Rumor Has It I'm Dating the Football Captain

Chapter 94: Chapter 94: The Peace I Thought I Wanted

The supply closet in the journalism department was incredibly cramped. It smelled like dust and dried ink.

Audrey pushed the door open to grab a new stack of printer paper. She immediately stopped in her tracks.

Ben was sitting on the floor. He was wedged tightly between a box of toner cartridges and a mop bucket. His knees were pulled up to his chest. He was typing frantically on his laptop, completely in the dark.

Audrey stared at him. "Ben. What are you doing?"

Ben violently shushed her. He pointed a frantic finger at the closed door.

"Lower your voice," Ben hissed. He pushed his glasses up his nose. "If she hears you, she will find me."

"If who hears you?" Audrey asked.

"Preston," Ben whispered. He looked genuinely terrified. "She is hunting me, Audrey. She is systematically destroying my defenses."

Audrey crossed her arms. She leaned against the doorframe. "Daisy is hunting you? Daisy? The girl who wears yellow sweaters and cries over dead house plants?"

"Do not let the sweaters fool you," Ben warned darkly. "She is a psychological terrorist. I came into the office this morning, and there was a warm blueberry muffin on my desk. It had a sticky note on it. The sticky note had a smiley face."

Audrey pressed her lips together, trying very hard not to laugh. "A smiley face. How horrific."

"It is horrific!" Ben argued quietly. "I told her I do not want a relationship. I told her I am a terrible person. And she just smiled at me and told me to eat my antioxidants. I cannot yell at her if she is feeding me baked goods. It completely ruins my authoritative aesthetic."

Audrey could not hold it in anymore. She let out a soft laugh.

"Ben, you cannot hide in the closet forever," Audrey pointed out. "We have a paper to publish by tomorrow morning. You are the senior editor."

"I can edit from here," Ben said stubbornly. He tapped his laptop screen. "I have WiFi. I have darkness. I am safe."

Footsteps clicked lightly down the hallway outside.

"Ben?" a sweet, cheerful voice called out. "Ben, I have the new tennis photos! I also bought you a green tea!"

Ben’s eyes went completely wide. He held his breath. He looked at Audrey and violently shook his head, begging her to stay quiet.

Audrey rolled her eyes, but she stepped out of the closet and pulled the door shut behind her.

Daisy was standing in the hallway, holding a steaming paper cup.

"Hey, Daisy," Audrey smiled. "Ben had to run to the administration building to yell at someone about the printing budget. He will be gone for a while."

Daisy did not look disappointed. She just smiled brightly.

"Okay," Daisy said nicely. "I will just leave the tea on his desk. He can drink it when he gets back. Thanks, Audrey!"

Daisy turned around and happily skipped back toward the main office.

Audrey waited until she was gone. She opened the closet door again. Ben let out a massive, dramatic sigh of relief. He let his head fall back against the mop bucket.

"You saved my life," Ben breathed.

"You are an idiot," Audrey told him gently. "She actually likes you, Ben. You should just let her."

Ben’s stressed expression faltered. For a split second, he just looked like a tired guy who desperately wanted to drink the green tea sitting on his desk.

"I can’t," Ben said quietly. "She deserves someone who has time for her. Not someone hiding in a mop closet."

Audrey looked at him. The humor completely drained out of the moment.

Ben was pushing Daisy away because he thought he wasn’t good enough for her. He thought his life was too chaotic for her. It sounded entirely too familiar.

Audrey felt a heavy, painful knot form in her stomach.

"I need to drop these proofs off at the athletic department," Audrey said, her voice suddenly sounding very hollow. "I will be back in an hour."

"Bring me the green tea before you go," Ben requested from the floor.

---

The campus athletic complex was loud.

Whistles blew sharply in the crisp afternoon air. The football team was running full contact defensive drills. The massive stadium lights were already turning on to fight the setting sun.

Audrey walked down the concrete steps toward the field. She held a thick manila folder against her chest. It contained the final roster quotes. Coach Miller required a physical copy every Thursday before the paper printed.

