Real Girl (Aston Creek High 4)

Slade comes back with the pizza and we drop down onto the couch which I’m sure is exactly where we’ll stay until one of us is falling asleep. Shay tries to tell Slade that he should drop in at home for ten minutes just to let his mom know that he’s alive and that I’m okay, but she’s got to be kidding herself if she thinks Slade is about to walk out this door anytime soon. Shay settles for a phone call and within ten minutes, Daniella is dropping down on the couch beside me with Emma and Rain running around the house, eating all the pizza.

It’s perfect. I couldn’t ask for a better moment.

This is the kind of shit I live for.

It gets past 9 pm and the girls are falling asleep on the couch when Daniella decides it’s time to take them home to bed. They disappear out the door and while Shay gets up to clean up after them, Slade turns to me with a strange hesitation in his eyes.

“What’s wrong?” I ask, on edge.

He cringes, resting his palm against my thigh. “It’s not exactly a bad thing, it’s pretty fucking good actually, I just didn’t know when the right time to bring it up with you was, but the longer I wait, the more pissed you’ll be.”

“Spit it out, Cruz.”

He lets out a sigh and leans back into the couch, grabbing me and pulling me up onto his lap. “While you were gone, I heard from the coach of Lakeside University basketball team. He wanted to personally offer me a position on the team for next season.”

My eyes bug out of my head. “That’s incredible,” I grin, practically jumping up and down on his lap. “That’s exactly what you’ve been working for.”

“Yeah, it is,” he says, his eyes not exactly showing the level of enthusiasm that I would have expected.

I grab his head and force his eyes back to mine. “What’s wrong? This is what you wanted.”

His lips pull into a tight line before he lets out a gentle sigh. “Lakeside is an hour away, Sky. I won’t be living down the street or sleeping in your bed every night. We’ll be away from each other for four years.”

I shake my head. “It’s an hour away. It’s not the end of the world. I don’t have to cross any borders to get to you, I don’t have to get on a plane or a train, I just have to drive for a little bit and catch up on my audiobooks. It’s going to be great. I’m going to come and watch all your games.”

“Well…maybe.”

My brows furrow, not liking his tone. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I haven’t exactly accepted yet.”

My eyes bug out of my head as I pull back to look at this moron properly. “Are you kidding me? What the hell, Cruz? Why not?”

“I’ve sort of had some other things on my mind lately,” he says with a scoff.

“You’re an idiot,” I say, throwing myself off his lap and grabbing his phone off the coffee table.

“What are you doing?” he yells as I bound down the hallway to my bedroom and lock the door behind me. I start furiously scrolling through his contacts as I feel his heavy fist on the door behind me. “Skylah. Give me my phone. What are you doing?”

I grin as my eyes scan over the name of the coach I’ve heard so much about when watching all the Lakeside games on ESPN with Slade. There’s no doubt in my mind that this is the right move for Slade. So many players from Lakeside get signed to the NBA and the one thing they all have in common is this coach.

He has to do this.

I press down on Coach Phillips’ number and hold the phone to my ear while grabbing the door handle. It rings three times before the coach’s voice comes through the line. “Phillips.”

I tear the door open and throw the phone at Slade. “It’s your new coach. Say hello.”

Slade’s eyes bug out of his head as he grabs the phone and jams it against his ear. “Uh…hello,” he says. “Yeah, this is Slade Cruz.”

Slade scrunches up his face and gives me a look that says the second he’s finished on this call, I better run, but all I can do is grin, especially as I hear Slade tell the coach that he accepts his offer and will be joining them at Lakeside.

I squeal, jumping up and down and as he finishes his call, I throw myself up into his arms. He only just catches me as he tries to slip his phone back into his pocket to where it will be safe from me making calls on his behalf. The smile on his face blows me the fuck away.