Distraction (15 page)

We laughed and she walked over to her dresser to grab me a
box of tissues.

"You
'
re right, and I
'
m sorry for being so mopey. But I need time. I
'
ve loved him,"
I had to rein in my broken words. "I
'
ve loved him for so long. I
'
m not sure how
to let go."

Alyssa seemed to
contemplate my words
, and then
stretched her hand out to me. "You want me to shake your hand?" I
looked up at her, confused.

"Yep, this is the deal. I
'
ll leave you
alone. I promise not to push you with Eric or any other guy," she said.
"As long as you promise to get on with your life. I
'
m not saying
dismiss Tristan
'
s calls or not hang out with him. I
'
m saying if he
calls and you have other plans, then tell him to fuck off. You deserve to be as
happy as he thinks he is."

With a shaky breath I stood, gripping her hand with a hard
shake.

Squeezing my hand back, she said, "You owe me, remember,
and I expect you to pay up."

Alyssa and I didn
'
t say anything afterward. There
wasn
'
t anything left to be said. She'd been right. I deserved to
be happy. If Tristan couldn't see how much I cared for him, then it was his
loss. The hard part would be letting go.

Chapter
9

Tristan

The days and months blurred past, not giving me time for much
of anything. By the time October rolled around football had taken over my life.
On the field I didn
'
t have to think. My mind slipped into a sort of trance and
most days, I didn
'
t want to come out of it. If I didn
'
t have a
practice or a game, I spent my time studying my ass off. I struggled in a few
classes, but welcomed the stress over putting up with Kellie. I tried finding
time to spend with her, but she didn
'
t feel my efforts were good enough.

In fact, the harder I worked to make her happy, the more we
fought. She and her friends were a constant pain in my ass. One night, some
guys from the team asked if I wanted to hang out at a local bar. I asked Kellie
to go and she invited her friends–the evening didn
'
t end well.

Kellie flirted with every dude who walked up to her and her
friends, but being secure enough, I didn
'
t care. Obviously I couldn't have
been more wrong, and when I mentioned all the girls I
'
d turned down
because of being with her, she went fucking ballistic on me. I thought my
explanation would make her see I was committed. Wrong, again.

When we fought, I
'
d hang out with the guys at the
frat house. Bret and I started to hang out more and one night he told me about
the shit between him and Robbie. From then on I kept a close eye on him. I
'
d also heard a
few rumors of him trying to force himself on some freshman, but no charges were
ever pressed.

As for Elle, I avoided her for the benefit of mine and Kellie
'
s relationship.
The only time I
'
d seen her was between classes, if I was lucky. We continued
to text and sometimes we
'
d talk on the phone after my games, but nothing more. Even
so, Kellie once again didn
'
t find my attempt good enough. More and more I wondered if I
could take staying with her. Being alone would be easier than putting up with
her constant bitching.

Last week I almost called off our engagement–for good. I met
up with Kellie and her friends for lunch and ran into Elle
'
s sister,
Heather. At first, I hadn
'
t recognized her. She looked so different. Her childlike face
had withered away, replaced with gaunt cheeks, dead green eyes, and thinning
brown hair. I couldn't take my eyes away from her.

"Who in the hell is that?" Kellie
'
s tone dripped
with disgust.

"
Elle's little sister.
" As always, wrong fucking thing to say.

Kellie looked back at Heather, scanning her from head to toe.
Kellie
'
s friends stared too.

"I can see the resemblance," Kellie said in a
sneer, and h
er friends laughed
.

To keep from losing my shit, I clenched my hands and looked
away. Those stuck up bitches didn
'
t know what Heather used to be like before she got mixed up
in drugs. But I sure as fuck refused to let them talk shit about her.

"Kellie," I began, but she cut me off.

"Oh my God," she said with wide eyes. I turned to
look in the same direction and found Heather flipping them off. I smiled. She
hadn
'
t lost her smartass attitude.

Without an explanation, I left Kellie with the others at the
table and headed over to Heather.

"Hey, Heather." I smiled.

She looked uneasy as her eyes scanned the room.

"Hey, Tristan," she said, finally. Heather
'
s dirty nails
scratched the inside of her arm through her long sleeved shirt. Her shoulders tensed,
and she clenched and unclenched her hands several times. I figured she needed a
fix. She had sores on her face, and if I had to guess, meth topped her list of
current drug preferences.

"I didn
'
t know you were in town," I lied, remembering what their
mom had told me.

Heather looked at me and nodded.

"Have you talked to Elle?"

"No, and I
'
m not going to." Heather frowned. The gesture reminded
me of her as a kid.

I raised my hands in the air, not wanting to upset her.
"Okay, okay. Um, do you need anything? Money?"

“
No, I don'
t want your money." She gave a small grin and rolled her
eyes.

