Summary: Emily tries to reach Zig while he is away at the National Championships.
Author’s note: This takes place during Book 1, Chapter 15 of The Sophomore. Some of the dialogue is taken from the chapter.
“I should get going. I need to head over to the Battle of the Bands audition soon,” Emily told Chris.
“OK. Maybe we can talk more later,” he responded.
“Sure.” Since winter break was coming up, she would have some free time. She was a bit surprised that Chris wanted to talk to her so much, though. It seemed like he really missed her. It made her wonder if he still had feelings for her. If he did, it was too late. When they first met, she thought that they could have something special, but he had pulled away and started seeing Becca. After he ended things with Becca, they had gone to the formal together. At the beginning of the winter quarter, he had asked her to be his girlfriend, but she wasn’t ready for that. He had hurt her badly and she still hadn’t completely gotten past everything that happened, so she wanted to take things slow. Although he hadn’t actually said so, she had the feeling that he thought they were better off as friends. But now that she was with Zig, maybe he had reconsidered. “I’ll be around this week.”
“Great! Let’s talk later! Thanks for the pep talk,” Chris said.
“Any time.” She ended the video call, then dialed Zig’s number. His phone rang a few times, and then his voice mail picked up. Even though she was disappointed that she had not been able to reach him, it was good to hear his voice.
“Hey, I miss you. I hope things are going well over there. Call me soon. I love you.” She hung up, and got ready to head out. As she was leaving, she noticed that her pet lobster seemed to be staring at her.
“I know, boy. I miss him too,” she called out to him.
Emily picked up her phone. She still hadn’t heard from Zig. Between the Battle of the Bands audition and the girls’ overnight, she had been able to get her mind off of how much she missed him, but now that she was alone in her room, the feeling had come back full force. She started typing a text to Zig.
I’m lying on my bed, thinking of what we could do if you were here.
Hopefully that would get a response from him. While she was waiting, she figured she should let Chris know that Reyna had said she could write the article about his leadership of the football team. She began typing another text message.
Good news. I got the greenlight on doing an article about you.
Chris responded quickly. That’s amazing! Thank you so much, Emily! What exactly are you going to write about, though?
She texted him back. Just how your leadership united a divided team and carried you all to success. 😉
Again, he replied immediately. Well, let’s see if we can actually win this thing first…But this means a lot. Really, thank you!
She sighed. Why couldn’t Zig get back to her as quickly as Chris had? She tried to push the thoughts away and focus on the articles she was writing for the newspaper.
A couple of hours later, her phone rang. She looked at the screen. It was Zig! Finally! She eagerly picked up.
“Zig! It feels like ages since we’ve talked. I miss you so much!”
“I miss you too,” he told her. “I got your messages. I’m sorry that it took me so long to get back to you. I couldn’t find my phone. I thought I’d lost it. A few minutes ago, someone knocked over Manny’s bag in the locker room, and my phone fell out.”
“What? He took your phone?” A flash of anger went through her. How dare he?
“He claimed he was just playing a prank, and he was eventually going to leave it in the locker room so I could find it. I think he’s still upset about the breakup with Chelsea. Since he’s not talking to her, he probably doesn’t want me to talk to you. That way he’s not the only one suffering.”
“What a jerk. Did you two get into it again?”
“No, I kept my cool. It was hard, but the team doesn’t need any more stress right now. Anyway, I’d better get back to practice. I’ll call you later tonight. I love you.”
“I love you too.” She hung up. A minute later, she got a text. Zig must have read the one she sent earlier.
I wish I were in bed with you. Hope this will do for now.
She smiled as she looked at the shirtless pic that Zig had sent. Yes, for the moment it would do nicely. Now that they had talked, she felt better.