SWNOVELS That Promise: Chapter 13
I can’t believe I’m waiting to ask a girl to Homecoming on the same field where, two years ago, my world fell apart when the girl I loved—love—got asked to Homecoming by someone else.
And I’m out here on Friday the freaking 13th, no less.
If only I could wipe that day from my memory.
It’s probably for the best that I’m out here though. Ready to ask Lacey. To make the big gesture. Because I’m pretty sure that Dani has wiped me from her memory. She still hasn’t called.
Lacey is beaming as she leads the team out through the streamers. She puts her hand up to wave to the cheering crowd but stops in her tracks when she sees me standing there, sign in hand.
I saunter over in her direction, ignoring the noise of the crowd, the football players, and the dance and cheer squads who have gathered in a half-circle around us, focusing only on her.
“Cute sign,” she says. “That mean what I think it does?”
“That I want you to go to Homecoming with me? Uh, yep.”
“The chasing you part is what I’m referring to.”
I pull the roses out from behind the sign and hand them to her. “You’re the captain. You’ll probably be queen. And you’re the first one to be asked. Yeah, I’d say I’m chasing you. I wouldn’t want you to go with anyone else, Lacey. Will you go to Homecoming with me?”
“And what about Dani?”
“She’s not here.”
She grins at me, nods her head, drops the flowers to the ground, jumps into my arms, and kisses me.
I think that’s a yes.
The crowd must, too, because it erupts in cheers.
My phone rings as I’m getting ready to leave the locker room after another win.
I see Dani’s number and answer.
“Saw your proposal,” is the first thing out of her mouth.
No, Hello, how ya been, Chase? No excuses as to why I haven’t heard from her all week.
“Interesting,” I say.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means, it’s interesting that you see the proposal of me asking someone to Homecoming on social media, and you call me about it, yet you haven’t had time to call me all week. I even broke down and texted you twice. It’s hard to be BFFs with you when you don’t have time to respond. Good to hear from you, Dani. But I gotta go.”
And then I hang up.
Lacey is waiting for me by my truck.
She leaps into my arms and kisses me.
“That was amazing, Chase. Thank you. For asking me. For doing it up big. In front of everyone. On Senior Night. It was perfect. Really. Anyway, I just wanted to tell you that before you went home.”
“You want to hang out tonight?” I ask her, totally breaking my usual routine.
“Like, at your house?”
“Actually, I thought maybe we could go out after the game. Celebrate. Any parties tonight?”
“Of course there are.” She kisses me again. This time more passionately. “I don’t know what has caused this change in you, Chase, but I like it.”
“I was always planning to ask you, Lacey. And don’t think this will be a habit or anything, but it’s a special night, right?”
“Yeah, Chase, it is.”
Always loved him.
Devaney
I’m staring at my phone, shocked that Chase just hung up on me. He’s never done anything like that before.
I know I should have called him this week or responded to his texts, but I really have been busy. And tired.
Alyssa wanted me to go to a frat party with her tonight, but I just wanted to curl up in bed and finally call Chase. I knew he’d be home after his game, like always, and I figured we’d actually have time to talk. In fact, I was going to suggest that’s what we do. Sort of make it a weekly thing. What I didn’t expect was to have his homecoming proposal pop up first thing on my feed while I was waiting for him to get home.
Or how bad it would make me feel.
I had such an epiphany on his birthday. I realized so clearly that I’d been worrying too much about impressing people I didn’t care that much about. And although I’ve been very careful about that during my short time here at college, only focusing on building relationships here with people I respect, I realize that I completely screwed things up with Chase.
Happy Friday the 13th, everyone. I think I’ll just cry myself to sleep now.
But then my phone rings in my hand. It’s Chase’s mom.
“Hey,” I say, quickly answering.
“Dani, hi. I know it’s late, but I just got into town. And I was wondering, if you aren’t at some totally cool party, would you want to do something with me?”
“Uh, sure. I actually just got home. It’s been a long week.”
“Oh, well, this can wait until tomorrow.”
“No. What’s up?”
“I really need to just show you, if that’s okay. I haven’t shared my idea with anyone else yet, and I wanted to run it by you first. I can pick you up outside your dorm in about five minutes.”
“Okay, I’ll be ready,” I tell her.
I hop in the car when she pulls up. “What are you doing, coming up here this late?”
“I left after the end of the third quarter since the team was way ahead. I wanted to get here to try to figure some stuff out.”
She drives us a few blocks from campus to an area filled with restaurants and shops. It’s a busy area, but she seems to know exactly where she’s going, and she parks in a reserved spot.
When we get out, I’m surprised to find a realtor waiting for us. Jadyn introduces me, and we’re taken up over one of the restaurants to a new condo project.
The realtor starts talking, “Historical building. Wide-open loft-style condos. Two bedrooms each.”
Inside each condo, we find really cool spaces. Exposed brick, lots of old wood, but modern furnishing and fixtures.
“It would be so cool to live somewhere like this,” I say.
“I’m considering buying it,” she says. “We come up for most home games, and it would be really nice not to have to deal with hotel rooms for our families.”
“But how would that work? This only has two bedrooms.”
She laughs. “Well, I was thinking maybe you and Haley could eventually share one. Maybe one could be for Damon and Chase and a few more for when we visit. There are just five units, so I would have to buy them all. But I have a crazy idea that might work out better.”
“Do you want to go see the other building now?” the realtor asks.
“Yes, please,” Jadyn says.
“Just what are you up to?” I ask her as we walk across the street and then down half a block.
This area is actually just slightly closer to campus, if we’re counting steps.
“It’s a little rough,” the realtor says, “but it’s certainly got potential.”
