21| Phone Call

~Reece~

A month went by. She didn't text me. After our little run-in in the alley she didn't avoid me, but she didn't talk to me either.

A part of me was hoping she tear down this stupid wall she's put between us. But if she's good at anything it's building walls between people.

I stepped out of my truck and toward the arena. My phone rang in my pocket and I picked it up.

"Honey!" my mom squealed.

"Mom? Is something wrong?" I stopped for a moment, worried.

"No!" she squealed again. I pushed the glass doors open and walked towards the locker rooms.

"Mom you're going to have to come back down to a normal pitch. Only dogs can hear you now."

"I'm sorry, sorry." she clears her throat. "We were sent an anonymous note and $40,000..." she made a shrill-screaming noise and I pulled the phone away from my ear.

"But it's a legitimate. We thought it was a joke but we opened our bank account and boom! $40,000 just sitting there waiting for us." she sounded as if she wanted to cry or had been crying.

"Please tell me this isn't a joke." I say.

"It feels like it doesn't it." she laughs.

We talk for a few more minutes but practice is about to start so I hang up with her and walk into the locker room but that's when it hits me. I drop my bag and sprint through the arena.

"Where are you going?" Tucker calls after me.

"Gotta go!" I yell bursting through the glass doors. I run to my truck and fumble with the keys.

Finally I get in and don't either bother with a seatbelt. I floor it all the way to Alina's apartment.

Time feels as if it slows but my speedometer says I'm going 90 mph in 55. But I make it to her dorm and pound on the door.

"Oh my god! Oh my god I'm coming!" someone calls from inside. Hali opened the door. "Reece what the-" I breeze past her and straight for Alinas room. I open the door without knocking and no ones inside.

I turn back to Hali seeing if I missed her while I was in a rush but she's not here. "Where's Alina?" I say breathless.

"She's not here."

"Well where is she?" I say walking over to Hali.

"Her parents had some gala, party thing tonight. She got picked up half an hour ago?"

"Picked up?" I repeat.

"Yeah... by Danny."

I'm so stupid. So stupid. So stupid. SO very fucking stupid.

I have to talk to her and I can't. She could be out all night. Or she may not even come home...

No.

I'll just have to crash that stupid party.

~Alina~

The whole day has been so goddamn awful. My "chauffeur" that was sent to pick me up for my parents party is none other than Danny himself. Which I later find out that we have to pretend to be dating for my parents friends.

Haven't I done enough fake dating?

And this morning I wake up to a knock at my door. 2 hair stylists and a makeup artist are there to primp me for the stupid ass party.

I didn't even want to go but the only good part is the dress. Beautiful and silky. Spaghetti straps. Droopy neck line. Fire red. Floor length. Slit up the thigh.

It's a fucking piece of art.

Mingling is not my strong suit. Because my god, I hate people.

It's fair to say I've been in a foul mood all day long. Scratch that- month.

After seeing Reece I haven't been in a great mood. While it was wonderful to see him looking so good. It hurt me that he looked so good because I was a hot mess. Inside and out.

But not tonight. I looked liked the princess my mother wanted me to be.

Danny comes and find me at the drink cart. I was slipping tequila into my sparkling cider. "Sneaky sneaky." he says coming up behind me. I jump so high I think I almost threw the bottle up in the air.

What a scene that would have been... "Oh shut up." I mutter.

"Someone's crabby." he says leaning against the wall and watching me. I swirl my drink around and take a big gulp of it. Terrible concoction but my vision blurs so Id say it did the trick.

"I don't want to be here." I say truthfully. There's no point in lying to Danny. He's known me so long he would know if I would have lied.

Also he knows me to well to know that anything involving my mother Im not going to enjoy.

He takes my glass and takes a swig. His features scrunch up and his lips purse together. He reluctantly swallows.

"This is god awful." he says handing it back to me.

"Oh well." I say finishing it and setting it down on the cart. Danny watches the crowd mingle around. "What would my mother do if I ditched her party?"

"My mother would join in. They'd grab there pitch forks and chase us down the street" Danny laughed.

"No, no, no. Ladies never run so they'd just hire someone to chase us down the street." I say bumping my elbow with his. "It's about time we made another appearance." I pushed myself off the wall.

"Aww the cute couple." Danny squealed in a high pitch voice.

"God, you're so annoying." I laughed following him back out to the main room.

Twenty minutes later, I was hiding on the back patio alone. I loved Danny but unlike me he really could talk to people for hours.

My phone rang and I picked it up. "Hello?"

"Hey." Reece said out of breath. "We need to talk."

"I-I can't. I'm at a party-"

"I'm aware. But I'm sitting outside and I will wait all night if I have to."

I couldn't help the smile on my lips. "You're outside?"

"Yeah and I don't know what kind of high tech security you have in there but if your sending security after me they better knock me out because I'm not going down without a-"

"Reece, Reece calm down. Give me twenty minutes and I'll be out."

"Ok."

He hung up and I went back inside.

Twenty minutes passed by in what felt like hours. I watched the clock and tried to talk to people but I could stop checking my watch.

I wanted to see him. So badly, it hurt. After 18 minutes I couldn't take it anymore and I stepped outside and the wind was blowing so bad it whipped my hair up and around.

I ran down the steps, grey clouds looming over me. I saw Reece's pickup down the street and walked down the side walk.

When I saw him, his head was pressed against the steering wheel. I knocked on the window and he jumped. He pointed to the passenger seat and I walked around and got in.

"Tell me it wasn't you." he said.

"Nice to see you too." I said shutting the door and turning to him.

"Please tell me it wasn't you." he gritted out again.

"Reece I need more explanation. What am I telling you I didn't do?" I breathed.

He looked around. "I can't do this here." he said. I went to get out of the car but he slammed on the gas and shot out of my parents driveway.