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Danika
Tears spilled down my face as I hopped into the car I’d called to pick me up. Anger, frustration, and embarrassment fueled my silence on the ride back to my apartment. The news of Jared being with someone else already stung, but that was pretty hypocritical of me, considering the fact that I’d wanted to be with Chance already too. What hurt the most was Chance thinking that Jared had cheated and keeping it from me. For whatever reason, that felt like more of a betrayal.
I pulled out my keys and went to put them in the lock, but the doorknob turned. I knew I’d locked it before I left for the game.
Opening the door slowly, I yelled out, “Sunny?”
“I’m here!” she shouted before running out of her room. “We celebrated early, and my parents told me they couldn’t take any more of my moping. They forced me to leave. I just got back ten minutes ago.”
I managed a slight laugh, imagining her family asking her to go.
“Wait. Have you been crying? What happened at the game?”
“Um, Jared hooked up with some other girl over break.”
Sunny didn’t look that surprised. “So? You two were already broken up by then.”
“But Chance didn’t know that. And he saw Jared.”
She moved to the couch and practically fell onto it. “What? How do you know that?”
I sat down on top of the coffee table across from her. “Chance thought that was why we broke up. Because Jared had cheated on me and I’d found out.”
“Okay. Let me get this straight.” She held a hand in the air. “Chance thought Jared had cheated on you, but he didn’t tell you?”
“No! I mean, yes, he thought that. And, no, he didn’t tell me.”
“And you’re mad because ...” She dragged out the word, and I couldn’t believe I had to explain this to my best friend.
“I’m mad because how can I trust him to have my best interests at heart? How can I trust him to protect me and look out for me? And why wouldn’t he have told me something as important as that?”
She nodded as she processed my words. “I get what you’re saying. I mean, it’s not like Chance is bound to any kind of guy code to Jared. He’s not one of his teammates or anything.”
I hadn’t even considered the guy code. I knew that most guys stayed quiet when it came to this kind of thing. At least, most guys in New York did. They never ratted on each other, no matter how much dirt they had. But I’d figured that Chance was different. Or maybe I’d figured that how he felt about me made things different.
“I thought he liked me. If he knew something that would end my relationship, why wouldn’t he be dying to tell me?”
Sunny’s face lit up like a realization had struck her on the top of the head. “Maybe he did.”
“What do you mean?”
“When he came over that night I called you, he was flustered. Desperate to see you. And crazy upset when I told him you’d already left for home.”
I remembered then what Chance had said back at the field. I had been too upset at the time to process all of his words. “Oh my gosh. He did say he came over to the apartment. He must have wanted to tell me then.”
She leaned back and grabbed a pillow. “It does sort of make sense though. That he wouldn’t want to be the one to tell you that kind of thing.”
“Why does that make sense? How does that make sense?”
We girls told each other things. Especially hard things. If we found out that someone’s man was cheating, we’d let our girlfriend know. Even if she didn’t believe us. Even if it backfired and ruined the friendship—because, sometimes, it did. But we never let our friends walk around, looking like fools.
“I think that Chance wouldn’t want to be the guy you chose to be with out of default. Does that make any sense?”
“No. Explain.”
“Hypothetically speaking, if Chance had told you he saw Jared cheating, you most likely would have broken up with him and then given Chance a chance. Ha-ha. Chance a chance,” she said, laughing at her own pun. “There’s no way he’d want you to date him just because Jared had messed up.”
It was like a lightbulb went off inside my brain. “He wants me to date him because I want to be with him over anyone else.”
“Yep,” she said, sounding excited.
“But that’s exactly what I did.”
“But he doesn’t know that. He doesn’t know anything yet.”
I felt super annoyed with myself. Somehow, I had turned this situation into a complicated mess when all I meant to do was make it easy. Breaking up with Jared first without additional complications, strings, or judgment. Taking the time to make sure my feelings for Chance were real without the pressure of Chance knowing I was single. Coming back early to tell him that I had chosen him and wanted to be with him, if he still wanted me. Everything I’d done was supposed to be the right thing, but it felt like I’d messed it all up instead.
“I still want to know why he didn’t tell me.” For whatever reason, I couldn’t let that part go without hearing it from him.
“I’ll take you over there,” Sunny said, pushing herself up from the couch without me even asking. It was like she’d read my mind.
“Thank you.” I grabbed my purse and my cell phone, and we bolted out the front door.
I couldn’t get to him fast enough.
We drove in relative silence the short distance to the baseball house until Sunny started peppering me with questions. The house was around the next turn, and she asked, “Are you nervous?”
“Not really. I just want to hear everything from his point of view. You and I can make excuses and try to figure him out, but none of it matters if it isn’t true.”
“You’re right. You guys have a lot to talk about.” Sunny looked around as she pulled into the driveway and stopped her car. “I don’t see his truck anywhere.”
I looked around, too, like I might be able to prove her wrong. “Me either.”
“What do you want to do?”
“I’ll just wait. He has to come home eventually,” I said with a shrug before opening the passenger door and sliding out.
With my luck, Chance would go stay the night at his parents’, and I’d be waiting out here for him for a week.
Sunny rolled down the window. “Work it out with him. You’ve waited too long not to,” she said before adding, “And call me if you need me to come get you. But I’m hoping you won’t.” She wagged her eyebrows as she drove off, leaving me standing outside the baseball house, looking like a damn groupie.
