Page 76 of Still Here Without You

“The batting cages. I’ve heard they can be therapeutic.”

“I play football.”

“I’m not asking you to try out for the team. We just go and hit some balls. Have you seriously never done that before?”

Dylan’s face morphs from pained to angry, and I’m a little excited about it. “Joel, I’ve known you forever;you’venever done that before.”

I lift my shoulders as though his words don’t faze me, hoping to wind him up even more. He needs this. He needs to start feeling things again. He’s been like a ghost lately.

“I’m not the sports guy. I thought all sports guys did shit like that.”

“Fuck, for a smart guy, sometimes you…”

“I what?”

Come on, Dyl, fight me. I need you to fight.

“Never mind. I’ll see you a bit later.” He walks back to his room with a wave over his shoulder, and my heart breaks for him. For him.Not me.Huh? I think I just had an epiphany. There’s a clear difference between how Dylan feels right now and how I feel, and yet, I’ve also lost Del. The only girl I’ve ever loved. The girl I’m still very much in love with.Why is that?Why aren’t I moping around and sinking into the pits of hell?

Walking back into my room, I spot my laptop on the floor, a thought popping into my mind.That’s why.Because deep down, I know it’s not over. She’s hurting and trying to hurt me in the process. I’m hurting and doing the same. We both have fight in us. It’s just pulling us apart instead of bringing us together. If she hates me, that’s fine. It means she feelssomething. I don’t know when, or how, but Delilah, you better be ready. I’m coming for you.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Delilah

AsShelbyexpected,thecoaches gave me a second chance, and for the last two months, I’ve been back on the cheer squad. Conditionally, of course. I have to show my utmost commitment at all times. Be the first to arrive, last to leave. No excuses will be tolerated. Even if I’m on my deathbed, I’m to show up ready to go. I get it; they think I left them in the lurch, but they were fine. They were never for a second a woman down, and apart from my replacement being a bitch, the team’s been better than ever. I guess they feel the need to set an example or something.

While the football season ended in December, we’re only now out celebrating, wanting to get through Christmas and New Year's first. I’ve managed to skate along with the bare minimum of interaction outside of games and practice, but I had no chance of getting out of it tonight. So here I am, standing out in front of some new club in town, waiting in line to get in.In line. Like this night wasn’t already going to be bad enough.

“What is this place anyway?” one of the girls asks Shelby as we take another two steps forward. We’ve been here for twenty minutes and still look to be at least ten people from the front.

“Okay, so for those of you that are not in the know like I am,” Shelby starts, and I mentally roll my eyes. “Tonight is opening night for The Heights nightclub. They’ve kept it all hush-hush, but I heard from Kirsten, who heard from Luna, that it’s…”

She keeps talking, but I completely zone out. I’ll find out exactly what this place is in about eight people’s time…no, six. They just let two more in.

When it’s finally our turn, Shelby pushes through the door with so much excitement you’d think she’d won the lottery. A small smile plays on my lips as I think about how nice it would be to find that much joy in something again, but it quickly fades the second we make it inside. “What the fuck!?”

Four sets of eyes flash to mine, and one of the girls even jumps in shock at my outburst.Oops, didn’t mean to say that out loud, but it’s not unwarranted.

Shelby recovers first and squeals with glee. “Isn’t it amazing?”

Amazing is not the first word to pop into my head, obviously, becausefuckwas. What caught my eye looks like a lawsuit waiting to happen. Seventy percent of the venue contains what you’d expect to see at a nightclub—lights, DJ booth, tables, bars—but the rest is made up of raised podiums as a substitute for dance floors. Some genius thought it was a good idea to mix extreme amounts of alcohol with heights.This is insane.And how Miss Cheerleading-is-my-world thought it was a good idea to bring the squad here is beyond me. I guess she’s finished with us, so why would she care?

I’m four shots in, and suddenly podium dancing seems like an amazing idea. This can’t actually be legal, right? I mean, the podiums are at eye level. If someone falls—

“It’s not.” A guy sits down next to me, interrupting my thoughts. He looks to be in his early thirties and is definitely pulling off the hot young businessman look he has going on. He’s tall like Joel, but Joel’s definitely bigger in the muscle department, and fuck…Wait. What did he say?

“Pardon?”

“It’s not legal. You said this can’t actually be legal, right?”

Oh, oops.

“Sorry, that was meant to be an inner observation, but now, I’m intrigued. If it’s not legal, then how is it happening?”

“The owners arranged for security to only let those that are sober up onto the dance floors, but they’re not following the rules,” he says before mumbling, “and only one owner seems to care.”

“Um, that seems like a lot of hard work when a normal dance floor would have sufficed. Not to mention dangerous.” I don’t get it. I don’t understand what this place is. What it’s trying to be.

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