Chapter 423 - Just One

Chapter 423: Chapter 423 - Just One

Roxie had been ready for almost twenty minutes when Zac finally came out of the bedroom, and the first thing she noticed was that he had actually changed out of Tennessee clothes. She looked him over from the couch and smiled. "Wow. You own shirts without your school name on them."

Zac looked down at himself while grabbing his wallet from the table. "I own plenty."

"Your closet says otherwise."

"You spend too much time looking at my clothes."

"I live here."

He came over while Roxie stood and fixed the side of her skirt, then checked herself quickly in the dark television screen.

She had taken longer getting ready than she wanted to admit because they had planned this lunch a week ago. An actual date with just the two of them. No Zac eating while watching football videos, no playbook sitting next to his plate, no teammates dropping by, no Dylan stealing whatever Roxie had packed for Zac and somehow acting like it belonged to him.

She had reminded Zac about the date twice yesterday and once that morning, which he complained about because apparently promising her something meant she was supposed to trust him to remember.

"You ready?" he asked.

"I’ve been ready."

"You always say that after spending forty minutes getting ready."

"I look better than you."

"That wasn’t the argument."

Zac stopped in front of her and looked her over slowly enough that Roxie knew exactly where his brain went. She raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Nothing."

"That wasn’t nothing."

"You look good."

"I know."

"See? This is why I don’t compliment you."

Roxie laughed when he pulled her closer. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him, already thinking maybe today would actually stay simple for once. Then his phone started vibrating on the table.

Neither of them moved.

It stopped.

Roxie smiled against his mouth. "Look at you ignoring your phone."

"Shut up."

It vibrated again. Zac still ignored it, but when it buzzed a third time and immediately started ringing, Roxie pulled back enough to glance toward the table. "Someone dying?"

"Probably the team."

"Let them suffer."

Zac laughed but reached for the phone anyway, and Roxie’s mood dropped almost immediately when she saw the change in his face. He read whatever was on the screen, scrolled once, then looked at her with that apologetic expression she had started recognizing far too easily.

"No."

"Rox."

"No."

"I haven’t even said anything."

"You don’t need to. I know that face."

Zac rubbed the back of his neck. "Coach wants some of us back at school."

Roxie stared at him. "Today?"

"Yeah."

"Now?"

"Pretty much. He sent something in the group chat earlier and I missed it. Dylan called because apparently half of us weren’t answering."

Dylan.

The name landed harder than it should have.

Roxie looked at the phone in Zac’s hand while everything else from the past week came back with it. Dylan calling. Dylan needing him. Dylan at practice with him all day. Dylan being at meetings with him. Dylan getting hours of Zac’s time when Roxie had started getting whatever was left at the end of the night.

She held out her hand. "Show me."

Zac frowned. "What?"

"The group chat."

For a second he only stared at her. "Why?"

"Just show me."

"Roxie."

"Zac, give me the phone."

The confusion in his face changed into something else, and Roxie knew exactly what he was thinking before he unlocked the screen and handed it over.

Coach Avery’s message was right there. It had been sent more than an hour ago, telling several players to report back that afternoon. Underneath were complaints, questions, a senior telling everybody to stop bitching and show up, then Dylan’s message farther down.

Prescott answer your fucking phone before Coach kills you.

Roxie read it twice even though once had been enough.

Zac had told her the truth.

Exactly the truth.

She handed the phone back, but Zac stayed where he was with it in his hand. "Why did you need to see that?"

"I wanted to see it."

"Why?"

"Because I did."

"Are you seriously checking if I’m lying to you?"

Roxie’s irritation shot higher. "I never said you were lying."

"You asked for proof."

"I asked to see the message."

"That’s the same fucking thing."

Roxie grabbed her bag from the couch and looked away from him because she could already feel the argument going somewhere she hadn’t planned. "Fine. Maybe I wanted to see it."

"Why?"

"Because you promised me today."

Zac frowned. "What does that have to do with whether Coach sent a message?"

"Everything."

"How?"

Roxie looked at him and hated that she couldn’t answer without sounding insane.

Because Dylan called.

Because Dylan had liked him.

Because Dylan told him when they were broken up.

Because lately Dylan was always there.

Except Coach really had called them in. Roxie had just seen the message herself. Dylan had only been warning Zac because he had missed it.

So what exactly was she accusing him of?

"I’m pissed, okay?"

"I can see that."

"Good job. You got eyes."

"But you’re pissed at me because Coach called us in?"

"I’m pissed because this keeps happening."

Zac stared at her. "What keeps happening?"

"This. We make plans, then suddenly there’s practice, or film, or a meeting, or somebody calls you, and whatever we planned disappears."

"That’s football."

"I know that."

"Then what am I supposed to do?"

Roxie laughed under her breath because there it was again. The impossible part. What was he supposed to do?

