Fear of Falling

Chapter 11....

Wyatt

"Hold on you were stuck in an elevator all night with some random girl?" One of my teammates, Max, asked. I nodded lacing up my skates. "Did you sleep with her?"

Around us others leaned in to listen. The moment we walked into the locker room, Trevor announced that I had been stuck in an elevator after the game. It resulted in quite a bit of teasing until they learned I wasn't stuck in it alone. Then of course came the questions.

"You know you can talk to a woman without sleeping with her right?" I shot him a look.

"So you spent all night with a woman and didn't make a single move on her?" Another person asked.

"Was she ugly?"

"Didn't have big tits huh?"

More and more guys pipped up making me clench my jaw. The sound of them saying things about Josie didn't sit right. Standing up, my hands clenched at my sides, I sent them all a glare.

"Shut the fuck up. I don't want to hear another word out of your mouths about her." They knew nothing about Josie. Nothing. 

"Bro chill we were just playing." Max put his hands up. 

The conversation shouldn't have pissed me off as it did. It's what happens in the locker room. Someone comes in talking about the latest person they slept with and others make jabs. But Josie wasn't like any of those girls. She didn't deserved being talked about in the locker room with twenty-three horny men. No girl deserved that. 

"Whatever." I mumbled, grabbing my stick and helmet before leaving the room. I've never really cared about the guys joking about girls but it wasn't my thing. My mom raised me better than that. And hearing them say things about Josie made me want to protect her even though nothing happened between us.

"This girl really has you in knots." My other best friend, Bryton, clapped me on the back as he came up from behind. I didn't need to look back to know Trevor was also right there. I just grunted in response.

I didn't know what to say to that. Because fuck she did. Its been three days since I saw her which meant three days of me thinking about her nonstop. Every few minutes her face would pop into my head, that smile that could make any man fall to his knees gracing her lips.

"Have you even seen her since then?" Trevor asked as the three of us skated onto the rink. I shook my head as the sound of my skates cutting through the ice met my ears. Just stepping foot on the ice brought a sort of calm over me. As if it was an old friend wrapping its arms around me, welcoming me home.

"Why not? Don't you want to see her again?"

"I do that's the problem."

"How is that a problem?" Bryton asked, skating beside me as the three of us did laps. The words slipped from my lips before I could stop them.

"Because I left her there that morning. As soon as the elevator doors opened, I ran out like a dog with its tail tucked between its legs, while she talked to the workers." It was stupid but it was a blow to my pride.

I left Josie to deal with the aftermath while I went up to my apartment. I left her alone like a pussy.

"But she told you to leave that's not your fault." Trevor tried to reason but I shook my head.

"I could have at least stayed even if it meant they recognized me." I hated to admit it but I was embarrassed that I so easily walked away. All because I didn't want some people to recognize me.

The last three days all I have wanted to do was find Josie and apologize. It took everything I had not to go down to the 4th floor and knock on doors until I found hers. It was that and the idea that she may not want to see me that held me back from doing so.