Chapter 10: Love Shows Through The Pain

Shad’s P.O.V.

I looked at Cassie as she stood in the middle of my office. She refused to sit down so I guess I just have to get what I have to say it fast. “Look Cassie, I miss you and all the good times we’ve had together. Believe it or not, you were my best friend. I don’t have many people who stay around and put up with my bullshit but you did. When I found out you had a crush on me, I kind of flipped out. I didn’t want our friendship to be ruined and lose you forever,” I sighed as I looked at her.

“I don’t get why you flipped out. It was a crush. It wasn’t like I was in love with you,” she snapped after staying quiet for a while.

“But I’m in love with you,” I didn’t even have to look at her to know she would be speechless. After having sex with Meyshia, I realized I was just trying to find someone to replace Cassie. All the hook ups and dates I’ve been on this past year have been all because of her. I acted like a kid before but I’m manning up now. I finally had the nerve to glance in her direction and she opened her mouth to say something.

“Shad, Coach Graham said that he needs to talk to you in his office. Something about tomorrow’s practice,” Nicki said when she walked in.

“Okay,” I gave her a small smile before she left.

“That’s my queue,” Cassie quickly left out after Nicki but I knew we would finish this conversation tomorrow.

Nicki’s P.O.V.

I pecked Drake’s lips before I left to go home. It felt good to get my past off of my chest. I never told anyone about that night. Nae only knows because she was at the party when it happened. Even though I didn’t tell him the entire truth, it was nice to tell him some of it. I was really falling for him. He’s better than all of my exes and the fact that he’s trying to be nicer in the gym really shows me that he’s trying. I started the car up to drive home with Blake. “What did Cassie want?” I asked her as we pulled out of the parking lot.

“She just wanted to say thanks for helping her stay on the team,” she shrugged as if it wasn’t a big deal to her.

“Oh, okay,” I let it go as we finally pulled up to the house. Mylan came rushing out as soon as I turned the car off. “What are you doing My?” I asked as I picked her up.

“I missed you,” she mumbled as she hugged me.

