Betting on You

42

f o r t y t w o
luke's point of view

"You got suspended from the team?!"

My muscles tensed at the harsh tone of mum's voice, anger, irritation, and frustration all laced within her words. "Yes."

My short response seemed to piss her off more. "That's all you have to say about it? Yes?" she sputtered for a moment, pacing in front of me. When she looked to have walked back and forth enough times, she was back to yelling in my face again. "What on earth is wrong with you! Isn't this going to mess up your chances with the scouts? And getting scholarships?"

Yes, it would. But I'd punch that shithead a thousand times over before I'd ever let him get off on disrespecting my girlfriend again.

Ex-girlfriend.

Not-even girlfriend. She wasn't my girlfriend. She wasn't my friend. She wasn't my girl. Maddy wasn't my anything, and the reminder was like a painful twist of a knife in my chest. I had been so f*cking close. She had been just within arms reach and then suddenly everything had spiraled and gone so horribly wrong and now there was nothing I could do to fix it and she had slipped away. She didn't even want me to try and fix it.

Mum was still rambling off but I wasn't really hearing her. "Can I go to my room, please?"

She paused mid-whatever it was she had been saying, and it looked like steam was coming from her ears for a moment before she frowned. "What is going on with you."

It didn't sound like a question, but the answer I had for her was not one that I'd ever say aloud. "Nothing," I shrugged, looking down at the kitchen table. As soon as I had come home she had sat me here to ream me out. Principal Miller had called her to tell her about my team suspension, and she was not at all amused about it. F*cking Principal Miller. I was all set to go straight to my room and pretend like the entire past two weeks had never happened but mum pounced on me the first second she got. Not to mention she had passed along the message to Dad. He was no doubt disappointed. But for some reason, none of that mattered to me.

Maddy mattered to me. She was everything. My everything. And I had f*cked it all up when it had been going so well. When my dreams of having her were actually coming true.

Mum crossed her arms over her chest, looking to be done with her screaming approach, and was now attempting a softer tone. "Is this about Madeline?"

My blood ran cold and my eyes snapped up to look at her. "What?"

She sighed through her nose. "I know it must've been tough to see her like that. But that's no excuse to start throwing away your future."

Maddy is supposed to be my future.

"I'm not throwing away anything and this has nothing to do with her," I lied, shifting uncomfortably in my seat.

"Have you spoken to her about what happened?" my mother continued with her soft tone, and for some reason, it spiked my irritation. "I mean you must've, seeing as you were always at the hospital this past week. Did you even know that she was hurting herself like that? Do you know how she's doing now? Why hasn't she felt she could talk to you about it?"

She did talk to me about her self-harm. About how I had played a role in it. How she was seeing a therapist still. And yet, I still hadn't taken the step to call off the bet while I still had a fighting chance of fixing our past issues. And now it was beyond too late.

"Maddy doesn't want to talk to me," the words slipped out before I could stop them, but I fisted my hands and took a breath. "She asked for space. I've been giving her space."