After my countless tosses and turns, I finally decide to make my way downstairs to see who's disturbing my peaceful sleep. The whole point of summer is that I don't have to worry about waking up early.
"Dad!" I shout when the excruciatingly loud noise gets louder as I get closer. What is he doing?
"In here Hunny," he shouts back and I finally reach the garage where my darling father and my dear friend and neighbor, Cody seem to be welding onto a metal case, seemingly trying to open it.
Could this seriously not have waited until everyone's stopped dreaming?
"What are you guys doing?" I ask rhetorically as I put the palm of my hands against my ears to block out the noise.
"This was Cody's dad's sweetheart. He found it in the basement and we just want to see what's inside," he answers clearly not getting the question behind the question I was asking, or rather the meaning behind it.
"Dad, this is really loud. Could it not wait until a bit later on?" I decide to stop speaking in riddles and that seems to work because he switches off the machine then says,
"I'm sorry sweetheart. Didn't even realize it was still so early." He says now looking at his watch. I get that, Dad wakes up early. Too early.
"What time's Ezra picking you up?" He asks and I ignore the exaggerated eye roll from Cody. I'm not in the mood for his judgment.
"He should be here in, Oh sh..."
"Watch it!"
"He should've been here 30 minutes ago. He must be running late, I know he's got practice. I'm gonna go get ready now." I say already running back into the house to shower.
He's got a big game later today.
Usually when that happens he picks me up in the morning after practice. We drive to the stadium together and then he leaves me in the VIP section where Michaela comes and joins me later, as well as the rest of the VIP people.
Michaela is one of his teammates' wives and one of the very few people who know about us. She's about 15 years older than me but doesn't look it at all, she's stunning.
We didn't even have to tell her anything, she said she could tell by the way we acted around each other. Like all we wanted was to be around one another but we couldn't. Of course she keeps our secret. She still doesn't understand why it's a secret to start with but she respects us nonetheless.
It's now a week since Bruno's party and things are back to being great with us. We'd fought and fought until we forgot what we were even fighting about and then made up. That happens a lot with us.
I finish getting ready in no time and then I wait. He's never late to pick me up when he's got a game, mostly because he has to work around a schedule so it's extremely weird that he's not here yet.
"Bun-bun!" I hear my dad call from downstairs, clearly to tell me he's here.
I jump off the bed, take my bag then go downstairs to see dad still in his night robe and a coffee mug in hand.
"Where is he?"
He usually comes in and waits with him while I get ready.
"There's a car outside waiting for you," he says wiggling his eyebrows and I internally scream. Ew.
I find it odd that he didn't come out to even say hi to dad but I don't waste a second thinking about it. I know he's probably running late so,
"Thanks, dad. I love you" I say then kiss him on the cheek as I make my way out.
I step outside to see an all-black Land Rover I've never seen before waiting. I hesitate a bit before I get closer to it and then the driver's door opens making me jump slightly.
"Hey, pretty one. Are you ready to go?" A bearded, chubby fellow asks and I feel my heart calm down.
"I'll go to the end of the world with you Mickey." I respond to him with a smile as he opens the back door for me to get in.
My heart breaks a little that he sent his driver to come to pick me up and not him. Mickey is beyond great but I would rather have him with me right now, so I can give him my calming words before the game. He always says seeing me is his good luck charm.
"I see you got a new car." I say to the man as we continue on our journey. They've seemingly upgraded from a smaller Land Rover to a much bigger and darker one. Ezra is getting more and more famous every day and I guess they wanted something a little more private and intimidating.
"Yea. He's always wanted this one." He says.
I pick up the flowers that are placed next to my seat with a box of chocolates and a teddy bear. I take out the note that reads,
'My darling Alex,
We've got to do press today before the game and that messed up my schedule a bit. I hope you can forgive me for not being there right now to pick you up. I sent you this teddy bear to cuddle you and protect you until I'm able to.
Love you always and forever,
Ez'
I smile.
He definitely knows how to make my heart skip a beat.
Mickey looks at me knowingly through the rear-view mirror making me smile wider. He knows probably more than anyone else what Ezra and I have. He gets it.
Everyone else secretly judges and I can always see it through their eyes. They judge Ezra for wanting to keep me a secret and they judge me for taking it.
I don't care. They'll just never get it and that's fine.
We're soon at the incredibly big stadium where the game will be taking place. The gates are still closed but they let us in once they see it's Mickey. We drive down to the private car park and Mickey opens the door for me to come out. He's always insisted to be chivalrous despite my not wanting him to. I can open my own door. He says that's just how he was raised and eventually I gave up trying to change him.
