Dating: For the Assist

by Stephanie Street

  “I’m on a date. With Dannika,” I stated, thinking the answer was more than obvious.

  Abby frowned. “But why? I thought we were getting back together now that Aiden’s out of the picture.” She appeared to be truly perplexed.

  “Why would you think that? You dumped me, remember? Did you think I’d just wait around for you to be available again and we’d pick up where we left off?” The sad part was before Dannika that’s just what I’d been doing, waiting for Abby to remember me. What an idiot!

  Finally, Abby began to seem unsure, shifting her feet and fidgeting with her hands. “Well, yeah. We were so good together. Why wouldn’t you want to get back together?”

  Consider my mind blown at this point. “Are you kidding-”

  “You know what,” Dannika interrupted, raising her hand between Abby and I. “Listen, Abby, you aren’t getting it.” She threaded her arm around my waist in a move so possessive my heart swelled. “Luke is with me now. You lost your chance.” Then she looked at me. “You ready to get out of this place?”

  “Absolutely,” I replied. The dance was almost over anyway and this had been a night to remember. High school was almost over and for the first time, I felt ready for the next chapter in my life.

  With our arms around each other, Dannika and I started to walk away, but Dannika stopped short before we were out of earshot of Abby.

  “Hey, Abby,” she said, “you were crazy enough to let Luke go, but I won’t be. Leave him alone.”

  I watched Abby’s jaw drop with a smile on my face. Dannika tugged on my waist and we started for the exit again.

  “Man, that was hot!” I said as soon as we got out the door.

  Dannika rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. Wrapping my other arm around her waist, I lifted her off her feet and spun her around a couple of times before setting her back on her feet.

  “I think I might be falling for you, Danni.”

  Her eyes widened dramatically, while her lips fought a smile. “Might?”

  “Oh, fine. I definitely might be falling for you,” I teased.

  She pummeled my chest with her fists. “Definitely might!”

  I couldn’t help it. I had to kiss her.

  “Alright,” I murmured against her lips. “Strike the might. But keep the definitely.”

  “Tonight was amazing, Luke,” Dannika said once we were back in the limo and headed toward our street.

  “Yes, it was.”

  “I don’t want it to end.” She rested her head on my chest.

  “I know what you mean. I don’t, either,” I replied, laying my cheek against her hair.

  Before long, Tim pulled the limo to a stop. I waited this time for him to open the door. Although, as soon as he did, raised voices that sounded distinctly like my sister and her boyfriend had me scrambling out of the car, stopping only to offer my hand to Danni. Thankfully, I’d tipped Tim at the hotel and after a quick ‘thank you’ over my shoulder, he got back in the car and drove away.

  “Hey! Hey! What is going on here?” Still holding Dannika’s hand, I rushed toward Piper and Drew. They were both still in their prom attire, but Piper’s hair was a mess and Drew’s tie was undone and his shirt untucked.

  Piper turned to face us, her red, tear-filled eyes wide. “Go away, Luke. This is none of your business.”

  “Yes, it is if my sister is crying and yelling at her boyfriend!” I was going to kill Drew. I didn’t know how, but I’d figure out a way, I’d kill him for hurting her.

  But then I looked at him and he was just as wrecked as Piper. What the heck was going on here?

  Danni detached herself from my side and went to Piper who collapsed against her. I glanced toward our dark house and worried about waking up Mom. She slept with a white noise machine, but she wouldn’t miss a phone call from one of our neighbors if we woke someone up and they decided to complain.

  I turned to Drew. “What happened?”

  He looked at me with tortured eyes. “Why don’t you ask her?” He pointed to Piper.

  “Because I’m asking you. What did you do to my sister?” Drew was several inches taller than me, but that didn’t keep me from getting in his space.

  Drew’s jaw bulged. He wasn’t budging. At least, not yet.

  “Piper?”

  She just shook her head.

  Frustrated, I shouted as loud as I could without getting the police called on us. “Would somebody please tell me what’s going on here?”

