Breaking Tackles: A Taking Flight Novel (35 page)

“Surprised?” Ryan asks, getting up from his seat next to Kate and walking over to his sister.

She nods and I see her tear up as he wraps his arms around her in a hug. “The rest of the guys wanted to be here, but couldn’t swing it. This is from all of us.”

They hug each other tightly and when they pull away, Courtney looks at the room and says, “When did y’all get here?”

“A couple hours ago,” Sophie says.

“You shouldn’t have done that,” Courtney says, looking at them in disbelief. “You’re all missing class! And work!”

“Of course we are,” Willa says. “You’d do the same for us.”

Courtney says, “I don’t think I’ve ever said this before, but I need a group hug.”

Everyone laughs and immediately gets up—Jax and Deeks included—and walks over to hug Courtney. After a couple moments Courtney says, “Okay, this is weird now. Let’s eat.”

“There’s the girl we know and love,” Kate says.

“It’s not fancy food,” Melissa says, “But I swear that it’s good.”

As everyone picks up their plates and heads into the kitchen, where the food is laid out on the island, Luke comes up to me and whispers, “I was just sandwiched between my girlfriend and Jeremiah Deeks. I’m in Jax Montgomery’s house.”

I laugh and he says, “This is insanity.”

“You doing okay?”

“I’m great,” he says. “But if I start staring at Jax for an extended amount of time and it gets creepy, let me know.”

I laugh again and then we head to pile our plates high with the takeout Melissa picked up. My mouth is literally watering from the smell of it.

When we get back to the table, everyone is digging in, and I’m pleased to see that Courtney, though she got small portions, took a bit of everything, carbs included. As the night progresses, the Montgomerys ask how our friend group met each other and became so tight, and we all look at each other, trying to communicate via telepathy.

Finally, Luke says, “There was a photo scandal on our campus last year that Sophie and I were involved in. She knew Kate, Courtney, and Willa, and Courtney and Adam started quietly dating while Sophie and I were investigating who was behind the website posting the photos. When we needed to smoke out the person, Adam and Courtney were our starter logs, for lack of a better metaphor.”

“Oh, that Score List thing, right?” Jax asks. “It came up in a Google search when I was looking up Adam when he was drafted.”

“You Googled me?” I ask.

He shrugs and says, “I need to know about the guys coming onto my team.”

“Wait a second,” Deeks says to Luke. “Did you say investigating?”

“Yeah,” Luke answers. “Sophie and I are both journalism majors, and we decided that we needed to figure out who was behind the anonymous website.”

“That’s crazy,” he says. “But really cool. So y’all want to be, like, those reporters who exposed Watergate?”

“I do,” Sophie says, “But Luke doesn’t really.”

“What do you want to do?” Jax asks him, and I think Luke might fall off his chair.

“I want to be a sports reporter,” Luke says.

“Oh?” Melissa asks, quirking an eyebrow at Jax.

“He’s a great reporter,” Sophie says. “In fact, Luke is the editor-in-chief of the campus newspaper this year and he does an incredible job of managing everything. Particularly the sports coverage. He’s actually in talks with Deadspin right now to be a freelance writer for them when he graduates.”

“Really?” I ask, and Luke nods.

“I wasn’t going to tell everyone about it until it was a for sure thing, just in case it didn’t work out,” he says, giving Sophie an exasperated look.

“I know a lot of the people at Deadspin,” Jax says. “And at ESPN. Grantland. Yahoo. The NFL Network. If you’ll send me your resume, I’d be happy to pass it along.”

Luke’s mouth falls open and he stares at Jax for a few seconds. I’m about to tell him he’s being creepy when he says, “I don’t know what to say.”

“Just say yes,” Sophie says, a wry smile on her lips.

“Yes,” Luke says.

“Good,” Jax says. “Remind me to give you my email address before you leave.”

If I thought Luke was going to fall out of his chair before, I’m sure of it now. He actually has to put a hand on the table to steady himself.

The rest of dinner is easy. The Montgomerys chat with the Narduccis, the girls start talking with Courtney about the wedding, and me, Luke, Ryan, and Deeks compare our fantasy teams.

When everyone starts clearing dishes, I look around, amazed at how seamlessly the worlds I’ve lived in have melded. How everyone came together to support Courtney without having to be asked. How, in a fairly short amount of time, the people in this room have become my family.

