Distraction (41 page)

That hurt. The truth usually did.

"I hate this," I said, defeated. I rested my head
against my pillow.

"Grow up, Elle. I can
'
t believe you
right now, and I
'
m not speaking to you until you talk to Eric." Alyssa's
light went out, followed by her flopping onto the mattress.

I turned my lamp off as well, waiting for her to calm down
before saying more. In the dark, I could see Alyssa
'
s dark figure
sit back up.

"You don
'
t have to tell Eric you
'
re in love with anyone. Just tell
him it
'
s not working."

"Okay, Alyssa. Okay," I said in a whisper then
sighed. If only it were that easy. Alyssa fell back down on her bed.

"Night. I love you and know you
'
ll do the right
thing. You always do."

I smiled. "Thanks. I love you, too. Goodnight."

* * *

Saturday morning rolled around, and at this rate, I
'
d be leaving
with Eric next Thursday. I freaking sucked at confrontation, but there was no
way in hell was I going to meet any more of his family. Also, I was pretty sure
Eric would want an explanation, hence my stalling the inevitable. How could I
tell Eric I was leaving him for the one person I promised I didn
'
t want? As for
Alyssa, I told her I
'
d tell Eric by the end of the weekend. Maybe after we watched
the game today? Bittersweet ending.

Alyssa called from the living room, "
Elle,
Eric'
s
here."

I grabbed my purse and headed out to meet him.

"Hey," I said, barely able to smile back.

"Hey," he replied, waiting by the door.

"So, do you and Eric have any special plans tonight?"

I glared back at Alyssa. "We
'
re headed to the
game."

"Have fun," she said, turning away.

Eric and I had great seats. Once the game started, Eric laced
our fingers together and stroked the back of my hand with his thumb. I did my
best not to pull away from his touch. Alyssa texted me, saying she
'
d find me. I
just hoped it would be soon.

Chapter
28

Tristan

Every morning my head felt like someone had taken a hammer
and pounded the shit out of it. After Elle slashed my heart to shreds last
week, I'd made sure to finish no less than a six-pack before crashing each night.
I was tired of dreaming, tired of hoping, and the one person who could deliver
peace into my hell was the very reason I was stuck there. Every day I waited,
but at the end of each day, it
'
d been for nothing. Still.

I thought of all the girls I'd been with while Elle watched.
Payback was a bitch. Is that what she was doing?

All through practices each day, Coach rode my ass for my
sloppy, half-ass plays on the field. But damn, staying in my nightly drunken
haze seemed better than going through the alternative...a shit load of torment.

Coach threatened to pull me if I didn
'
t get my shit
together today, but as I ran onto the field, all my personal problems faded
away. Not considering my alcoholic consumption, football became the one thing
keeping me going this past week. Hell, it
'
d always been the one sure thing I
had going for me.

We rushed onto the football field with confidence. The energy
from the crowd settled over me, and I tuned everything on the inside out. The
coin toss denoted we
'
d receive the kick-off first half. Fine by me, the quicker I
could get to playing, the better.

"Daniels, you okay?" Coach gave me a knowing look
as I bounced on the balls of my feet, warming up.

"Yep," I said, watching the field.

"Good, keep it together."

* * *

"Motherfucker. You all right, Daniels?" Standing in
the huddle, I shook out the ringing in my head and the buzzing in my hands from
being sacked.

"Yeah. I
'
m good.
" Beads of moisture rolled down the side of my face. A
high-pitched buzz rang in my ears and I shook my head again. No nausea or
dizziness, which I took as a good sign.

"Daniels, you got the play?" I looked up and
focused on Jarred across from me.

"Sorry, I didn
'
t hear. What
'
s the play?"

"Dude, you sure you
'
re okay? You
'
ve taken a
beating tonight." The ref blew his whistle, ending our time out.

"Yup, I
'
m fine. Play?"

"Swing back, I-formation on the back pass. Go on three,
boys." We pulled our hands in the middle and broke.

Once we lined up, I bent forward in a three-point stance,
ready for the play. When the ball snapped I took off in a run down the middle.
Swinging left, I bypassed their middle linebacker successfully.

The hair on the back of my neck rose. I turned. There, in the
air, high-spiraled and coming straight to me. In a flash, I jumped in the air
and caught the ball single-handed. Making sure to tuck the ball next to my
side, I hauled ass down the field.

Colors bl
urred together as the momentum of the play pushed me toward
the end zone. Just a few more yards to go. Something hit me from behind. I felt
a pop in my shoulder. Funny, I didn
'
t feel any pain. The ringing in my
ears came back, only louder. I could feel something wet and metallic roll down
the back of my throat. I coughed. The small movement created a thunderclap of
pain inside my skull.

Everything went dark.

Elle

"Tristan was knocked down," Eric said, pulling me
back to the game.

I focused my attention to the field, scanning for Tristan
'
s jersey. A team
member helped him to his feet, and they quickly made their way into a huddle. I
hated to watch him be tackled. Their timeout ended, and they lined up for the
play.