She told herself to just drop the folder at the front desk and leave. She told herself not to look at the pitch.

But her eyes betrayed her.

She found him instantly.

Mason was in the center of the field. He was covered in mud and sweat. He was not wearing his captain armband today. He was just wearing a plain gray practice jersey.

A junior striker tried to run the ball past him. Mason did not even flinch. He stepped forward, planted his boots, and stole the ball with a slide tackle so flawless and aggressive that the entire coaching staff yelled in approval.

He stood up. He did not celebrate. He did not smile. He just tossed the ball back to the referee and walked back to his position.

He looked completely dead inside.

Audrey stood frozen by the metal bleachers. Her heart physically ached.

He was not acting like the arrogant, confident WFA prospect. He was acting like a machine. Jackson and Leo were jogging near him, clearly trying to keep an eye on him, but Mason was entirely locked in his own silent world.

The drill ended. The coach blew his whistle for a water break.

The players jogged toward the benches.

Mason grabbed a plastic water bottle. He tilted his head back and drank. As he lowered the bottle, his dark eyes scanned the sidelines.

He stopped.

He saw her standing by the bleachers.

Audrey completely stopped breathing. The distance between them was massive, but she could feel the intense heat of his stare all the way from the grass.

For one agonizing second, she thought he was going to walk over. She thought he was going to march up the steps, ignore all the rules, and demand to talk to her. The hurricane inside him was always so loud.

But Mason did not move.

He stared at her for exactly three seconds. Then, he deliberately turned his back. He put his water bottle down and walked away, heading toward the far side of the pitch where the coaches were standing.

Audrey felt like all the air had been violently punched out of her lungs.

He turned his back on her.

He was doing exactly what she had asked him to do. She told him to leave her alone. She told him he didn’t understand personal space. She told him she wanted to move on.

So he was giving her exactly what she wanted. He was staying away.

Audrey gripped the manila folder so tightly the edges bent. A hot, miserable tear slipped down her cheek.

"Audrey?"

She quickly wiped her face. She turned around.

Leo was standing near the tunnel entrance. He was holding his helmet. He looked sweaty and completely exhausted. He did not have his usual loud, goofy smile. He just looked at her with incredibly sad eyes.

"Hey, Leo," Audrey whispered.

Leo walked closer. He looked back at the field. He looked at Mason, who was standing alone by the goalpost.

"He hasn’t slept in two days," Leo said quietly. He didn’t sound angry. He just sounded broken for his best friend. "He just runs drills until the coaches literally force him to leave the pitch."

Audrey swallowed hard. "Leo, please don’t."

"I am not going to yell at you," Leo promised softly. "I know you were scared. I know the stuff in Miami was crazy. But you broke him, Audrey."

The words hit her like a physical blow.

"I had to protect myself," Audrey cried weakly.

"I know," Leo nodded. "But he protected you too. He fought Director Hayes for you. He gave up all his leverage just to make sure that email never got sent to your department."

Audrey looked down at her shoes. The guilt was completely suffocating.

"I can’t be in his world, Leo," Audrey said. Her voice shook terribly. "It is too big. It is too messy."

Leo looked at her for a long moment. He was not the smartest guy in the classroom, but he knew everything about loyalty.

"Captain’s world is messy," Leo agreed. "But he would have spent the rest of his life making sure you were safe in it. You just didn’t trust him enough to let him try."

Leo didn’t say anything else. He just gave her a sad nod, turned around, and jogged back out onto the field to join his team.

Audrey stood alone by the cold metal bleachers.

She watched Mason run another drill. She watched him throw his entire body into the mud, completely reckless, entirely numb.

Leo was right. She had asked for a safe, quiet life. She had pushed away the hurricane because she was terrified of the damage it might cause.

But standing here in the quiet, she finally realized the terrible truth. The safe life she had begged for felt completely empty. She did not want peace and quiet.

She just wanted him.