Distraction (9 page)

"Jenny said you were a good guy." She shook her
head. "But I had to see for myself." She reached for one of the beers
in my hands. "My name
'
s Katy, if you find yourself single."

"I
'
ll keep you in mind." I winked, then made my way back to
the couch next to Bret. Jarred had moved on, or more likely up to a bedroom
with Katy
'
s friend, Jenny.

"Dude," Bret nodded toward Katy, "you gonna
hit that?" His goofy ass should not smile.

"Nah, I
'
m with someone."

Bret laughed.
"All right, but you have no idea what you're missing.
'"

"Noted." I laughed and continued to watch the game.

Half the room roared, while the other half cursed when Jason
Nix hit another homer. Texas had a hard time batting against Sabathia
'
s pitches, but
still managed to score a few runs. The win could go either way.

By the end of the ninth inning, the atmosphere in the room
was charged. The game ran close, too close, and if Sabathia didn
'
t strike out the
next hitter, Andrus could give Texas the lead they needed to win.

"Full count, Christ." Robbie paced the room. Then
in a perfect, straight down the middle pitch, Andrus struck out.

"How
'
s it feel to lose, Rob?" Bret teased, punching him in
the arm.

"Screw you!" Robbie fought to keep his anger under
control, and I was about to push him over the edge when I got a text.

Great
game!!!

I grinned and texted Elle back.
Yup

Elle loved sports as much as I did. I should have known she
'
d be watching
tonight.

Another text came across, this time from Kellie
. Baby, I miss you.
Is that stupid game over yet?

Did
you win your bet?
Elle'
s text came across, interrupting my reply to Kellie. I shook
my head. She knew me too well.

Tristan,
are you going to answer me???
I texted Kellie back telling her I planned to turn in early,
then texted Elle letting her know I won my bet.

I
knew it! Who in the hell would bet against NY anyway? Idiots ;)

Then came another text from Kellie.
Fine, but I really
wanted you to stay with me. My roommate is out :(

I sent Kellie a quick apologizing text. I had practice in the
morning and Coach would be all over my ass if I showed up tired from an
all-nighter. When Kellie didn
'
t reply back, I texted Elle.
IKR?

K,
off 2 bed. TTYL

"I
'
m out guys." I stood, stretching my arms. "
See
y
'
all on the
field."

"See ya, Daniels," a few guys said.

On my drive home, my mind wandered to the two women in my
life. Kellie and Elle were complete opposites. Elle loved sports, but Kellie
didn
'
t. In the beginning, I found Kellie
'
s ignorance kind
of cute. She
'
d frown every time I
'
d try to explain what was going on.
Eventually she gave up asking, and made plans with a friend when I did watch a
game. At first she
'
d watch me play, but after a while she stopped all together.

Elle watched all my games and even gave me a few pointers now
and again. When I
'
d gotten a bad call back in high school, the fury in her eyes
always pulled me out of a shitty mood. She knew what to say when I lost and
what to do when I won. She knew me and would never complain about sports.

I pulled into my driveway, parked my car, headed into my
house, and went straight to my room and undressed. In bed, I cursed my stupid
ass for being in love with someone other than Kellie. Maybe in time I
'
d be able to stop,
though a part of me didn
'
t think I ever would.

Elle

Sunday morning after Tristan left, Alyssa bombarded me with
questions. I told her about his transfer and playing football here, but nothing
more. I wasn
'
t ready to tear the band-aid off quite yet. She could tell
something was up when I didn
'
t answer Tristan
'
s calls. I never dismissed a call from him.

Eventually I did answer and agreed to dinner with him and
Kellie on Wednesday. I knew I
'
d have to overcome the milestone sooner or later. In an attempt
to push through my misery, I texted Tristan after watching the NY and Texas
game. But at the end of the day, alone with my thoughts, I ended up falling
apart… again.

On Monday I asked for extra shifts at work, and even joined a
local outreach program to help keep me distracted. Between school and my extra
activities, the emptiness and hurt faded a little.

However, as much as I wished Wednesday wouldn
'
t come, it did.
I invited Alyssa to come along and nonchalantly, mentioned Tristan
'
s engagement.
Much to my surprise, Alyssa didn
'
t comment. Thankfully she agreed, because my increasing
stress level made going on day by day difficult.

Last night while studying, Mom called to say my sister was
somewhere in Lubbock. She asked me to keep an eye out, and show her picture to
people. Not what I wanted to hear. Mom really knew how to layer on the guilt.
In the end, I agreed to ask around.

I loved my family, but I couldn't deal with the constant
worry of their lives anymore. I wanted out, needed space, if at the very least
for a short while. Running off to college gave me the distance I needed. But
dismissing my guilt for wanting to leave haunted me, especially when I
constantly worried about Heather
'
s addiction problem.

Alyssa brought me out of my depressive thoughts. "I so
cannot wait to see this Kellie person."

I didn
'
t comment and let her continue her rant about what Kellie
looked like.

I checked my hair and outfit about a million times before
Alyssa stopped me. "Elle, you look great. Stop obsessing in the mirror."