The ball was snapped, and Tristan took off, running faster
than I
'
d seen him run in a while. The crowd stood and cheered as he
turned and swiped the ball from the air with one hand.

Tristan said he never heard the crowd’s cheers during a game.
He
'
d said he stayed
in a sort of trance, tuning everything out. Tuning out the crowd was good, but
not the linebacker trailing you. Tristan didn
'
t seem to notice
him on his ass.

My heart raced as I watched Kansas
'
s strongest
linebacker rush in close behind him. Tristan was almost home free, until he
wasn
'
t.

I shot to my feet as Tristan was tackled from behind. The
impact of the hit was so hard his helmet rolled across the turf. Angered
students yelled all around me. I expected Tristan to move, get up, but instead
he remained still. Too still. The coaches and trainers ran onto the football
field, circling Tristan
'
s dead-like body.

No, not dead. Maybe he
'
d gotten his breath knocked out of
him. In the distance, I heard someone calling my name, but the voice sounded
too far away. The field became blurry, distorted. I couldn't see.
Breathe,
Elle, just breathe.
Only I couldn't. In slow motion I watched four EMTs
lift Tristan onto a gurney and then into the back of the ambulance.

“
Elle.
"

I turned to find Eric watching me.

"Let
'
s go to the hospital," he said, holding me. He was
shaking. Why was he shaking?

"Elle, everything will be okay." I looked up at
Eric, silent as I tried to make sense of what had happened. "Did you hear
me?" Eric
'
s arms still shook.

I managed to nod and then followed him down the stands. The
cold wind whipped around me, cooling my overheated skin. Eric led me to his car
and my phone buzzed. I tried to open my purse, but my hands refused to
cooperate.

Damn. Eric wasn’t the one shaking, after all. I closed my
eyes, letting the call go to voicemail. I needed to calm down. Everything felt
numb, the city only a blur as we drove by.

God, why wasn
'
t Eric driving faster? I wanted to yell for him to hurry up,
but my tongue felt thick in my mouth. What seemed like a lifetime had only been
minutes before we parked under the awning at Covenant hospital.

"
Elle,
" Eric said, grasping my shoulder.

"I
'
ll wait for you inside."
I hurried out
the door, not waiting for his reply.

I gazed around the busy ER until I found the information
desk. An older woman with silver-grey hair sat behind the desk, smiling as I
walked up to her.

"Hi, sweetie. How can I help you today?" The lady's
scratchy and hoarse voice made me wonder if she
'
d been a smoker.
I opened my mouth to ask what room Tristan was in when I heard a familiar voice
behind me, and I turned.

Mrs. Daniels stood with a terrified expression next to
Tristan
'
s dad
. She looked up and noticed me. I gave her a small smile,
holding back my own tears as she walked over to me.

"
Elle, honey
, how are you doing?" Mrs. Daniels had always been more
pleasant than her husband.

"I
'
ve been okay. Thank you for asking." I noticed Mr.
Daniels had turned his attention to a doctor.

"I hope Tristan is okay," she whispered. I wasn
'
t sure if she
'
d said it for
her or my benefit, though I felt the same.

"I
'm sure he'
ll be fine."

Mrs. Daniels looked up, meeting my eyes with tears.

"Thank you for being here, Elle. I know Tristan would
appreciate your support."

"I wouldn
'
t want to be anywhere else," I said and noticed Eric had
joined me. Mrs. Daniels smiled, before turning to walk toward her husband. As
much as I wanted to know more of Tristan
'
s condition, I
'd wait.

"
Elle
." The look of understanding on his face hurt me. He
knew.

"Eric, I
'
m…" What did I say? "I
'
m so sorry. I
didn
'
t mean to hurt you. I just…" My words were broken,
though I cleared my throat. I had to give him what he deserved. "Eric, I
never meant to hurt you, and I did want our relationship to work."

Eric turned his face, his blue eyes glazed over.

"I get it,
Elle.
" He turned back to face me. "I knew it was a long
shot. Us. I knew when Tristan traded dates that I'd lost you."

"I
'
m so sorry." Eric pulled me against his chest and held
me tight. I didn
'
t allow myself to drift. Right then, I stayed with Eric.

"I
'
ve got to get going. Let Tristan know I hope he
'
s all right."
Eric squeezed me tighter before releasing his hold.

"I will. Thank you."

He nodded then turned and left the ER.

Chapter
29

Tristan

Blurred colors and shapes distorted my vision. Voices in the
distance echoed, nearly unrecognizable…except for one. Elle. She didn't sound
right. I struggled to concentrate, but the buzzing inside my head grew louder.
Pain seized me. Darkness pulled me under.

* * *

An irritating, steady beep next to my head woke me. I opened
my eyes, squinting against the greenish tinted lights in the room. I looked
around, trying to figure out where I was. Several flower arrangements sat
around the room. I turned my head to the right and found my mom sleeping in a
brown recliner. I didn't see my dad, but heard his deep voice behind the closed
door.