AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I’m calling you now. ABSOLUTELY DO NOT INGORE MY CALL THIS TIME. ANSWER YOUR PHONE!!!!
Shit.
My phone rings.
I take a deep breath. “Hey, Han.”
“Zara Adelaide Fox, have you lost your freaking mind? What the hell, Zee? You broke Rule Number One? And now dad’s starting quarterback is off the team? Are you crazy? Do you know what a big deal this is, for everyone who’s involved with that team? Do you realize you’ve just ruined Elias O’Shea’s entire career? What were you thinking?”
Damn it. My sister is right. It is my fault that Elias is off the team. I have ruined his life. Not just that but I’ve probably screwed up the entire season for my dad, all the football players and hundreds of thousands of fans. And now I’m here and I’m only going to be making it worse. “I’m in love with him,” I sob.
My sister hasn’t heard me cry in a long time. We’ve talked about this. We cried so much when we lost our mother that our tears dried up and neither one of us thought we were even capable of crying anymore. Like we broke the mechanism or something. But now, here I am crying again. “Zee,” she says. Patiently. With empathy but also harsh logic. “You’ve known him for a week or something. Get real. You’re hot for him, that’s a very different thing than falling in love.”
“I’m hot for him and I’m in love with him.”
“Oh, shit. Did you sleep with him?”
This is not going to go down well. “Yes.”
“What? Holy shit! I told you to have fun, not go totally insane!”
My breathing is jagged and my face is wet. “I know.”
“What did you do, meet him, fall under the hot quarterback’s spell, then five minutes later jump straight into bed with him?”
“Pretty much.”
“Zara, why? Please tell me you at least used protection.”
“I’m on the pill. I started taking it, like, a month ago. I told you that, remember?”
“And that’s it? What about a condom?”
“He said…” Oh god. I don’t want to tell her all this.
But she’s not having a bar of my hesitation. “He said what?”
“He hasn’t been with anyone for a while. They get checks and so on.”
“And you believed that? He’s a major player, Zee. He’s famous for it.”
But her question shifts something in me. Because I did believe him. With all my heart. I know he was telling me the truth. I could see it and I could feel it.
I take a deep breath. I wipe my eyes. I pull myself together as much as I can. “Han. I love you. And I get why you’re upset. I’m upset too. I’m upset because I’m so sure of this and because it’s caused so much pain for a lot of people, but mostly for Elias. I’m going to fix it. I’m going to talk to Dad and convince him to put Elias back on the team. Because we want to be together and we should be allowed to be if that’s what we decide. It’s not up to anyone else. It’s not up to Dad. It’s not up to you. It’s up to us.”
Hannah’s quiet for a few seconds, which isn’t like her at all. “You really are in love with him.” Like this is exceptionally bad news but also something to be marveled at. I happen to know my sister has never even remotely been in love. But she has slept with a lot of men that never make her happy.
“Yes.” The limo is pulling into a cemetery. “And I have to go now.”
“I’m coming home, Zee. You need someone to talk some sense into you. One week of college and you’ve totally lost your mind.”
“You don’t need to come home, Han. I’m in Michigan. I don’t know how long I’ll be here.”
“Zee, please. Be reasonable.”
“I love you, Han. I’ll call you back. Wish me luck.”
“Zara, wait. Please be careful.”