Now, we’re standing in what looks like an old storage area. It’s run-down, and there’s possibly a hole in the roof based on some water on the floor.
“You want to buy this?” I ask.
“Yeah. Look at the bones of the place,” she says, a big grin on her face. “Exposed brick, old wood floors, crown molding. If I renovated this building, everyone would have their own spaces, and it would be custom-designed just for us. Private, secure entry. Rooftop outdoor space. It would have wings that could be wide open or closed off. But basically, if you, Chase, Damon, and Haley wanted to live here, you could. And we’d have places to stay during football and volleyball weekends. Haley is already being recruited and given them a verbal commitment. I could see a big gathering area. Like our own sports bar. Full kitchen. Lots of couches and televisions.”
“I’ve seen areas like that in big apartment complexes.”
“Yes, sort of like that. Only private.”
“And I could live here?”
“Well, that would be up to you. You all have to live on campus your freshman year. And you might want to live in the sorority house after that. So, it wouldn’t be required. But I will tell you that your father, Phillip, and I shared a townhouse from my sophomore year on, and it was some of the best times in my life. You’d have to put up with us during home game weekends, but for the most part, you’d have the whole place to yourselves. I also think it would be a great investment.”
“Could you put in an office?” I ask.
“Like for studying?”
“No, for Hierarchy.”
“Oh, they decided to change the name. But, yes, that’s a great idea. I heard the idea was conceived during the first trip to the Ozarks.”
“Yeah, it was.”
“Any chance you’ll join us next year? We miss having you there.”
“Maybe. The four of us talked about doing the company together. I know they started it this year—without me—but maybe someday, I’ll be part of it again.”
She turns to the realtor. “Can we see the rooftop space before we go?”
“Of course.”
She takes us up there, and the view is pretty cool.
“This would be amazing.”
“Exactly what I was thinking.” She turns to the realtor and says, “We’ll take it.”
The realtor looks a little shocked. “Like, you want to make an offer now?”
“Yep.” She spouts off a number, asks the realtor to get in touch with the owner, and tells her that we’re going to get a late-night snack and to call her in the morning.
We go downstairs and across the street to a sports bar that is still serving food.
“I’m starving,” Jadyn says. “But I just realized you were supposed to be in bed early. I can take you back.”
“No, this is nice. And I’m kind of hungry, too.” I let out a sad sigh.
“Do you want to talk about it, Dani?”
“Talk about what?”
“What’s bothering you.”
Tears fill my eyes. “When I was home last weekend, Chase and I, um, made up. And decided we were going to be friends again. I mean, it was so easy—surprisingly—to go back into our old roles. To joke. Laugh. Kiss. Have fun. We agreed to work on continuing that. Just being friends. We used to talk at night, before we went to sleep. Even if I had just seen him.”
“Really?” Jadyn says. “Phillip and I used to do that, too. That’s sweet.”
“And we agreed that I would call him at night, when I had free time. He texted me a couple times, and I didn’t respond. I should have. And I probably hurt him. Again. But I was waiting until tonight. I knew he’d be home after his game. And I didn’t go with my friend to a frat party, so I would have the room to myself and I could do nothing but talk to him. Almost like I was there with him, having pizza. I was even going to suggest we make it a regular thing. Like maybe not worry about talking during the week. With classes, studying, the sorority—pledge meetings and all the activities and mixers—and getting used to it all, it’s been a lot. I mean, it’s fun—don’t get me wrong—but it’s been busy. Really busy. And then, while I was waiting to call him”—I stop and take another deep breath—“I saw the video. Of how he asked Lacey to Homecoming.”
“You know, she broke up with him this week.”
My eyes get big. “She did?”
“Yeah. Haley had taken a picture of you and Chase kissing on his birthday. She stupidly shared it with a friend, who passed it around. Eventually to Lacey.”
“Wow.”
“It all makes so much more sense now.”
“What does?”
“Why Chase asked her today. So early. In such a big way.”
“Why do you think that was?”
“Dani, really? You didn’t call him all week.”
“Oh. I guess that’s why he hung up on me.”
“He hung up on you?”
“Yeah. I called tonight. Stupidly, the first thing I said was that I saw the video of the proposal. He assumed that was the only reason I’d called. Said it was hard to be BFFs with me when I didn’t have time to respond. He said it was good to hear from me but that he had to go and hung up. He probably hates me again.”
“He doesn’t hate you, Dani.”
“I still love him,” I say, breaking down. “And we were all so close that summer. Me, Damon, Haley, Chase. And they are all still close. Without me. And last weekend, I even felt like that was back. I just ruined everything.”
“Dani, I’d be willing to bet that you didn’t.”
“You really think, after all this, Chase and I could possibly still have a chance of being together?”
“I think you need to figure out what being together means to you. I mean, I understand you are busy, but you couldn’t find a single moment in six whole days to even send a text?”
“I didn’t want anyone to know I was talking to him.”
“Why?”
“Because he’s still in high school. I don’t think the girls in my sorority are like that, but I don’t know them well enough yet to know. So, I was trying to wait until I had time alone. And that has been difficult to come by.”
“I’m not judging you in any way, but that sounds like a lot of excuses.”
I nod my head in agreement.
“At some point, you need to stop making them. It’s really too bad you can’t do a play-by-play, you know, of that day. Chase watches a lot of game film. Too bad no one recorded the whole thing.”
“And you think that would help—to watch it?”
“If you talked through your decision-making each step of the way. How you felt. Maybe.” She sighs. “He’s coming up for the game tomorrow. Everyone is. Just so you know.”
“I did know that. But then when he hung up on me, I sort of forgot.”
“I guess you can talk to him tomorrow then.”
She closes out our tab and then takes me home.