  Drew took a step toward Piper, his hand reaching for her. “Piper, please.” he begged.

  But my sister shrunk away from his touch and I saw red. Lunging for Drew, I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and tackled him to the ground. I must have caught him unawares or I’d never have been able to drag him down like that.

  “What did you do to my sister?” I shouted, pulling back my fist, ready to pound his face when a hand on my arm restrained me. It was Piper.

  “No, Luke! What are you doing?” she cried, tugging on my sleeve.

  Drew lay still, pinned beneath me, his eyes never leaving Piper.

  “What do you expect me to do when I come home and find you crying after being with him all night?” I asked, still ready to bloody Drew’s nose if need be.

  “Just stop. Please, just stop,” she begged and held out her hand for Drew.

  He took it and I stood. Dannika watched, her hands over her mouth, her eyes wide.

  “Somebody better start talking before I get Mom involved. If he did something-” I pointed to Drew, but the next thing I knew he had me by the throat.

  “You think I would hurt her? After everything she’s been through? Everything we’ve been through? You think that?” He shook me with each question he spat in my face.

  “Drew!” Piper and Dannika both lunged for an arm, pulling him away from me. He let go immediately and rounded on Piper, gripping her arms with both hands.

  “Why are you doing this? It doesn’t make sense. I don’t want it! I don’t want any of it without you. I’ll just go to school. I don’t need a scholarship. I’ll just go to school. I don’t have to play. Please, Piper!” His voice broke at the end. “Please. Don’t do this.”

  Dannika and I both watched, our mouths gaping as we began to understand what was happening. I reached for Danni’s hand. She squeezed it in return.

  “Piper, I don’t care about basketball.” Drew was all but begging as he framed her face in his hands. “Me and you. That’s it. I’ll follow you wherever you go.” Then he kissed her. And for a moment, Piper let him. Then, with a cry, she wrenched away.

  “You don’t understand. I’ve been trying to tell you, but you don’t get it.” She ran her fingers through her hair which was barely being held together with leftover hairspray and Bobbi pins. At least now I understood why her hair looked the way it did. This conversation had been going on long before Dannika and I showed up.

  “I do-” Drew started to say, reaching for her again. But Piper side-stepped him.

  “You don’t!” she screamed loud enough I had to take a glance around the neighborhood to see if any lights came on. I honestly couldn’t believe we hadn’t already woken someone up.

  “You don’t,” Piper repeated. “This isn’t about basketball. It’s about me! Don’t you understand? How am I supposed to ever be okay if all I ever do is rely on you?” She jabbed her finger into his chest. “And you!” She pointed to me and Dannika. “And Mom. All you guys do is worry about me. And I don’t even know if I’m fine because I never have a moment to myself to figure it out!”

  What?

  Piper had shocked us solid. Except Drew. I could tell from the expression on his face this wasn’t news to him. This was what had been off with them for the last little while. But I still couldn’t tell what Piper wanted. Was she breaking up with Drew?

  “That doesn’t mean you have to cut us out of your life. You don’t have to cut me out.” Drew’s shoulders were so tight, I thought he might break.

  “
What do you mean? Cut us out? What is he talking about, Pipe?” She couldn’t cut me out. She was my sister, my twin. My family.

  Drew glanced at me over his shoulder before turning back to Piper. “She’s been holding out on where she committed for basketball. She doesn’t want any of us to know until we’ve chosen our own schools. Without her.”

  Piper glared at him, then at us. “Not without me. Just not because of me. You guys treat me like I’m some fragile flower until even I believe it! How am I ever going to make it to the WNBA if I can’t even sleep in my own bedroom without someone else there with me? When am I going to let the fear go and move on with my life?”

  “Baby, I want you to do that,” Drew began, but Piper cut him off with a slash of her hand.

  “I know you do,” her voice broke and along with it, so did my heart. “I know. I have to do this, Drew. I have to find out who I am without all of you holding me up. What if one of you falls? What if I don’t have the strength to go on without you?” She pushed at his chest. “I love you!”

