Until Friday Night (The Field Party #1)(33)
My good morning was over right quick, though, when I saw Serena talking to Maggie at her locker. I could tell by the look on Serena’s face that they weren’t having a nice chat. Maggie had backed away from her and was pushed up against the locker door, her green eyes wide and nervous. That didn’t make me f*cking happy at all.
I shoved through the crowd, and eventually everyone moved for me. When I got close enough, I heard Serena: “He f*cks me. He doesn’t want you. Back off.”
“Get the hell away from Maggie. Now,” I roared as I moved in between them and put my hands on Serena’s shoulders to move her back. “Don’t ever. Ever. Get in her face again. Don’t breathe the same air she breathes. Don’t even f*cking look at her. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
Serena’s eyes went wide with surprise. She hadn’t expected me to catch her. She’d been furious that I’d wanted to go see Maggie after the game. Until then she hadn’t seen her as competition.
“She’s flirting with you. She thinks she can have you. I was just telling her what we’ve been doing. That you just see her as a friend,” Serena began explaining as if she were completely innocent.
I felt Maggie’s body move behind me, and I reached back to touch her hand. She wasn’t leaving. I missed her. Serena wasn’t gonna mess up my morning with her misplaced jealousy.
“You don’t know what she can have. But I’ll tell you what you can’t have. Me. We had a fun little fling, but that’s done. We’re done.” I didn’t leave room for her to reply. I turned my back on her, knowing we had the entire hallway’s attention now. I knew she wouldn’t stand there, begging me to look at her. She had more pride than that. So I wasn’t surprised when she stalked away. And then everyone went back to their business.
Maggie’s eyes were still wide and so damn pretty as she stared up at me.
“I’m sorry about that. It’s my fault. I make stupid-ass decisions, and they should never affect you.”
She moved her hand to squeeze mine. “It’s okay,” she whispered so softly, no one would hear her.
“It’s not okay. No one talks to you like that. No one,” I said, feeling my anger start to build again. I hated seeing Maggie afraid.
She gave me a small smile then slipped her hand from mine and reached for her book bag on the floor. I watched her as she got her books, wishing I had her alone so we could talk. So I could hear her voice. I had heard it over the phone just last night, but it was always different in person.
Stepping close to her, I inhaled and let her vanilla scent wash over me. I could take that with me to first period. Since I couldn’t take her.
When she turned around, we were so close, our bodies almost touched.
Almost immediately a hand landed on my shoulder and squeezed hard. “Friends. Remember?” Brady’s voice wasn’t threatening, but it sure wasn’t friendly, either.
I took one more deep inhale then stepped back. Maggie glanced at Brady, then smiled one last time at me. Her cheeks turned pink as she held her books close to her chest and hurried away.
Once she was out of sight, I turned to Brady. He was frowning. “That wasn’t friendly. That was ‘I’m about to eat you up in this hallway in front of everyone.’ That’s what that was. I saw it. So did everyone else. And did she . . . did I see her mouth move?”
She wouldn’t want him to know. It wasn’t something she was ready to share. I shook my head. “No. We just communicate differently. That’s all that was.”
Brady cocked an eyebrow. He knew I was full of shit. I had wanted to be as close to her as I could get. “Remember, she’s fragile. Don’t break her.”
He didn’t know how wrong he was. Maggie was one of the strongest people I knew.
“I told you already, I would never hurt her. I was making sure she was okay. Serena was being nasty, and I fixed that. I won’t let someone hurt her. Trust me.”
Brady shook his head, his frown still in place. “I’m trying to. But I see the way you look at her.”
“Just because I want something, doesn’t mean I’m cruel enough to take it. I’d never do that to her. She is just my friend. She will always be just my friend.”
No One Else Is Fun to Talk To
CHAPTER 23
MAGGIE
The rest of the week things with West’s dad seemed better. He was still having problems breathing, but he was awake more. In pain less, or so it seemed. He didn’t need to take as much of the medicine that kept him drugged up. I’d gone to visit him on Wednesday evening. West had come to get me after his football practice, and we had eaten dinner with his mother. Then we went to talk with his dad.
On Thursday, West met me at the door of the cafeteria and insisted I eat at his table. Since Serena was no longer there, I agreed. The guys were still trying to figure out our friendship. It didn’t make sense to them, but by Friday they had accepted that I was going to be sitting with them from now on, and they all seemed okay with that.
West and I were . . . well, I didn’t know what we were. We texted all throughout the day and talked on the phone every evening. We didn’t just talk about his dad or my past; we talked about life. He told me stories about him and Brady as kids, and I told him about my years as a cheerleader in junior high.
But I found our situation increasingly confusing. Like when West would get close to me and breathe deeply like he was taking me in. Or the times he held his hand on my back longer than necessary. Or the time Nash sat down beside me and started flirting, and West had gotten angry. He tried not to show it, but everyone saw it, including Brady.