Rival Dreams (Rival Love #3)

by Natalie Decker

  “Caleb, I want to stay and spend time with you. I have a long day tomorrow and so do you. I won’t see you until Friday afternoon, for our appointment.”

  He looks at me with a confused expression. “What appointment?”

  “You know, the apartment? You told me this morning you’d look at it with me.”

  “Oh …”

  Now I’m the one who’s confused. Earlier he said he’d look at it. Now he’s acting like this is the worse idea ever. I push myself out of his room and into the hall. Caleb is right beside me. We walk in silence down three flights of steps. I spin on the landing and face him. “What is wrong? Is it the whole idea of us living on our own in an apartment that has you freaking out? Or is it your workload? I’d like to know.”

  “Sky …” He reaches for my arms, but I take a step back.

  “I want to know.”

  “Nothing is wrong. I’ll be there. Okay?”

  I nod. He kisses my forehead. “Okay.”

  Chapter 4

  Caleb

  After walking Skylar back to her dorm, I take the long way back to my own. The air is brisk and reminds me of winters in Ohio, but not as harsh. At the end of the month I’ll be in Indianapolis, doing a training session for the NFL recruits.

  I have to keep focused on the goal at hand. But shit, Sky’s face when she talked about the appointment for the apartment and how she looked as if she was going to cry if I blew it off killed me. I’ve got to find a way to tell her that maybe this apartment thing isn’t going to work out.

  I should have told her after the phone call. I should have just come right out and said it then, but I waited. And now my time is coming up short. Three weeks, to be exact. Yeah, I mean, I could stay in school for another year. What’s one more year, right? But that’s the thing: if I do that, this opportunity will not come back around. Not going into the NFL. I’m talking about the high demand for quarterbacks. Five teams are in demand this upcoming year. That’s like an all-time record. I think one guy is out with a permanent injury that he got skiing, three are retiring, and one was cut for doing a horrible job. This is my chance. But of all the teams in demand for a quarterback this year, there is one team that isn’t looking, and that’s the North Carolina Panthers.

  That means I can’t keep Skylar and follow my dreams. I have to be fair to her, man up and tell her. But how do you possibly tell someone who owns your soul that you can’t be with her anymore?

  I just gotta get through this week. Before we go apartment hunting I’ll tell Sky what’s going on. Who knows, maybe she’ll be happy and decide to follow me wherever I end up. Or maybe she won’t, and I’ll lose the best thing that ever happened to me.

  I’m approaching my dorm when I see a group of girls huddled by the door. A short blond and redhead are standing next to the ID scanner on the door. Neither has on a coat and it’s a chilly forty-five degrees outside. A third girl has on a heavy brown coat, her black hair is pencil straight, a spider tattoo on her right hand. She’s near the ashtray and is easing a cigarette to her mouth. Gross.

  The blond stares at me and breaks out in a fit of giggles. She smacks the other girl and whispers something. The redhead looks over at me and smiles with a deep blush on her cheeks. The smoking girl glances over at the other two and says, “Nice. Just make her more embarrassed, Sarah.”

  “Shut up! Hi! I’m like your biggest fan,” the redhead blurts while throwing her arms around me. She feels like an iceberg against me. I shiver and pull her back.

  “Thanks,” I say. I get my key card out to buzz myself in when a chilled hand lands on mine. I glance over at the redhead. I think she’s trying to give me a sultry smile but it comes across all wrong because of her chattering teeth. “Um, do you girls live here?”

  The smoker rolls her eyes and glares at the coatless girls. “We do live here. These two thought it would be grand to drag all of us to a club down the road. But while this one had to have a smoke before we left, they decided it was a perfect time to pick up guys and drag them with. But everyone on campus knows you have a girlfriend.”

  “Shut the hell up, Charity!” the blond snaps. “Maybe he and his girlfriend are in an open relationship. Besides, it’s just dancing.” She turns to me with a raised eyebrow.

  “Yeah, sorry ladies. I actually only dance with one girl, and that’s Skylar.” I slide my card and open the door. “Have fun, though.”