I stepped away from my reflection and, ready or not, Alyssa
and I drove to the same restaurant where Tristan and I ate last weekend. I
guessed the choice fit. My heart had been broken there, and now I
'
d be meeting the
person responsible.

"Hey, do you have any lip gloss with you? I can
'
t seem to find
mine." I searched through my bag, desperate to look my best.

"Yeah, in my purse in the back." I grabbed her
purse, and finding the gloss, I applied it with a shaky hand when we pulled up
to the restaurant. "Are you ready for this?" Alyssa
'
s voice sounded
strained.

I looked over at her. "Yeah. I
'
m thrilled to
freaking death." I'd never mentioned my feelings for Tristan, but the
sympathy pouring from Alyssa
'
s eyes made me wonder if I
'
d been more
transparent than I once thought.

I plastered the biggest smile I could and nodded.

“All right, let
'
s get this show on the road," she said.

Once inside, we spotted Tristan and her sitting near the
front of the restaurant. With my chin held high, I headed straight to their
table with Alyssa
'
s heels clicking behind me.

"Hey, Spud, Amazon," Tristan said, and then offered
his great smile. When his dark brown hair fell near his eyes, my pulse jumped.
Kellie looked up at us with wide eyes. Good.

"Hi. You must be Kellie," I said, smiling so big my
cheeks hurt.

Kellie bobbed her head and squeaked. "Yes, you must be
Elle." She dragged her eyes from me and up higher to Alyssa. "And you
must be Am–" she corrected herself, "sorry, I mean, Alyssa." Her
face turned as red as a ripened tomato.

Alyssa pushed me into the booth. I faced Tristan and she
faced Kellie. "I
'
m sure Shrimp here has mentioned my little nickname, but I
prefer you call me, Alyssa. I reserve nicknames for those I consider friends."
She glanced at Tristan, then back to Kellie. "Well maybe not friends, but
he
's
Elle'
s
other best friend so I allow him."

Without skipping a beat, Alyssa picked up her menu and
scanned the page. I had to close my mouth, but Kellie
'
s mouth still
hung open when I followed Alyssa
'
s move and looked over my menu.

"Alyssa." Hearing Tristan
'
s punitive tone,
I peeked over my menu. Just as I thought. His eyes glowed with anger, and the
muscles along his strong jawline jerked. He opened his mouth, but our waitress
came over, squashing his chance to lash back.

"Welcome. Looks like the rest of your party has arrived?"
Tristan grunted in reply, causing the poor girl to frown. She recovered quickly
and smiled before addressing us again. "What will you be drinking this
evening?" The waitress looked at Alyssa, expectantly.

"I
'
ll take a diet Coke and she
'
ll have the
same."

On the verge of correcting my order, Tristan interrupted me.

"Um, make that second order an iced tea, non-sweet. Elle
doesn
'
t drink diet Coke,
" he said, glaring at Alyssa.

"Oh, I guess you're right. You know her better than I
do." Alyssa dismissively waved her hand in the air, while she continued to
read the menu. "I think I
'
m ready to order, if everyone else is." Alyssa placed
the menu on the table and smiled at Tristan.

Maybe bringing her along was a bad idea after all. I
immediately jumped in and ordered the chicken taco plate again, as did Alyssa.
Kellie decided to speak up then.

"I
'
ll have the same and Tristan will have chicken fajitas."
Alyssa cut her eyes to me with a quick smile. She knew Tristan never wavered
with his food choices–another area she loved to tease him about.

"Uh, Kellie, I don
'
t like chicken fajitas."

Before I could fully comprehend my actions, I ordered for
him. "He
'
ll have the beef fajita plate and after, we
'
ll have a dozen
sopapillas with a side of ice cream for him. We really enjoyed them last
weekend, but we missed out on the ice cream." I shrugged my shoulders.

"I think that sums everything up," Alyssa finished,
quickly.

Why in the hell did I do that for? God, this was not going
very well. Not only did Alyssa jump Kellie for almost using Tristan
'
s nickname, but
Tristan corrected my order and I corrected Kellie
'
s order
for him.

Sometimes silence is nice, but the silence right then turned
thicker than molasses with tension. I had a feeling the discomfort would only
get worse from here.

I wanted to know, or I guess understand, why Tristan chose
her. I decided to slice through the tension.

"So, Kellie, Tristan said you
'
ve already
enrolled. What
'
s your major?"

"Yeah, um, I enrolled at the end of last year. I
'
m not sure what
my major is yet. I
'
m taking basic courses right now." Tristan
'
s shoulders
relaxed and he draped his arm around her shoulders. My stomach sank. He looked
content with her. As wrong as this may be, but in some small, undeserving way,
him choosing her felt like betrayal.

"Have y
'
all unpacked yet? Sorry I wasn
'
t able to help.
I
'
ve been so busy
with school and my extra shifts at work."

Tristan tilted his head; his curious eyes roamed my face.

I tried to ignore Tristan
'
s stare. I felt
as if he dug into my heart, peering into what I desperately fought to bury. The
longing for him to love me back the way I loved him.

Tristan cleared his throat. "
Kellie won
'
t be living with
me right now."

Music to my ears.