× Horan

"So nice of you to join us, Lynn," Coach said as he looked up from his clipboard.

Lynn came walking up toward Coach with her water bottle in hand and uniform on. Her straight, caramel hair was pulled back into a ponytail and the loose flyaway hair was contained with a headband. She looked utterly exhausted.

I couldn't help but wonder how well she had slept once I had left her room last night. I was reluctant to leave her hall knowing she wasn't exactly in her right mind, but I knew that it was necessary. I understood her fatigue because I didn't sleep much, either.

"I'm sorry I missed practice last night," Lynn quickly defended. Her gaze landed on me briefly before looking back at Coach. "I wasn't feeling well."

"Well, that's unfortunate," Coach said indifferently. "Considering now that you won't be playing in the game today."

Lynn's mouth opened in slight shock, obviously forgetting one of the biggest (and dumbest) rule of Coach's: you skip the practice before a game; you don't play in the game. I knew what she was thinking - it was what everyone was hoping - that the rule didn't apply, just this once. Because as much as I hated to admit it, we needed her to win.

"No, nonono," I found myself saying, stepping close to Coach. "She has to play. She's the reason we got this far. Not to mention all the people who came to see her play."

Coach sighed and placed the clipboard under his arm and looked at Lynn and I in turn. "You both know the rules and I can't just let it slide because of how popular we might be. She wasn't at practice so she gets the consequences. As much as it pains me, Lynn can't play."

Lynn didn't show any emotion as she walked away and took a seat on the bench a few feet away. I went over to the rest of the team, explaining the situation to them. We tried to figure out what the fuck we were going to do since she couldn't play - trying to remember what we even did before Lynn...

"So Lynn's out," Jace stated.

"And Niall got red carded," William added.

"So we're fucked," Dylan concluded.

"Hey!" Thomas shouted, offended. "We did perfectly fine before Lynn joined the team. I mean, we lost more games than we won, and we always had Niall, but I refuse to listen to your negative comments, Dixon."

"You guys will be fine," I assured them. "You're better than ever, just play by the book. If you did what we practiced, then you have this."

It was getting close to game time and the arena was filling up with people. It was going to be another full house, all these people here to see Lynn play. They were going to be rather disappointed. My gaze trailed over to where she was sitting at the end of the bench alone. Her long California tanned legs were stretched out in front of her and crossed at the ankles. She was leaning forward and gripping the edge of the bench as she looked around the people taking their seats to watch the game. Her hair was no longer in its ponytail and the headband was wrapped around her wrist.

I couldn't read her expression and that worried me the most.

× × ×

A little under half time and it was a tied game at 1-1. I applied my theories of possible outcomes of the opposing team and shared the information with Coach. After we came up with a game plan, we told the players and things seemed to be looking up. But all we needed was one screw up before we were behind again.

Stepping away from Coach, I took a seat on the bench next to Lynn. She barely gave me a glance when I sat down.

The people sitting in the stands had started to leave, I couldn't help but notice. They were here to see Lynn, and once they figured out that she wasn't playing, they left. It sucked to think that we were only popular because of her, but publicity was publicity, and as long as it wasn't bad, no one really cared.

"Are you okay?" I asked Lynn.

She looked over at me. "Fine."

"Are you lying?"

"Yes."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really."

Half time came and went. As I was praying that it wouldn't happen, one of my teammates screwed up and missed a pass, making the other team get the ball and make a goal on us, breaking the tie.

At that rate, I didn't even care if we won or lost, I just wanted to leave and take a nap. I however hoped we didn't tie and have to go over time. The last thing I wanted was to stay longer than necessary.

The opposing team had called a timeout and I took that opportunity to look out at the stands again. My eyes landed on Chloe in the very front. Abby was with her, surprisingly, but she didn't seem very happy to be there. When they caught me looking at them, Chloe's hands went into the air and waved them uncontrollably as she elbowed Abby to join her. But she ignored her friend and kept looking at the score board like if she looked hard enough, she might just disappear out of the arena.

I found myself staring at the board, too, wanting the same thing as Abby - to just disappear.