Courtney

Two weeks later, I’m walking across campus to my dorm room and feel my phone vibrating in my bag. I fish it out and smile when I see its Ashton.

“Hey,” I say brightly.

“Hey, lady,” she says. “Ready for some good news?”

“Yes.”

“I was able to pull some strings and book that Motown band you wanted for the reception.”

“But I thought they were already booked that night?”

“I have my ways,” she says, and I can imagine her smiling wickedly.

“I really don’t want to know,” I say. “But thank you. So much.”

“Of course,” she says. “So, have you asked the girls yet?”

“Not yet. Planning to do it at the girls’ night I called for tonight.”

“Great,” she says. “Oh, and I also rescheduled your dress shopping appointment for the beginning of December, like you asked.”

“You are amazing,” I say. I asked her to reschedule from November to December so that I have a little more time to regain some weight.

“I know,” she says. “Okay, I have to meet Mike soon, so I need to go. Let me know how tonight goes.”

“Will do,” I say. “Tell Mike I say hello.”

“Yep. Happy Friday! So excited to see you tomorrow in Minnesota!”

We hang up and I see that a text came in while I was on the phone. I open it and see that it’s from Becca.

So sorry, but I’m not going to be able to make it tonight. Talk tomorrow?

I furrow my brow at the phone. She’s normally not flakey. Something must be up.

Of course. I hope everything is okay!

I spend the rest of the walk across campus wondering what could be going on with Becca. Maybe she doesn’t feel well tonight. She did seem a little under the weather this morning during our run. She probably is just coming down with that cold everyone seems to be getting right now.

When I get to our dorm, Sophie, Willa, and Kate are already sitting there.

“Hey,” I say, walking in.

“Howdy,” Sophie says. “So, what are we doing for dinner on this girls’ night?”

“Sushi?” Willa suggests, but Kate says, “I had that for lunch. Thai?”

“The Thai place doesn’t deliver,” Sophie points out. “Unless we’re okay with going out. Courtney, you’re the one who planned this girls’ night. What’s the verdict?”

“We can do Thai,” I say, craving spring rolls and chicken with basil leaf.

“Victory!” Kate yells. “So are we heading out now?”

“Not quite yet,” I say, dropping my bag and pulling out my phone. “I need to talk to y’all about something before we leave. But I need to dial someone in first.”

I call Ana, who picks up the phone on the first ring.

“Hello?”

“Hey,” I say. “Are you where I can video call you?”

“Yeah,” she says. “I’m going out in about an hour, though. Just a heads-up.”

“Not a problem,” I say.

“Okay, cool. Call me back in ten seconds.”

We hang up and I video call her. When that’s all set up, Kate, Willa, and Sophie all say hello to Ana, but look very expectantly at me.

“So,” I say, “I wanted to talk to you all at the same time because I’d like for you to be my bridesmaids.”

The noise that occurs when this is out of my mouth is explosive. After everyone has stopped squealing and shrieking their “yeses,” Kate says, “Finally. I thought you were never going to ask us.”

“What do you mean ‘never’?” I ask.

“Girl, you have been engaged for, like, six months. You have a wedding date and a venue and a caterer and a freaking florist.”

“And a band.”

“And a band!” Kate adds. “And you
still
hadn’t asked us to be your bridesmaids.”

“Sorry?” I say, unsure of what else to say.

“It’s cool,” she says. “As long as you let me and Ana pick out the bridesmaid dresses.”

“Done,” I say, glad that I won’t have to deal with that.

“So there are four bridesmaids?” Willa asks.

“Five,” I say. “Well, hopefully five. Becca was supposed to be here tonight, but she couldn’t make it, so I’m asking her tomorrow.”

“Is there a maid of honor?” Sophie asks.

“Nope. I love you all equally, so I’m not having a maid of honor. And Adam isn’t having a best man because choosing between his brothers was too complicated. So we’re just having bridesmaids and groomsmen.

After I told Ashton about looking through bridal magazines with my mom over the summer and not realizing that weddings could be casual, she clued me in on the amazing tidbit that it’s
my
wedding and I can do—or not do—whatever I want. There are a few traditional things I’d like to do, but I’m running with doing things my way.

“Who are the groomsmen?” Ana asks, the curiosity thick in her voice.

“Adam is asking them tonight, too. Assuming they all say yes, it’s both of his brothers, Luke, Jax Montgomery, and Jeremiah Deeks.”

