Chasing Ella (Love Ever After 1)

“You have to keep your grades up, man,” Mark says, after a long pause. “You can’t afford to lose your scholarships. I can talk to Teach for you if you want. I’m sure she’d be willing to give you some extra credit.”

Luca laughs and runs a hand through his dark waves, the muscles flexing beneath his fitted shirt. “You’re already working her over enough for all of us,” he says with a wink.

Slapping his hand down on his knee, Hunter laughs at Luca’s comment. Hunter is on the football team with me and about the same height and build. He’s on defense, where I am on offense with Bash and Clay. Hunter is also one of the shiest people I have ever met. He’s the type of person who only speaks when he has something important to say and mostly just listens to all of us fuck off with each other.

Mark shoots Luca a look that could cut through steel. They have been friends since they were kids. The two of them share a special bond that apparently doesn’t require words because Luca just shoves his hands into his pockets and clears his throat as if he’s already said too much in front of me. Hunter follows suit. The three of them are inseparable, practically joined at the hip.

We all know Mark is hooking up with our professor. You don’t have to be a genius to figure that out. Mark is so goddamn transparent, drooling over her in class and making stupid sexually laced remarks.

“Did you find the girl yet?” Luca asks to change the subject.

I shake my head. “Nope. I have no idea who she is or if she even goes to school here.”

“You are wasting your time,” Mark says, his tone serious. “If she wanted you to find her, she wouldn’t have run away in the first place.”

I hold up the gold chain around my neck for him to see. “She will want the charm back, and if so, she knows where to find me.” For a second, I feel like a total loser for showing my brothers that I have her charm on a chain.

Mark cocks an eyebrow at me as if I lost my mind. “Dude, you need help.”

At least Mark is right about one thing. I have not been able to shake that girl from my head. When I’m awake, I clutch her charm in my hand and think about the way she smelled, the way she tasted. Even in sleep, she occupies my thoughts. Every night since the party, I dream of her. Then, I wake, drenched in sweat and out of breath, as if I had been chasing after her again.

“You do, bro,” Luca says. “No girl is worth that kind of hassle.”

I roll my eyes at Luca because he has no room to talk after all the things he did to get his girlfriend. “You would do it for Izzie,” I counter.

He shrugs. “Yeah, but that’s because Izzie is the one. She’s the kind of girl you don’t let go.”

Annoyed with this conversation, I say, “I don’t see how my situation is any different than yours.”

“I have known Izzie for most of my life. She’s connected, part of my lifestyle. You don’t even know her name. There is a big difference between what I did and what you are doing.”

“I think they call it stalking.” Mark laughs.

I lean into Mark, just enough to shove him off the table, but he grabs hold of the wood before he falls off, regaining his position. “I’m not stalking her, dick.”

“You say chasing; I say stalking. Is she even real? Knowing you, I bet you chugged half the keg, passed out in the hallway, and imagined the entire thing.”

“Say what you want. I don’t care.” My tone is angry, defensive. “When I find her—and I will—then we’ll see who’s laughing at who. I didn’t make her up.”

Hunter slaps a hand on my back, almost knocking the air from my chest. “Don’t get all worked up over nothing. We have to get to practice. Use that aggression on the field instead of wasting it on these punks.”

I walk away without even bothering to say another word to Mark or Luca. Hunter stays behind to mutter his goodbyes, quickly joining me on the walkway. We stroll through campus without speaking until we get into the locker room.

“Look, man,” he says, sitting on the bench. “Don’t let them get under your skin. I believe you if it helps at all.”

I open my locker, pull out my practice uniform, and throw the clothes on the bench next to Hunter before taking a seat. Searching for this girl has me so mentally and physically drained that hearing my friends say aloud that I’m losing my mind only makes this harder on me. But Hunter is always the calm one, the voice of reason.

“I don’t even know why I’m looking for her, but I have to find her. I want to know her name. She already knew mine, so that tells me she goes to this school.”

Hunter looks at me with his deep brown eyes that pierce through me, a beat passing between us before he speaks. “I would have done the same thing for Silvia. Sometimes, you just know.”

“My mom always says that,” I say, not feeling as dumb as I did around Mark and Luca.

When he talks, I can open up to Hunter.

Hunter presses his palms to the wooden bench and pushes himself up to a standing. “Keep looking for her. She has to turn up at some point.”

I nod, and he digs through his locker for his uniform, leaving me with my thoughts.