"All right. Let me give you my number. Stay here, I
'
ll be back in a
second." I rushed over to the cash register, borrowed a pen, wrote my
number on a napkin, and then headed back.

"
Thanks.
" Heather took the napkin then looked back at the
ground. "So, how
'
s my sister? Do y
'
all see each other much?"

I hesitated. Thanks to Kellie, I wasn
'
t privy to that
information. Again, I lied. "She
'
s good, just busy with school and
stuff. You know, she
'
d really like to see you. She worries about you."

Heather looked up at me with pain in her dim eyes.

"She
'
s better off without me." Her wide eyes searched the
room, nervously. "I
'
ve got to get out of here. I
'
ll talk to you
later. It was good to see you." Her eyes glistened with tears.

"Okay, but don
'
t lose my number. If you need me,
call. Regardless of what time it is. I mean it, Heather." She nodded and
turned to leave, but then stopped.

"Hey, Tristan?" She kept her back to me.

"Yeah?" I waited.

"Don
'
t tell my sister you saw me today. I don
'
t want her to
worry about me." I opened my mouth, but she took off before I could
convince her otherwise. I watched the door, hoping she
'
d come back in,
but she never did.

Kellie supplied me with a loathsome glare when I headed back
to the table. Knowing she and I would argue, I took my time. As expected, when
I sat down next to her, Kellie started in.

"Please tell me you didn
'
t give her any
money?"

Her friend, Becky, laughed, but instantly stopped after the
death glare I gave her. I turned to Kellie.

"Let me get one thing perfectly clear," I leaned
closer to her, "don
'
t make any of your smartass comments. Not when it comes to
Elle."

Kellie
'
s mouth thinned, her eyes darkening. "Don
'
t you mean,
Heather," she seethed back.

"You know exactly who I mean. Heather is Elle
'
s little sister
and she
'
s sick. I know how crazy you get over my relationship with Elle,
which by the way, is nothing like it used to be, thanks to you. So don
'
t pretend you
aren
'
t pissed because I went to talk to Elle
'
s sister. If you
even think of making a comment about her right now, so help me God I will leave
and you can find your own way home."

Kellie
'
s eyes hardened.

"Don
'
t worry; I
'
m not leaving with you." She turned to her friends
across the booth from us. "Let
'
s go."

I got out, and she and her friends left. Our waitress came
over and I paid the bill, but didn
'
t leave until I knew they were out of the parking lot.

After seeing Heather, I knew avoiding Elle wouldn
'
t be hard. A
part of me wanted to tell her, but the other part didn
'
t want her to
worry. I knew she
'
d ask me a million questions, but I didn
'
t have the
answers she needed. I did the next best thing, I called Elle
'
s mom.

Ms. Richards thanked me for the information, but I still felt
guilty keeping it from Elle. I promised her mom I
'
d let her know
if Heather contacted me. But with the stipulation she not tell Elle I
'
d seen her
sister. Ms. Richards agreed.

When I hung up the phone, I went for a run. Kellie never
called, which was fine by me. I didn
'
t need her shit, and the more I
thought about it, the more I simply didn
'
t care.

Elle

I
'
d kept my agreement with Alyssa. Tristan and I talked, though
not near as much as we used to. In the beginning, the urge to see him or
confide in him was harder than expected. However, I managed to keep myself
distracted with school, work, and volunteering through the Kappa house. Eric and
I were talking more and even though we weren
'
t technically
dating, we were getting close.

Earlier today Tristan texted, asking me to meet him and I
agreed. His engagement party was coming up and he wanted me to help pick out a
tux. I realized as I parked, this would be the first time in over a month we
'
d been alone
together.

When I walked into the shop, I found Tristan standing in
front of a mirror. I did my best not to stare, but the simple task proved hard
to commit to. His shoulders looked broader and I noticed his dark brown,
sculpted hair had grown out and fell closer to his eyes. Even at a distance he
radiated sex appeal. Dammit.

He looked up in the reflection and waved me over. With a
sigh, I headed his way, hoping not to fall back into the same routine of
wanting him. I concluded as long as we didn
't touch I'
d be okay.

He smiled brightly at me when I reached him. "
Hey,
Spud. Lookin
'
good.
"

"You don
'
t look half bad yourself." He shook his head, holding me
captive with his crooked grin.

"Listen, I have a question. I know this is only the
engagement party, but I need you. I want you standing up there by my side."
He looked back to the mirror, unsuccessfully working the tie into a knot.

I stopped breathing for a minute, not sure how to respond.
Finally, knowing he would never get the technique down, I gave in and helped
him. So much for the
not touching
thing.

"Come here before you strangle yourself."

Tristan shuffled over to me. I lifted the collar of his
shirt, readjusting the tie.