Briar
“Great game, you guys. Congrats on the win,” Anna says to the guys when they walk up to our table at the Mile High Diner.
This diner on the edge of campus is the guys’ favorite place to fuel up after games and practices. Blake took me here a couple of times after I moved in with him.
We scoot over in our big booth to make room for Nick, Travis, Leo, and Blake.
Nick wraps his arm around Poppy and kisses her. He looks up and nods at Blake. “Biggest thanks go to Blake for scoring that goal in the third period and securing the lead for us.”
Blake grins when we raise our water glasses to him.
I gently bump his shoulder. “You really were amazing,” I say.
His gaze is warm as he looks at me. The server stops by and takes our order. When I hear how much food the guys order, my eyes widen.
Nick just chuckles. “Our appetites are insane after a game.”
A few minutes later, the server drops off the milkshakes the guys ordered. Nick inhales his and is the first to finish.
“You want some?” Blake offers me his strawberry milkshake. I tell him thanks and take a sip.
When the food arrives, there’s barely enough table space for all the plates and bowls.
The server, an older woman with gray hair, just chuckles. “You know, if this were any other group of customers, I’d roll my eyes. No way could anyone finish this amount of food. But I know you boys can.”
Nick flashes a proud smile. “We won’t let you down, Janice. When you come back, all these plates will be clean. Promise.”
Janice chuckles as she walks off. The guys dig into their food.
“I thought you hated olives,” Leo says as he looks at the salad that came with Blake’s meatloaf.
“I do. Briar likes them though.” He flashes a lopsided grin at me, then moves the salad bowl so it’s next to me.
I pluck out the olives and pop them in my mouth.
Blake makes a face. “I still don’t get how you can eat those. They’re so slimy and rubbery.”
I playfully elbow him. “They’re delicious.” I pick up the small side dish of blue cheese crumbles that came with my cob salad and set it next to Blake’s plate. “Unlike blue cheese.”
I stick out my tongue, but he just laughs. He sprinkles the cheese crumbles on his salad and takes a huge bite.
When I look up, I notice everyone is quietly looking over at us.
“Do you guys always save your food for each other?” Nick asks.
“Yup,” Blake says without looking up from his food.
Nick and Poppy exchange a smile.
“So what do you guys think of Coach Tremblay?” Leo asks.
“I like him,” Nick says. “He knows his stuff. Really knowledgeable about plays.”
“Yeah, he’s cool,” Travis says.
“I thought your coach’s name was Sawyer?” I ask.
“Coach Tremblay is the new assistant coach for the team,” Blake says.
“And he’s really hot,” Anna says. “He was the tall, younger guy standing behind the Hollis U bench. He was wearing a gray suit.”
“Oh,” I say when I remember seeing him during the game. She’s right. He’s really handsome.
Travis narrows his gaze at her, but the corner of his mouth is twitching like he’s trying not to smile.
Anna just smiles and drops a quick kiss on Travis’s mouth. “You know I only have eyes for you.”
Travis’s mouth slants up in a half-smile.
“He’s like thirty-five,” Nick says. “That’s not that young.”
His twin sister rolls her eyes. “Yes, it is. Especially when the other assistant coach and your head coach are both in their late fifties,” Anna says.
Nick shrugs. He inhales the hashbrowns on his plate, then guzzles the orange juice he ordered. “Oh hey, that reminds me. We have that fancy dinner next weekend that Coach Sawyer is hosting to welcome Coach Tremblay. Attendance is mandatory. And we all have to wear suits. No excuses.”
The guys all nod along.
Nick wiggles his eyebrows at Poppy. “And you have to wear something sexy.”
Poppy chuckles. “Oh, really?”
“Yup. Those are the rules, hot tutor.”
She rolls her eyes, but she grabs his face and kisses him.
“Fancy dinner? That sounds fun,” I say.
“Yeah, it’s at some high-end French restaurant in Cherry Creek,” Nick says. “Coach Sawyer said we can all bring a date if we want.”
Travis and Leo start talking about their upcoming stretch of away games and pull Nick into the conversation.
“So, um, what are you up to next weekend?” Blake asks me as he sets his fork on his empty plate.
I turn to him, about to answer when my phone rings. When I see it’s my mom calling me, I instantly deflate.
“What’s wrong?” Blake asks.
“Nothing, it’s just…My mom keeps calling me.”
I silence the call, so I’m not the annoying person at the table who lets their phone ring in the middle of a meal.
“Is something going on with her?” he asks.
“She’s upset with me because of how I quit school in Chicago. So is my dad. Every time we talk, we end up fighting about it.”
I look down at my phone and see that she’s calling me again.
“Crap, I’m sorry, Briar. I didn’t realize you guys weren’t getting along,” Blake says.
I let out a heavy sigh. “Yeah, it’s been hard.”
I think about my parents’ reaction when I told them I unenrolled from college. How surprised and upset they were. How angry they got when I told them I left because of my breakup with Logan.
I didn’t tell them everything though…No one knows exactly what happened between Logan and me…No one knows the real reason I left suddenly in the middle of last semester.