Ten minutes later and the game had ended with the final score of 2-4, making us the loser like Dylan had predicted before the game.

As soon as the game ended, I booked it out of there. I managed to do it swiftly without being horded with the team for an end-game pep talk and didn't waste any time getting into the locker room and taking a shower.

After putting on some sweat pants and a teal Tigers shirt, I gathered my things and stuffed them into my locker before grabbing my jacket and car keys and heading out to the parking lot. I was halfway there when I heard someone running up behind me.

"Hey!" Lynn said, falling into step beside me. I noticed she was still in her uniform. "You know that Coach is looking for you, right?"

"I'm sure he is," I said, continuing my journey to my car.

"He's pissed that you didn't stay after the game."

"That's why I'm out here and not with him."

Lynn sighed, her cleated feet tapping on the black asphalt as she kept up with my pace. "You should go talk to him," she told me. "I mean, he's only going to be more mad the next time you see him."

"Lynn!"

We both turned around at the angry shout and saw a large man with short brown hair and a firm jaw marching toward us. From beside me, Lynn stiffened.

"Oh, god," she said under her breath, face filled with fear.

Then suddenly things made sense. "That's the lad, yeah?"

Before she could answer, the man was talking again, still making his way to us. "Lynn, where are you going? I thought we could go get something to eat and talk."

"I'm not going anywhere with you," she said with believable fake confidence. The only reason I knew it was fake was because I could see her hands shaking at her sides. "Actually, you should leave, to California."

"Baby, if this had anything to do with last-"

"I think you should leave," I spoke up, grabbing the lad's attention. He looked over at me and a cocky grin spread across his face. "Now."

"You must be Neil," he said, the smile turning into mock delight.

I have learned over the years that when someone purposely mistakes your name, is that they are threatened by you. And I know that because I have done that same thing countless of times with opponent players.

"I don't think we have been properly introduced. I'm Bradley." He held out his hand for me to shake in greeting, but I just continued to stare into his brown eyes, my jaw set.

Across the parking lot I saw Abby, Chloe, and James walking together toward James' car, laughing. It surprised me to see Abby and James talking again, but I didn't think too long on it. I just prayed they wouldn't see us and just drive right out of there and let us be in this awkward exchange for Lynn's benefit.

When Bradley figured out that I wasn't going to shake his hand, he removed it from the space between us and crossed his arms over his chest. "I finally get to meet the guy who took my girl away from me," he said, glaring at me with fire, but his charming smile was still on his lips mockingly.

"Bradley, please don't do this-" Lynn started to beg, but was cut off.

"You know he doesn't care about you, right?" Bradley taunted, still looking at me with daggers in his eyes. Then, his gaze looked down at Lynn and he took a step toward her, making me prepare myself if something were to happen. "No one does. I'm the only one that cares about you."

"That's not true," I said firmly and moved in front of Lynn. "That's an abuse tactic. Lynn is worth the world, and there will always be more than just you that cares for her. If you truly-"

Before I could even get the words out of my mouth, there was a blow to my face and a high shriek that pierced my ears. I stepped backwards and unbelievable pain had started to form at my nose. I reached up to where the damage was and started to unsuccessfully control the bleeding that had started to flow.

I heard yelling and running footsteps, but my eyes were clamped shut from the pain. Someone was standing in front of me, their small hands gripping onto my forearms as they were saying something, but I couldn't hear them, not really. Everything was just a loud roar in my ears.

Opening my eyes, I looked back into deep sapphire ones. Lynn was standing in front of me, worry on her face. Over her shoulder I saw James, Abby, and Chloe running up to us a few feet away. Bradley was grinning at me.

Pushing Lynn out of the way, I swung.

He was bigger than I was, but not by much. My blow hit him in the jaw and my knee went up and hit him in the gut, making him bend over. Before I could advance and hit him again, strong arms grabbed me and started dragging me back. I ignored the restraints from around me and started kicking and punching at the air. That was one thing I was taught never to do; punch blindly and hope for the best, but that didn't matter at the moment because I just wanted to hit that piece of shit Bradley one more time.

"You need to calm down!" a deep voice said into my ear and I recognized it as James. I did as I was told, only because the adrenaline had started to wear off, and I looked around at my surroundings.

