Page 84 of Leave Me Broken

“Uh . . .” Shit. What do I say? We haven’t been caught many times—somehow, but when we are usually Ash covers but he seems as lost as me. Unlike me, he’s not panicking though. Simply staring at me, waiting for me to come up with something. “Coach was just, uh, checking on my leg. Janelle had told him I was in pain so he helped me do a few . . . exercises to stretch it out.”

Lauren narrows her beautiful eyes. “In the shower?”

Kill me now. “No,” I blurt, obviously guilty. “I mean, I showered because I didn’t after the game. We just bumped into each other in the hall after.”

Lauren purses her lips and nods her head once. “Mhm.”

Ash stiffens behind me.

“Nelly was asking for you,” Lauren tells me. “Might want to find her.”

I force a weird laugh but nod my head. “Totally. On my way now.”

Janelle and the rest of the team sit haphazardly on the couch in their second family room, away from the noise of the party supposedly meant for us but has quickly turned into adults gone wild. Ash was called away on my way here, and I didn’t look back to see who called him because after the interrogation on the stairs from Lauren, I think it’s best if we aren’t seen together for a while. And it was a man’s voice.

“You better not have had sex on my bed,” Janelle mumbles as soon as my ass hits the white couch.

“I didn’t. We didn’t have sex at all.” Disappointment contorts her face. “Not even in the shower?” She lifts one of my braids as if I need to be reminded it’s wet.

I slap it away. “No, but your mom saw us holding hands with wet hair.”

“And?”

“And? Are you crazy? She definitely knew something was up. Coaches and players don’t hold hands. Besides, you miss where I said our hair was wet?”

I let Janelle have her moment squealing and such before I have to bring her back down to earth and help her realize her mom knows and she didn’t exactly look happy. She wasn’t mad, I’ve seen Lauren mad before—never at me, but I’ve seen it.

“Did she look mad?”

“She looked indifferent.”

Janelle clicks her tongue and falls into the back mostly lying down now. “Then you’re fine. She gave me and Collins that look for years.”

That actually makes me feel better because I know she’s never confronted Janelle for their relationship. She waited until Janelle told her, and hopefully she will do the same for me. That day might never come and that’s totally fine with me. I don’t want Ash and me to be a secret forever but I’m also not making a huge announcement when we’re not. One day people will just see us in public as a couple, word will get out and save me from having to tell anyone face-to-face.

I fall back next to Janelle. “Is it weird him being here?” I lower my voice even more because Collins, Alyssa, and another couple sit across the room talking.

Janelle sighs deeply. “No. Well, yes, it’s weird but not in the way I expected.”

“What do you mean?”

“I expected to be more upset. Like seeing his face would make me want to cry.” A look of puzzlement comes over her pretty face. “That’s not how I feel, though. Of course I don’t like seeing them hanging out because I hate her; I’m not sure I want to see him with anyone, but whatever, it’s going to happen one day, right?”

Had you told me Janelle and I would be having this conversation a month ago, I would have laughed in your face. This is coming from a girl who ate nothing but strawberry ice cream in bed for days, jumping between crying and screaming at various couples on TV because “they were lying” about this and that. I mean HGTV couples as well as fictional and trashy TV too. I was just as upset without the theatrics. Janelle was going through it for the both of us, but I’m happy now, so who’s saying she can’t be?

The difference is, I’m happy because I’m in love. Oh, shit. Did I just think that? Am I in love? I’ve loved Ash Pearson for a long time but am I in love with him? I shake my head because now is not the time to contemplate that mess.

I roll my head to look at Janelle and she does the same. “I think I’m in love.”

Her eyes blow wide and a big smile is quick to follow. “No shit.” She snorts.

“What’s no shit?” Someone falls onto the couch next to me, then another someone. Monica and Patrick. I greet him and he smiles back.

“Payson’s in looooove,” Janelle singsongs. Louder than she should. The rest of the room glances our way. Mika wanders over and falls onto the floor in front of us, crossing her legs and smiling so sweetly. “I thought we knew this.”

The rest of us fall into easy laughter as everyone else goes back to their own conversations. “Apparently not all of us.” Monica nudges me.

“Payson and Pear-pie sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G,” Janelle sings loudly.

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