Page 90 of Courtside

“Come on.” The shred of control David had over himself in that moment wavered. He forced himself to exhale slowly through his nose. “We wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t important.”

“You think you two are the first assholes who’ve come around here trying to score her number?”

“Listen, man,” David growled, leaning his upper body over the edge of the bar and using every bit of his size to tower over the piece of shit who was standing between him and the reassurance that Sage was okay. A reassurance that was becoming more and more urgent with every passing minute. “Maggie is friends with my girlfriend who’s missing, and I’m trying to find her.”

The man was unimpressed, looking David up and down like he was nothing more than a fly who’d had the audacity to land on his bar. “Get out of here,” he said, dismissing them with a wave of his hand.

David’s control snapped. “If something happened to her,” he started, his hands already clenching into fists.

A warm hand closed around his arm, pulling him back. “Dude,” Chuck said, his voice low. “Calm the fuck down.”

Chuck didn’t loosen his grip, tugging David along with him as he wound his way back through the picnic tables. David was barely there, the lights passing overhead in a yellow blur and the sounds of conversation and laughter blending into a grating buzz that threatened to break him.

Maybe he was already broken.

Chuck gave him a final push that sent him through the entrance and out onto the brightly-lit sidewalk. Another tug on his arm had him following Chuck down the block, one step following another until they turned onto a side street. Steady pressure on his shoulder left David no choice but to drop down to the curb.

David’s chest was ripping in two, fear that he hadn’t tasted in twelve years crushing his lungs until breathing felt impossible. His head dropped down between his knees and his hands knit together behind his neck, his body collapsing inward like that would somehow make it all feel like less.

He’d been there before.

The floor under his feet had been linoleum rather than cracked cement, and the antiseptic in the air had burned his nose when he’d remembered to breathe. Now the warmth of the air was only barely tainted by exhaust from the traffic a few blocks over. The rhythmic beeping of machines was replaced by the hum of air-conditioning units and the occasional honking of a horn.

Then, he’d known without a doubt that Johnny was in one of those rooms fighting for his life. He’d sat there at the edge of the waiting room, crumpled under the crippling weight of his irresponsibility.

Now, as he sat on the curb, a voice that was mostly buried under the roar of the panic that filled him reminded him that he didn’t know if Sage was hurt. She could be fine; that there was no reason to assume the worst.

But what if? What if something had happened and he hadn’t been there for her, hadn’t done the one thing he’d promised himself to always do for the people he loved?

“She’s going to be okay,” Chuck’s voice filtered through the darkness. “I know you’re scared, man. If it were me, I’d be terrified. But there’s nothing we can do right now other than trust that Sage has a good reason for not getting back to you. If nothing else, trust in her.” David’s eyes fell shut as he felt Chuck’s hand on his back. “Let’s go get Daisy and you can stay with me tonight. We’ll wait for her together. You shouldn’t be alone right now.”

An hour later David lay sprawled out as much as he could on Chuck’s couch, an afghan thrown over his legs and Daisy snoring softly where she lay curled up between his knees. The kind of exhaustion that came from hours and hours trapped in a state of panic weighed on him, but the idea of sleep felt laughable.

Not when Sage could be out there. Not when she might need him.

* * *

David woke up in the morning with a stiff neck, a throbbing lower back, and Daisy enthusiastically licking his cheek. He must have nodded off at some point. He lifted Daisy from his chest gently, always careful with her little body. She squirmed as he pushed himself up to sitting, placing her on the floor beside his bare feet.

Any hope that he’d wake up to a different world was immediately shot as he looked down at his phone. No new messages.

The dread was right there, souring his mouth as he stood up. He was going to find her. He’d start at the places she frequented — the gym, the coffee shop, the grocery store — and then? Then he was going to start calling hospitals.

He found Chuck in the kitchen, already pouring coffee into a to-go mug.

“So what’s the plan?”

David looked at the serious expression on his friend’s face. There was no mocking. No reminders that his fear was irrational. There was nothing but care and concern.

Emotion clogged his throat. “I’m going to look on campus,” David finally managed to choke out. “The gym, the library.”

Chuck nodded. “Give me your keys and I’ll go back to your apartment with Daisy. Text me her apartment number and I’ll make sure to knock.”

“Thanks,” David said, even though that single word barely scratched the surface of the gratitude he felt for his friend. “You’re the best.”

Chuck gave him a small smile. “I’ve got you, man.”

* * *

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