“Dude, you look like you’re going to have an aneurysm,” Xavier laughs from across me, in his blacked-out tuxedo. Wren’s hand tightens on me again as she looks at me with a crooked smile.
“You do know that Josh Raymond is coming tonight, right?” I ask, scanning the room again. As expected, he hasn’t arrived in the last three seconds. Xavier shakes his head, letting out an incredulous laugh.
“Don’t act like you weren’t like that last year, Z,” Michelle laughs, taking a sip of her punch. “You practically shit yourself when you met Dean Mayer, and you wouldn’t stop talking about it forweeks.”
“She’s got you there,” Wren mutters and Xavier shrugs happily. We’ve all got our particular favourites for the NU Bear’s team of ’15. Mayer was the left defence for the team and Raymond was the centre and the captain and now they both play for the Utah Grizzlies. “I’m obsessed with your dress Michelle. Where did you get it?”
“I made it myself, actually,” Michelle replies with a soft smile, pushing her braids over her shoulder. Michelle, Wren, Scarlett and Kennedy float into a conversation about fashion and a bunch of other girl shit that I don’t have a clue about.
Wren keeps her hand on my leg the entire time as she talks to them, constantly reminding me she’s still there while I listen to another one of Tyler’s boring stories. Don’t get me wrong, Tyler is one of the funniest people I know but there is one thing they can’t do: tell a good story.
“And that’s how I almost got arrested,” Tyler ends the rant and Xavier, Beau and I exchange knowing glances.
“So, you went through that entire story – plot twists and all – just to tell us how youdidn’tget arrested?” Xavier asks, running his hands down his face in exhaustion. Tyler nods with a cheesy grin pulling at their cheeks.
“Yeah. Well, you had to know the contexts, obviously,” Tyler begins before diving into another deep conversation about how things didn’t happen. I float in and out of their chat, checking the door every few seconds before something in Wren’s conversation catches my attention and I turn to their half of the table.
“So, how did Miles convince you to date him? I’ve known him since we were kids and I’ve never seen him so….” Michelle begins, waving her hands vaguely. I don’t say anything as I try to listen but make myself invisible at the same time.
“Whipped?” Kennedy cuts in.
“Obsessed?” Scarlett chirps.
“I was going to say, ‘in love’ but sure,” Michelle laughs softly as every single nerve in my body is set on fire. Wren’s hand stills on my thigh as I turn back to the rest of the group, leaning my arm on the table to hide my face from their view while still trying to listen.
In love?
Maybe that is what it was this morning before she left. In the car. Every time I’m around her. But I can’t, right? I’m too young to feel that shit. I never felt it with Emily or anything close to it. I’ve always known there was something deeper underneath it all, but I thought it was just purely a hyper-fixation.
As much as this can be easily labelled as love, I can’t love her. She doesn’t want that. The sound of her laugh catches me off guard, but I still stay facing away from her.
“That’s ridiculous, guys,” Wren whisper-laughs. “We have a good time. We talk, we laugh we fuck but he’snotin lovewith me. We’ve only just started dating.”
“You’ve been dating since September. I told Z I loved him, like, a month into our relationship,” Michelle explains. The girls laugh but Wren’s voice is quiet when she speaks next, as if she doesn’t want me to hear but I do.
“Whatever. If he was in love with me, I think I’d know and I’d definitely be freaking out.”
Finally, saving me from the torture of eavesdropping, the doors open and the entire gym bursts into a loud cheer. NU legends walk through the door – basketball, football, soccer, and ice hockey players dressed as if this is the most important event they’ve attended. They all take a seat at their designated table under watchful eyes. The screeching sound of mic feedback turns everyone’s attention from their seats at the back of the room to the front, where a makeshift stage stands with Billy Carhart, the head of the sports department, behind a podium.
“Good evening, everyone,” he begins, and we all burst into another fit of cheers. Wren looks over at me now, beaming, completely unaware of what I heard her say. I press a kiss to her forehead, and she turns back to face the front, her back nuzzling into my chest. “As you have noticed, the night has officially begun as we welcome back generations of North’s sports stars. But tonight, is not about them. It’s about every single student in this room for your dedication to your sport.”
He goes on a rant about how much he adores our commitment and how he couldn’t ask for better people to be playing the sports her loves. I zone out his talk while the excitement wells in me as I itch to get out of this seat and talk to Josh. Carhart hands over to the coaches or the basketball and soccer team while they talk about two students, they’re awarding their certificates to.
I pay attention when they announce the skating team's awards and all of the shyness she had this morning about her winning gets thrown at the window as she already walking up to the stage before they announce her name. Of course she knew she would win.
Everyone from our table stands up and claps for her and she throws us an embarassing smile as she receives her certificate from the podium, behind which they play her best moments on a projector.
Kennedy and Scarlett are tearing up like proud parents and I put two fingers in my mouth and whistle. She widens her eyes as she walks back down, loving and hating the attention all at the same time.
"See. I told you you'd win," I whisper to her when she's back at the table, snuggled into my side. "You are brilliant, Wren. Don't ever forget it."
She blinks up at me, tearing lining her eyes but she doesn't let them fall. She opens her mouth but nothing comes out, the same way I was earlier. Instead, she presses a kiss to the corner of my mouth.
After Nash Reading and Wyatt Denton receive their awards Carhart steps in again to give us an interval to walk around and talk to the alumni. This is my chance.
“Are you going to be okay here or do you want to come with me?” I ask Wren, only half meeting her eyes as I scan the room to check if Josh has moved from his corner of the room. My eyes make their way back to her when she places her gentle hands on both sides of my face, shaking it slightly.
“I’ll go with you, but you’ve got to chill. He’s not going anywhere,” Wren whispers with a laugh, pressing a quick kiss to the side of my mouth. I take in her green eyes and my breathing begins to settle.