  As I make my way inside, the redhead runs in with me. She hands me a small scrap of paper while pressing her cold lips to my mouth. I push her back and glare at her. She shrugs. “Call me sometime when you’re looking for a little fun.”

  That will be a frozen fucking day in hell, hon. I don’t tell her this for fear she might break down and cry or something. This is one thing I can say about Sky: she laughs about these kinds of encounters. I, on the other hand, cannot. They remind me too much of Danielle. And honestly, that bitch and anyone like her can stay the fuck away from me. She practically ruined Skylar and me when we were in high school. Faking a pregnancy, stalking me, destroying shit and making it out to be like Skylar did it. Yeah, fuck that.

  When I enter my room, I toss the number in the trash, take off my coat and shoes, and fall into bed. I should be working on that paper, but exhaustion is winning. I pull my phone from my pocket and call Sky. Yeah, I know I just dropped her off. And she’s probably studying one of her anatomy books. The dissected human body might be fascinating to my girlfriend, but it’s definitely not to me.

  After the fourth ring I finally hear, “Hey, you.”

  “Hi. I missed you.”

  “Yeah, well, you should have stayed over. Brie is out with her new boyfriend.”

  I laugh. “I give them two weeks, tops. What’s this now, boyfriend number fifty-five?”

  “I don’t know, but don’t label them like that. It’s not nice. Some people aren’t as lucky as we are.”

  “I know. But if you remember correctly, we weren’t as lucky in the beginning as people might assume around here. Speaking of which, I got attacked by a herd of girls again. Two of them were dressed like, what’s the word you use, ho-licious? And the other just looked annoyed to be there. The sluts, though, they attacked me. And one kissed me.”

  “Excuse me?”

  I sit up a little and sigh. This is the first time a girl just openly kissed me while I’ve been dating Skylar.

  This conversation reminds me how utterly screwed up I am, though. Because here I am opening up to Skylar about this kind of crazy shit, but I can’t tell her about going to Indianapolis at the end of the month, or that I’m not coming back next semester. And if someone just openly fucking kissed me knowing damn well I’m with Skylar, what’s to stop some crazed professional football fan from doing the same thing? No offense to any fans out there, but I love Skylar more than anything. She’s the only one who owns my lips, body, and heart.

  “Sky.”

  “I was waiting for this notch of craziness. I mean the phone numbers were like, whoa. Especially in front of me. The balls on some people astound me. But this girl just kissed you and you called to tell me?” I hear her sniffle. “Thank you.”

  I’m already jumping out of bed and whipping my coat back on. “Babe, don’t cry. I’m coming back over.”

  “No! No! Don’t come back over. Just … Oh, this is embarrassing. I’m not sad, I promise. I’m really happy that we can trust each other enough to tell each other these kinds of things.”

  I stop putting on my coat and sigh. She’s right. I should just tell her about the draft and not keep holding it back from her.

  “Caleb?”

  “I’m here. So, don’t come over, then?”

  “No. I can wait to see you on Friday. Besides, I’m going to put a green mask on my face and I know how much you don’t like that stuff.”

  “Sky, it makes you look like an alien. Why would I like it?”

  She laughs. I love her laugh. It’s not all pitchy and annoying, or deep and throaty. It�
�s kind of musical, just the right pitch. “I should have stayed. I want to hold you,” I say.

  “Me too. We could have cuddled and I could have painted you green, too.”

  “That was a onetime thing. I told you, never again.” I let her put her green goo shit on my face once, and she teases me about it every time she puts that crap on her face.

  She’ll even wave the jar in front of my face and ask, “Want some, baby?” It’s not funny, but she’s so cute the way she teases, it makes me laugh.

  Sky interrupts my thoughts. “So … what happened after the girl kissed you?”

  “Huh?”

  “The girl. You said she kissed you and gave you her number.”

  “Oh, right. So I pushed her away, wiped my mouth, of course, came to my room, threw her number in the garbage, and called you.”

  “I still think we should have made a collage out of the phone numbers and lined the bathroom walls with them.”

  I laugh. “Well, that idea is sounding more and more appealing.”

