Game On (Game On 1)

Cringing at my patheticness, I confessed what had happened in Radleigh's room. Freya listened carefully while I told her he’d thrown me out after things got heavy between us.

“How could he do that to you?”

“I don't know. It was so humiliating.”

Maybe he never intended to sleep with me at all. Maybe he meant to make me feel the way I did.

Stupid, unwanted and desperate.

“Why should you be humiliated, honey? He was the one who started it, you didn't throw yourself at him.”

“That doesn't change how completely embarrassing it is to be kicked out of a room by someone who you …” I trailed off again. “I didn't expect it, and let’s be honest, being rejected by Radleigh McCoy has to be the ultimate slap in the face. He never turns anyone down.”

“Did you want something to happen between you?”

“As soon as I saw him I did. But that isn't why I went to see him. It wasn't about sex.”

She didn't answer and I looked up, seeing the realisation suddenly hit her. Her mouth dropped open.

“You love him, don't you?”

I nodded. “How stupid can you get?”

“It's not stupid. You can't help how you feel.”

A look of sadness crossed her face, forcing me out of my own self-pity.

“I guess you know how that goes,” I said.

“Yep.” She sighed. “I do.”

&

nbsp; It wasn’t the same, not when Will loved her too. I was done revealing the truths of their relationship though. They had to do some of the work on their own.

“Can you at least tell me it gets easier?” I asked, hopefully.

She shook her head. “I wish I could. It's not always unbearable, but it's never easy.”

I made a face. “Well, you're a great help.”

The two of us began to giggle.

“Leah, what will I do without you?”

“You'll be fine,” I told her. “You'll still have all your friends around you. I'll be at home on my own.”

“Then don't go. Stay here.”

I shook my head. “I won't find another job as good as the one I had, and even if I did, it wouldn't be the same as working with you every day. I need to go home. Besides, with the way things are with Radleigh, I just want to be as far away from here as I can.”

Freya nodded. “I understand. I really do. I just wish things were different.”

“Me too.”

An hour later, my bags were packed and it was time to say a final goodbye to my friends. Both Freya and I were trying to hold it together as we stepped into the lobby to meet Will, Bree, Jesse and Miguel. We both failed.

The tiredness, the grief at having to leave them all behind seeped into every part of me, and I still couldn’t stop myself sweeping my eyes around the room for Radleigh.