Beautiful (14 page)

Wyatt

“Hi, you’ve reached Skylar. Please leave a message, and I’ll get back with you as soon as I can.”

Dropping my phone on the passenger seat of my truck, I pushed my hand through my hair and let out a frustrated moan.

Hitting the steering wheel, I shouted, “Fuck!”

I shook my head and reached for my duffel bag. There was no use in bringing my phone. The only person I cared to talk to was ignoring me. No matter how much I’d begged her to talk to me, she would only look in my eyes and slowly shake her head. The sadness in them had had me wanting to drop to the ground on my knees and plead with her.

Walking into the locker room, I got ready to play the last football game of my senior year. It was the state championship game, and after this, I’d never get dressed in my high school football jersey again.

As soon as Mitch had told me that Skylar had accepted a scholarship to Baylor, I’d committed to play football with them. It had been between Baylor and Texas A&M. There was no way of keeping it from Skylar, not after the school had me doing the whole stupid photo shoot bullshit in the library.

Coach started his normal speech while my mind drifted.

What do I need to do to get her to talk to me? How many times can she ignore my calls or my attempts to talk to her?

I knew she had been getting notes in her locker. I’d seen her throw them out, some without even reading them. I’d love to know who had been putting them there.

The slap on my back snapped me out of my thoughts.

“You ready?”

When I glanced up, Mitch was staring down at me.

“I can’t stop thinking about her.”

He looked around and then back to me. “Don’t give up on her, Wyatt. I hear her crying in her room at night. I just don’t know why she is pushing you away.”

I shook my head. “Dude, the kiss was five seconds, at the most.”

With a frown, he replied, “It was four seconds too long.”

We started to follow the rest of the team out.

“Okay, you tell me how you would have reacted if a girl had asked you if you were interested in a threesome, and then both of them had started to touch your dick and kiss you at the same time. My head was spinning, but that didn’t mean I was into it.”

“Wait. Jenny actually asked you that?”

I let out a frustrated sigh. “Yes, but I know she was only doing it to throw me. I mean, if I told her I’d screw her in my truck tonight, she’d be all over it, but I don’t think she is into that kind of messed-up shit.”

“Damn, that would have thrown me. Did you tell Skylar that?”

My head turned quickly to look at him. “What? Hell no, I didn’t.”

“Might make a difference.”

“That Jenny asked me to be in a threesome before she kissed me? Yeah…I don’t think so.”

The announcer called out our team as the cheerleaders took off in front of us. All I needed to do was get through this last game. We stood on the sidelines as Coach went over a few last-minute things. My eyes scanned the crowd for Skylar. I saw Michelle, but she was sitting with Mitch and Skylar’s parents.

“She isn’t here.”

My head snapped over to look at Jacob. “What?”

“Skylar. She isn’t here.”

“How do you know?”

“I ran into her yesterday at Pizza Mia. I asked if she was coming to watch you play.”

I swallowed hard. I hated the idea that Skylar would talk to Jacob but not me. “What did she say?”

He looked away as he answered, “She said no.” Glancing back at me, he continued to talk, “I asked her if she would come to cheer on the whole team since we were playing for the state championship.”

I wanted to punch the hell out of Jacob, but it really had nothing to do with him and everything to do with the fact that Skylar would talk to some asshole who had dumped her but completely ignore me.

“Let me guess…she said no?” I asked.

He gave me a weak smile and nodded. “She said no.”

Placing my helmet on my head, I turned and looked once more in the stands before running onto the field.

We spent the next two and a half hours playing our hearts out.

The crowd chanted, “Mustangs,” over and over as we set up for another play.

Standing in the huddle, I called out the play. We needed one more touchdown, and we would clinch the win. We broke, and I walked up to the center. I called out an audible, and for some reason, I glanced up to the bleachers. I swore, the whole damn school had come to Austin to watch the state playoff game.

It didn’t take me long to find her gray eyes.

“Skylar,” I said.

“Wyatt! You’re running out of time!” Mitch yelled out.

She was looking right at me. Smiling, I tucked my hands under the center. The ball was hiked, and I was running back, looking for Mitch. He was exactly where he should be and wide open. I threw the ball, and the second he caught it, I knew that we were going to win this thing. He ran into the end zone, and that was it. The crowd erupted.

I quickly turned to look at her.

Skylar and her mom were hugging while Michelle jumped up and down, screaming.

“You did it!” Mitch called out as he ran smack into me.

Knowing we had just won the state championship game and Skylar was here to see it had me feeling like an emotional wreck.

“We did it!” I called out. “The whole team! We won!”

The guys went crazy as parents and students rushed onto the field to celebrate. I started making my way over to the sideline. I desperately wanted to talk to Skylar. Michelle was trying to pull Skylar along with her to come onto the field. When she looked at me, Skylar let Michelle guide her along. She practically pulled Skylar down the stairs.

Michelle ran past me and to—I was guessing—Mitch.

Skylar’s father walked up to me and held his hand out. “Great game, Wyatt. You should be very proud.”

“Thank you, sir,” I said, shaking his hand and then pushing my hand through my sweat-soaked hair. Peeking over to Skylar, I couldn’t help but notice the way she was looking at me.

Mrs. Woods walked up next and smiled. “Great game, Wyatt.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Woods.”

I looked over at Skylar.

She stood there with a slight smile on her face. “Good—I mean, great game.”

I fought to find my voice. She’d talked to me. Finally, she was talking to me.

“Thanks. I’m so glad you came.”

She shrugged and looked over my shoulder. “Well, I came for Mitch.”

My smile faded.
Damn. That hurt more than I expected it to.

Seeing the hurt move across my face, she shook her head. “And you…I mean…I wanted to see the whole team play.”

