A Different Light

Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Jackson's POV

My aching muscles begged me to quit after a long practice, but I needed to get play down. I could see the frustration in my teammates eyes as I called the same play again. We ran it three more times after that before I finally called off practice. Some guys sighed in relief, others shook their heads and stalked off towards the locker room. I grabbed a bottle from the caddy and waterfalled the cool liquid into my mouth.

 "Hey man," Evan said coming up to me, "What's going on? You are totally out of it today."  

 "I just have a lot on my mind with the whole thing with Ava. I just am out of it." I shook my head in disappointment. It had been a couple of months since the whole news story and things were starting to get better, we scheduled interviews with both her brother and myself making our relationship public. But the media wants what the media wants. Ava stayed over last night and wasn't feeling good today, I insisted on staying home but she made me come to practice. Before I left Keeley came over, which made me feel much better. Things were tense when she showed up though considering Evan at my place.

 I guess they're not talking still after she caught him cheating on her. He still doesn't know I that I know why they aren't speaking. It was weird that he wouldn't tell me about that. We tell each other everything. I know that sounds pretty pansy but its true, hes like the brother I never had. I grew up with older sisters, that why I know what a girl likes. Evan though, he had older brothers who were just as players as he is.

 "The game is tomorrow and I don't want to be the barer of bad news, but if you play like you did today, Coach is going to pull you."

 "Yeah, I know man, I'll be better by tomorrow no worries."

 "Good." He clapped me on the back and began to walk off

 "Hey, Evan?"

 "Yeah?"

 "What ever happened with you and that Keeley girl." He paled and wouldn't meet my eyes

 "Uh, thinks just didn't work out." He whispered, embarrassed

 "Oh, Okay." Very few words were said but I knew that he was in no mood to talk. I made a mental note to ask him about it later though. After a long shower I toweled off and went out to my car. As I walked through the parking lot I saw a familiar figure roaming around outside of the stadium, she looked around till she locked eyes with me. Sapphire stared at me with lost eyes, I walked over to the fence that separates the public from the parking lot.

 "Jackson," She breathed out wordlessly,

 "Sapphire, what are you doing here."

 "I don't know, I just thought I should thank you for what you did for me." She smiled shyly.

 "Its totally fine." I said, I pulled the keys out from my pocket.

 "I was also wondering if you maybe wanted to get dinner some time?" She asked coming up to the fence. Her hair was much longer than the last time I saw her. She had perfect makeup and tight clothes. It was hard not to let my eyes wander down her perfect body. I couldn't help but want to go to dinner with this girl, god was she hot.

 "Okay, dinner." I said

 "Great!" She climbed over the fence and jumped into my car.

 "Umm, I didn't mean right now?" I said looking at her weirdly

 "But I'm hungry!" She whined. I ultimately gave into her and took her to one of my favorite dinners. We had a pleasant dinner filled with talking and laughing. It was cool just hanging out with her. As we were finishing up the bell on the door rang and I turned my attention to it. A stunning blonde walked in with long longs. She sat down a couple tables away from me alone. When she removed her sunglasses, I internally gasped. Sapphire continued to talk but when she saw I wasn't focused anymore she looked where I was looking.

 "Umm, Hello? Jackson are you even paying attention to me?" She said loudly. When I looked back at her she continued.

 "I don't know why you bother, you have me here." She touched my arm gently, stroking circles on my forearm. When I glanced the Ava's way again I heard Sapphire scowl.

 "I wouldn't even bother, looks like shes with someone." As she said that, a good looking guy came into the dinner and walked directly over to Ava. She squealed when she saw him and he picked her up in a big hug. It was hard not to get jealous because I as well was with someone. But as I observed her, I noticed how close they were. He had scooted his chair next to her so that their knees we touching. They were both looking at his phone. Occasionally she would look up and smile at him.

 I excused myself from Sapphire and went to the bathroom. As I was washing my hands they guy came in. When he saw me he immediately recognized me

 "Hey, you're Jackson Bates of the Giants right?" He asked

 "That's me," I gave him my best fake smile, I already wasn't a big fan of his.

  "Dude your so cool! My family and I are huge fans of the Giants."

 "Thats awesome, I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name."

 "Its Aaron, Aaron Collins." He smirked, my eyes grew as I processed what his last name meant.

 "Damn how many of you are there?" I asked him. I couldn't believe that she had so many brothers. Coming from a guy with 2 older sisters.

 "A lot, I thought you should know that I wasn't her date, I saw you staring me down." He laughed. We talked for a little while longer before I excused myself to go talk to Ava. When I stepped out, Ava wasn't at her table. I looked around, she was no where to be seen. Finally my eyes landed on my table where Sapphire was talking to someone. Their conversation seemed to be serious both people slightly leaned in. Sapphire said something then leaned back with a vicious grin on her face. She said something else then motioned to where I was standing. The girl she was talking to shot up out of her chair and turned to look at me, Ava had tears streaming down her face.

 Her makeup ran down her face, both eyes looked at me like a lost doe. Time seemed to stand still. She watched me for a second and when I didn't make a motion to talk she turned and walked out. I don't know why I didn't run after her, tell her what was really going on. What I didn't understand was why she was out today. She told me she was sick and was going to stay home all day. I felt someone push past me hard with his shoulder bumping me out of my trance. Aaron gave me a dirty look before going after her. Sapphire came up to me and grabbed my arm making me look at her.

 "What did you say?" I growled

 "Nothing, she came over and basically threatened me. She said that I couldn't go anywhere near you otherwise she'll beat the shit out of me." She gave me puppy dog eyes to make me believe her. I felt helpless as I saw Ava drive away from the cafe.