Shirts and Skins

Chapter Twenty-Four

Jeff's POV

She shook her head and ran out the door, slamming it shut behind her. I shook my head and looked back at the TV. I was angry. Why did she want to leave me for the night? I mean, didn't she come on this road trip to be with me? But out of no where, a wave of guilt hit me.

"Oh fuck, what have I done?" I said out loud as I rolled onto my back and covered my eyes. I knew I had just screwed up, big time. I had just hurt the nicest, sweetest, most kindest girl in the world. What kind of monster can do something like that? I'm terrible.

I grabbed the remote and turned off the TV. I wasn't interested in it anymore. I felt horrible. The concussion, plus the guilt was killing me. But I just laid there. I didn't get up. I didn't go after her. I knew that I had made a mistake, I just didn't know what to say to her, how to apologize. So, I just laid there, hoping she'd come back.

She didn't.

About 20 minutes later, I got a text from Brandon.

"Dude, what the hell did you do to Lindsay? She's pretty upset because of you."

I drop my phone onto the bed and cover my face again. I couldn't believe what I had done. I texted him back.

"Is she in your room?"

"She doesn't want me to tell her where we are. She said she'll talk when she's 'damn well ready'." he responded.

"Fuck." I said. I wanted to talk now, and clearly she was with them, but I wanted to wait until she was ready. I know she'd do the same thing for me.

About an hour later, I heard a knock on the door. Figuring it was one of the coaches, I just pulled the door open. I was surprised to see that it was Justin.

"What the fuck did you do to her Jeff?"

"Justin, please--"

"No Jeff. You listen to me. Lindsay just spent the last hour in tears over you. What the fuck happened?"

"Justin, just--"

"Straight answers is all I'm looking for!" he interrupted me again.

"Okay, can you calm down a little?" I asked.

"No Jeff. Have you ever had a girl cry for an hour in your arms, with no way to console her? I doubt it! It's painful!"

Justin gave me a bit of a shove. So I shoved him back into the hallway. This led to a bit of a wrestling match.

At that point, Eric, Cam and Tim, upon hearing the commotion, came out of their rooms and ran down the hall towards us. Eric grabbed me, Cam grabbed Justin, and Tim got in between us.

"Guys, guys, what's going on?"  Eric asked us as he held me around my chest.

I looked at Justin, hoping he could tell that I didn't want to talk to them about this. I guess he realized.

"Nothing, nothing, it's fine." Justin said.

"It looked like more than just 'nothing'." Tim said.

"We just needed to let off a little steam. We were a little heated, we're good now." I said.

"You're sure?" Eric asked.

"Yes." Justin and I answered in unison.

"You two aren't going to start fighting again?" Cam asked.

"No." we answered.

"Okay..." the three of them let us go.

We collected ourselves and stood in the hallway.