Page 98 of The Drop

"Oops, sorry." A girl giggles. I turn, and she's reaching behind her, trying to pull someone forward. "Didn't see you."

"Sure," I bite out, shaking my wet hand out as I look back up and come face to face with Grant.

"Grant," that grating voice comes again, "you said we could hang tonight." She tugs his arm.

His eyes don't leave mine, and I can feel my face turn red out of embarrassment. Why had I ever thought I was more to him? I feel stupid.

"Yeah, Grant, why don't you go hang," Bear spits out, nudging me towards the bar. "Let's get you another drink, Brookie."

Putting my head down. I don't want to look at him again as we near the bar. Rising on my tiptoes, I tell Bear that I'm going to head to the bathroom to wash off my jumper.

Trying to wash the sticky drink off my front with paper towels is useless, so I quickly walk out into the hall, just as swiftly as I walked in. Suddenly, I run straight into a wall of muscle. Grant grabs my hips and spins me against the wall, and I gasp at the familiarity of his touch.

"What are you doing?" I whisper, looking up at him, my body betraying me and feeling a rush of excitement at being near him after so long.

"That wasn't what it looked like," he replies, gazing down at me intensely, his hands still gripping my hips.

"Sure looked like something to me," I respond, looking away with my lips pressed into a tight line. "She’s been trying to get me to hang out since I got here. I told her I was heading to the bar, and she followed me."

"Why would I care?" I glare at him, turning to face him fully. "We aren’t together, right?"

"Brooke."

"No, you said you weren’t having fun anymore, so whatever it was is over, and you’re moving on."

"I’m not moving on." He squeezes my hips like he always used to, and while I loved it then, I hate it now because it reminds me that I’m not his to keep close anymore.

"Well, I think you really should," I reply, pushing against his chest with frustration. He relaxes his grip and takes a step back, giving me some space.

"I want to talk to you," he insists, his voice earnest.

A surge of anger wells up inside me. Why couldn’t he have reached out after that night instead of waiting two long weeks?

"You could have come to me any time in the past two weeks," I shoot back, pushing against him once more. This time, he takes another step back, clearly sensing the tension between us. "Instead, my supposed best friends completely ignored me, and the guy I thought would become my boyfriend suddenly ended things. It feels like everyone just turned away."

" I've been a jerk."

"You think so?" I scoff. I’m not a toy he can pick up whenever he wants. I've been here waiting, and for the first timein two weeks, I'm finally enjoying myself. I'm not going to let him ruin it. "Leave me alone."

"Brooke." He looks at me pleadingly, and I almost give in because I’ve wanted to talk to him so badly the past two weeks. But his need to prioritise hockey hurts me.

I would never stand in the way of hockey after everything he’s told me about the pressure he feels. I could never make things harder for him. We could have discussed a way to make it work. It was fine when we were just having "fun," so what changed so drastically?

"Grant, just leave me alone." My voice wobbles, yet I hold strong. I can’t do this with him right now, and he looks at me sadly.

"If you're sure." He’s always respected what I wanted, and that hasn’t changed.

"I am." I nod, looking away from him. If I look at him again, I know I’ll give in and let him talk, and I don't want to do that with him tonight.He had his time and now I need mine. He walks down the hallway, and I lean back against the wall, letting loose the breath I had been holding.

"I'm still mad at you, but are you okay?" Cami's voice comes from the girls' bathroom door, and I look up to see her leaning in the doorway across from me.

"No," I reply. "I'm not."

"Want to talk about it?"

"Oh, now you want to talk to me?" I scoff and walk down the hallway back to the bar.

"Hey, I'm trying to be nice," she says, following me.

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