Tough Love - Chris Sturniolo

Teamwork

Chris

After hockey the next night, I was feeling like shit. I'd texted Anastasia that morning and I was checking my phone every 10 seconds to see if she answered, but obviously she hadn't. Then I'd played like garbage. My shit mood affected my game, and I'd heard about it in the locker room afterwards from my coach.

I was starving when I got home, finding both my brothers working at the table and Ella cooking up something.

"Hey guys," I said, walking in. "Damn, that smells incredible, Ella," I reached out my fist. She always liked when I fist bumped her instead of hugging like she did with Nick.

She turned to look at me with a scowl, looked at my hand, and didn't reach out to fist bump me back. Ah fuck.

"What?" I asked, giving her a chance to speak her mind.

"What do you mean what?" She snapped back. Fuck, she was just as scary as Anastasia when she spoke like that. I'd only ever seen Ella angry once before, when the fans found out about her and Matt and were bombarding her online. It was scary then and it was scary now. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

I glanced at the boys to see if they could help me out. Nick looked at me like not my problem, and Matt looked at me like I'm not saving you from this.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I lied, knowing exactly what she was talking about. I turned to head to the stairs, not wanting to get into it. I'd had a shit day and this was the last thing I wanted to deal with.

"Wow Chris, I didn't take you for a liar," she replied, pissed off.

"Excuse me?" I swung around. "What the fuck did you say?"

"You heard me!" She replied. I looked to Matt and saw this was incredibly awkward for him.

"Ella, try not to get mad, please? Just talk to him," Matt said calmly, trying to find a middle ground between us.

She turned back to the stove, pushed around the food in the pan and took a deep breathe.

"You're right," she sighed, putting down the wooden spoon. "I'm just upset."

I walked over to her and she turned to look up at me, sadness written all over her. Sadness for the pain I'd caused her friend. But she didn't realize I was right there with her.

"I'm fucking crazy about her, Ella," I confessed. She looked me in the eye and listened. "Like I legitimately really like her. She's the first girl I've ever had this with, and I thought if I did all the right things, she'd see that...I've never planned a fucking date, I've never asked around to find out what a girl likes, or gone to her fucking games with a sign," I was word-vomiting but I knew she could hear my sincerity. Her gaze was gentle and compassionate and sad. She had this way of making everyone around her feel heard and understood. Even me, the asshole who hurt her best friend. I'd always known Ella was beautiful, but I truly understood in that moment why Matt loved her. I mean, I'd never heard him say it out loud, but it was obvious he did. "I feel fucking awful. I texted that girl last night and told her to never text me again. I don't want any other girl, I don't care about any of them. I only want her." It was the first time I'd said any of this out loud, and it surprised me as much as it felt good.

She turned back to the stove and proved my theory about always feeling heard around her wrong.

"Sit...we're gunna eat now," she said, clearing her throat. That wasn't the reaction I was expecting, but getting it off my chest was enough. I looked to the boys, feeling kind of embarrassed by my long ass cheesy fucking confession but they just looked at me like what are you gunna do, bro? I grabbed plates and cutlery for everyone. Nick shut his laptop and we set up the table. Ella eventually brought the food over, took a seat next to Matt, and we all dug in quietly. The air was sad, or maybe it was just me. I was sad.