Holding Onto You (Never Letting Go) (6 page)

We woke up the next morning and went for a run. Connor kept reminding me to keep my cool today and to remain focused. I knew he hated the drama, but he stood by me.

“Just focus alright? It’s important you don’t lose your head.”

“I miss her Connor. We talked for a minute and then she left as if I was going to hurt her.” We kept running. “What can I do?”

Connor paused for a moment. “There’s nothing you can do. You just need to give her time.”

“Yeah.”

After running about three miles, we got back to the apartment, drank a protein shake, and changed into basketball shorts and white tees.

“Ready?”

I nodded and we headed to campus.

Day one of basketball try-outs and we were both excited. I knew we would make the team; we were stars in high school and at college in Boston so this would be cake. When we got to the gym, my mouth dropped and I stopped dead center.

“
Yo?”

I couldn’t say anything. Fucker was going for the team too?

Connor shook me. I shook my head and look at him. “Sophia’s new boyfriend.” I pointed in his direction and thought about leaving.

“Yeah?
And? Dude, come on. Think about it. We make the team and you get to see her. She gets to see you. Am I right?”

Damn. He was right. I had to think about making the team because if I made the team, I’d be able to see Sophia at the games and hopefully talk to her. I threw those thoughts to the back of my head. “Come on. Let’s get on this team.”

Fist bump.

Then it hit me out of
nowhere. I swallowed the lump in my throat. My insides started shaking. My eyes went wide. My heart was racing. Flashes of light went through me.

Sophia.

She was sitting on the bleachers. Laughing. Happy. She was sitting with someone else. The same girl that was running with her in the park.

Damn, Sophia was beautiful. Her long blonde hair and smile captured my heart. She was laughing out loud and expressing her words with her hands. She was wearing pink shorts with a white tee and looked incredible. She was flawless. I couldn’t stop looking at her. I wanted to call out for her. I wanted her to know that I was here but something stopped me.

Him.

I watched as he put his arm around her. Her body went stiff and that smile disappeared. What the hell? What just happened? I knew my reservations about Kyle were real and it wasn’t just in my head. He
was bad
news and I could tell by Sophia’s body language. She responded as if she were scared of him. What the fuck was he doing to her? I swallowed hard and fought the urge of wanting to punch Kyle in the face. My fists clenched by my sides and I was burning up with anger.

Connor pulled me away. “Not today, man. Come on. Let’s go meet the guys.”

I tried to calm down but I couldn’t get the image of how scared she was out of my head. We walked to the large group of guys and introduced ourselves. Everyone went crazy and started talking about how they watched us when we played for Boston. We laughed and felt flattered and the guys seemed excited to have us on the team.

“Alright, listen up ladies,” the douche bag yelled as he came towards us. “I’m Kyle and welcome to hell. Coach Roberts can’t be here today but he left me with strict instructions. He wants us to run, so let’s go bitches! Line up on the black line.” He clapped his hands three times and we made our way to the line.

I looked up and saw Sophia. Our eyes met. I gave her a smile but the look on her face was of fear. Connor pulled me back and shook his head.”Not today. Focus, Adam.”

She wasn’t happy to see me. Fuck. First she ran away from me and now she was terrified to see me. What the hell was going on? Did I mess everything up that bad?

“Alright ladies. Ready? Set? Go!”

I took off. I made it to the other side of the gym and back to the black line without any issues. Connor and I were the first to make it back.

“Alright, good job. Let’s go again. Go for as long as you can and last man standing wins.”

We lined up again.

“Go!”

I ran.
Hard. This was cake. Connor and I ran every morning and night. We went at least six miles each time. After we ran we hit up the gym. Lifting and boxing. We had one day of rest. Sunday. Then it was six days of training.

Connor and I kept a steady pace, but guys started falling out one by one. I made it back to the black line and turned back to run again. I looked and saw Sophia. She was staring at me. I knew she saw me and I could tell she knew I was looking at her.

Patience
I kept telling myself.

Connor and I made it back to the line and Kyle dropped.

“Come on, let’s hit it.” Connor started laughing. We made it to the other side of the gym and turned back. The team went wild and started cheering. I looked back up and Sophia was smiling. Finally.

Suddenly, I lost balance and fell straight on my face. “Fuck!”

Connor stopped and helped me up. “You good?”

The team ran over to me and helped me up also.
“Yeah. Yeah, I’m good.” Sophia got up and was about to come down the bleachers but then Kyle came over to me.

“Good job all.
Alright, shirts and skins. Let’s go!”

