Page 3 of Shutout
A text message from Dane pops up on the screen and I click on it by accident. When I return to Instagram, Liv’s post is gone. I look up her profile, only to confirm she must’ve deleted it.
My ears are roaring. Liv saidand yet, which means she’s coming to this party—the same one I was just about to ditch.
My former best friend who hates my guts is coming to willingly share the same air I breathe.
I can feel my face stretching into a shit-eating grin and text Dane to announce a change of plans.
CHAPTER 2
OLIVIA
Trent
Sorry, babe
We just really gotta finish this group assignment tonight
Me
No, I totally get it
Guess I’ll just study in my room
Brunch tomorrow tho?
But my boyfriend leaves me on read, probably distracted by what his group mates are doing, and I flop back on my bed. With the motion, a strand of hair dips into my mouth and I splutter until it’s out.
This is what my life has reduced to. A lonely Saturday night. I should follow in his example and pour my entire attention on all the material I have to cover for my midterms, which was the plan all along, but it’d have been nicer if Trent and I could’ve studied side by side at the library. Maybe get pizza from Romano’s afterward. And just because the two of us arebookworms it doesn’t mean we can’t occasionally pause from studying to make out for a bit. Or at least that’s how we used to be before. Lately, he’s a lot more responsible than me.
Keys jiggle in the front door and it opens with a swoosh I can hear from my room. Right after, a voice calls, “Olivia not-the-singer Rodriguez, we’re home!”
I roll my eyes, which I’m sure my roommates know I’m doing even though they can’t see through the walls.
“Har har.”
They burst through my door to catch me splayed on my bed with my limbs out in the shape of a star. Too slow I try to roll away but Dee Meyer’s one-hundred-fifty pounds still crash over me.
“Oof!”
“We won!” She screeches in my ear. “You should’ve seen us. We were freaking electric out there tonight.”
Grunting, I try to push her away from me. “No, thanks. I ha?—”
“Hate hockey, yes,” my other roommate says, sitting delicately on a corner of my bed. “But seriously, you should’ve un-hated it for tonight. If only to support your besties.”
I lift my eyebrows at her. “Mina, you’re not on the team. You don’t even know how to skate.”
She folds her arms. “But I’m their biggest fan.”
“This is true.” Dee finally rolls away from me and props her head up with her arm. “Her screams were the loudest from the stands. I’d have loved to hear you cheering too.”
With a deadpanned voice, I say, “I don’t scream.” Not even for my siblings or for…
Nope. Not gonna think about him at all.
“Fine, but it’d have been nice to see your face supporting me from the stands.”
“This face?” I motion at it, knowing it’s set in a bored grimace.
