Tethered Hearts | ✓ | Books 1 & 2

Episode 24| His Little Distraction

Bryce's P.O.V.

From my angle, the cotton-white clouds looked as if they were hand painted alongside the US Bank tower in Downtown Los Angeles. Shadows cast the streets, providing shade for the pedestrians who were running from their cars to the buildings to avoid the heat.

I was driving to a location, left of the LA river. Conner had called around noon, telling me to swing by. I was crossing my fingers and hoping it was good news and that he found out where Audrey was.

Fishing out my sunglasses from inside my glove compartment, I slid them over the bridge of my nose. Despite the four inches of rain fallen these past few days, Los Angeles was back to being a blistering hot city, heating up the blacktop to an unimaginable temperature.

It was October. The time of year clearly didn't influence the weather. It was still necessary for me to put on two layers of sunscreen before exiting my apartment.

Something about that didn't add up.

To begin with, I didn't want to get out of bed. The relentless sun beaming down on me wasn't helping-not one ounce. Leaving my apartment this Friday was the last thing I wanted to do. Going on campus was another thing I desperately wanted to avoid. They had a football game against U of A. The entire campus was going to be full of unathletic, overly enthusiastic students with too much school spirit.

Lincoln University was serious about football. After a game day, you felt out of the loop when people began to chatter about the ending score. I nodded along, pretending like I gave two shits about a bunch of boneheads with the grade point average of 2.4, throwing around an oblong ball for entertainment.

No thanks. I'll pass.

Some people said that once I got to college, I would appreciate and celebrate the sport more. They were wrong. I detested it more, if anything else. I grew up with four sisters. I didn't have the opportunity to have that cliché upbringing where I played sports with my siblings. I was usually forced to drive them to the mall or paint the nails on their right hand because they didn't have steady hands.

Carter, my second youngest sister, was the sporty type in the family. I couldn't say she got that from our parents though.

My father, a born and raised New Yorker, didn't find pleasure in playing sports. He played basketball in High School, and so did I. That was something we both liked watching together on the couch. Strangely enough, I didn't mind his company.

My car pulled into the parking lot, driving up to Conner's parked car. He was standing next to Grayson and Anthony. There wasn't anyone else in the lot besides us. I got out of my car and shut it with my foot.

"What took you so long?" Conner asked and flicked the antenna of my car. "I called you two hours ago."

"I'm here now. That's the important part," I said.

"He was probably with that Sophomore again," Anthony egged on, nudging Grayson. "I saw you with her in the quad yesterday."

"She has a name." I said, partially ticked off. He was right though. I ran into Sophia in the quad three times this week. Yesterday after we talked, I walked her back to her dorm and she promptly closed the door without offering me an invitation inside. Her roommates weren't there, but Sophia had no interest in letting me in.

"I think this is the longest you've ever chased after a girl. I saw you, too. It's like every time you see her, you run after her like a lap-dog." Conner slugged a punch into my arm, playfully. "I never knew the B in Bryce stood for Bitch."

"Why the fuck did you call me?" I sneered, jaws locked. "I didn't wake up for you guys to gossip like schoolgirls. If you're going to keep on doing that, I'll go home."