Page 136 of Honeysuckle
“Do you have your phone?” He laughed, and I patted down my pockets before swearing and darting back upstairs to grab it off the bed. When I returned to the main floor, Cael, Ella, and Arlo were standing with him.
“You ready, Tucker?” Arlo asked, looking more buttoned up than usual in a clean dark suit and dress shirt. Ella matched him in a long black dress, the ring she always wore around her neck and a pretty smile that instantly brought me a little comfort.
“Do I have a choice?” I asked and he shook his head.
“Guess I’m ready then,” I said.
Everyone made their way out to the car, but before we took the stairs, Arlo stopped me.
“You never looked at it, did you?” He asked, and I looked down at him at the bottom of the stairs, confusion all over my face. What the hell was he talking about? “Open the binder, Tucker.”
“We don’t have—” I started, the last thing I wanted to know was read what he thought of me on that page, tonight would be hard enough without knowing.
“It’ll take five minutes, they can wait,” he said. “Go.”
I scratched my neck and shrugged. Who was I to argue against Arlo? He waited, watching me as I turned back to the house. I took the stairs to my room and dug the binder out from the bottom of my duffle bag, cradling it in my hands and opening it to my tab.
Franklin Tucker.
I stared at the picture he had pinned in the folder and laughed, it was my rookie year photo. I still had a skinny face and a hopeful look in my eye. My hair was short, and there was no trace of exhaustion anywhere.
The file was normal, it had all my stats, my best plays scribbled down in bad handwriting, but taped behind the picture was a little faded yellow sticky note dated from that year.
Next captain.
My chest constricted my heart painfully, all the anxiety I had been feeling burned raw at the sight of the simple words. He had known, that season, all those years ago that eventually one day I would be here. How long he had been training me to fill his shoes, and I hadn’t even been aware of it?
I pulled the sticky note out of the folder and rubbed it between my fingers.
He had so much faith in me, and I had never seen it.
I tucked the sticky note into my pants pocket and put the binder away to join the others. The car was still waiting out front of the Nest, and it took us down to the stadium like it always did. The music was loud coming from inside, the parking full as we climbed from the car and straightened ourselves out. Cael excused himself, no doubt to find Clementine, and for the first time since meeting him, I wasn’t desperate for him to return to my side.
Josh bumped my shoulder and swiped his ID on the box to let us in the door. Ella and Arlo’s voices echoed gently around the concrete hallway as the four of us made our way down through to the main entrance of the field. My heart was pounding in my chest and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do to stop the feeling of it trying to run away. We stepped out into the concourse, the concrete sturdy beneath my feet, and I looked down over the party.
Everything looked amazing, twinkling lights and a massive dance floor that framed a large stage and a live band. There were tables of chatting people and waiters rushing around to make sure everyone was happy.My parents would be down there, waiting in the shadows like a pair of vipers. Toxic and ready to destroy every good thing I'd been working to create. My heart was running rampant beneath my chest and my head was dizzy with anxiety.
“Stop looking for them,” Josh whispered from beside me.
“I can’t,” I breathed out and turned around on my heel to take a second before I stepped down onto the field, only to be met with the team. Cael stood, shoulder to shoulder with Arlo, Van and Silas, surrounded by the rest of the team, starters and second string alike. All there like a wall.
“You didn’t think we’d let you do this alone, did you?” Cael's voice was sturdy and comforting as he asked with a smile on his face.
I didn’t know what to say to them. But I felt stronger with them standing in a united front, supporting me without question and under extreme scrutiny. Arlo nodded, pride tucked into the quiet curve of his smile.
“Two steps at a time,” he said, raising his hand to his heart.
Cael stepped forward, looking over at Josh for a split second and letting something unsaid pass between them before he reached out to the suit jacket I was wearing. “You forgot someone,” he said, pinning a small lavender boutonniere to my chest with practiced ease. “And Clementine got one thing wrong in her article, don’t tell her I said that,” he whispered with a smirk as he got it in place. "But there’s never been only one heart of the Hornets, our strength lies in numbers.”
“It’s perfect.” I looked down at the little stalks of delicate purple flowers and smiled, my jaw quivering with raw emotions.
“She would be livid for missing such an insane outpouring of love,” Silas said when I went quiet, trying to collect my emotions and to keep from crying. I cleared my throat and squared my shoulders to fight the grief and gratitude that tangled dangerously in my chest. “And for the record, she would have loved you like you were her own.” He looked over at Josh. “She had a thing for grouchy asshole misfits,” he added, laughing as Arlo shoved him.
“If it’s any consolation, I would have been honored,” Josh said, and I turned my head to look at him. All serious and stoic in his statement, the lights from the stadium backlit the sharp cut of his jaw and the long, harsh swoop of a nose broken more than once. The bright white lights created a halo around him, kissing each plaited curl and making him glow.
I’d never felt a rush of love like the wave that washed over me just admiring him.
“I’m ready,” I said, the words sticking in my throat as I swallowed the fear. Josh looked over at me and nodded, his hand tangling into mine at our sides and the team cheering like a bunch of idiots at the top of their lungs. The music and chattering from the stadium, the anxiety in my chest and the fear in my heart were completely drowned out by their love.