He's going to be an amazing husband to a very lucky lady one day.
He then tells me to enjoy the game as I make my way to the private basement elevator.
"I will Mickey you too."
I get on the elevator, then press the button to get to the highest level.
It's always so quiet when I get here. People are running around cleaning and getting ready for the game later that day.
Everyone's already used to seeing me but I know they still wonder who I am. The VIP is for the wives and girlfriends of the players, as well as incredibly wealthy people.
Although, most of the wives and girlfriends prefer to be down by the field cheering on their significant others. I would prefer that too honestly, but I can't.
I know Michaela sits up here as well because she doesn't want me to be by myself even though she claims it's because there's always a lot going on by the field. So she's the only known significant other of one of the players who sit by the VIP, everyone else is usually on the sidelines of the field.
But basically, not just anyone can have access to the VIP section. So everyone stares at me but they don't ask any questions. I appreciate that.
"Hi. Alex Brown for the Eagles." I say to the nicely dressed gentleman behind the counter once I reach where I'm going. He smiles then opens the door for me to get through.
It's empty.
There's about 5 hours left still for the match to start.
All the other teammates are probably with their significant others right now. They let them see them before the game, I'm guessing to get them in a happy mood.
I walk closer to the big glass window overlooking the stadium and then sigh. I hate this part.
It sucks that I can't be down there with him right now. It sucks that if I go to the players' section, no one will know who I am and he'll probably act like he doesn't know me too.
He always says he needs me to understand, and I do, I guess. But it still hurts.
So I sit just letting my thoughts run wild for almost an hour before I finally let my tears go. I stare at nothing and make no attempt to dry my cheeks. I know my face is probably a mess right now from the mixture of my light makeup and tears but I don't let myself worry about that. I still have a lot of hours left so I'll redo my face later.
I continue to sit now watching cartoons playing on a big screen in a corner when,
"Hey," I hear a voice sound gently.
I turn around to face the boy who brings me so much light and darkness at the same time and I force a smile.
His face is soft because he knows I'm not happy.
"You look great," he then compliments and I mouth him a 'thank you.'
I probably don't really look great at all right now. I feel exhausted from waiting and I probably have tear stains on my cheeks.
He's wearing his team's track pants and a plain white shirt, and he's standing at a distance because there are cameras in the VIP. I mentally facepalm myself when I remember I had a breakdown earlier that whoever's monitoring the cameras has now seen.
"I'm sorry." He mouths back to me now putting his hands in his pockets. "I know." I mouth back.
Now that I'm looking at him, I know that he feels what I feel. I know that he wants more than anything to run to me and kiss me like the world was ending. I can see his body craving my proximity and touch.
I give him a genuine smile and say, "You're gonna kill it today." He always does. He's the best player on the team and he knows that but he gives me a genuine smile right back then says, "You think so?" Like I just made the world's wildest prediction.
One of the many things I love about Ezra is how humble he is.
I nod slightly making him blush.
'I love you.' He mouthes to me and I mouth to him that I love him too before he turns around to leave just when the cleaning ladies enter the VIP, I'm guessing to make final checks before the game starts.
I go to the bathroom to get myself together and then head back to the VIP with my head held high and a new fresh frame of mind.
My man's going to kill it today.