If I told my parents, it would just make them even more mad at me…even more ashamed and embarrassed of me.
I sigh as I look down at my phone. “I should probably answer this,” I say to Blake. “She’ll just keep calling and texting the whole night.”
I slide away out of the booth and walk to the back of the diner. I find a dark, quiet corner in the hallway near the restrooms.
“Hey, Mom. What’s up?”
“Finally. Briar, were you planning on ignoring me forever? I’ve been calling you for the past few days, trying to get a hold of you.”
I sigh. “Mom, I texted you that I was busy. I’ve had a lot of homework, and I’ve been working a lot of shifts at the library, and—”
“You never had this problem when you were going to college in Chicago,” she says, interrupting me. “I don’t understand why you can’t do something as simple as return a phone call to your own mother.”
I swallow back the words I’m dying to say. Because all you ever do when you call me now is tell me what a disappointment I am for quitting school, which always leads to an argument, and I hate arguing with you.
“Mom, I’m sorry I haven’t called you back, but school and work are keeping me busy. I don’t have time to answer you every single time you and Dad call me.”
“Don’t take that attitude with me, young lady. You know how hard your dad and I worked to save money so you could go to school in Chicago. And then, one day, out of the blue, you call us and tell us that you quit in the middle of the semester and that you’re going to school in Denver instead.”
Guilt slices through me. As upset as I am at my parents, I feel awful for making them waste their money paying for a school I dropped out of.
“You went on and on and on about what great Spanish and French programs they had at Chicago University. How their study abroad program was the best,” she says. “And then one day you just forget about all that and want to transfer to Denver. So ridiculous how you changed your mind just like that.”
I hear her snapping her fingers in the background.
When I think about how I missed my chance to study abroad, I want to cry.
I’ve been dreaming about studying in either Mexico or France since high school.
But now I can’t because I’m too busy playing catch-up at Hollis as a new transfer student, and I don’t have room in my schedule to study abroad if I want to graduate on time.
And even if I did have the time to do it, I don’t have the money.
“Mom, I told you how sorry I am for the money you and Dad spent on me. I’ve told you that so many times. And I told you that I’ll pay you back. It’ll take time for me to save the money, but I swear I will.”
She lets out a heavy sigh, laced with disappointment.
“Briar, how in the world are you going to do that? You had to take out loans to attend Hollis. Even though we told you a million times not to take out student loans. Someone as young as you shouldn’t be going into that much debt.
I can’t believe you’d do something so stupid. ”
Frustration cuts through the guilty feeling inside of me.
When I told my parents I was enrolling at Hollis instead, they were so mad at me for quitting school in Chicago that they refused to pay for my tuition at Hollis.
Which was fine. I didn’t expect them to pay for my schooling, which is why I took out loans.
I know it’s not ideal, but it’s my choice to make.
But hearing them insulting me for it makes me feel like crap.
“Really, Briar. Your dad and I raised you to be smarter than this,” my mom says, her tone dismissive and tired all at once. “How could you do two such stupid things in a row? You dropped out of college because of a breakup. And then you take out a bunch of student loans. So, so stupid.”
Tears prick at my eyes. This is why I can’t tell them what really happened between Logan and me. They’ll never understand just how bad it was for me…How it almost broke me.
They’ll just think I was being stupid and foolish.
“Mom, stop. I’m not going to keep talking to you if you’re just going to call me stupid again,” I say, my voice trembling as I struggle not to cry.
She makes an annoyed sound. “Fine. The reason I called you is because your father and I would like to come visit you in Denver.”
I lean against the wall, my head spinning. “What? Why?”
“Because you’re our daughter, and we haven’t seen you in months.” She pauses. “And because we’d like to talk to you about enrolling back at Chicago University.”
“What?” I say sharply. “Mom, I told you, I’m never going back there.”
“Briar, listen to me. I called the registrar’s office and explained your situation. They said they’d let you enroll next semester, and you can pick right back up where you left off since you haven’t been gone all that long—”
“Mom. Stop.” My hard, sharp tone echoes against the walls. A panicked feeling courses through me. All my muscles tense. My whole body feels on edge just thinking about going back there.
“I told you that I’m never, ever going back to that school as long as Logan is there.”
“Briar, you can’t let a silly little breakup derail your future,” she says.
“You worked so hard to get into Chicago University. You’ll be able to make so many connections there for your career—way more than you’ll make in Denver.
Chicago is a bigger city with more international connections, which is perfect because you’re studying foreign languages—”
“I’m not going back to Chicago,” I snap.
She’s quiet for a long moment. “I’m so disappointed in you, Briar.”
I let out a sad, weak laugh as tears fall down my cheeks. “Join the club.”
I hang up and fall back against the wall. I wipe my face with my sleeves, wishing I could jump in a time machine and redo every single stupid thing I’ve ever done.
I’d never say yes to going out with Logan. I’d never say yes to going to that party with him.
I’d never say yes to going upstairs to that empty bedroom with him…
Maybe then my parents wouldn’t be so disappointed in me. Maybe then I wouldn’t feel so stupid and worthless.
Blake’s soft, gentle voice cuts through my thoughts.
“Hey.”