Lover

Chapter 13: In the dark

(Authors Note: feel free to play the song whenever.)
—six weeks before the 2019 regular season—.
"You'll be fine." I say to Trent as he waits to be taken to surgery.
"Thank you for coming, I know you didn't have to." He says holding my hand.
"I'll be here for you." I assure, with a smile. 
"Mr. Taylor we're ready." He's told. I kiss his cheek as he's rolled away to the operating room.
—Flashback—
"Are you excited?" Trent asks as we board the plane.
"Super excited!" I smile as I take my seat.
"Have you ever been?" He asks.
"No, it'll be my first time." I say. Some of the team members are going to San Diego aquarium and invited me to come along.
James enters the plane and sits next to me. I'm stuck with Trent to my left in the window seat and James in the aisle seat. This is going to be....interesting.
"Ladies and gentlemen we're going to be experiencing strong turbulence, so in the interest of our staff's safety we will not be offering in flight services."
"Great." I sigh.
"You'll be fine." Both the guys say at the same time. I smile awkwardly and keep facing forward.
We take off and it's not so bad. As we reach maximum altitude the plane shakes violently. It's the worst feeling I've ever felt. James and I reach for each other. I don't even notice until the plane stops shaking and I notice he has me engulfed in a hug. I look up and he looks down at me. This is fucked up.
"Sorry." He says and takes his arms off of me. I look at Trent who stares at James in a way that I do not like.
"Sorry." I say leaning on him now. He protectively puts his arm around me for the whole flight.
We land and head straight for the hotel. Trent insists we share a room so I nod. I unpack my clothes and change into a cute backless little black dress. I straighten my hair out and curl the ends.
"Wow." Trent sighs walking into the bathroom. "You look gorgeous." He smiles.
"Thank you." I blush turning to see him in jeans and a white shirt. "You look great too." I say and he shrugs making me laugh.
"Go ahead and head down I'll be right behind you." He says. I head down to the lobby and find James sitting alone.
"Look at you." He smirks as he licks his lips.
"Shut up James." I tease.
"Give me a spin baby." He says making me laugh, but I do spin around. "Stunning." He whispers.
The rest of the people who came join us and Trent holds my hand. And James' eyes are glued to our gesture.
We get to the aquarium and kind of disbursed, but I find myself gravitating to where James was. We move in desire.
"Katie." Trent says pulling me towards the jellyfish section. It's a dome shaped area where we're surrounded by exotic sea creatures in dim lights. "I, I've noticed." He says quietly.
"Noticed what?" I ask.
"How you look at Jimmy, and how he looks at you." He explains and I immediately shake my head. "I've seen it Katie, and I get it. You should be with him I can't compete."
"Trent—"
"I shouldn't have overstepped with involving Nick in any of this Katie, I feel like these couple months have been a favor to him." I sigh knowing he's right. "I'm grateful for the time we've had." He says giving me a gentle hug and a kiss on my cheek.
He steps out and I sit down. That was....brutal, but necessary and I'm glad he did it. About ten minutes later James steps into the room.
"You alright?" He asks.
"Yeah." I say before handing up and walking toward him in the middle of the room. "Trent just broke it off."
"Oh." He says in surprise. "What did he say?" He asks.
"That I belonged with you, he said he couldn't compete."
"Oh fuck." He sighs seeing how fucked up that was.
"I feel bad." I sigh letting my head down.
"You didn't want to hurt him." He says picking my head up gently from my chin. "You did the best you could, if anything I didn't make it easy." He says with a breathless laugh.
"No, you didn't." I agree.
"So what did I do with this feeling?" He asks.
"What?" I ask looking up at him.
"Should I ignore it or run with it?"
"Umm, I don't know." I answer my shyly but obviously knowing the answer.
"I think you do." He says before leaning in to kiss me. I close my eyes and go with it. It's gentle, just like the one we had in Disneyland before everything blew up in our faces.