Will

I wake up to my phone buzzing right underneath my head and groan. I must have knocked out on it. When I open my eyes, I'm hit with a pounding headache.

Fuck. my. life. I should have never drank that much last night. Since we lost the championships freshman year, I've been serious about what I've been eating and drinking. Even though I work out six out of seven days of the week, putting shit foods into my body feels like I'm negating all of that hard work.

I refuse for something as stupid as my diet to prevent me from getting drafted. I only have a little over a year left before it's too late. Sure, my agent has said there has been some words of interest but nothing matters until a contract is signed.

I cover my eyes with my hand regretting the shots I had taken with Devon last night after Thea and her friends left. I have a feeling Dev bought more because of his run in with Sienna earlier in the night.

I don't want to touch that subject with him with a ten foot pole. Seems like we were both in awkward positions last night. Not that my conversation with Thea last night was too bad. Just when I was starting to enjoy it she had to run off.

The only reason why I agreed to drink with him was to forget the pull that I still feel for Thea.

After all this time, I still want her and she will never glance my way while she's with small dick Zach. I sigh. I think it's time for me to truly get over my feelings for her.

There's a difference between avoiding feelings and taking the initiative to finally get over her. I haven't even bothered trying, hoping that things would go away on their own.

I stretch my arms and slowly move myself out of bed searching for a gatorade in my mini fridge. I'm going to need all the electrolytes I can get to get rid of this headache. My stomach is feeling off too.

I haven't been this hungover in forever.

Just as I finish chugging the blue gatorade and wiping the spilled drops from my chin, I hear my phone vibrating again. I search through my messed up sheets and find that Alana is trying to facetime me.

Curious to see what she wants on a Sunday afternoon, I swipe my thumb over the bar to pick up the call. She's usually busy hanging out with her friends around this time after going to the gym for one of the group classes they offer at the school.

"Yooo what's up bro!" She says as the camera pops open to her jolly face

"What do you want Alana?" I say sharply, I'm used to her cheery moods but with a hangover that I'm going to need the day to nurse, I'm feeling pretty grumpy at the moment

"Jeez, I have some interesting info that I wanted to share with you but if you want to be like this I'll tell you later."

"Sorry, I feel like shit right now. I was out pretty late last night after the game and haven't been that drunk in a while. What did you need to tell me?" I say, trying to reign in my annoyance to myself while rubbing my eyes

"So I met Thea last night at the lax house." My stomach tightens at that. She must've went straight there after Karma last night, wanting to spend the night with her actual boyfriend.

As much as I hate him, I can't help but feel a little jealous. She looked beautiful last night and he got to spend the rest of the night with her.

Then I realize that Alana was partying at the lax house last night and get even more annoyed.

"Alana, you know how much those guys piss me off. Most of them are rude and I don't like some of the rumors that I hear about them. Don't go there again." I tell her sternly, conveying in my voice that I'm genuinely being serious

She waves me off, "Trust me, that was a one time thing. Their house was lame and I wasn't feeling their vibe. I didn't want to drink with that crowd. Anyway, that's not the point of this, I wanted to let you know that I chatted with Thea and I like her a lot."

Alana has really been the only person that I've been a little more open about Thea to. I've always kept in touch with her, especially while she was still back on the West coast attending high school so she's known about all of my friends.

I hadn't brought Thea up in conversation for a while so she asked about her a few weeks after we stopped talking to each other and I kinda spilled about what happened between us. They've never even met but I must've spoken about her quite a few times without realizing for Lana to ask how she's doing.

At the time, there was a huge part of me that wished they had met. Thea was my best friend at the time and I wanted her to meet the only family member that I'm close to. I get the feeling that Lana suspects that my feelings for Thea run deeper but I've never confirmed anything to her.

"You sure it was my Thea?" I ask and immediately feel my stomach tighten at the regret of my word choice. She doesn't mention my slip up.

"Yeah, Thea Chan right? We kinda bumped into each other last night and talked for a bit. She told me that she was a yoga instructor and she just so happened to be teaching a class this afternoon so I went to her class and we got a smoothie after." She says nonchalantly as if they've known each other forever and are the best of friends.

"What?" I ask shocked and blink at her

She props her phone up on something and I can see her dorm in the background. She must have recently gotten home then.