It's intense.Everyone in the VIP room and everyone down on the field and the bleachers is beyond stressed. The players are all dirty from throwing themselves on the dirty grass and sweaty from all the running around they'd been doing. Michaela is holding on to my hand so tight it feels numb. It's so quiet.The camera points at Ezra and the commentator says something about how even he is stressed.He's sweating and rocking his body side to side slightly. I know he's got his thinking cap on when he does that. I smile gently because they have no idea what's coming. He's about to blow their minds.Two minutes on the clock and the score is a tie. The players line up facing each other then bend down so that their chests are facing the ground. The opposing team has the ball.Soon the players start tackling each other roughly fighting for the ball that's now passed in the air to be caught by their te
It's been two days, he hasn't called.The picture was pretty clear but I'm needing him to tell me there was some sort of a misunderstanding. I need him to tell me it was all a prank and that it meant nothing. Whatever lie he can come up with, I'll believe it. What I refuse to believe is that the love of my life cheated on me. My Ezra would never.I wipe the tears off my cheeks for the umpteenth time this afternoon. I'm meeting up with the girls in a bit and I can't be a mess around them. I'd been avoiding them for the two days and I haven't seen them since Bruno Steiner's party. I know they're already suspecting something is wrong and I can't afford to have them asking me questions so I need to get myself together. I'm also in no mood to think of lies so I'm really hoping I'm not left in a situation where I have no choice but to.Today I decided I need to go out, I need a distraction. I've been stuck in my room and I'm h
"Hey man what's up?" Bruno greets him after a while.Ezra greets him back with a hug but his eyes stay on mine. Bruno notices but doesn't say anything. We've all been in one place at a time multiple times before but we've never said anything to each other. Ezra and I always act like we don't know each other around people so I know Bruno finds it weird how he's looking at me. Like I carry the key to his heart.I don't look back at him because I didn't realize how mad I was until now. I'm afraid of what I'll do if I look into his eyes. I can feel the anger radiating from within at the sight of him. I was sad before but now I feel aggravated. He cheated on me, how could he?"Hey I'm gonna go look for Liz." I say to Bruno already standing up to leave. I pray my voice came out calm and not shaky like the rest of me. I don't even bother to wait for him to respond before I speed
"Babe...""Baby.""Babe!!""What?!!" I practically shout at him. He knows I hate mornings. Don't wake me up if I don't need to be up. I'll wake up when my body is ready to."The boys are coming now. You gotta hide.""What?" My ears must be really playing tricks on me because I thought I heard him say I have to hide. I turn my body to the other side then go back to sleep before,"Oh shxxt, they're here. Babe, go into the bathroom!" He shouts already making his way out of the bedroom. My sleep goes away immediately as I sit upright on his bed. I don't even know how to express the pain that's in my chest right now.Before getting this house, Ezra lived in a small apartment. It wasn't fancy but it was perfect. We'd used to spend the whole day and sometimes weekends just lazying around and watching movies. Never have I ever worried about peopl
"Hey baby, I've been worried sick. Are you ok?" is the first thing he asks as soon as I answer the phone. About 60 missed calls later. He actually does sound so worried that I feel a bit bad for ignoring him the rest of yesterday. Only just a bit."Yeah I'm ok babe." I say to him honestly. I feel a lot better today. My chilled evening with Cody helped me out, it always does.But also, hearing his voice oddly calms me, despite him being responsible for the bad mood to start with. He doesn't ask why I disappeared like I did yesterday, I know it's because he knows why. This is one of the many conversations we don't have.It goes alongside the negative effects caused by the privacy of our relationship. We know what it's doing to us but we also know we can't do anything about it. So we ignore it."Will I be s
He is livid.He's gone out for a smoke about six times already in the last hour, he only smokes when he's stressed. And that's usually only two times in one night.I'm sitting next to Bruno and another guy named Sam and we're conversing about nothing important. I see him looking at me, but not so long that people start to notice.Bruno is not even flirting with me. He's a good looking guy but I'll never see him like that. There's only one guy in this world for me. Bruno and I just have a friendship forming, he honestly has nothing to worry about.'Are you ok? I'm sorry I can't stop it.' I'd texted him and of course he didn't reply. It's upsetting to me that he's always having conversations with random girls, most of which flirt with him - but I never get mad, because I know I'm the only one who owns his heart. But as soon as some guy comes and looks at
I wake up to my stomach crying in hunger at the appetizing smell that makes its way into my nostrils.I open my eyes to see a plate of badly cooked eggs and not so bad looking bacon and toast. Normally I would smile because even though he's not much of a cooker, he'll go out of his way just to make sure I'm fed.But this morning, the first words that come out of my mouth are,"Did you not see me struggling?" I know he was looking at me as I danced with him. My mind can't seem to wrap my head around the fact that he might have seen but did nothing. It's all I could think about last night, and well - now."Bruno jokes around babe. Everyone knows that." I chuckle because I did imagine him using that excuse. But it was in the furthest most impossible excuses I'd thought he'd use. I'd thought it was ridiculous even thinking of it. So I stare at the love of my life with so much pain in my heart to ask him,
We're still very much together. But I told him I needed a break.Just to calm my head and my heart from everything. It took him a while but he finally accepted it. He said as long as I come back to him. Of course I will, I always will. I realize I'm a slave to his love.It's not even just because he threatened to kill himself, but also because a life without him is a life I don't want to live. I can't even grasp the thought of him not being here anymore. I've had him in my life for so long that I don't want to picture a life where he's not there.Him wanting to kill himself served as a reminder of how much I need him.I do however hate what he did to make me stay but the thought of him not being alive any more is scary enough for me to.The couple of days that we've been apart had me thinking too much of course. Like about the fact