When Our Worlds Collide (Our Worlds #1)(72)

The first half is of her when she’s younger, maybe 3 or 4. She’s wearing these obnoxiously bright colored costumes and leotards in every photo. The one thing that doesn’t change as she grows up in front of me is her bright smile, just as it is today. Her smile radiates bliss in every photo. You can read her thoughts through her smile and every last one of them tells the same tale. Dancing is her life, the only reason why she wakes up in the morning. It’s her purpose.

I shut the album placing it down next to me. I slowly turn to face her. She’s still staring straight ahead in deep thought.

“Kennedy…I…” I couldn’t even get the right words out.

“If you say you’re sorry I’m going to kick your ass,” Kennedy threatens before turning to look where I’m slouched over in defeat. Her hand finds mine squeezing it in reassurance. I don’t even need to say anything and she understands my exact thoughts.

“This is my fault, Ken. I put you in that cast. Now I’m making you lie to your family when in reality I should be rotting in jail just like your mother said. Someone like me doesn’t deserve a free pass.” I rip my hand out of hers standing to pace around her room. I’m wearing a track through the carpet with how fast I’m moving back and forth. Kennedy keeps her eyes on me without saying anything. She’s just watching me.

“Quit apologizing. It’s my life. My leg. My everything. You don’t get to decide what I do with it. I made a decision. I don’t regret it.” She stands to sit on the edge of her bed still keeping a watchful eye on me.

“Fuck Kennedy, quit giving me this. I’m the reason why you can’t dance. Don’t forget that. I have to live with the fact that I stole that from you and you just sit there as if it’s not a big deal. You’re delusional if you don’t think that’s true,” my voice rises loud enough to startle her. Kennedy clinches her fists together. I’m waiting for her to erupt, but it never happens.

“You think I don’t know that. I understand more than anyone that dancing has come to a halt for me. I don’t get to compete this year with my dance studio. I don’t get to do any of it, but that doesn’t mean that I won’t ever again. It’s going to take time and I’m coping with that every single day,” Kennedy tries to stay calm as she talks. Releasing a long breath of air she shakes her head trying to erase her thoughts. “I think you should just leave now.” Her face stays neutral. Kennedy wants me to leave.

Remember earlier when I said Kennedy was on the downward spiral to her breaking point. We’re there now. She can’t handle it anymore. She’s breaking.

“Kennedy…” I whisper fearfully. Losing her wasn’t an option. Not when I just got her.

“Graham just…go. If you don’t understand why I did what I did that night then you don’t know me or understand me at all. Please leave.” She opens her bedroom door to urge me to move. I gather my backpack walking towards the door. I stop beside her where she stands looking blankly ahead. I don’t look at her. I don’t have to. I can feel her without even reaching out.

“I’m leaving because you asked me to, but I swear to you that me leaving is not the same as me giving up on you,” I promise.

“Someone like you is not capable of a promise like that,” Kennedy’s voice is harsh, distant. Her words sting as they fall off of her tongue slapping me across the face. She’s mad and has every right to be.

I walk out of Kennedy’s room thankful to skid through the front door going unnoticed by her parents. I wouldn’t know what to say to them even if I had. The cold night air hits my face as I roll down my windows backing out of the driveway. Going home isn’t an option.

I drive and I drive until I end up in the middle of nowhere in front of the old barn, the secret hideout for some pretty insane keggers that almost always get broken up by the county sheriff’s department. The feeling of seclusion should be comforting. It has the opposite impact. I’m not just alone in the middle of this country road. I’m alone in the realest sense of the word. No one’s to blame except for me, just like everything else in my life.

I get out of my car slamming the door. Sitting on the hood I look directly up to the sky watching the stars. I find the big and little dipper with ease. When I’m looking at the cluster of stars I question everything I’ve ever done, all my decisions that have affected those around me. Kennedy was born to dance just as I was born to play baseball. I almost took both of our dreams away. A gift like ours doesn’t happen to everyone. People go through life trying to decide what they should do or be, but she and I are the lucky ones. We knew the first moment we took the stage and threw a pitch.





Chapter ThirtyFive



-Kennedy-



There’s a faint knock on my slightly open door. Everything in me screams to ignore it, pretend that I don’t hear whoever it is standing on the opposite side from me. That option is tempting. I know that isn’t going to be an option when the door swings open and my mother walks in. Like most mom’s she can tell when something’s wrong just like she can tell if I’m running a fever just by kissing my forehead. It’s a mother’s intuition. Right about now I loathe her.

“What’s going on with you, Kennedy?” she asks quietly as she sits on the bed next to me. “And don’t you dare say ‘nothing’. I’m your mother. I know you better than that. It’s written all over that pretty little face of yours.”