"Yeah, but there's something specific I want to tell you. You know I'm not typically the type of person who leaks another person's business but I felt like this was important to tell you." She says, looking antsy.

It's true, Alana is not one to divulge secrets and is someone you can trust. Most people don't think so because of her outgoing personality but she's also very level headed and tough and knows when to keep things to herself.

Fuck, what is it? I don't like where this is going, is Thea engaged now or something? My chest feels like it's being weighed down by 100 pounds at the moment. Sure, I told myself that I would try to get over her but even thinking about this situation feels like I've been shot by an arrow.

"Dude, take a breather. I don't know what's running through your head right now but I just wanted to let you know or else you may not even realize what happened since you don't really talk to her or her friends anymore. Anyway, Thea broke up with Zach last night."

My head rears back at the news. The surprise on my face, unmistakably there. I can see it in the corner of my phone next to Alana's face. I definitely wasn't expecting that at all. Holy shit. I try to school my expression back to normal. I'm so wrapped up in this right now, I've forgotten about my hangover.

"And why did you think this would be important news for me?" I ask, with as normal of a voice that I can biting down on all the questions that I have for her. How do you know? What happened? Why?

Alana rolls her eyes at me, "Stop trying to act like you don't care about her to me. I've known you my entire life. I can read you well and I know that you've had feelings for her. Trust me, the way you've brought her up in conversations in the past proves it, you've never spoken about other women like that before."

I stay quiet and let her continue. I've learned that the more you stay quiet, the more words you can get out of a person. Of course, it doesn't work on my sister though.

"I know that look and that's all I'm telling you. I don't want to go into too much detail about it but just wanted to let you know about her new relationship status and after hanging out with her today, she definitely won't be getting back together with him. It's not just a break, it's an actual break up so I suggest you get your shit together and at the very least befriend her again. She's not the type of person you should be happy about excluding from your life."

"Wait-"

Alana holds up a finger interrupting me, this is the thing about having a sister. They never listen.

"Aht. Don't fuck it up this time. Not saying it was completely your fault last time, but this is your chance to get her back in your life and maybe even become something more. You've been so caught up in Basketball lately that you don't care about anything else, Will. You need a life other than Basketball. I know how important it is for you to get drafted but you need that balance you used to have."

I wasn't even thinking about Basketball but now that she brought it up, I can't help but think that maybe things between Thea and I aren't meant to be. Basketball has been my number 1 priority since I was scouted in highschool and as much as I like Thea and in the back of my mind might even want something more, I have to focus on my goals.

This whole thing could be a huge distraction and I don't want to get too emotionally invested in something. Yeah, I have a crush on her, but it doesn't prevent me from focusing on my career path the way pursuing her would.

For the past two years, I've known where I stood with Thea and now that there's the slightest potential that I can finally make a move on her or at the very least be her friend again, I'm worried about getting too mixed up in her.

I'm struggling to know what I even want. I want her but I also want to stay on the correct path. Pursuing her will make me distracted but feeling the same regret as I did last time will still be a distraction on it's own.

"Dude, stop thinking too hard and make up your mind already. I can feel your panic from here. You're a dumbass but not a completely dumbass Will, whatever you choose to do, you can manage it."

"Gee, thanks Lana. Really making me feel better." I say sarcastically

"She's going to need some time to herself anyway so no rush to jump in and ask her out or something. This will give you time for you to think how you can approach her. I'm telling you this because I don't want you to wait too long and by then what if she ends up with someone else? I know you like her or at least really liked her your freshman year so think hard. I only shared this information with you because I know that you're not a shitty person and you would look out for her best interests despite you guys not really being friends anymore. I would never have aired out her business for any other reason."

I take a deep breath and throw myself onto my bed.

"Yeah, thanks. I'll think on it."

We hang up our call.

I'm happy that she's not with that douchebag anymore. Just last night I wondered what it would feel like to have her around me and now I actually have the chance to pursue her. I've daydreamed about her more times than I can count.

But what if she doesn't even want me? Then what? I would feel that rejection in my bones.

***

Hi friends, I wasn't actually sure where I wanted to take this chapter. At first I thought about continuing the story as if Will had no idea that Thea and Zach were no longer together. I wanted to draw out maybe some kind of angst? Realistically speaking though, I think this situation makes more sense. Please don't be afraid to vote and comment. Hope y'all have a wonderful weekend and Happy Mother's Day to all the mommy's out there