Page 97 of Hitting the Goal Line
The dark apartment doesn’t give me anything. It’s late, almost ten at night, and even knowing that it doesn’t stop me from being loud as I open the door and running straight to Blake’s room.
“Blake! Please tell me you’re home,” I yell out once in the hallway.
Not even a second later, I hear his feet hit the floor and it’s not long after that that his bedroom door opens up.
There he is standing in the doorway, only wearing basketball shorts and no shirt.
I see a questioning look on his face, but I ignore it.
Without any hesitation, I walk straight into his arms, trying my hardest not to lose it as I press myself onto his bare chest.
“What’s going on?” he asks, holding me tighter to his body.
If it were up to me, I would tell him to hold me and never let me go, but I have something to do before I’m able to do that.
I have to leave Elijah before I can give anything with Blake a real shot. Because that’s what I want. I want Blake, and I don’t care if I lose him in the long run, or he doesn’t return my feelings. Once this is all done and over with, I’m going to tell him how I really feel. I owe myself that much.
“Soph, you’re scaring me here. What’s going on?” Blake says, pressing his face into my hair.
God, I had no idea how much I’ve missed him until this very moment.
Unwillingly, I pull myself away from him and I try to compose myself as best as I can and try not to break down.
“Nothing,” I say, trying to give him a smile. “Well, not nothing.” I say, turning toward my room. Thankfully Blake follows. “I came to pack a bag and to tell you that I’m going to go to San Francisco with Elijah for a few days.”
“Okay?” he says, as I grab the luggage I stowed in my closet a few days ago.
I hurriedly pack clothes into the luggage, not even looking at what I’m grabbing. “It will only be for a few days, but I wanted to tell you just in case anything happened.”
“In case anything happened? What the fuck does that even mean?” he asks, standing by the door, watching as I move through the room erratically.
“Nothing,” I say, fishing out a pair of shoes from under my bed and stuffing it into the luggage before zipping it up.
“Sophia,” Blake says, with desperation sounding through his voice. It hurts me to hear him like this. It hurts me enough to slow down and look over at the man that I’ve known my whole life. The man that has been my everything since I was five years old. My protector, my friend, the love of my life.
I forget about packing and go over to him. When I reach him, I let my right hand reach up and slowly caress his cheek.
“I promised you that I was going to come back to you. That’s what I’m doing. I’m coming back. I just need to go to San Francisco first before I can do that, and as soon as I get back, I will explain everything to you. I promise. I’ll make everything better between us, I promise that too.” The whole time I speak the words, all I can do is hope that I don’t break a single one of these promises, because Blake deserves so much better than that.
“Soph,” Blake starts, worry coating every single inch of his expression, and all I want to do is take it away.
So, I do.
Getting onto my tiptoes, I give myself as much height as I can to reach up and place my lips against his.
For months, I’ve thought about his lips against mine. Of how they felt on mine the last time and how I wanted to drown in that feeling a million times over. For a few short seconds, I do. For a few seconds, I drown in everything that Blake is and everything that we could be when all of this is over.
I have to be strong and walk away from Elijah. For me. For him. For the future that we could possibly have together.
His hands land against my body and pull me closer to him, taking all the worries flowing through me away.
As much as I don’t want to break this moment, I have to. I have a job to do, and as soon as it’s done, I’m coming back to him.
“I have to go,” I say, pulling away from him, but just enough to lean my forehead against his.
“Don’t.”
“I don’t want to, trust me, but I have to. We’ll talk when I get back, okay? The second I step off that plane, I’m yours.” I mean that in every single way, but I don’t tell him that.
