Page 37 of Shattered Saint
“Yeah, man. I’m done,” he said as he nodded.
I waited until he got up to toss him the football.
“Did that help you get the stick out you’ve had up your ass for the last week?” I was being a bit harsh, I admitted, but it was the truth. Every time I saw him lately, he seemed to be in a bad mood.
Nash shoved me hard and all I did was chuckle. Then he said, “I feel better.”
“Better enough to text Raven? Maybe she can pull the stick out.”
Raven was his ex-girlfriend that he’d never gotten over, and now that she was back in town, things had suddenly become… interesting between the two of them.
“You don’t ever shut up, do you?”
I shrugged. “You should know by now that I don’t.”
I glanced away and saw that Coach Klein raised his whistle to his lips and blew. “Great job, everyone,” he called out. "That's it for today!"
The shrilling sound of the whistle echoed through the air once again, signaling the end of practice. As we left, Nash cleared his throat, drawing my attention to him. The excitement that was once on his face was long gone and I couldn’t help but wonder what had removed it.
“Are you alright?” I asked.
“Yeah, I am. There was something I wanted to tell you.”
On one hand, I wondered briefly if Bianca had told Nash about the encounter that she and I had, but that idea quickly flew out the window. There was no way she had, because without a doubt, Nash would have come and found me, ready to snap my neck instead of congratulating me on a sweet catch.
"Of course," I replied, waiting for him to continue.
"There's something I've been meaning to tell you related to that whole library incident." Nash trailed off as he looked around, probably trying to see if there was anyone around us.
“Is there something you need me to do?”
Nash shook his head. “It isn’t anything like that. This is something I’ve been tasked with doing, and while it is something I’ve been struggling with and don’t completely know how to handle, it’s also not something I can ask for help on.”
This didn’t sound related to school at all. Brentson University thrived on letting students have access to a number of resources to help them with their studies. Plus, the Hensons had enough money to make sure that either Nash got the help he needed, or they could pay off the college to pass him, so I doubted this had anything to do with school.
“This all sounds very vague. What’s going on?”
“There are some things that I’m having to do for an organization I’m a part of, which have been tedious to say the least. That’s where I was right before I was supposed to meet up with you to study for philosophy.”
I nodded my head slowly as I tried to process what he was telling me. “That is still super vague, but kind of explains what has been going on with you.”
“I know, but I wanted to tell you so that you kind of got the gist of what’s been happening.”
I remained quiet as I thought about what he said and what this organization might be. Here he was trying to open up to me, while I was keeping a huge secret from him. I was struggling with keeping what was going with Bianca from him. She hadn’t responded to my offer yet and I was willing to give her time… for now.
“Easton.”
“What?” I said, startled that Nash called my name. How long had he been calling me?
“Is everything alright with you? You’ve seemed distracted as well.”
“Yeah, I’m fine.” The lie came so easily from my lips that I could have almost convinced myself that I wasn’t lying.
As we continued walking toward the locker room, I struggled with my own internal battle about the secrets I was keeping from him. Should I tell Nash about what was going on between Bianca and me? Should I mention that the basis of our friendship is a complete lie? A part of me wanted to reveal the lies that were just beneath the foundation of our friendship. But I knew it was best to keep my mouth shut because now was definitely not the right time.
“Are you sure? Whatever’s going on with you, I’m here to help.”
“Yeah, I swear, I’m fine. And the same goes for you.”