  “Then stop pushing me away!” Drew reached for her, but Piper stepped out of his reach again.

  “I’m not pushing you away. I just, I just have to hold my own self up for awhile. Can’t you understand that? I don’t want to do this. I love you so much. But how can I be any kind of love for you if I can’t stand on my own. I won’t last, Drew.” Piper shook her head.

  In some crazy way, I got what she was saying. I knew she’d been talking to a therapist. One of the things they’d been talking about was healthy relationships, support that was actually support and not completely holding her up. Piper relied on Drew to keep her going because she could. But she was right. What if something happened to him? Or what would happen when he was away at games for long stretches? Or she was? His position in professional basketball was all but guaranteed. They were both so young. Piper would probably graduate before she was drafted. That was three years of separation while they both pursued their dreams.

  What Drew said earlier made sense. He’d give it all up for her. But that wasn’t what she needed. Or wanted. She’d always be worried that he would resent her for his decision. She’d never get over the guilt of holding him back from being great on the court.

  She had to let him go.

  “It doesn’t have to be forever,” Piper told him as tears poured down her face, but her voice was strong. She’d made her decision.

  “It doesn’t have to be at all!” Drew roared, gripping his hair with both hands.

  Piper took his forearms into her hands. “I won’t play, Drew. I’ll give it all up before I ask you to. You’re too good. I won’t take that from you. Don’t make me. I’m begging you.”

  “You’re not playing fair, Piper.” Drew’s eyes were red. “But I’m done. I can’t keep going on with you hurting like this. If this is what you want, then I’m done.”

  Piper’s shoulders fell with relief or defeat, I wasn’t certain which. “I’m so sorry, baby.” She leaned forward and kissed his lips one last time before darting into the house.

  Drew ran after her, but he didn’t bang on the door like I expected. Instead, he just braced his hands on the frame while dragging in lungs full of air.

  I put my hand on his shoulder.

  He hung his head for several long seconds.

  I felt Dannika’s hand slide into mine. Finally, Drew pushed away from the door and stalked toward his car. He got in and after slamming his door closed, revved the engine to life and roared down the street laying several feet of burnt rubber on the asphalt.

  “Oh, my gosh,” Dannika sighed, falling into my side.

  “I know,” I agreed, wrapping her firmly against my side. She probably needed to go inside, be with Piper, but I was reluctant to let her go. After what just happened with the two happiest people I’d ever known together, I just wanted to hold Dannika for the rest of the night.

  “I should go inside.”

  “Not quite yet.” I held her close, her softness comforting every aching place in my heart. “Not yet.”

  “I love you, Luke.”

  “I love you, too.”

  As much as things were bound to change after this night, I prayed this wouldn’t.

  17

  Piper

  Five Years Later

  “You did what?” This wasn’t happening. It was official. I was going to kill my brother. No wonder they refused to give me any details before I arrived for the wedding. Because they were orchestrating a blindside!

  “I’m sorry, Pipe. But seriously, it’s been a long time. And Drew is one of my best friends. I’m not going to leave him out of my wedding because you’re a chicken.” Luke, my brother, my twin brother, was a traitor. And he didn’t look sorry at all.

  “Then I’m out,” I declared. If he was going to do this, then I just wouldn’t stay.

  Luke gripped his hair with both hands and sighed. “Are you kidding me? You’re my only sister, my only sibling. And I’m marrying your best friend. You’re staying for the wedding.”

  I looked to Dannika, my so-called best friend. “Did you know about this? And you didn’t warn me?”

  Dannika at least had the grace to appear worried about my feelings, unlike my heartless brother with whom I’d shared a womb!

  “Luke’s right. The guys have stayed close over the years. It kind of blows my mind that you haven’t run into him in all this time. It’s bound to happen sooner or later. Why not just rip off the bandaid? Get it over with?” She offered me an encouraging smile.

