Quarterback's Secret Baby(31)

So we made cookies while the other girls sat around the kitchen table, chatting and doing their very best to keep my spirits up and make sure I knew that no matter what, Kaden Barlow wasn't worth my time. We stayed up until dawn, until we were all groaning and holding our bellies and everyone's hair and makeup had gone to hell. Selfies were taken and another bottle of wine was opened. By the time I collapsed into my own bed, after being driven home by Lena at around eight a.m., the hangover was already starting to develop. When I was in my bedroom, alone for the first time in almost twelve hours, I looked at my phone. It had been turned off earlier at Sadie's instruction. For a half-second, I thought about turning it on and then just threw it down onto my crumpled dress and crawled into bed.





Chapter 13: Natasha


I woke up bleary-eyed and feeling like the human equivalent of warmed-up leftovers at about three in the afternoon. Alisha was sitting on the foot of my bed looking at me and I could immediately see from the look on her face that she knew what had happened.

"Your friend Lena called me," she said, before I could say anything. "I'm so sorry, Tash. I know this won't mean much to you right now but I know two things. The first thing I know is how you're feeling. Heartbreak is awful but your first heartbreak? That's the worst. The second thing I know is that you'll get over this. It doesn't feel like it now, but you will. There's nothing I can say to fix how you're feeling but just know that it passes. It does. You just need to get through it, to let time pass and believe it'll get better. Because it will."

For a few seconds I didn't know what Alisha was talking about but soon - too soon - the previous night came rushing back and all I could do was lift a pillow to my face to try and stifle the sound of my crying.

"I've already taken care of dinner," Alisha told me. "And I've got some clean clothes for you laid out so come on, let's get you up and into the shower."

I spent the next few days wandering around the house like a zombie. Even my posture was different - I could feel the way my head sagged low and my shoulders slumped forward. Just putting one foot in front of the other seemed to take an enormous amount of effort. And everybody around me made sure I was never alone. My friends messaged me constantly, Andrea delivered a tray of the famous 'crack brownies' her mom used to make us - and that I used to devour - when we were children.

Kaden blew up my phone with messages. I deleted them all unread. And anytime I was tempted to read one of them, just a single one, someone was there to set me straight. He tried to talk to me at school, too, but my friends were always there, forming a protective barrier around me and giving him the evil eye.

One day, he managed to find me alone at Lena's locker, which I was temporarily using as my own - precisely so he wouldn't be able to run into me.

"Tasha," he pleaded, before I had time to run away. "Tasha, please talk to me. I have no idea what's going on. I've called you a million times. I don't know-"

"Fuck off, Kaden." I hissed, surprising even myself at the amount of rage that was boiling up in my chest.

I didn't look at him but I could sense him there beside me with his hands on his head, doing everything he could to play the baffled innocent.

"Fuck off? Tasha - what the fuck, what the fuck is going on with you? Why are you-"

"What's going on with me?!" I yelled, spinning around so I was facing him and so angry it felt like my throat was closing and the words were barely making it out. "What going on with ME? I honestly don't even know what to say to that, Kaden. I can't believe you're asking what's going on with me. As if somehow I'm the cause of this. As if any of this is my fault! As if-"

Lena was suddenly beside me, physically pushing Kaden back, away from me. "Get away from her, Kaden. Right now."

Then Sadie showed up, too. I watched as they stared absolute daggers at Kaden and as he, seeing that they were serious, hung his head and turned around to walk away. I made the mistake of looking at his face just as he did it, too. It looked like he was going to cry. And there was nothing I could do about the sudden rush of pity in my heart at the sight of him trudging away.

"Don't," Lena admonished, her voice firm. "Don't, Tasha. That's exactly what he wants - you to feel sorry for him. Don't do it. He didn't even try to apologize, did he? Just did that stupid man thing of pretending like he's so innocent and he has no idea why the silly, hysterical woman is so upset."

She was right. He hadn't apologized. As she spoke I could feel my own heart hardening again, just as quickly as it had softened.

My friends ushered me around Reinhardt High like bodyguards, absolutely fierce and resolute in their loyalty. When I wasn't on the verge of tears over Kaden's betrayal I was on it at the unshakable love of my girlfriends and my family as they encircled the wounded member of the tribe and took care of me.