CHAPTER SIXTEEN

SOULLESS

RHODES

Then

“Let me see.” I tried to peer over her shoulder and she flipped her laptop shut.

“Go away.” She laughed, shooing me away with her hand.

“But you always show me what you’re writing.”

“Not always, and not yet.”

I wasn’t pretending when I pouted, but she laughed again, not taking me seriously.

“Come on, Elle. I need something good. It’s been a hard week. We lost and?—”

“Well, there was something I wanted to ask you...” She stood up and leaned against the chair.

I nodded. “Okay. Shoot. You can ask me anything.”

I straightened the stack of books on the end of the table. We were at the lounge in her building where we often worked on homework together. If we weren’t here, we were at my house.

She bit the inside of her lower lip, her tell that she was nervous.

“What’s going on? You’re scaring me.”

She laughed, but it sounded nervous too.

“Elle, what is it?”

“Would you go to the Senior Formal with me?” She said it so fast I wasn’t sure I’d heard her correctly.

“You’re asking me to the Senior Formal?”

She nodded tentatively.

“Elle…” I blew out a long breath. “Dammit. I would’ve killed to go with you. You said you were going with Isaac.”

“We broke up a few days ago.”

“What? Why didn’t you say something? Are you okay? I thought you liked him.”

“He said pursuing writing as a career was like working for a pyramid scheme. You’ve gotta be able to sell yourself and whatever product you’ve got, nonstop, and the guys at the bottom make nothing.”

“That’s bullshit.” I scowled. I moved toward her and put my hands on her arms. “I never liked that guy. What an asshat. Your writing deserves to be read. Don’t listen to that joker. He might do well on Wall Street one day, but he has no soul.”

She cracked a small smile and I leaned down so my eyes were level with hers.

“Okay?”

“Okay.” She bit her lower lip again. “I’m not heartbroken. I wasn’t feeling it anyway. It just…stung, and it felt like he was trying to put me down on purpose.”

“It might take time and be tons of work, but I have faith in your talent,” I said, holding my fist up.

“Thank you, Rhodes.” She bumped my fist. “So, you have a date to the Senior Formal?”

“Yeah, I told Farrah I’d go with her earlier this week.”

She looked winded and I frowned, about to ask her if she was sure she was okay when she said, “You’ve seen her more than once. You must like this girl.”

I shrugged. “She’s nice, yeah.”

She nodded and ducked away from me, picking up her laptop.

“I’m gonna go take a shower and get to bed early,” she said.

“Are we good? Elle, I totally would’ve preferred going with you. I can back out of it with Farrah and?—”

“No, don’t you dare. That would be so rude.”

“But I?—”

“ No .” She gave me a tight smile and lifted her bag over her shoulder. I’d thought we’d probably end up in her room watching a movie after this and I’m sad to see her go.

“Night,” she said.

“Night.”

I watched her walk away and wondered if there was a way to politely tell Farrah that I couldn’t take her to the formal .

But Elle had another date by the next night.

Grant Elliot.

It felt like I’d blown my chance with her. It was senior year and we didn’t have much time together. I’d wanted to take her to the dance in the first place, but she’d been with that jerkwad Isaac. She’d shown vulnerability in asking me and I didn’t know if I’d imagined it, but I almost felt like I’d let her down somehow.

I made ruthless fun of Grant’s slicked-back hair and uptight attitude from the get-go and told her she could never seriously consider being with him because Elle Elliot was a sucky author name.

She was still dating him—which I fucking hated —by the time her short story was published, but after I read her story, I felt like I’d won.

It was about a girl and her best guy friend, Lane Bow…get it? Rhodes Archer in code . I’d shared my obstacles in becoming a football player with her. I’d grown too fast and had a lot of pain in my knees for years as I was developing, but football was my passion. It meant I had to work extra hard, often feeling like I’d never get there, and at the expense of a social life a lot of the time. In the story it wasn’t football, the guy was heading to the Olympics as a runner, but everything else was the same. His parents were famous and he often felt like people didn’t care about getting to know the real him. They wanted to meet his parents, have an in with someone in Hollywood, or just be close to the money.

And the friendship between Lane Bow and Elsa Wilson…Elle Benton in code …everything about it made my he art hum. It was sweet, poignant, and in places, damn funny. She brought the story to life on the page and also made me feel like I was ten feet tall.

The last lines said, “I only hope when he’s won a gold medal and wined and dined with the world’s most famous people, he’ll remember that he loved me once. Because no matter where life takes us, I’ll love him most of all.”

I’d read those lines out loud to her, shaking her while she laughed.

“As if I could ever forget that I love you. And I love you most. You and I both know it,” I yelled, making her cackle harder.

I pulled her to me and hugged her tight.

“I love this story, Elle. I love it so much. I’m so damn proud of you.”

I leaned back and smoothed her hair away as she looked at me with wide eyes.

“And I sent six copies to my parents. I told Mama it’s coming and she said she’s gonna put it in a shadow box so it’ll stay safe, but I’ll be able to get to it to read it whenever I want.”

She burst into tears and I tugged her back to my chest.

“Fuck. What did I say?” I pulled back again, trying to wipe the tears falling so fast.

“I’m just going to miss you so much. You promise you won’t forget about me when you’re in Florida and I’m in Colorado?”

“We’re still going to see each other. You’ll visit me in Miami and I’ll see you every time the Dolphins come through Denver…” I wiped more tears from her face, feeling close to tears myself. “It won’t be enough. We’ll have to FaceTime all the time.”

“We’ll be in different time zones,” she sobbed.

“I know. It’s the worst thing. I hate it. Are you sure you can’t ditch that job in Denver? Try for a job in Miami instead?”

“I’m hoping I like the job more than I’m imagining. It’s writing…even if it is about pets for a blog. My parents would kill me if I ditched it and you wouldn’t be in Miami all the time anyway. But I wish I could.” She sniffled and leaned back, her arms around my neck. “I’ll be cheering you on during every game still, I promise.”

Her face crumbled again and this time when I hugged her, a few tears ran down my face too.