Tell Coach Avery he couldn’t come because his girlfriend wanted lunch?

Obviously, that would be ridiculous.

She knew that but she still wanted her fucking lunch. She wanted him with her even for a day. Is it that hard? Apparently, it is.

"You’ve barely been home this week," she said.

Zac’s expression changed. "I’ve been home."

"When? When I’m already asleep?"

"Rox."

"Half the time you come home when I’m in bed. Then your alarm goes off before I’ve even properly seen you and you’re gone again. If you’re here, you’re watching football. If you’re not watching football, somebody from the team is messaging you. And if it isn’t the team, it’s Dylan."

The second she said Dylan’s name, Zac went quiet.

Then, "Why are you bringing him into this?"

"I’m saying you’ve talked to him more than you’ve talked to me this week."

"We play together."

"I know."

"We train together. He’s my receiver."

"I know, Zac."

"Then why are you saying his name like there’s something wrong with that?"

Roxie looked away because she could feel the answer sitting there and hated it.

Zac watched her for a few seconds before his voice changed. "Is this because of what Karen told you?"

"No."

It came out too fast.

Zac noticed.

Roxie felt heat crawl up her neck. "It’s not."

"Then why did you ask to see my phone the second Dylan called?"

"I asked because you were leaving."

"Because Coach called us in."

"I know!"

Her voice came out louder than she meant, but by then she was angry enough that she didn’t care.

"I know everything has a reason. That’s the problem. Practice has a reason. Meetings have a reason. Coach has a reason. Dylan always has a reason. You always have some reason why whatever we planned has to change, and I’m just supposed to understand because every reason makes sense."

Zac went quiet.

Roxie tightened her grip around her bag. "This lunch was planned a week ago."

"I know."

"Stop saying that."

"What do you want me to say?"

"I don’t fucking know."

Zac rubbed a hand across his face. "I can tell Coach I’ll be late."

"No."

"Then I’ll stay."

"No."

"Roxie, what the hell do you want?"

"I wanted today."

That finally stopped him.

Roxie stared at him, already angry at how stupidly simple the answer sounded. "That’s it. I wanted the thing you promised me. I wanted one afternoon where I didn’t have to wait until football was done with you first."

Her eyes teared up.

Zac looked guilty immediately, and that almost made it worse.

"I’m sorry."

"I know."

"I can make it up tonight."

Roxie looked at him.

Neither of them said anything for a few seconds because both of them knew how weak that promise sounded now.

Zac seemed to realize it too.

Roxie gave a small laugh. "Exactly."

"I’ll try to get out early."

"Just go."

"Babe..."

"You’re going to be late."

He stood there like he couldn’t decide if leaving would make things worse. Roxie almost wanted him to choose wrong just so she could have something clear to be angry about, because right now even being furious felt unfair.

Zac stepped toward her and reached for her waist, but Roxie moved before his hand reached her. His expression changed immediately.

That hurt.

She ignored it.

"I love you," he said.

Roxie looked toward the door. "I love you too."

Then they left in opposite directions.

The restaurant felt worse the moment Roxie walked inside.

The hostess smiled when she gave the reservation name and asked, "Two?"

Roxie forced a smile. "Just one."

The second menu disappeared, and Roxie followed her toward a table near the window that suddenly looked far bigger than it had when she and Zac picked the place online. She knew what he would have ordered. She knew which thing on the menu he would have called overpriced. She even knew which drink he would have made a face at if she ordered it.

Her phone vibrated before the food arrived.

I’m sorry.

A few minutes later another message came.

Coach already started. I’ll call after.

Roxie stared at both of them before turning the phone facedown.

She tried to eat when the food came, but the argument kept running through her head. Zac hadn’t lied. She had seen the message herself. Coach really had called them in, and Dylan really had only called because Zac missed it.

So why had she immediately wanted proof?

Why had hearing Dylan’s name made her angry before Zac even explained?

Roxie pushed some food around her plate and tried to stop thinking about it, but once the thought started, it kept growing.

Her fork stopped.

She had started going to sleep without him. Sometimes she woke when Zac climbed into bed and barely remembered it the next morning. His days were football from the moment the alarm went off until he finally came home, and Dylan existed inside almost every part of that world with him.

Roxie hated the ugly direction her mind went next.

But she couldn’t ask Zac about it again after the way he’d looked at her when she demanded to see his phone.

And she couldn’t ask Dylan.

That would be worse.

Roxie lowered her fork completely and stared at her phone beside the plate.

Maybe she needed somebody who had known them long before she did. Somebody who knew what Dylan had been like around Zac when they were younger. Somebody who had apparently recognized the crush before Zac ever had.

She picked up her phone and searched through her contacts until Mason’s name appeared.

Her thumb stayed above it for several seconds.

She knew calling him could make everything messier.

She also knew she wasn’t going to stop thinking about it.

Roxie pressed call.