The Senior (College Years 4)

I smile at him.

He smiles in return, asking the reporter if she got what she needed before he leaves her, jogging over to where I’m standing. He stops in front of me, leaving some distance between us and I wonder at that.

“We won,” he says, sounding proud.

“You won.” I sound just as proud. “You played a great game.”

“You think so?” He sounds unsure, which is so unlike my Eli. He reaches beneath his uniform, tugging a necklace out so the #1 pendant glints in the stadium lights. “I wore this for luck like you told me to.”

“Looks like it worked.” My gaze eats him up. I don’t know why he’s standing over there and I’m standing over here.

“It did.” His smile fades, his gaze turning sincere. “Babe, I’m an idiot.”

I’m frowning. “Why?”

“I thought I couldn’t do this.” He waves a hand around the stadium. “If I had you in my life. I actually thought that at one point. Like you were a giant distraction I didn’t need.”

I grimace at his words, hating how they make me feel.

“But it’s not true. I was full of shit. I’m realizing I can’t do any of this, if I don’t have you in my life.” His hazel gaze meets mine, so serious. So full of emotion. “I love you, Ava. So fucking much. This would mean nothing if I didn’t have you in my life. I almost lost you.”

The pain lessens, and I’m filled with happiness again as I go to him, resting my hands on his chest as I stare up at him. “You didn’t lose me. And you didn’t lose this game either. You’re a winner.”

“In all things.” He wraps one arm around my waist, holding me to him. “In everything. Life can’t get much sweeter than this.”

“Oh it can,” I tell him, rising up as he bends down to drop a kiss on my lips. “You have the draft coming up.”

“And graduation,” he says.

“And a new life to embark on.” I smile as he kisses me again.

“With you by my side, right?”

Our gazes meet. Lock. “Right.”

“Love you, Callahan.”

“I love you too, Bennett.”

“We gonna make it?” He raises his brows then bursts out laughing when he sees the expression on my face. “We are, huh.”

“We most definitely are.”

Epilogue

Ava

Six months later

“Eli, what in the world?” I come to a stop at the beautiful setting spread out before me on the deck of the house that Jackson purchased for Ellie for Christmas last year. The one they rented on Halloween

.

He stops just behind me, his big hands resting on my bare shoulders. He told me to dress fancy and so I’m wearing a simple black strapless dress. When I saw myself in the mirror after I slipped it on, I realized it made me feel pretty. Prettier than I have felt in a long time.

I felt even prettier because of the look on Eli’s face when he first saw me.

“You like it?” he whispers close to my ear.