Everything happened so fast. The first person I saw was Bradley, bent over and holding his face in one hand, the other wrapped around his lower stomach. Looking down at my feet, I saw the spatter of blood on the concrete my nose had created. Chloe and Abby were watching the exchange with their hands over their mouths, looking at me with dismay. Then Lynn. She was standing off to the side, far away from Bradley looking mortified. Her skin was pale and she was visibly shaking, even from the distance I was at I could see that.

I wanted to comfort her, to tell her that it was alright, that I was alright, and that everything was going to be alright. But before I could do that, Chloe was suddenly in front of me, pulling at James' arms to let me free from his grip. As soon as he did, her hands went up to my face and she examined my nose.

"This needs to be cleaned up and looked at properly," she spoke, grabbing my hand and started leading me away.

"Wait, I-" I turned my head to see where Lynn and Bradley were. "I have to stay with Lynn and make sure-"

"No, your nose might be broken, there's no time," Chloe objected and pulled, making me have no choice but to continue after her.

Her grip on my hand was like iron and I couldn't remove myself from her grasp. "James!" I shouted over my shoulder. Suddenly, I didn't care what kind of history we had, Lynn was my biggest concern at the moment. "Take Lynn to your room and make sure he" - I emphasized Bradley as I nodded in his direction - "doesn't follow you."

I knew I wasn't technically roommates with James anymore since he punched me in the face a few weeks ago, but he must have seen the desperation because he nodded.

"Don't do this to me, Lynn," I heard Bradley said. He was standing with his hands on his face, a visible cut on his lip peeking through his fingers. "Please, I just want to talk. I need you. I need you back home with me..."

Lynn didn't say anything as James grabbed her arm and steered her away to his car, Abby following close behind. I understood how easy it was for Lynn to fall victim to this bastard, he was very convincing with the way he said his words.

I wanted to say something to Bradley, or maybe hit him one more time, but Chloe forced me to turn around and lead me back into the arena building.

Clutching my nose, I tilted my head back to stop the bleeding as much as I could. My nose hurt like hell, but the satisfaction of hitting Bradley was so much sweeter that the pain was worth it.

"No, don't do that," Chloe said once we entered the building. She continued walking but gently grabbed the back of my head and tilted it forward. "If you tilt your head back, the blood will just rush back in."

She led me into the boys locker room, luckily no one was inside, and went straight to the back where the bathrooms were. She patted the counter top between two sinks, signaling for me to sit down. I did as I was told, clutching my nose and making sure my head was kept downward.

"Here," Chloe said as she grabbed a paper towel from the dispenser and handed it to me. "Put this under your nose to catch the blood. Your shirt is already stained from it; let's not make it any worse."

I looked down at my Tigers shirt I had changed into after the game and sure enough, there were some dark scarlet drops that made a trail down my shirt.

Chloe grabbed more paper towels and got them wet, placing them on the sink beside me. She then put her hands on my thighs, spreading them apart so she could step in between them and get at my nose better.

If I knew anything about Chloe, it was that she was not shy when it came to touching.

"It's swollen, so it's hard to tell if it's broken or not," she informed me as her hands went up to my nose. She put pressure on it and I winced. "Oh, sorry. Uh, this is going to hurt, but can you try and move your nose for me? Like a bunny."

I did as she instructed. It did hurt a little, but at least I can move it.

"Okay, was there a rubbing feeling or a grating sound that you noticed?" she asked me, her eyebrows creased in worry and concentration as she inspected my nose.

"No."

"Good! That's a good sign." She reached over and grabbed the damp paper towels and placed it just under my nose and started to clean up the dry blood gently. "The bleeding looks like it has stopped, but that doesn't mean it won't start again."

"You really know what you're doing," I observed.

Chloe shrugged slightly. "I better considering this is the type of stuff I'm going to school for."

"A doctor?"

"A nurse," she corrected me. When she was done cleaning the blood, she balled up the towel and threw it in the trash bin a few feet away by the door. "But thanks for thinking highly of me."

"You'll make a good nurse," I told her.

"I hope so."