“I missed you too baby,” I kissed her forehead and brought her into the house.

~~~

Later that night Blake was sitting on my bed as I rubbed My’s hair. She was knocked out in my lap. “Don’t you ever worry about her?” She asked me.

“Worry how?” I titled my head.

“Like worry about her future and how she’s going to feel growing up without a mom and a dad?” She elaborated.

“I do and it’s really hard on me sometimes. I don’t want her to feel as if she has to be excluded from things because she doesn’t have her mom anymore and her dad isn’t in her life,” I explained.

“Well you seem to be doing a great job,” she rubbed My’s back as I picked her up.

“I’m going put her to bed,” I told her as I brought Mylan to her room. I placed her in her bed and pulled the covers up. She woke up slightly and looked at me. “Goodnight My,” I said before bending down to kiss her forehead.

“Goodnight mommy,” she leaned up and hugged me before lying back down and asleep. I got up and closed her door. I closed my eyes as I finally let my tears fall while thinking about how I could do this. I missed my mom so much and everyone always said I treated Mylan like my own daughter but to hear her call me that is just overwhelming.

Cassie’s P.O.V.

I came to practice early today so I could tell off Shad. I’ve practice what I had to say all night. I didn’t even knock when I walked into his office. He looked up from his magazine and smiled. “Cassie,” he said as he stood up.

“I only came here because yesterday I listened to what you had to say so today you will listen to what I have to say,” I said getting straight to the point.

“Fair enough,” he sighed as he stood in front of me.

“I haven’t told you some things that you have a right to know. I’ve a crush on you since you moved next door to me when I was twelve. You were an older guy so naturally I liked you. When were started becoming friends, I fell for you even harder. It hurt me how you reacted when you found out but I’ve moved on from that. At some point I swore to myself that I was in love with you but I’m no-,” I tried to continue but he grabbed my waist and pulled me to him. He crashed his lips to mine and kissed me passionately. I lost a mental battle with myself and kissed him back as I wrapped my arms around his neck. When he tried to slip his tongue inside of my mouth, I pulled away. I stepped out of the embrace and took a minute to collect myself. Tears stung my eyes but I refused to let them fall. I haven’t cried since a tragic experience happened years ago. I hated that he made me so emotional.

“I’ve wanted you to kiss me like that for years,” I admitted.

“Then what’s the problem?” He asked.

“The problem is that it’s too many years too late. I’m not in love with you anymore Shad,” I refused to look him in his eyes.

“Oh,” he sounded hurt but I just walked out of his office. I left him in the same way he left me many times before. Don’t look back Cassie.

Drake’s P.O.V.

I made the girls do conditioning all practice because it looked as if Nicki and Cassie were both distracted. “What’s wrong with them today?” Mere asked but I could only shrug. I wanted to ask Nicki what was wrong but I couldn’t in the middle of practice. After practice I nodded towards my office and saw her following me. After I closed and locked the door, I pulled her close to me.

“What’s wrong?” I asked as she wrapped her arms around me. She tried to speak but tears raced down her face and she started crying. “Shh,” I kissed her forehead and tried to calm her down. “Baby I can’t help if you don’t tell me what’s wrong,” I told her as she finally calmed down.

“Yesterday I was putting Mylan to sleep and she called me mommy,” she said and then started crying again. I was shocked to say the least.

“How do you feel about that?” I rubbed her back as she pulled herself together.

“I have mixed emotions about the situation. I mean no one could ever replace my mom but is it bad that I liked it?” She pulled away slightly to look at me.

“It’s natural to like it and it was bound to happen. You treat her as if she’s your daughter already,” I wiped some of her tears away.

“But I just don’t want to disappoint her. What if I’m not good enough?” She looked almost frightened.

“Trust me you will,” I pecked her lips softly.

“But then as she gets older she’ll start wondering who’s her dad and then she’ll learn everything and hate me,” she ranted on.

“You’re doing what you think is best for her. She’ll understand,” I assured her.

“Thank you,” she said softly before standing on her tiptoes and kissing me. I held her close as we got lost in the moment.

Nicki’s P.O.V.

“I have to go,” I sighed as Drake released me from our hug. He bent down and pecked my lips softly before smiling at me. “I’ll call you later,” I promised before walking out of his office.

“That took a while,” Blake said as I got in the car.

“Shut up,” I playfully rolled my eyes.

“So you know we have our first competition coming up. I’m so nervous but excited,” she bounced in her seat slightly.

“It’s gonna be so hard considering we still have more girls that are going to get cut. I would hate to participate in some of the competitions only to be cut before the state championships,” I scrunched up my eyebrows. That would be the worse feeling ever, to know that you where so close only to not make the final cuts.

“Where is the competition coming up going to be?” Nae asked from the backseat.

“Um I think it’s in Florida,” Blake answered as she fixed her hair in the mirror.

“Why are you fixing your hair? Like you have someone to look good for,” I joked as she lightly pushed my arm.

“I felt like my hair was sticking up,” she said as I pulled up to my house. We all got out and went inside.

“You guys can head to the living room, I need to talk to My for a minute,” I told them as I climbed the stairs to My’s room. I opened the door to see her peacefully sleeping. I smiled slightly and sat on her bed. I gently stroked her hair as she begun to stir. When she saw me, she instantly popped up from her bed. “Glad to see you’re excited to see me,” I laughed as she jumped in my lap to hug me.

“I missed you,” she mumbled as I held her closely.

“I missed you too baby,” I kissed her forehead as I thought about what I needed to say. “My, you know how mommy went to heaven years ago right?” I asked her as she nodded. “And you know how daddy isn’t here at the moment right?” I looked at her as she shook her head once again.

“Can you be my mommy? Everyone has a mommy and my mommy went to heaven. You act like my mommy,” she looked up at me with her big brown eyes.

“Only if you want me to be,” I tried to hold in my tears as she smiled.

“Of course I want you to be,” she giggled excitedly and hugged me again. There is nothing in this world that I would trade for this moment right now.