  “Caleb, are you okay, though? I mean … are we okay? Because ever since we decided to get a place together you’ve been a little … out of it.”

  “I know. I swear it’s not what you think. It’s just school shit. It has nothing to do with us moving in together. I want to do this. I do. Wake up to you every morning. Kiss you every night. Fight about laundry or whatever couples who live together fight about.” In fact, just thinking about having a place together—getting ready for class, cooking meals—all of it puts a smile on my face. I want her, and a life with her, so bad. But I also can’t just expect her to pack up and follow me. It’s not right.

  “I love you. No matter what,” she yawns. “I’m going to get off the phone, though. See you soon.”

  “I’ll call you tomorrow. I love you, babe. Sweet dreams.”

  “Mmm. My dreams are always sweet because they’re about you.”

  Yeah, I’m smiling now. How can I not be? Anyone can say this shit, but they don’t mean it like she does. “God, you’re amazing.”

  “Am I?”

  “Yeah, babe, you are.”

  “Well, I’m only amazing because of you. Good night.”

  “Night.” We hang up and I feel like the biggest damn fraud on the face of the earth. She thinks I’m so honest, and I feel like these past couple weeks, all I’ve been doing is lying to her. Making promises on a life I’m not sure we’ll have anymore. Not if I’m drafted and she remains here.

  I shoot a text to Lance.

  Caleb: Hey man. Wings? Tomorrow?

  It takes a couple minutes but Lance responds.

  Lance: Yeah. Cool. See you at Bdubs.

  Lance has been my best friend since first grade. He’s levelheaded and can talk sense into me in a way I can understand. The only other person who can really do that besides Lance is Skylar. I can’t talk to Sky yet, though. I need an opinion on what I should do first.

  My roommate Kyle comes back to the room with a twelve-pack in hand. “Your girl isn’t staying tonight?”

  “Nope.”

  He shrugs and walks over to the mini-fridge. “Want one?”

  “Sure.”

  I stretch toward the fridge and take the beer Kyle is holding out for me. I twist off the cap while he grabs a bottle for himself. He taps his beer to mine and we both take a drink.

  Kyle takes a seat in his computer chair and says, “You’re lucky man, to have a girl like her.”

  “I know.” And I do know. Just like I’m very aware of the fact I could lose her real soon.

  “Seriously, bro. If she’s got a twin that’s like her and single, you need to hook me up.”

  I laugh, thinking about Lidia, Sky’s half-sister, and Kyle, hooking up. Fuck, that would be a mess. Lidia is a lot less annoying than she used to be, but she’s still not what I’d call girlfriend material. Hook-up material, yes, long-term, nope.

  Kyle drinks some more of his beer and shakes his head. “I had a girl like yours once. She was sweet, brought me surprise meals, and was just … awesome. She wasn’t the jealous type. Didn’t give a fuck if I hung out with my boys. She was fucking perfect.”

  “What happened?”

  “I fucked up. I dumped her before college. My boys told me, ‘Hey man, there are all kinds of girls in college, don’t be tied down to just one. What are you, fucking married?’ And being the fucking idiot I am, I listened to them. Dumped her. Last week when I went home, I found out she’s engaged.” Kyle shakes his head.

  “Dude, I’m sorry. That sucks.” It’s like looking at a future version of myself. This is going to be me if I lose Sky because I want to get a head start on my dreams. I’m not prepared for it either.

  Chapter 5

  Skylar

  It’s twenty minutes until four and Caleb’s a half-hour late. I give a middle-aged man named Ralph an apologetic look and say, “I’m going to try his phone again.”

  Ralph looks annoyed and grumbles, and I take a few steps away from him to call Caleb again. I’m sent straight to voicemail. Worry gnaws at my insides. What if something horrible has happened to him? He would never break a promise to me. And he promised he’d be here.

  What should I do? Leave and try to find Caleb? Call the hospitals? Look at the apartment without him?

  Ralph clears his throat and I feel like a child in front of him. I probably look too irresponsible to have a place of my own. The more he stares, the worse I feel about this whole thing.

