Playing for Keeps

Emotionally Naked

Summer POV

I stared at the steam escaping my French vanilla cappuccino. My hair was an absolute mess, and I was still in my pajama's. I was grateful that Britney went to get me coffee. She stared at her own coffee, but her eyes weren't really focusing on what it. It seemed as though her thoughts were far and distant. There was something she wasn't telling me.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

She blinked her eyes, as if my voice pulled her out of her thoughts. She bit her lip, nervously, debating whether or not she wanted to tell me. A sigh escaped her lips, "I saw Bryce at the coffee shop."

My stomach did a back flip. I was still confused after what happened last night. I mean, it was nice. Not the fighting, or the drunkenness, but that sweetness of his that peeked through and asked me to dance. I love being in his arms. And I didn't realize how much I missed it until  last night. I haven't told Brit yet about what happened last night after we left the dance and was hoping she didn't have to find out what happened from him. I'm sure that would be against some sort of girl code.

"What did he say?" I asked, choosing to look at my coffee instead of her.

"Well, its complicated." She told me.

My head snapped up, "Complicated how?"

"Well, let's just say he's drowning himself in achol."

"What do you mean?!"

"Well, he told me how he doesn't remember going to Jason's party. He doesn't remember kissing the bitch and he even seemed really disgusted when i brought it up."

I felt a tiny sliver of hope in my chest. The Bryce that i loved WOULD be disgusted at the thought of kissing miss bitchalot. But that sliver of hope was crushed by the fact that he still did it. I don't care if he was drunk of his ass when he did it, bottom line is, he did it. End of story.

I opened my moth to say something when i hear the door bell echo through the house. "I got it." Brit said, rolling off my bed. I hear her run down the stairs. I wait for to say hello, but all i hear is her ask, "What are you doing here?"

"Britney, please let me talk to her." A familiar voice asks, making my stomach fill with butterflies.

"Just so you can hurt her again?" Brit asked.

"Britney, please. I want to fix this. I need to talk to her!" He said with a quiet voice.

Brit was quiet for a second. "Alright, but let me make myself perfectly clear. I'm amazing at drop kicking a soccer ball. If you hurt her I'll kick you so hard you're nuts will get stuck in you're throat."

Brit slammed the front door and jogged up the stairs. I scrambled for my phone, trying to make myself look busy and not like i was ease dropping. Brit peeked her head through the door, "Hey, Summer, someone's here to see you."

"Really?" I asked, trying to sound surprised.

She nodded. I jumped off my bed and made my way down stairs. Bryce stood in front of the door with his hand behind his back.

"Summer..." he sighed with relief, a smile breaking across his face. I took a second to take him in. He was wearing a pair of grey sweat pants and his navy blue soccer sweat shirt. The one he always let me borrow. That familiar longing feeling crept its way into my chest, but i stayed put. I crossed my arms and kept my face blank of any emotions.

"What do you want Bryce?" I asked.

He pulled his arm from behind his back. In his hands were a bouquet of tiger lilies and a single red rose in the middle of them. My heart melted. Tiger lilies were my favourite flowers of all time. He handed the bouquet to me. "I wanted to say I'm sorry, and I just really want to talk to you. I want to know why you ended our relationship."

I opened my mouth to say something when i heard the floor creek upstairs. Peeking over my shoulder i saw Brit watching us.

"Why don't we talk outside." I said, opening the door.

He walked out and i followed him, shutting the door behind me. We sat on the porch steps. A wave of deja vu washed over me. We spent so many hours just sitting on my porch just talking. Now, here we were, talking about our relationship.

My stomach was starting to twist into tight knots at the thought of what this conversation might turn into.

"Summer... Why... Why did you end it?" He asked, his voice just as pained as he looked.

"Do you want the truth?" I asked.

"Of course."

I placed the flowers down beside me, and ran a hand through my hair. "I thought that if I ended it now, I wouldn't have to face the hurt of you leaving me once you found someone new at your college. I thought if you didn't have a girlfriend here, tieing you to this small town that you could grow into something you never could living here. I wanted you to be free to live the typical college life and not have me holding you back..." i gushed. I instantly felt naked emotionally in front of him.

Bryce let out a sigh. I nervously looked at him. "What are you thinking?" I whispered.

"What am i thinking? What am i thinking?! I'm think that is the stupidest excuse ever! Why would you even think that! How many times have i told you that I loved you. How many hours have we spent together talking about our future!? OUR FUTURE TOGETHER!? Why on earth would you even fucking think that?!" He snapped.

My insecurity instantly turned into anger, and i was way past my boiling point. "I was right! You moved on to that bitch pretty easily! So that just confirmed i was right in ending it!"

"I was fucking drunk when i did that! You know i hate Jazz just as much as you."

Yeah, it totally seemed that way when you were sticking your tongue down her throat!" I said sarcastically.

"Well you didn't have much trouble moving onto that blonde guy!"

"His name his Jason! He's on your fucking team! Don't act like you don't know him! And for your information I'm not with him! He just turns out to be a nice guy who cares about me!" I snapped.

"I CARE ABOUT YOU!" He shouted, throwing his arms up in the air.


"Bryce you've been a fucking dick to me and my friends since i ended it. If you really cared about me you should have showed it in a better way."

Bryce ran his hand though his hair in frustration. When he didn't say anything, i stood up grabbing my flowers.

"Bryce, I love you. But if you care about me, you should have showed me that. But each time I've seen you since, you've just further proved that this wasn't going to work." I said, throwing the flowers at him. I walk to the door, fully intended i slamming it when he said something that stopped me.

"What about last night?"

My hand froze on the door knob. Tears began to form in my eyes. I wiped them away, refusing to let him see me fall apart. I threw opened the door and slammed it behind me.

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