“Stop it,” Ana says as Sophie smiles hugely, knowing that Luke will be in the wedding party, too.

“What about your brothers?” Kate asks.

“They’re going to be ushers. It would just be unwieldy to have nine groomsmen, you know? And it seemed weird to me to have them as part of my bridal party.”

The girls nod at that and then ask me the colors of the wedding.

“We’re going with a natural palette. Creams and browns and various shades of green.”

“Nice,” Sophie says.

“That’ll be gorgeous,” Ana says. “What are you thinking in the way of style for the bridesmaids dresses?”

“Whatever you guys want to do,” I say. “Seriously. As long as you feel good, I’m happy.”

“Do you want us all to match?” Kate asks.

“Not necessarily,” I say, remembering a photo Ashton showed me of a bridal party with mismatched dresses. It was cute.

“Okay,” Ana says. “I’ll work on some sketches and send them to you.”

“Wait, what?”

She says, “Obviously I’m going to design and make the dresses.”

I hear Kate
oooh
in the background, but my jaw drops. “I can’t ask you to do that.”

“You didn’t. I decided I’m doing it.”

“Let me at least pay you for them.”

“Nope,” she says. “It’ll be my wedding present to you. Now, what are you doing for a dress?”

“No way,” I say to her. “You are not making me a wedding dress. That is too much work and way too expensive.”

“It’s pretty much my dream to make a custom bridal gown,” she says. “So, how about this? Go shopping, look around, see what you like. If you fall in love with something, buy it. But in the meantime, I’ll work on some ideas and if you don’t like anything when you go dress shopping, let me know.”

“It’s a good deal,” Willa says, smiling. “But my money is on Ana.”

I know that Willa is right. Having a dress
made specifically for me instead of buying a dress and having it altered is something very few people get to do. I have no doubt that a dress made by her would be stunning.

“Ana, if I let you make me a dress, I am absolutely paying you.”

“Okay,” she says.

“Okay then. I’ll cancel my bridal appointment.”

“Really?” she asks.

“Yeah.”

“Holy shit, really? I’m so excited. Oh my God, I have so many ideas. We’ll have to talk more about this. Wait, how do you feel about Swiss dot fabric?”

“I don’t even know what that is.”

Ana makes a noise in her throat and she says, “Okay. We’re video chatting on Sunday and I’m sending you fashion homework that I expect you to have read beforehand.”

We all laugh at that and chat for a little longer. When Ana has to go to meet up with her Friday night plans, we all head to the car to continue our girls’ night with Thai food.

The next day, I head over to Becca’s off-campus apartment before I go to the airport. She canceled our run this morning, so I’ve come armed with a feel-better basket of cold medicine, ginger ale, chicken noodle soup, and
Pitch Perfect
.

When she opens the door, her eyes are red and swollen, as is her nose.

“Oh no,” I say. “You are sick. I brought you some medicine and stuff, just in case, but I was really hoping you wouldn’t really need it.”

“It’s not a cold,” she says quietly, closing the door as I walk in. “Drew broke up with me.”

I spin around to look at her and am flabbergasted. “What?”

She moves past me and sinks down into the couch, tucking her legs up under her. I join her on the couch, placing the dumb basket I brought on the coffee table.

“I should have known,” she says. “The signs were all there.”

“They were?”

She nods and sighs. “He came over yesterday. Surprised me on campus, like I’ve always wanted him to. I was so excited, and since he has a bye this week, I thought that we were going to spend the weekend together. Things haven’t felt right since the draft, so I was so excited to finally be able to spend some time working on us, you know? I gave him this big kiss and he didn’t really kiss me back, which I guess should have been my first clue. But I ignored it and was babbling about where we should have dinner and what we should do, and then finally he grabbed both of my hands and told me that we was here to tell me that he wanted to break up.”

A small sobs escapes her when she says the words, and I want to go to St. Louis and punch Drew Godfrey in his stupid quarterback face.

“He said that since moving he’s realized that he doesn’t love me the way he thought he did. That he can’t see himself marrying me.”

I shake my head in disbelief. “But what about school? I mean, you had talked to him about transferring.”

“I know,” she says. “I asked him why he let me go through with the applications and he said that he wasn’t sure about things then. That he thought he was going through a phase and that he’d get over it. But that he realized that it wasn’t a phase. He just doesn’t love me anymore.”