Page 38 of The Upside of Falling
It felt like forever . . .
It’s never felt more like forever than when he said that.
Chapter Sixteen
COLBY
“Are you sure you don’t want to come?” I ask Stryder who is lounging on my bed, looking like pure hell.
“Positive. It’s your time with your grandpa, and I don’t want to intrude on that.”
“It will get you out of the house.”
Stryder needs to get out. Ever since we stepped foot in the house, Mr. Sheppard has been a tyrant, a real fucking prick, constantly berating Stryder for not making flight school. Letting him know in a not-so-subtle way that he’s let down the family and caused him great embarrassment.
What Mr. Sheppard is failing to see through his unmerited rage is that even though Stryder is trying to act like it doesn’t matter to him, he’s a mess.Ican see the anguish in his eyes whenever he looks at me. I can see the disappointment, the utter vulnerability of being the only one out of our group of friends who didn’t make it in.
Fuck, I still can’t believe it. He has good grades and was part of the Wings of Blue. I thought he was at the top of the class, but somehow, he didn’t get in. A part of me wonders if it’s political. Lieutenant Colonel Sheppard doesn’t have the best reputation in the USAF, especially after the fucked-up fooling around he did with multiple officers’ wives while their husbands were deployed. He’s a real class act. I could understand a vendetta against Lt. Colonel Sheppard, but it’s as if Stryder got caught in the middle and is now taking the brunt of it all.Not that his father could see that.
Still, I feel for him. It just about kills me to see my best friend not make it, and what hurts me even more is I can feel him pulling away.
Normally, going with me to visit my grandpa is one of Stryder’s favorite things to do when we’re on break. Not today.
“What are you going to do all day?”
He shrugs. “Joey invited me over to hang out with her and Hardie. Figured I’d probably go over there.”
“Is your dad going to let you?”
“Fuck him, man.” Stryder grinds his jaw. I’m thinking that maybe he has an idea as to why he wasn’t accepted into flight school.
Sighing, I put my wallet in my back pocket and grab my phone from the nightstand. “You can still apply later if you—”
“Don’t want to talk about it, Colby.” I can understand why he’s terse, shutting me down. If I were in his position . . .fuck, if that were me, I’d have lost it by now.My dream ending before it started.“What happened with Rory?”
God, I am not ready to talk about that.I still feel hollow.
I snag my keys from the dresser and put on my jacket. “Not going to work out, not with everything up in the air for me.”
“But you want it to,” he says more as a statement, reading me like an open book.
“Not at first, but after the letters, after seeing her again . . . Fuck if I’m not begging she’ll give us a shot.”
“How did you leave it last night?”
“Not in a position where I see a future for us.” Heading toward the door, I say, “You sure you don’t want to come?”
“Positive. Say hi to Gramps for me.”
“Will do.”
* * *
“There he is,” Gramps says, holding his arm out to me. I bend down to his wheelchair and give him a good, strong hug.
“Hey Gramps, how are you feeling today?”
Wrapped up in sweaters and blankets, he seems to have some color in his cheeks, unlike the days when I’ve come to visit him and he’s looked pale and almost sickly. Not today; he looks fresh and alert.
