A Unique Crossover

Chapter114: Greatest fear

David's POV:

I hate showering at the gym. At any gym actually, even back on campus, I never take a shower after training.
It's too noisy with strangers talking about things that are not interesting to me. I have to wear damn thongs to not get foot acne.

There's no privacy, no peace or quiet at all. But I shouldn't complain, I'm the one who's too much of a coward to go to the hotel room.

I have gone up after having breakfast with the guys. But didn't stay long in the room that Ryan and I are booked in. I went for a long walk, had lunch in the dining area, and worked out in the gym.

Doing all of this, so that I don't make Ariel uncomfortable if we have to run into each other. Ariel. My Jennifer.

I haven't stopped thinking about her since last night. The way she cried after finding out about the truth.
How she stared at me with disbelief at everything that I've told her. Thinking that it was all lies, thinking that I had hired some private investigator or something to feed me information on my own brother.

I wasn't blaming her at all, how she reacted was perfectly normal. If she had reacted differently then, I might have been worried.
Her reaction was exactly what I feared, her being heartbroken as she realized that she had been lied to.

On the morning when the team left for San Francisco, Charlotte tried to talk me out of telling Ariel the truth. Telling me to do it afterward, once we either win or lose the tournament. But as much as I wanted to keep it hidden a little longer, I couldn't.

Knowing that she spent the day of his passing isolating herself and getting drunk. I know that she wasn't going to do anything stupid or reckless. But I couldn't stop the bad feeling I have in my gut about this whole thing.

It felt too similar to what I've been doing after Carter passed away. It was like being in the shoes of Ryan when he was the one who was making sure that I was alright at all those wild parties.
I'm not the perfect person to advise on how to handle grief, but I know that what Ariel was doing isn't healthy.

It was something that I couldn't let happen for the third time. It has been something that Ariel has been doing for the last two years, and it doesn't seem to be helping her.

From what I saw last night, it only hurts her more. It's like it breaks her apart and she fades away slowly bit by bit. I couldn't let that happen again this time, I had to stop it.

Even if it meant causing her pain that was beyond grief.

However, I feel like I've hurt her before last night even. My mind goes back to the time when we were standing on the field. Her standing in front of me telling me that she loved me. That she was in love with me. With me.

Those words were completely unexpected and beautiful. The way she stared into my eyes, meant every single word. There was no trick, no mind game, they weren't a bait luring me into any false commitment.

'I feel rejected,' Her voice echoed angry and in pain as my mind replays the phone call that Ryan had with her. When we came back from the place where the team had eaten, he called her, because I didn't tell him what was wrong.

'I poured my freaking heart out to your bestie who's stupid enough to tell me to forget the whole damn thing.'
I shouldn't have said that, I regretted those words the instant they came out. Because of my jaded heart, I couldn't believe her words.

'I'm in love with you,' I've always imagined what it would be like if I heard Ariel say those words to me. And as if a wish had been granted, that's exactly what had happened. And I reacted in the most horrible way ever.