Going Long (Waiting on the Sidelines #2)(48)

“Get your shit together, Reed. We’re going out tonight,” she said as she flung the door open, leaving me there without an opportunity to say no.



By the time I got downstairs, Nolan’s parents had left, and I didn’t see her either. I felt a weight lift off my shoulders, but it was instantly replaced with self-pity. I saw Sarah standing in the kitchen swinging her keys around one finger. “Sar, look…if nobody else wants to go, maybe we just call it a night,” I started, but she just held up a hand in my face.

“Oh, everyone’s going. Everyone,” she said, turning me around to see Nolan standing at the doorway with Becky, Trig and Sean, her face at peace for the first time this evening.

We split into two cars, I took my Jeep with Trig, Becky and Sean, and Sarah drove Sienna and Nolan. We headed out to the Old Wheelhouse on the outskirts of town. It was an old-fashioned country bar, the kind where bands played honky-tonk, and the ranch hands came to spend their paychecks on beer. It also happened to have karaoke and pool, which is where I was sure Nolan would spend most of her night.

The girls got there before we did, and I as I pulled in to park, I watched them walk up to the front doors. Nolan was lagging behind—her hair slung over one shoulder. I wanted to reach out and touch it, kiss her neck. But instead, I just sat there in the Jeep, resting my chin on the steering wheel, and panting after her like a dog.

When we walked in, Sarah had found herself a spot on the dance floor already, working the crowd into some line dance and getting the attention of a few of the locals. I slid up to the bar next to Trig and Sean, and nudged Sean a little with my elbow. “Where are the girls?” I asked.

“They’re in there watching Nolan sweep the floor with some guy at the tables,” he chuckled. It was her favorite thing to do, hustle some poor sap into some stupid bet. She’d gotten us free drinks when we went out more than once. I loved watching her do it, but I never wanted to play against her. I was shit at pool. Trig seemed intrigued at our conversation and slid from his stool to go check out the match himself.

“Hmmm, maybe I’ll take her on,” Trig said, wiggling his eyebrows a little like he had a shot in hell. Sean and I just laughed. I nodded at the bartender, who slid over a beer before reaching out to shake my hand. I was a bonafide local celebrity in Coolidge, but the people here were more down-to-earth. It was comforting. Like home.

There weren’t many options at the Wheelhouse—shots or beer. I started sipping mine when I felt Sarah slide into the stool on my other side.

“So, cowboy. You wanna dance? Or what?” she asked. I knew I didn’t really have a choice, so I let her guide me by the hand out to the dance floor. It was some slow country song, so I just kept hold of her hand and put my other one on her back. This dance was going to be all about conversation.

“Look, Sarah. I’m sorry about earlier...,” I started, but she cut me off.

“Just don’t, Reed. I get that you’re hurt, and pissed, and angry, and all kinds of other shit. But you need to cut our girl some slack,” she had her bossy tone on now. She pursed her lips, almost like she was reigning herself in. That was huge for Sarah. “Reed…Nolan’s on academic probation. She’s been skipping a lot of her classes because of everything that’s happened. Sienna and I have been taking turns trying to get her out of her room, but she never leaves it. She just holes up in there. The only thing she comes out for is to help her floor charges or to work her writing workshop.”

I was a little stunned, and stopped our dance—not that it was much of one—to soak in her words for a moment. I knew there was something sad about Nolan, but I didn’t think she’d ever be in academic trouble. Her scholarships were everything to her. Suddenly, I felt worse…about everything. Sarah and I weren’t even really spinning anymore, but rather just swaying slowly in the middle of the dance floor, the only couple out there.

“Is she going to lose her scholarship?” I asked, curling one side of my lip and squinting my eyes to brace myself for more bad news.

Sarah just sighed at first. “I don’t know. She won’t talk about it,” she said. “I think her grades are good enough to give her a shot to make up for it in the spring. But Reed? I’m not so sure she can pull it together—not without talking to someone.”

I wasn’t sure what she meant by that, and it killed me to think of Noles being so depressed and not having anyone to talk to about it, especially when I was supposed to be that one person, her person. I just looked down and pulled Sarah’s hand into me so I could hug her now. I kissed the top of her head a little and thanked her for being a good friend. I felt her body weight fall under my embrace and, when she looked up at me, her eyes were glossy. I just smiled faintly, understanding her love for Nolan.

“Sar? Can you tell me one thing?” I said, leaning back to look at her again.

“What?” She was back to being tough, clearly her way of keeping her emotions in check. It made me laugh a little as I pulled her in for more dancing.

“Where’s Gavin in all of this? I mean, I get it…you don’t want to tell me about him…and what he and Nolan are…or do…or did…or whatever. But Sar, I gotta know. Did he just sleep with her, and ditch her once he got what he wanted?” I asked, my brow pinched, while my head tried to work everything out before she laid it on me.