Seventeen-year-old football player, Brayden Anderson, has his entire life planned out. He's going to work with his dad's construction business after graduation, support all the local sports teams, and maybe even go on to coach some of them.
What he never expected? To collide with peculiar, music savant, Laurel Bennett.
Laurel's everything he's not, and she's everything he needs. Over the course of their senior year, Brayden and Laurel discover opposites attract. As their relationship grows in unexpected ways, a secret Laurel has been harboring threatens to tear them apart.
They'll have to navigate their way through love, loss, and grief in order to conquer their feelings, or ultimately let go and lose everything.
14+ due to adult situations
Excerpt:
Laurel was unlike any girl I’d ever met, or really what I should say, unlike any girl I’d ever noticed before. She hopped up into my truck, waving bye to her dad as we pulled out of her driveway and onto the main road in Czar. My gaze was firmly fixed on the road, but I could see her in my periphery looking all around the truck until she picked up a few CDs.
“Oh sweet! You’ve got CDs,” she said, flipping them over and reading the back jacket. “I hate that everything is so new and now cars don’t come with CD players. My parents met and married in the nineties, so that’s all I grew up with. Well, CDs, vinyl, radio, and live music.”
“Yeah, those were in here when I bought this,” I said, glancing over at her real quick and then back to the road.
She popped one open and pushed it in the player.
“Guns N’ Roses,” she said, smiling, like she’d come across an old familiar friend. And then she began singing along, head bobbing, arms up like she was at a concert.
I was absolutely captivated.
Captivated by this carefree girl who had the voice and playing chops of some otherworldly creature, this happy go lucky live in the moment attitude. I glanced over from time to time, not taking my eyes off the road too long. It was hard to look at anything else but how the sun hit her hair, the movement of her body even while sitting down, the total lack of caring for what she was doing in front of others. She had everything going for her, and it made my chest warm. It was kind of like when you’re cold and take a big drink of hot chocolate and it’s the best sensation ever. That was her.
A few songs later and we pulled into my driveway. I could see everyone was here—Uncle Carl, Aunt Jennifer, Mom, Dad, and Caleb.
“I hope you like hamburgers,” I said, turning the engine off.
“Who doesn’t?” she said with a coy smile. “I tried the pescatarian lifestyle and we didn’t work out too well.”
I had to give her credit, if she was nervous, you’d never know. I was nervous going to her house and then dealing with her dad, who I’m sure was overbearing maybe because Laurel was his only daughter, or I don’t know … maybe that was just the normal way dads acted with their daughters.
But not her. She had an easy manner about her with everyone. She seemed to be a natural at everything. Did she have any weaknesses?
As we rounded the corner to go to my backyard, I did the most impulsive thing I’ve done in my life, even more impulsive than throwing money at Laurel for busking and coming back the next night hoping to run into her.
I grabbed her hand.
I grabbed her hand so my family could see. I wanted them to see me holding her hand. But more importantly, I wanted to hold her hand.
Laurel never jerked away, didn’t seem surprised, rather she surprised me by squeezing my hand back and turning the corner with me like we’d always been an item. I couldn’t remember feeling happier.
To my family's credit, and maybe I owed thanks to divine intervention, no one said anything about our public display of affection. I was the most worried about Caleb, but unbelievably, he showed me mercy. Maybe college had matured him. I didn’t know.
“Hey, everyone. This is Laurel,” I said, turning toward her and then back to what felt like a thousand sets of eyes staring at us. “And this is my mom and dad, Aunt Jennifer, Uncle Carl, and my brother, Caleb.”
With her free hand, she gave a polite wave. “Hi.”
“Well, you two are just in time. The food is fresh off the grill,” Mom said. A look passed between Mom and Laurel, one of recognition. It was odd. But this wasn’t the time or place.
Today was about listening to vintage CDs while driving down the road, eating the best food with family, and feeling light as air, like a feather floating in the wind because Laurel had a way of making things feel weightless. She was doing things to me, like changing my internal structure. And I wanted more.
“You’re a senior this year too?” Dad asked Laurel.
“Yes,” she answered.
Mom was serving burgers to everyone.
“Do you have any plans after graduation?”
I was dipping out baked beans while Aunt Jennifer was busy pouring lemonade for everyone.
“Somewhat. I’ve been thinking about trying to get into some music programs,” she said, taking the glass Aunt Jennifer offered.
“Laurel plays a lot of instruments,” I said, sounding like an idiot.
“That’s pretty cool,” Mom said, sitting down to the table after serving burgers to everyone. “What’s your preference?”
“The piano.”
“Oh. So, you’re looking at somewhere like Julliard,” Caleb piped up while choking down a bite of hamburger.
“Ugh, yeah. Perhaps,” Laurel answered, looking over at me quickly and then back to her food.
My dad had his own construction business and while he didn’t expect me to stick around and take up the family business, I felt it was my obligation after Caleb bailed on it. I never even considered college because I was the only son left to live out my father’s dream.
There was this one football game I regretted. We were up by one, the other team was on the ropes, it was fourth down, and all we had to do was stop them from getting the first down. The other team snapped the ball, and our defense read the play. The linebacker came in, hit the quarterback on the drop back, and knocked the ball loose on a strip sack. There the ball was, laying on the turf. The game was over essentially. All we had to do was fall on it. But all I could see was green in front of me. I picked that ball up and I ran.
I scored a touchdown.
But there was no cheering as our field goal unit came out onto the field to kick the extra point. A bad snap resulted in the kicker shanking the field goal. I’d just given the other team an opportunity to win.
There was only silence from the crowd holding their breath in fear, my teammates looking at me like, “What did you do?” Coach Westfall looked at me with absolute disappointment in his eyes.
And that was when I realized, I’d left the other team a chance. The only one they needed.
The other team got the ball back. But they didn't just get the ball back. When we kicked it off to them, they returned it for a touchdown, and they also nailed the two-point conversion, and they won.
Slow and steady wins the race. Coach always said that to us, like it was his motto. All we had to do was eat the clock. Stay in bounds and get tackled, eat the clock. Slow and steady. But I blew the game then and much like that horrific Friday night on the field, I blew it with Laurel because I wasn’t willing to go slow and steady. But this time it cost me more than a football game.
It would cost me her.
