The Beautiful Truth

** 9

"Sawyer?" he asked. She sounded upset—his mind raced with possibilities. "Is everything OK? What's the matter?"

Then she was laughing. She sniffled. "Heyyy Tally. I was just...my dad called, and I got a little homesick, talking to him about you."

"Oh really?"

She laughed more solidly this time. "Come on, Talyn, you didn't think I could get through the day without talking about you, did you? I got out of bed at 7 a.m. I was so excited. I couldn't sleep anymore."

He was beaming, and wished she could see it, no matter how much it gave him away. "I miss you so much."

"I miss you too, Tally," she sighed, using the nickname he only let her and his mom use.

There was a pause. Jesus he loved this girl. He was so pumped for today that he'd almost said it out loud.

"I wish you could be here," he said honestly. "You have no idea."

He could almost hear her smile on the other end. "I'll be watching up here."

"You better be!" he exclaimed, satisfied. "Listen, I gotta go, but I'll call you after."

"Are you talking to that hot chick at Cal again?" his roommate asked, very loudly as he walked by Talyn, who was currently leaning against the corner of the field house.

Talyn rolled his eyes and braced himself for the elbow to the ribs he expected, then received, as Jerome walked by through the big cardinal colored doors. Jerome laughed, spinning in circles as he walked in order to roll his eyes right back at Talyn. "Come on Hollywood, I can't believe that pretty girl isn't your girlfriend, as much time as you spend on the phone—"

"Seriously, I'll be in there in a second," he cut him off to return his attention to Sawyer. "Sorry," he told her.

Sawyer just laughed. "It's OK, I'll let you go. I know you have more important things to do before your big D-I debut. I'll talk to you later, man."

"Yep."

He laughed, hanging up the phone. Now he was ready to play.