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“I can’t help it!” He just kept going, which only made me laugh harder. “My heart’s attached, Theodore Daniel.”

“You’re a fucking idiot.” An idiot who somehow knew exactly when I was drowning without having any idea why and could drag me out of my own head before it became too much.

That was my favorite thing about Jude. He always made me feel a little less alone, even when the one thing I desperately wanted to talk to him about was something I could never say aloud.

CHAPTER 24

Rhodes

Do you know how fucking obnoxious this is?

SARIAH: There are so many things in your life that could pertain to.

Chartering a flight for football players is a goddamn feat. And it’s not even the flight that’s the issue—no, the department has all that organized. Mostly. It’s knowing I have to put all these alien-obsessed fuckers on the same flight with me.

SARIAH: So, they’re your people.

I’m not alien-obsessed.

SARIAH: Did I tell you that the brunch crew has decided that aliens aren’t real? I mean, no one has ever seen one, so they can’t be real.

…

SARIAH: Still not alien-obsessed?

I’m finding a new brunch crew.

Wrangling college football players was like trying to wrangle cats. Wet, feral cats. With claws. And who embodied the belief that they had nine lives, in which to test my patience.

At this point, my patience was worn thin from trying to organize all the little groups that had broken off to have their own conversations. They were loud, distracted, and frustrating. Thankfully, all the staff who were going were organized and seemed to know what we were doing. One of the athletic trainers, Miles, was quick to give me as much insight as he could to make the trip smooth.

Unfortunately, that did nothing for all the personalities around me.

“Listen up!” I shouted, doing my best to be heard over the lot of them. It took several minutes and more yelling for me to get complete silence. “I’m sure most of you are used to this by now, but I’m not, so you’re going to have to deal with me running through everything at least once.”

“You do you, boss,” Brent replied loudly as he saluted me all too seriously.

“Thank you,” I said. Some things were just easier to roll with than anything else. “Now, step one: everyone puts their bags under the bus. Think of it like Tetris, not a fucking dogpile. Think before you just throw your bags in.”

“What’s Tetris?” someone asked.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” I muttered under my breath and ignored the question. Unfortunately, I wasn’t the only one less than impressed, as more banter broke out about the comment. I yelled, “Hey! I haven’t even gotten to step two yet!”

At this rate, we’d never leave the damn school.

“Step two: everyone gets on the bus, finds a seat, and gets settled in as orderly a process as you can.”

“Can I sit by you?” Forrest asked almost instantly.

“Why?” I demanded because I was the last person any of them should want to sit by.

“Because I have questions,” he replied, and I frowned. That phrase was beginning to be the bane of my existence.

“What kind of questions?”

“Okay, so I saw this documentary while I was trying to Netflix and chill with my girl,” he began.

“Jesus fuck,” I grumbled.