  “At your wedding?” They didn’t understand. Neither of them. They never had. No one did. Especially not Drew. But what was I supposed to do now? Miss my brother’s wedding? Ruin all of their plans? Because I was a chicken?

  The whole purpose for breaking up with Drew in the first place was so I could learn to overcome my fears. I spent the whole summer after graduating from high school attending an intensive program for survivors of violent attacks. I even missed summer workouts and training with the women’s basketball team at the University of Connecticut.

  While I learned a lot and grew more than I ever expected, I still wasn’t one hundred percent when it was all over and I moved into the dorms to start my first semester away from my family and friends. Away from Drew.

  Luke ended up on a scholarship to Juilliard. Dannika followed him, attending NYU. He studied piano and music composition for his undergrad and next year, he would finish his second year of graduate work to get his Masters in Music. Dannika, on the other hand, would be working on finishing her Masters in Social Work. Why they decided to get married with only one year of school left nobody knew, but that’s what they wanted and so that’s what we were doing. There was no escape for me.

  And it was no accident I hadn’t run into Drew in the last five years. When I started school, I was still determined to make myself feel whole without him. How could I offer him anything if I had nothing, if I was nothing, without him? So, I avoided him, and any of his attempts to contact me. When he finally gave up trying to reach me or get me to contact him, I made sure never to be in the same place as him. It wasn’t easy, either. Luke was being serious. The boys were all still really good friends. I’d backed out of several trips in order to avoid Drew. Basketball was a good excuse…for both of us.

  And I still didn’t feel whole.

  “Look, there will be plenty of opportunities for you to see him before the ceremony. In fact, everyone is meeting down in the parking lot in an hour. There’s a court and we’re going to play. You’re invited.” Luke shot me a mischievous look. “You can even join in instead of sitting with the girls on the bench.” He nudged my shoulder. “You can be one of the shirts.”

  Some things never changed. Luke still thought it was funny to tease me about playing with the guys who differentiated teams by ‘shirts’ or ‘skins’. Since I was usually the only girl to play with them on the neighborhood court, I was always a ‘shirt’. Of course. And almost always they made me captai
n.

  “Very funny.”

  Luke put his hands on Dannika’s shoulders. I could tell they were about to leave me alone in the hotel suite Danni and I were sharing until after the ceremony. “Just think about it. Maybe basketball would be a good way to break the ice. It has been a long time, but I know he would like to see you.” Luke’s eyes turned serious. “I really don’t think he’s ever gotten over what happened between the two of you. Maybe it’s a good thing you’re both here. I know he could use some closure and you probably could, too.”

  I grunted. Even if he was right, that didn’t mean I had to be happy about it.

  My brother rolled his eyes. “Fine. Do what you want. But at least think about it, okay?”

  The look I gave him was mutinous, which just made him laugh.

  “We’ll see you later. Nothing formal tonight. Some of the guys won’t be here until tomorrow. But everyone is meeting for brunch in the dining room at ten.” Luke dropped his hands from Dannika’s shoulders, but it was like he couldn’t stand to not touch her when he laced their fingers together.

  Dannika’s eyes were filled with sympathy as she gave me a one-armed hug. “It’s gonna be okay. You’ll see,” she whispered in my ear.

  Ha.

  Just showed what she knew. Nothing. It would not be okay.

  “See you later,” she said before Luke pulled her through the door and into the hall.

  I waved my hand irritably. “Yeah, yeah.”

  Just as I was about to shut the door behind them, Dannika stopped short and turned to face me. Her eyebrows pumped up and down before she said, “Oh, yeah, by the way. Drew’s across the hall. Bye!” Then she left me standing with my mouth gaping open. It was only after she and Luke disappeared behind the elevator doors, that I registered the fact that Drew was not only in this hotel, he was mere feet away in the room across the hall!

  Spinning on my heel, I hurried to close my door. I even locked it and set the chain. Once I was certain I was secure behind a locked door, I let myself fall against it.