“Hello?”
“What are you doing?”
“Nate just got here, why? Everything okay?” she questions with concern.
“No. I’m sick of hearing Nate’s name, for one. I can’t talk to you or Reed without hearing about him.” I run a hand over my face, knowing that isn’t an issue. “Sorry. Do you think Nate would sit with Reed for a bit? I need to talk to someone.”
Brooke is quiet before it dawns on her. “Oh no,” she breathes softly. “I’m sorry, Ash -”
“Are you coming or not?” I interrupt.
“Yeah, give me a few.”
She hangs up without another word. My knee bounces as I wait for her. I move from the couch to the kitchen and back to the couch again. Brooke doesn’t bother knocking the door, she just storms in.
“Tell me what happened.” She sits next to me on the couch, turning to angle towards me.
“Apparently, I’m a fling.” I can’t get the fucking word out of my head.
After recounting the conversation for Brooke to analyze, she shakes her head. “I don’t believe her.”
“I do.” She seemed so sure of her words and when I asked her if she was sure, she said yes.
Brooke rolls her eyes. “Well, don’t. You have to keep trying, Ash. Maybe give her a little time to miss you, to realize that she doesn’t really feel that way and that convincing herself is stupid, and then go swoop in and take her back. Why the hell not?” she finishes with frustration. I was shaking my head the entire time.
“You didn’t hear her, Brooke. She meant every word.”
“Then she’s a damn good liar.”
I clench my jaw. Brooke isn’t being as helpful as I wanted, but I don’t think I would have been satisfied even if she was. My phone rings, and my heart beats faster, thinking that it might be Lexie, but it’s a number I don’t recognize.
“Hello?”
“Dad, can -”
“Reed?” Brooke sits up to try and listen. “Is this Nate’s phone?”
“Yeah, he let me use it because I wanted to call you.”
“Everything okay?”
“Yep. Could we have tickets for the game tonight? I want to take Nate to see you play,” he says, like he could actually take Nate somewhere.
“Hold on a second, okay?”
“Okay.”
Placing a hand over the speaker, I explain to Brooke, “He wants y’all to go to the game tonight. What do you want me to tell him?”
“Let me talk to him.”
I hand her the phone and listen as she asks to speak to Nate, who apparently doesn’t mind going to a hockey game so Reed can take him to watch me play. Brooke hangs up and looks at me.
“I guess we’re going to the game tonight.”
“I’ll work out some tickets for you.”
She waves me away. “We’ll buy some. Do you want me to try and talk to her?”