep with her?”

I was in the middle of telling my best friends about being stuck in an elevator Friday when Max over heard and announced it to the whole team. It resulted in quite a bit of teasing until they learned I hadn’t been alone. Then of course came the questions and jeers as the rest of the team gathered around.

Around us others leaned in to listen.

“So? Did you?” Max nudged me with his elbow.

“You know you can talk to a woman without sleeping with her right?” I shot him a look.

“Don’t tell me you spent all night with a woman and didn’t make a single move on her?” Trevor raised an eyebrow, surprised.

“Was she ugly?”

“Tits too small?”

With each taunt from my teammates, I clenched my jaw tighter until I could feel my teeth grinding together. Usually, I didn’t mind the taunts of the team, but for some reason, hearing them say things about Josie just pissed me off.

“Come on, bro. Don’t hold out on us!”

Suddenly, I stood, my hands clenched at my sides, as I glared at them. “Shut the fuck up. I don’t want to hear another word out of your mouth about her.”

“Bro, chill we were just playing.” Max held his hands up as my teammates exchanged glances. Immediately, I knew it looked like I’d overreacted—there was no reason why the conversation should have pissed me off as much as it did. It’s what happens in the locker room. Someone comes in talking about the latest person they slept with and the rest of us prod and tease. But Josie wasn't like any of those girls. She didn’t deserve being talked about in the locker room with twenty-three horny men.

“Whatever,” I mumbled, grabbing my stick and helmet before storming out of the looker room. To be honest, I’d never really cared for talking girls and our sexploits—my mom raised me better than that. I didn’t know what it was about Josie, but I felt protective towards her, and even though I knew I might never see her again, I felt that there was something special about our night together.

“This girl really has you in knots,” said my other best friend, Bryton, as he slapped me on the back. I didn’t need to look back to know Trevor was also right there. I just grunted in response.

Fuck. He’s right.

Three days had passed since the elevator, and I’d thought about her nonstop. Every few minutes her face would pop into my head, that smile that could make any man fall to his knees, those eyes that could see into your soul. It was driving me crazy, and it was the last thing I wanted to talk to the team about.

“Can you at least tell us if you’ve seen her since?” Trevor asked as the three of us skated onto the rink. I shook my head, focusing on the sound of my skates cutting across the ice. Just stepping foot on the rink brought me a sense of calm. As if itwas an old friend wrapping its arms around me, welcoming me home.

“Why not? Don’t you want to see her again?”

“I do, that’s the problem,” I grunted. “How is that a problem?” Bryton asked, falling in sync alongside me as we began our warm-up laps.

“Because I left her there that morning. As soon as the elevator doors opened, I ran out like a dog with its tail tucked between its legs while she dealt with the manager and the onlookers,” I confessed, the words slipping from my lips before I could stop them. I felt like shit as I said it out loud—It was stupid, but it was a blow to my pride. I should have manned-up and stood by her side, not disappear up to my apartment like a pussy.

Who knows what she must think of me now.

“But you said she told you to leave, that’s not your fault,” Trevor tried to reason but I shook my head.

“It’s a cop out. I should have stayed–who cares if anyone recognized me.” I hated to admit it, but I was embarrassed that I walked away so easily. Josie gave me an out, and I took it without a second thought. All I’ve wanted to do for the past three days was find Josie and apologize.

I’d worked out from the button she’d pushed in the elevator that she lived on the eighth floor, and it took all my willpower to not go down and knock on every door until I found hers. It was the fear that she wouldn’t want to see me that held me back.

Bryton pulled up to a sudden stop in front of me, and I quickly pushed the blade of my skate into the ice to brake.

“Look, Wyatt, it seems to me this girl knew you didn’t want anyone to recognize you. She did you a favor by making you leave. But now, she probably thinks you’re an asshole.”

“What?” I scowled.

“Well, have you tried to find her since the elevator?” Bryton asked. “You know, to say thanks.”

“No, but…”

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