  “I’ve got other appointments, doll. Do ya wanna take a look or not?”

  I bite my lower lip and sigh. I’m about to tell Ralph that I can’t do this without Caleb when my phone chimes.

  Brie: Your man stopped by. Where are you?

  I text my roommate back quickly.

  Skylar: He stopped by when?

  My phone chimes again.

  Brie: Two seconds ago. Are you working?

  I shake my head. He told me he was ready for this, but I knew he wasn’t. God, I feel like an idiot. I glance up at Ralph and say, “I’ll take a look at the place. I’m sorry to keep you waiting for so long.”

  He nods and opens the door to the apartment. I step through the threshold and it feels just like it should: like entering a new chapter of my life. Only it’s not the way I pictured it would be. The person who is supposed to be beside me, doing this with me, is not here. I should feel devastated by the fact he’s not coming. I’m not devastated, though, I’m pissed off.

  I look around the place and it’s perfect. The rooms are the right size. The living room is huge and there’s a cute balcony attached. I can image exactly how I’d want each room to look. “And it’s $500 a month?” I ask, as Ralph walks me to the door.

  “Yes,” he says, handing me the application. “You’ve got to fill this out, and if we accept you, we’ll need a $500 security deposit and first month’s rent.”

  I carefully place the application in my messenger bag and shake Ralph’s hand. “Thank you.”

  Once I walk away from Ralph and the apartment, my worries and thoughts seep in. Can I do this without Caleb? Yes. But do I want to? I don’t know. This was supposed to be our next step—something I’m more than ready for, but he clearly isn’t. Now what? Do I wait for him to be ready, or is this the end of us?

  I’ve seen it so many times in movies, read about it in books and magazines, but I never thought I’d have this problem. Caleb and I have been on the same page for so long. At least, I thought we were. Maybe I’ve been so blinded by love that I missed something.

  Driving back to the dorm, I can feel the tears gathering on my lashes. I blink and a couple fall while I wait for the light to turn green. I run my hand across my cheeks and sniffle. Glancing over at the car to my right, I instantly regret it. A young woman driving a red Mustang is staring at me.

  I turn back to face the light and wish it would change soon. My heart pounds hard and my stomach sours. What if Caleb doesn’t want me anymore?

  As soon as the green
arrow appears, I go. Instead of driving over to Caleb’s dorm and demanding an answer from him, I go to my own dorm. I actually get lucky and score a parking spot near the front entrance of my building. It should make me happy, but honestly, I don’t think anything could make me smile right now.

  I enter and make my way to the elevator. It’s vacant, which is not normal at this time of day, but I’m grateful for the silence. However, the damn thing seems to move exceptionally slow. At the rate I’m traveling, I could have taken the stairs to my room and back at least three times.

  When the doors ding and slide open onto my floor, I feel exhausted. I walk to my room and pull out my keys. My eyes lock on the white board. The words Caleb+Skylar always and forever make my insides tighten, and my heart feels like it’s in a vise. Hot tears roll slowly down my cheeks. Using my coat sleeve, I erase the words.

  Why didn’t he tell me he wasn’t ready?

  I wipe my eyes again and open the door. Brie’s strawberry-blond hair with electric blue tips hangs like a curtain in front of her face. She runs a brush through the strands and doesn’t acknowledge me entering our room. Which is fine; I don’t want her to look at me and ask what’s wrong.

  I drop my keys into the jar on my desk, sling my bag into my chair, and lie down on my bed. My phone rings and Caleb’s face lights up the screen. I hit ignore and then shut off my phone. Whatever he has to say to me will not be on the phone. He can tell me his excuses for breaking a promise to me to my face.

  Brie hops onto my bed and says, “Hey, you. You didn’t answer me … Hey, what’s wrong?” She frowns.

  “Nothing. I’m sorry. I was looking at an apartment.”

  “Oh, yeah. Wait, by yourself?”

  I nod.

  “I thought you and Caleb were moving in together?”

  Didn’t we all? Apparently I’m not the only one who didn’t get the memo that that wasn’t actually happening. I shrug. “I guess not.”