Sophia sat back down and looked away.

Practice was over and I couldn’t feel anything in my body. Training six days a week did not prepare me for this. I grabbed my things and headed out. Connor and the guys stayed back and played some more, but I wasn’t feeling it.

Sophia left a few minutes before practice ended. I wish she had stayed to at least say hi to me.

Maybe it was too late.

I walked alone back to the apartment and was hoping that she’d bump into me again like she did before but I made it back without seeing her.
When I got into the apartment, my cell phone rang. I looked at it and saw it was Mother. I slid my finger across the screen to answer her call.

“Hello Mother.” I said while putting down my gym bag and closing the door.

“Hi sweetie, am I bothering you?”

“No, just got home from try-outs. What’s up?” I walked to the kitchen table and sat down.

I heard her moving around and wondered what was going on. “I just wanted to check up on you, see how you’re doing.”

“I’m fine, just working out and trying to make the team.”

“Adam,” she started to say. “Have you talked to Sophia?”

“Um, no not really.
I’ve seen her but she has a boyfriend Mother. I can’t just come back into her life and expect her to have her arms opened for me. Things have changed. She’s not the same person and I don’t think she’s happy to see me.”

I heard her sighing into the phone. “Adam, she’s happy to see you. She’s just nervous because you’re back and you have to respect that darling. She hasn’t seen you in four years and all of a sudden your back. You must understand what she’s going through. This is hard for her.”

I had to admit that she was right. I needed to be fair and stop springing up but I couldn’t stay away. I really wanted her to love me the way I love her. I laughed but I wanted to cry. “I want her back Mother.”

“Darling, I know. Just
be patient alright?”

I ran my hand through my hair and smiled. “You’re right.”

“Of course I am. Now go shower, I’ll talk to you soon.”

“Alright, sounds good. I love you.”

“I love you too, Adam.”

I hung up the phone with Mother and walked back to my room.
She was right and so was everyone else. I wondered how she knew about Sophia and what she was feeling. Did they talk? Does Sarah know something? I paced around my room and stopped in front of my window. I looked outside trying to find the answers I needed but it was useless. I guess I just needed to be patient. I placed my hands on the windowsill and dropped my head low. I just wanted her back.

The next month flew by and things were coming together, except getting Sophia back. Connor and I made the basketball team that was a no brainer. Coach Roberts was a great coach and he pushed us hard. He was impressed to see Connor and me and it was good to get to know him. Coach wanted to make me captain of the team and I told him I needed to think about it because I wasn’t sure how it’d be working with Kyle.

Practice was intense and Kyle loved to push us whenever Coach Roberts wasn’t around. There was something off about him. He stared Connor and I down constantly, but I wasn’t going to start anything with douche bag.
I tried talking to him to see if we could squash whatever issues he had with me but he brushed me off and said nothing was wrong. The guys on the team told me to ignore him.

One night when we all went out to a party, Kyle got wasted and got in my face. He screamed at me and told me to stay away from Sophia and that he saw the looks I gave her.
I laughed it off and told him he was crazy. He was ready to punch me when Connor grabbed him and told him to back off. I stood there and stared at him. We kept our staring contest for a few moments when the guys told us to let it go. I told Kyle he was out of his mind and had it all wrong. He didn’t say anything but left before any of us did.

I spent my days at practice, in the office at
Optimax and working out. I tried to see Sophia again without Kyle around but they were attached at the hip. I tried smiling at her but Connor kept telling me to leave it alone and I listened. One day I was running outside and saw her. I stayed back and watched her as she ran. Her body was sexy as hell and all I thought about was taking her away from her run and bring her back to my apartment. I wanted to do things to her and make her feel pleasure. I wanted to feel her sexy body close to mine and I never wanted to let her go. Realizing my temptation to take her, I shook out the notion of wanting to be with her and left without looking back. I kept telling myself that I needed to be patient.

Today was the first day of classes. I was excited because there was a chance I’d have at least one class with Sophia. I tried to hack into the school system and access their database but I couldn’t get through their firewall. It was almost impossible. When I woke up from a good
nights rest, I smiled because today was a new day, and shit, I was going to make it great.

I grabbed my towel and went to the bathroom. I took a quick shower, got dressed, did my hair, and went to the kitchen to grab some breakfast. I had English this morning. I decided to wear my cargo shorts and a white polo. First day of classes and I felt nervous but happy. There was something about today that got me excited, yet I still felt like something was going to happen.

