Page 94 of Game Point
‘It’s okay to be afraid, Oliver,’ Jon said. ‘But it’s not okay to let that fear hold you back. Especially when it’s love. Don’t waste a moment of that.’
This time I didn’t deny it. I sat with it, rolling the word around, trying to work out how it felt, like a child with a puzzle box, seeing if the square fits in the circle hole. Before I could find the answer, Inés appeared from the darkened bedroom behind Nico.
‘What are you guys doing here?’ she asked, her dark hair pushed back behind her ears.
‘Talking sense into Oliver,’ Nico smirked from beside her.
‘Oh, is this about Dylan?’ she asked, my heart fully stopping in my chest as Inés said her name.
My expression turned into panic, face draining of colour as Nico’s smirk exploded into a grin. ‘See!’
‘She’s been so … weird today. The Dylan I know would be a nightmare to be around when she’s injured and has to pull out of a competition,’ Inés began. ‘But I swear to God, I saw her smiling earlier. She never fucking smiles.’
A strange warm feeling filled me up, like a blanket of comfort, as a supercut in my head played every single time she grinned brightly at me. It was the most beautiful thing about her.
I was infartoo deep.
‘Anyway, it’s a ten-minute warning until the bells,’ Inés warned. We followed her back into the luxury suite. It was already very late for athletes during a competition. I could feel the disdain of the other coaches, their intermittentpeering at the clock only so they could sweep their players back to their rooms as soon as it hit midnight. It was strangely bittersweet, the feeling that I should be among them still a little fresh after Dylan’s injury.
I grabbed two glasses of real champagne from the kitchen, most of the bottles being non-alcoholic fizz for the players competing, and headed through the vast presidential suite. I smiled at groups of familiar faces, locating Dylan sitting on a plush sofa, a pair of crutches to the side of her, her injured leg outstretched on the coffee table.
Standing across from her, I tsked.
‘What?’ she asked, confused. I put the champagne glasses down, picking up one of the spare cushions stacked next to her.
‘This,’ I said, stepping towards where her leg rested on the coffee table, gently lifting her injured limb, ‘is supposed to be elevated.’
‘What would I do without you?’ she said, the tightness in my chest increasing ten-fold.
‘Struggle.’ I sat down next to her. The skin of her bare arm brushed against mine, causing me to be aware of how close I was sitting to her. I didn’t dare move away.
‘You were gone for a while,’ she noted, as I leaned even closer to hear her over the music in the room. I could smell her perfume, the scent rich and intense.
‘Jon and Nico were bullying me.’
‘Aw, want me to go beat them up with you,’ she said, nodding towards her crutches. ‘I’m armed now.’
I shook my head. Dylan had been brutal with those crutches, using them to grab my attention, to pull itemstoo far away. I wasn’t sure she was going to give them up when she was healed.
‘No, it’s fine.’ I leaned my head back on the head rest, rolling it round to find her staring right back at me. I froze momentarily, trapped in her gaze, swallowing down the fact I was so done for her it should be embarrassing. ‘How is your night going?’
‘Inés was hanging out with me,’ she replied. ‘But she kept being weird.’
I fought the embarrassment at the mention of her friend, the scene out on the balcony all too fresh in my mind. ‘Oh, that’s annoying.’
She shrugged, her voice sounding lighter as she replied, ‘I guess.’
Around us, the music dimmed, the bustling crowd breaking out in a cheer before the countdown began. Moving forward, I grabbed the glasses I’d taken for us, passing one over to her.
‘Thanks,’ she said, smiling softly at me. The smile that Inés had said was rare, but maybe it was special for me and for me alone. I committed each to memory, knowing these were mine.
‘Three …’
I tried to push past my thoughts, trying to remember why I had been holding back from her. Why for weeks and months I had tried to keep her at arm’s length. I came up empty.
‘Two …’
As the seconds of the last year ticked away, I realized what it had brought me. Heartbreak. A feeling of being lost like I’d never experienced before. And a wake-up callin the form of Dylan Elizabeth Bailey. Like in the time before her, I’d been sleep-walking. She was the only thing strong enough to wake me up. To make me want more again.
