offsides | c. clark

thirteen.

Caitlin sat at the bar, idly swirling the straw in her drink as she scanned the crowd. The atmosphere buzzed with a low hum of conversations and laughter, but her mind was elsewhere—somewhere quieter, somewhere less complicated. Her phone sat face down on the counter, notifications piling up, but she ignored them. Tonight was supposed to be about forgetting everything for a few hours.

Caitlin stared at her phone, she grabbed it and flipped it over to see text messages from everyone except for Alex. She didn't think when they said they were going to take a step back that they meant it.

She went to their last message which was Caitlin asking if she made it home safely and Alex texting her that she had. Her fingers hovered over the screen as she thought of something to say. Maybe a simple 'hey' or she could ask about Alex's next game. Or if she heard about the Team USA roster.

No, that was pathetic. They were keeping their distance and Caitlin wasn't going to give in, especially not when Alex was the one to propose this horrible separation. Caitlin placed her phone on the table and looked away from it.

"Caitlin."

The sound of his voice makes her tense. She turns slowly and finds Connor standing a few feet away, looking almost sheepish. She doesn't need this. Not tonight.

"What do you want, Connor?" she asks, her voice flat, uninterested.

He steps closer, hands shoved in his pockets like a guilty kid caught doing something wrong. "I wanted to talk. Apologize, really. About... everything. I know I screwed up. Cheating on you was—"

"A mistake? An accident?" Caitlin cuts him off, raising an eyebrow. "You think an apology fixes that?"

His jaw tightens, but he presses on. "No, I don't. But I miss you, Cait. I miss us."

She lets out a short, bitter laugh and shakes her head. "What we had was a lie, Connor. You didn't miss me when you were kissing someone else."

"I know. I was stupid. Selfish. But I've changed, and I think we can—"

"Changed?" she interrupts, turning to face him fully now. "You think I'm just going to forget that? You're unbelievable."

He sighs, frustration creeping into his voice as he slides into the seat beside her, causing Caitlin to shift away from him, "I know it's not that simple. But don't act like you don't miss what we had."

"I don't," she says firmly, turning back to her drink. "We're done. We've been done."

There's a pause, the weight of her words hanging in the air. Connor's gaze flicks to her phone again as it lights up with another notification. His face darkens slightly, something more insidious crossing his features. "This is about her, isn't it?"

Caitlin's grip on her glass tightens. "Don't."

"Alex, right?" Connor's voice sharpens. "You're back with her now? After she just up and left you like that?"

Caitlin's heart pounds in her chest, anger flaring in her eyes. "I said don't talk about her."

But Connor presses on, his words laced with disbelief. "You're seriously back with her? After she declared for the draft and left you in the dust? Do you remember crying over her, because I do. And you're acting like none of that matters now? Like she didn't hurt you?"

Caitlin turns sharply to face him. "You don't know anything about what happened between me and Alex so don't speak about it like you do. Yeah, she left, but what you did was ten times worse." Her voice is low but fierce, each word cutting. "She didn't cheat. She didn't lie to my face. She didn't act like I didn't matter."