When I got to the kitchen, I pulled out two slices of bread and put the slices into the toaster. I got a jar of peanut butter from the cabinet and waited for the toaster to pop. After a few minutes, the slices were toasted; I spread on some peanut butter and got my backpack. Connor was still sleeping when I left.

I stepped outside and couldn’t breathe. The skies were clear and the blazing sun was out. The August heat was a killer, but I loved it. It was nice to be back in North Carolina and have the sun shining down.

The walk to campus wasn’t bad. It usually only took me a few minutes to get there, but today I took my time and soaked it all in. There were students everywhere. I nodded over at some of the guys on the team and made small talk with people I’ve met since being here.

I walked up the stairs and entered the brick building. When I got inside, the AC hit me and it felt good to be inside and away from the burning sun. I took out my schedule and made sure I was going in the right direction.

“Room 170.” I looked around and took a left turn. I found the room and walked in. Suddenly, my breathing grew faster and my heart started going crazy.

Sophia.

She was here in my class. You’ve got to be kidding me. I knew something good was going to come out of today
.
This was my chance and I couldn’t pass it up. I got to see her three times a week in the morning. I only saw the back of her head but I knew it was her. Her blonde hair was curly today. Man, I loved when she had her hair that way.

“What’s up, Adam?” Travis from the team called out to me. “Come over here my man.”

Sophia looked over and our eyes met. Her beautiful blue eyes grew wide. I flashed her my charming smile and gave her a nod. Her face turned bright red and raised her eyebrow. I loved when she blushed. She had on a strappy white dress with a black cardigan. Damn, she looked good. We held our connection for what seemed like forever. Everything was on pause and it felt like it was just her and I in the room. Nothing mattered. No one mattered. My heart was beating uncontrollably and I felt my hands shaking. This feeling nearly brought me to my knees and choked me. She still had a hold on me and my heart. It’s yours Sophia, always.

Our professor walked in and ruined our moment. He cleared his throat loudly and I went over to the guys and took a seat. Class started but all I could do was
stare at her. She wouldn’t look back at me.

“Dude, stay away,” Travis whispered.

“What?” My voice was quiet but sharp. What the hell was he talking about?

“Sophia Burns is off limits.
Come on, you know how he acted that night at the party. He’ll go crazy if he knew you two had class together. You know dude has issues,” Travis stated while chewing on his pen.

“We grew up together. We were best friends then and you know how it is. Shit happened, you know?” I shrugged it off as if I didn’t care.

“Ahh I see. No wonder Kyle doesn’t like you.” Travis laughed.

“What?” My tone was filled with annoyance.

He rolled his eyes. “Yeah, Kyle was trying to convince coach that we didn’t need you. But whatever, we do. He can suck it honestly. We all just deal with him because his dad takes care of all of us. He gets us in the hottest clubs. Yacht parties. Anything we want, he hooks us up. So we deal, you know?”

“Yeah.”

Little shit knew about me and wanted me off the team, huh? I wasn’t going to let him get to my head. I had a purpose while here at school. I had to be the best on the team, get the grades, graduate with honors, and get back the only girl I ever loved. Those were my goals and no one was going to get in my way. Sophia must have heard my thoughts because she looked back at me and there was a glimmer in her blue eyes. It felt as though she was reaching out for me and wanted me to catch her. I would never let her fall and my arms were always welcomed for her to be in. Never in my life has anyone captivated me the way Sophia did. I knew I had to find my
way back her and I was going to find the path that leads me back to her heart. The connection between us was strong, I felt it and recognized it. I knew that me being here was scaring her and making her nervous but I couldn’t stop. She was my light and I had to go into it.

Our professor ended class with a quote, “Don’t let time slip by without letting your loved ones know how you feel. Take a chance and live for the moment.”

I told Travis I was going to meet him in the gym later. He left without giving it a second thought. Sophia was getting her things together. I walked out of the classroom and waited in the hallway. I looked around and made sure we were alone. I wanted this chance to talk to her, even if it was just for a few seconds.

Soon she came out. “Sophia.”

She turned around and those beautiful blue eyes made me melt. There was a hint of happiness, but also fear, and that killed me. I didn’t know what to think or do. I reached for her hand and she didn’t pull away. “I just wanted to say hi.” I leaned in and softly kissed her cheek. “I miss you and I’m not going anywhere.”

Before she could say anything, I let her hand go and turned around to leave. I felt her eyes burning into my back. I smiled knowing I left an impression with her, whether it was a good thing or bad. The important thing was she knew I missed her.