Zach and Abby

32. - Edited

Zach - Edited.

“Hey. It’s been eleven days now. I’m beginning to fear I’ll max out the messages allowed in your voicemail before you get back. I’ve lost count but I’m guessing this is somewhere in the fifties by now. Merry Christmas, I guess. Hopefully you’re back by New Year’s so I won’t wish you a happy one yet. Austin and I put up a little Christmas tree in your dorm. He said it was your favorite holiday. Bridget didn’t even throw a fit about it. I think she’s warming up to me. God, I wish you’d come home already. Damnit, I said I wasn’t going to say things like that. But screw it, Mia’s a bitch and I promise I’ll explain –“

The familiar beep cut me off. I timed it once - you get forty five seconds to spill your heart out to whatever girl isn’t answering and then it decides you’re done. Whoever invented the time limit obviously never got his heart broken.

After the beep, I got up, got ready and followed in the line of cars down to the stadium for our eight o’clock practice. Monday through Friday, eight hours a day we were memorizing plays, running them, not doing them how Coach wanted and then repeating.

It didn’t help that cameras were outside every day, the clicking blending in with whatever shit they were shouting. Zach, any news about Abby’s mom? When are you releasing your draft announcement? Where's Abby been hiding out?

Coach did his best to get rid of them but they always found new ways onto campus, new doors to sneak into the stadium through. The only good thing, my only hope, was that this was somehow reaching Abby. If she wasn’t answering my calls, maybe she was seeing our story splashed on the sports channels. Maybe if one day I actually stopped to talk to the reporters, she’d hear what I had to say.

In between practice, we had scheduled workouts in the gym and then an hour break for lunch. I’d never worked so hard, never pushed my body farther. It got rid of the numbness for a while, when my arms were burning with 400 pounds hanging above my head, I wasn’t thinking about Abby.

I was thinking about dropping the weights on the floor and quitting football altogether.

We finally got out around nine and I went right over to Austin’s. My teammates were getting a kick out of the whole thing that went down with Mia. Any chance they got, it was some new jab or insult that got everyone else laughing. I had to be around them all day, the second we were free I was speeding away.

Austin complained about me not showering before I showed up but I flipped him off. I didn’t care what I looked or smelled like. I only wanted a beer and a place to crash. I also wanted Abby but I’d been trying to think realistically over these last few days before I drove myself insane.

The pizza finally arrived and I was just about to take a bite when my phone rang. To say I was pissed when it both wasn’t Abby and had interrupted my dinner was an understatement. I realized my temper had gotten a lot shorter since she’s been gone, I was more agitated all the time. I’d never been so ready to hit something and the trainer had to tell me to take it down a notch when I nearly knocked the boxing bag off its chains.

“Hello?” I put my food down and leaned back against the counter.

“Listen to me. She’s in the shower now so I’ve only got about ten minutes tops. If she knew I was doing this, I'd join her hit list. Don’t talk or cut me off, let me get it all out there. You’re going to want to hear this.”

I recognized the voice after a second. “Annie?”

“Yeah, hey, how are you doing?” She breathed, seemingly tired after rushing her words a moment before. We hadn’t spoken since high school, I wasn’t too sure how she even got my number. It was silent before she spoke again. “Hello? You there?’

“You told me not to talk.”

She laughed at that. “Ah, you’re good, kid.” I was probably older than her but again, I didn’t say anything.

“Anyways, she’s planning on coming home soon. I think the next flight out is tomorrow night so she should be home two days from now. Her life’s going to change and for a while, she might not want you anywhere near it. I know Abby, I know how determined she is to do things herself when she sets her mind to them.”

I nodded even though she couldn’t see me.

“First with finding out she’s got a brother and sister and then with her mom being so sick. Also, the attention you’re getting now isn’t helping either. She’s been watching it, she knows that the press found out about the two of you and what’s happening with Deb. All I’m saying is give her some space, let her get used to being back home for a little while before you go all Romeo on her ass, shouting outside her door in the middle of the night. Okay?”

Silence. “You can talk now.”

“Got it.”

“Good.” She took a much needed breath. “And if I were you, I’d make sure this Mia bitch never comes close to either of you two again. I don’t care what you did before Abby as long as you don’t do anything while you’re with her or let people like Mia get to her. She’s fragile.”

“I know.” The Annie I remember was just as shy as Abby, too afraid to even ask you to move when you were standing in front of her locker. Now, it was as if she was Abby’s personal bodyguard, out to verbally murder anyone who looked her client’s way.

“I do think you’re good for her. She seemed happier these last few months when I’d call.” I smiled slightly at that. For the first time, I looked up to see Austin standing across from me, silently asking me who it was. “You still there?”

“Yeah, I'm here.” It was almost too much information at once. I needed time to process.

“Don’t overthink it. She’s still the same Abby, maybe just with thicker skin. You – shit, she’s out." There was a slight pause. "I’ll call you tomorrow Mom, have a good night.” The call clicked off.

I pulled the phone away from my ear, shaking my head. Two days. I had two days until I was getting my girl back. Bullshit about space. I’d go full-on Romeo the moment her plane landed if it helped her talk to me sooner.

“It was Annie,” I finally said to Austin, putting my pizza in the microwave. He laughed from behind me.

“How many times did she threaten to cut off your balls?”

I pulled the pizza out and put it on the counter, shoving half of it in my mouth before answering him. “She didn't, actually.”

He didn’t look like he believed me. That was kind of Annie’s thing – threaten the most important parts of you.

“Then what did she say?”

“We only have two more days until Abby’s back.”