CHAPTER FIFTY-nine
RORY
I don’t understand what just happened. One minute I’m standing in the playground, finally seeing her properly after the weekend, already half smiling because I’ve missed her more than I thought I would.
Already thinking about how I’m going to get her on her own later so I can give her the bracelet that I collected from the jewellers today after having it engraved.
Thinking about the look on her face when she realises it’s for her…
and the next she’s pulling away from me like I’ve done something wrong.
Like I’ve crossed some line I don’t even know exists.
I walk towards my parents’ house with Isla chatting beside me about something that happened in PE, her voice bright and steady, completely normal, and I’m nodding along in all the right places, asking questions when I should, but my head is somewhere else entirely.
The way Freya looked at me. Or didn’t. The way her voice sounded like she was holding something back.
“What’s wrong?” Isla asks suddenly.
I glance at her. “Nothing.”
“You’re doing your thinking face.”
“My thinking face?”
“Yeah. Your eyebrows go all weird.”
She demonstrates, scrunching her face up in a way that’s not even close and somehow still exactly right.
I shake my head. “I’m fine, bug.”
She studies me for a second longer than I’d like. “You’re not fine.”
I soften. “I promise I am.”
She doesn’t look convinced, but she lets it go, turning back to whatever story she was halfway through. Kids. Too damn observant.
“Go on,” I say, leaning over to unlatch the gate. “In you go.”
She pauses, looking at me again. “You sure?”
“Yeah.”
She tiptoes and wraps her arms around my waist quickly. “Love you.”
“Love you too.”
She hops down the path and runs inside, and I stand there for a second longer than I need to, hands still on the gate, staring ahead. Because I’m not fine. Not even close.
By the time I get to training, my head is still stuck back on that walk home. Every word. Every pause. Trying to work out where it shifted. Where I went wrong. Because something definitely changed and I have no idea what.
The car park is already fuller than usual with it being championship week. Training’s been ramped up, more sessions, longer hours, more pressure, more expectation, and normally I thrive on it. Normally it’s exactly where I want to be. But today… Today I’m distracted.
I grab my bag and head inside, the familiar noise of the changing room hitting me straight away, music playing too loud, lads shouting over each other, someone already arguing about a tackle from last weekend. Normal.
Noah clocks me the second I walk in.
“About time,” he says, tossing me a towel. “Thought you’d retired.”
“Tempting,” I mutter, pulling my shirt off.
He watches me for a second. Then smirks. “You’ve been quiet this week.”
“Been busy.”
“Yeah,” he says slowly. “You’ve been that kind of busy.”
I roll my eyes. “Don’t.”
“No, seriously,” he continues, leaning back against the lockers. “Missed training, dodging messages, walking around like someone I don’t know.”
I pause. Because he’s not wrong. There’s no point pretending with him.
“There is… someone,” I say.
His eyebrows shoot up. “No way.”
“Yeah.”
“Who?”
I hesitate for a second. I don’t usually mix these worlds. Oakwood stays separate. But this doesn’t feel separate anymore.
“Freya,” I say.
He frowns. “Freya…?”
“She lives in Oakwood. I’ve known her since we were kids.”
Recognition hits. “The school mum?”
“Yeah.”
“The one with the little boy that you go back to visit?”
I nod. He stares at me for a second. Then breaks into a grin. “You are joking.”
“I’m not.”
“Rory Bennett,” he laughs. “Falling for a school mum. I love this.”
“Don’t,” I mutter, grabbing my shorts.
“No, this is brilliant,” he continues. “You’ve been hiding this?”
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
I shrug. “Didn’t want to jinx it.”
“Bit late for that now.”
I run a hand through my hair. “I think I’ve messed it up.”
That wipes the grin off his face. “What happened?”
“I don’t know,” I admit, frustration creeping in. “That’s the problem. Everything was fine. Better than fine. And now she’s… different.”
“How?”
“Distant. Off. Like she’s already decided something that I don’t know about ”
He leans forward slightly. “What did you do?”
“Nothing.”
“Think harder.”
“I didn’t do anything,” I say, sharper now. “I went to that stupid ball, came back, fell asleep, and now she’s acting like I’ve…”
“The ball,” he interrupts.
“What about it?”
“You sure nothing happened there?”
I pause. Then… “Sienna was there.”
His expression shifts. “Right…” He raises an eyebrow as if I did something I shouldn’t have with Sienna.
“It wasn’t like that,” I say quickly. “We spoke for about two minutes. That’s it.”
“You get papped?”
I hesitate. “…Maybe.”
He exhales, shaking his head. “Mate.”
“I didn’t even think…”
“No, you never do with that stuff.”
I lean back against the locker, rubbing my face. “Shit.” Because now it’s starting to make sense. If she’s seen something…
“Check your phone,” he says.
I don’t. Because I already know. And I don’t like it. At all.
“Championship week as well,” he adds. “Great timing.”
I let out a breath. “Yeah.”
Because that’s the other thing. Training’s only going to get more intense from here.
More time here. Less time anywhere else.
I’d been looking forward to the game. To her being there.
Freya in the stands with Theo and Isla. Something real in the crowd for once.
Not just noise and faces. But now… I don’t even know if she’ll speak to me by the end of the week.
Before I can say anything else, Scott appears, towel slung over his shoulder, that familiar smirk already in place.
“What’s this?” he says. “Group therapy?”
“The mans in love,” Noah says.
Scott stops. Then grins. “No way.”
“Way.”
He looks at me. “You’re joking.”
“Not joking, man.”
“Bloody hell,” he laughs. “Didn’t have you down as the loved up type, Bennett.”
“I’m not usually.”
“Yeah, that’s what makes it funny.”
I shake my head. “Can you not?”
He claps me on the shoulder. “Alright, alright.” Then, a little quieter… “Good though.”
I glance at him. “What?”
He shrugs. “About time you had something real.”
“Yeah,” I say quietly.
“Just don’t mess it up,” he adds, already turning away. “You’ve been walking around like a man who’s finally got his head screwed on.”
Noah snorts. “Which is a rare sight.”
I lean back against the locker, exhaling slowly, the noise of the room building back up around me.
Because that’s the thing. I don’t want to lose this.
Not her. Not what we’ve just started. Not the one thing in my life right now that actually feels like it matters more than rugby, more than all of this.
And as training gets called and we start heading out, I think about what I need to do next.
I need to fix this. Whatever it is. Before it slips through my fingers completely.