I nodded. “Well, it was great seeing you up in the stands.”

My name was screamed out. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw a group of girls running up.

“Wyatt!”

I had no idea who they were.

“Great game! Please say you’re going to Mike’s party tonight back in Marble Falls.”

I turned to look at Skylar, and she was staring at the girls. When she peeked at me, she knew I was waiting for her to say something.

“I’ll let you go. I just wanted to say congratulations.”

“Skylar, wait.”

Her eyes bounced back and forth between me and the girls standing there, waiting for my answer.

“Have fun tonight, Wyatt. You deserve it.”

And like that, she walked away.

“Does that mean you’ll come, Wyatt? Oh, please say yes. It will be the last high school football party.”

When I saw Skylar stop and talk to Jacob, it felt like someone had kicked me in the chest. She was congratulating him also.

Was mine just a courtesy? Maybe she came to see Jacob play as well?

She must have felt my eyes on her because she looked back at me.

I wasn’t sure why I did it, but I agreed to go to the party. “Sure, I’ll be there.”

They let out a squeal of delight and took off running. Skylar turned back to Jacob, said something else, and moved on.

Jacob saw me watching and walked over to me. “She just congratulated me, that’s all.”

I forced a smile. “No worries. It’s not like we’re dating.”

The smile on his face had me wanting to punch him. “You going to the party tonight?”

Slapping him on the back, I winked. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

The music blared as I stood in the corner and watched everyone hanging all over each other. This was why I hated parties. Jenny was sitting on Jacob’s lap and kept whispering something in his ear. It was pretty clear what she was hoping to get out of him, and I prayed like hell he wouldn’t give it to her. No matter what his past was with Skylar, I didn’t want to see him get messed up with the likes of Jenny.

“Hey, Wyatt.”

When I turned to my left, I saw Beth Wrangler standing there with a smile on her face. My eyes drifted over her body. Her shirt couldn’t have been any tighter and more low-cut if she tried.

“What’s up, Beth?”

She tilted her head and lifted her eyebrows.

Oh, for fuck’s sake. I walked right into that one.

“I was hoping you might answer that question for me.”

Trying to be polite, I smiled. “I think you’re barking up the wrong tree.”

Her smile faded some. “Really? ’Cause you standing in the corner, all alone, screams that you want some company.”

“I’m not much of a party person, that’s all.”

Taking a step closer, she ran her tongue over her lips.

Why do girls do that? Do they think it automatically makes a guy hard? When a girl does it without realizing it, it’s hot. Doing it on purpose only makes them seem like a slut. Maybe I should clue her in on that.

“Maybe we could go somewhere else, just the two of us.”

“No, thanks, Beth.”

She narrowed her eyes at me while placing her hand on her hip. “Wyatt Smith, are you seriously turning me down?”

I pulled my head back in shock and then laughed. “Do you make this a habit, Beth? Throwing yourself at guys? I find it kind of funny, especially since you’re always so ready to call Skylar a slut.”

Her mouth fell open. “You think I’m a slut?”

Lifting my eyebrows, I made a face. “What exactly are you asking me to do, Beth? It sounds like you want me to take you out to my truck.”

She smiled.

“Maybe drive off to a parking lot somewhere. Then, what would we do?”

Giggling like I had just said something totally funny, she looked around and then back at me. “Wyatt, do you know how pissed Jenny would be if we hooked up? I mean, I’m all for it. Just to see her face when I tell her we had sex in the backseat of your truck…it would make my entire year.”

Holy hell. What is wrong with these girls?

“So, let me get this straight. You want to sleep with me to get back at Jenny? Why?”

Beth turned and looked at Jenny, who was still attempting to get Jacob to give her any kind of signal. “Look at her. She’s hanging all over Jacob.” Glancing back at me, she shook her head. “You know Skylar and Jacob dated, right?”

I simply nodded.

“Jenny has always been so jealous of Sky. When that whole…thing with Charlie happened, Jenny took off and ran with it. She started spreading lies around about Skylar. If any of us tried to defend Skylar, she’d threaten to kick us off the squad.” Beth pressed her lips together in an attempt to control her emotions. “I really like Skylar. She was always so nice, and I swear, she doesn’t have a mean bone in her body, but Jenny made us say such horrible things about her. I feel so guilty sometimes.”

Pushing off the wall, I stood closer to Beth. “You do realize how much I care about Skylar, right? That, before the little stunt Jenny pulled, Skylar and I were dating.”

She shook her head. “I knew y’all were close friends, but Jenny said you would never date Skylar because of…well, you know.”

My eyes lifted, and I noticed Jenny staring at me and Beth.

Looking back down to Beth, I said, “You need to decide something right now, Beth. Who would you want to hurt more…Jenny or Skylar?”

With a confused expression, she asked, “What do you mean?”

“Say I did take you to my truck, and we messed around—and let me make one thing clear, I’m not going to. But if I did, you would get back at Jenny, and you’d also be hurting Skylar.”

Her lips parted open. “I would never want to hurt Skylar any more than I already have.”

“Then, if you want to get back at Jenny, why don’t you start treating Skylar the way she deserves to be treated?”

“But, if I’m nice to Skylar, then I might become an outcast, too.”

Shrugging, I simply said, “That’s a chance you’ll have to take.”

Beth nodded. She reached up and hugged me. “Thank you, Wyatt.” Taking a step back, she laughed. “And for the record, I knew you wouldn’t take me to your truck. You’re not that kind of guy.”

“What if I had said yes?”

“I would have panicked and come up with an excuse.”

I tossed my head back and laughed. “Somehow, I didn’t think you were that type of girl, Beth. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to head on home.”

Glancing over to Jacob, I nodded. Jenny must have given up on him.

He stood and made his way over to me. “Leaving?”