Chapter 30
***Cass***
Iwas waiting at the truck for them when they came out.
It hurt my pride but everything kind of hurt so I figured it didn’t matter all that much.
I didn’t want to make them chase me down when they should’ve been celebrating instead.
So, I acted like everything was great and went over the game with them, hyping them up over how good they’d been.
If any of them noticed that I was off they didn’t show it.
I was thankful for it. I wasn’t sure I could try to explain what was wrong without making a fool of myself.
I wasn’t sure what to expect from a field party but when they parked in the middle of what looked like a grassy parking lot packed full of pickup trucks and led me towards the middle where some trucks had been backed up to create seating, I was oddly surprised.
Someone had set up lights and music and there was even a table full of beer and other drinks.
Smoke hung heavily in the air and there were what felt like hundreds of people there but it had a nice vibe.
And for once I wasn’t painfully underdressed.
What happened next wasn’t a surprise. I’d been at enough parties with The Apex Three to know what to expect.
As soon as people saw their football heroes walk up the party really started.
Someone shouted their names and then people swarmed.
I was used to getting bumped, or shoved, aside so people could fawn over the ones who truly mattered at schools like USC and Texas.
It happened at USC and it happened that night with the Ford brothers.
If anything, it felt like the crowd in the field was even hungrier than I’d seen at USC.
Everyone wanted to worship at the football royalty altar and try to get close enough to catch some of their goldenness.
I let myself get pushed aside and made my way over to one of the trucks that was empty.
I stopped at the drinks table on the way and grabbed a beer so I had something to do while I waited for someone to eventually remember me.
It sounded so pathetic but it was just the reality of a tagalong.
Maybe it would’ve upset me at another point in my life but years in Cole’s shadow had numbed the pain of looking like a loser in the background.
I was just trying to get comfortable leaning against the tailgate when Hayes appeared. He grinned as he picked me up and put me down on the tailgate.
“Hey! I don’t know whose truck this is. They may not want-”
“It’s a field party, sweetheart. If they park their truck here, they expect people to sit on them.
” His eyes were bright with happiness and it was so evident how much he loved the game.
“Honestly, they expect a lot crazier than that. I knew a guy freshman year who got in his truck and drove it home without realizing there was a threesome happening in the back. Rumor was, he hit ninety on the highway just as they hit the big O.”
I laughed and pushed his shoulder. “The big O? Really?”
Someone called his name and he glanced back at them before turning back to me. “If I don’t go-”
“Go. I’m fine. It’s your big day, princess. Go have fun.” I smiled and fanned him away. “I’m happy here.”
“I’ll be right back.”
I knew he wouldn’t be. Or maybe there was a part of me that was afraid he would be right back.
What if three guys who pretty much hated me were more attentive and concerned about me at a party than my best friends ever were?
Just how pathetic would it make me if I’d given my everything to those guys back at USC and they’d never even given me a reason to have hope? Was I that stupid?
Cheering from across the party drew my attention and I saw Cash shotgunning a beer with Hayes while Weston cheered them on with a big crowd of guys and girls.
They really were stars. They looked so happy in the thick of things.
They were where they were meant to be, being fawned over after a season of shit.
Even if they did feel obligated to check in on me, I didn’t want them to.
I wasn’t going to sit around and wish for people to be different just to suit my needs anymore.
I stood up and walked away from the crowd and the lights.
I’d never been in the middle of a field before so I wanted to explore.
Were there hay bales? If I went far enough, would I see animals?
I was a city girl through and through so I leaned into my excitement to explore and away from all the melancholy ick I was drowning myself in.
It didn’t occur to me to look up at first but when I did I stopped dead in my tracks and gasped.
The stars. There were so many and they were bright like I’d never seen before.
It was magical. The farther I got from the party the better it was.
Millions of stars, all shining so bright that they didn’t feel so far away.
I was so lost in looking at the sky that I didn’t hear anyone coming close so when I was grabbed from behind I screamed like I was being murdered. Or at least I tried to. A big hand covered my mouth almost right away and then I heard Weston laugh from a few feet away.
“Jesus, Cash. You trying to give her a heart attack?” Suddenly he was in front of me, his face shadowed from how dark it was. “What are you doing out here in the dark?”
Cash brushed his lips over my ear as he pulled away. “Yeah, you can’t hide from us, even out here. Hayes has the nose of a hunting dog and could find you anywhere.”
I snorted. “That’s not weird at all.”
Hayes grunted. “It’s not hard to follow the scent of delicious strawberries.”
“Ignoring that.” I tipped my head back to look at the stars again. “I’ve never seen so many stars. And never this bright. It’s amazing.”
“And that’s why you ditched us?” Weston sat on the ground and tugged me down next to him. “The best way to enjoy the stars is like this. Lay down.”
I let him tug me down beside him and rested my head on his arm. “I didn’t ditch you. You guys were having a blast and I didn’t want you to feel like you needed to take care of me. You really should go back and celebrate with your friends.”
Cash sat down on my other side and stretched out. “Those aren’t our friends. I mean, a few of them are, but most of those people aren’t friends. They’re just there.”
Hayes sat down in front of me and laid back on top of me.
I had to stretch my legs open to make room for his big frame.
He laughed when I grunted and rested his arms on my thighs like I was his personal husband pillow.
“I don’t know where you expected me to go.
I wasn’t going to cuddle up to West or Cash. ”
“Is that what we’re doing? Cuddling?” I gasped when a shooting star flew overhead. “Oh, my god. Did you see that? A shooting star!”
Cash took my hand and held it on his chest. “Did you know that a shooting star is a sign of good luck for those laying in the middle of fields?”
I squeezed his hand and took a deep breath, breathing in the scent of the night. It was a mix of them, earth, and campfire smoke that I wanted to capture and keep forever. “I’ve never seen anything so beautiful. This is everything I never knew I needed.”
They were quiet for a while, just enjoying the faint sound of the music from the party. Weston finally cleared his throat and turned his head to face me. “Did they leave you alone at parties?”