Page 34 of I Hear You

Shit. I forgot I let him think I was hooking up with someone when I didn’t give him an excuse for being late to football practice that one time.

I shove my hands in my front pockets but don’t answer him. The lies are piling up.

“Are you seeing someone new, Henry?” Jackie asks.

I forgot she was here.

“No,” I spit out, gritting my teeth.

“I’m gonna head out back and make sure Taylor isn’t doing shots. Are you coming?” Jesse asks, saving me from the string of questions I’m sure Jackie is about to fire off.

“Yeah, right behind you.”

I don’t wait for Jackie to protest and follow Jesse outside. I might as well ask him for a piggyback ride, I’m walking so close behind him. Eager to get away from Jackie. Longing to be near Madison.

We make it outside and the girls are sitting alone on lounge furniture by the pool. Red cups in their hands already and chatting about something. Taylor’s cup is no doubt filled with vodka and fruit juice and I wonder what’s in Madisons. I wonder if what she’s drinking is making her full lips taste sweet.

Madison told me in our emails more than once that her mom started drinking a lot after her dad passed away. She’d told me about a handful of times she’d be at a party and have a beer or a hard seltzer. And the one time she got drunk, she said the hangover wasn’t worth it. For all I know, there isn’t actually any alcohol in her cup.

“Look who I found, ladies!” Jesse announces as we get closer.

“Hey Henry,” Taylor says without even looking at me.

Taylor was always the most vocal and opinionated about me dating Jackie and how she’d prefer Ididn’tdate Jackie. Does Taylor know about the kiss? Or about me running away mid-kiss like a jackass? Roommates share those kinds of stories, don't they?

“Madison, you remember our guy, Henry, right?” Jesse asks her, scooting into the seat behind Taylor, letting her sit between his open legs.

I turn my attention to Madison and she’s looking up at me, biting her damn lip again. I nearly drop to my knees right there and my jeans instantly feel too tight. I smile at her. I wonder if she can hear my heart racing. It feels as if the entire offensive line is in my chest doing drills.

“Of course,” she says. “Thanks again for the ride. It was very sweet of you.”

She’s smiling at first, but her smile fades after the words leave her lips. So, I’m guessing shehasn’ttold Taylor about the library, or any of the other times we’ve hung out. Are we pretending the kiss never happened? I want so badly to bring that smile she had a few moments ago back. Why does she look so–sad? Or maybe it’s anger I’m seeing. Is she angry because of the library or Jackie? Or both?

I’m so nervous, I’m still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that this is my Mads sitting here right in front of me whose lips I’ve now tasted. The tight dress that shows just the right amount of skin isn’t helping my nerves, either. I suddenly don’t know how to talk to her or what to say, so I drone on with mundane small talk. I don’t want anyone else to notice the tension between us. That stupid kiss–a moment of weakness–changed everything.

“It's pretty wild that you and Taylor are roommates,” I say, playing along with her act.

“I guess this town is smaller than I thought it was.”

She’s just talking to me to be polite. I’m getting a vibe that she doesn’t want me talking to her at all and she’s itching to get away from me. Can I blame her? Her phone in her hand lights up and she looks down at it. The anger in her expression is more noticeable now, but the sadness is still there, too. I want to take her phone from her and tell whoever is making her face look that way to fuck off.

A group of guys from the football team are playing beer pong nearby. One of them calls me over before I can act on a crazy impulse. I want to ignore him. I want to keep talking to Madison. I want to do or say something to make her smile again. I excuse myself sheepishly and walk over to the guys, but Madison doesn’t even look up from her phone. On the short walk over, I look back just once, only to see that Madison is now just staring down into her cup, her face somehow even sadder than it was just a moment before.

When I make it over to the guys, it turns out they just want to talk shit about practice and the coach. I stifle a groan but try to take part in the conversation. As quarterback, I’m supposed to be the heart of the team, and that means listening to these idiots complain. It’s hard to be excited about football when I know I should be playing for a team whose games actually fill stadiums. Not to mention the fact that most days I question if I even want to play football anymore. I get confused about if it was ever really my dream, or just my dad’s.

My back is to Madison, but I’m not so far away that I don’t hear her voice when she starts talking. I tune out the guys and strain my ears to hear her better.

“Yeah, I just moved here this year, too. I’m an English major. What about you?”

A deep voice responds to her. There’s something familiar about the voice and I can’t take it any longer. I turn my head just enough to see who she’s talking to. I instantly regret it.

My skin is on fire and my hand crushes the half empty water bottle I’m holding.

Fucking Caleb. She’s talking to fucking Caleb.

He’s sitting on the arm of the chair she’s in and leaning in toward her. I can tell from here his gaze keeps falling to her chest and I know he has a perfect view of her tits from where he’s sitting.

That prick.

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