Are you hiding something from me? ⚡️
"Are you sure you can't come?" I pleaded with the best puppy dog eyes that I could muster, hoping they could convince my girlfriend to come with me on my trip to Aspen.
"You know I would if I could baby," Juju replied softly as she continued to pack the last bits of my clothes into my bag before zipping it shut.
"My knee's just been acting up lately and coach wants me to get it checked out," Juju continued before reaching down and massaging her right knee.
I feel my face fall into a frown and I place my hand on top of hers.
Juju's eyes meet mine and she smiles softly, silently letting me know that she was okay, but I wasn't fully convinced.
She has a strange look in her eye, almost like she's holding back from telling me the whole truth.
Maybe her recovery isn't going as well as I thought?
Maybe she's injured herself again?
All these thoughts started swirling around in my head before a light squeeze on my hand brought me back to reality, "hey, what's going on in that pretty head of yours?"
I chuckled softly at the question and then shrugged it off, not wanting to add to her already stressful situation.
"Nothing, it's just..." I trailed off, suddenly at a loss for words.
"Just what?" Juju questioned before coming to sit down next to me on the bed.
"You'd tell me wouldn't you? If something was wrong?" I blurt out before I can stop myself, and I don't miss how Juju's face seems to fall before she quickly composes herself.
"Of course I would," she replies softly before leaning in for a quick kiss.
Those four words swirled around and around in my head for the whole duration of my flight as I stared out the window.
The more I thought about them, the more uneasy they made me feel.
They didn't seem genuine, and I couldn't shake the feeling that there was something Juju wasn't telling me.
Call it a woman's intuition, but there was something very strange about the whole situation.
"Are you even listening to me?" Kennedy's voice accompanied by a hand slapping my arm broke me out of my trance. "I swear you've disassociated for this whole flight."
I hissed and rubbed my arm where a red mark was now starting to form, "first of all, ow!"
"Don't play with me, what's up with you?" Kennedy pressed, seeing by my face that something was up.
I sighed deeply, looking out the window one more time, deciding whether this was even something that was worth bringing up.
"I'm just worried about Juju," I finally admit. "I hope her knee is alright."
"I also hope that she isn't hiding something from me," but I keep that part to myself.
I turn to look back at Kennedy and I'm relieved to see that her gaze is softer now. "Aw boo, she'll be okay," she replies before rubbing my arm gently.
"Sorry for hitting you," she whispers with a guilty tone, making me laugh out loud for the first time since that night in my bedroom.
"Yeah, I'm sure you're right," I reply softly before looking out the window again, hoping to convince Kennedy and myself that she had eased my mind.
"Come on, we have to go!" Kennedy shouted up the stairs frantically. "I want to learn how to ski before all the cute guys show up!"
That made me chuckle, because if there was one thing about Kennedy, it's that she was consistent with her mission to find a cute guy on our trips.
I move to grab my phone off my bedside table just as it starts buzzing and Sari's contact name pops up.
I feel my stomach drop slightly before I grab it quickly and answer it.
"Sari?" I question quietly.
"Hi baby! What's wrong? You sound upset," Sari's soft voice echoes through the phone.
I immediately feel myself start to relax when I hear Sari's happy voice on the other side of the line.
Since Juju's injury, I've found that my stomach drops quite easily when I get calls from her family, even though we talk all the time.
I think Juju's recent behaviour just has me more on edge than ever.
"Oh, it's nothing," I reply back, still feeling my heartbeat thump loudly in my ears. "I just thought maybe something had happened."
"No, nothing has happened. I just wanted to see how your trip was going," she replies and I can hear her shuffling around her house.
She's probably up making breakfast for everyone back home.
Ugh, how I miss her food.
"It's great, we're just about to head out to go skiing now, Kennedy is getting impatient," I chuckle softly and I hear Sari do the same.
"I wish Ju had been able to go," Sari stated softly. "Sometimes I think these basketball commitments are too much."
I feel my eyebrows pull together and I grow more confused as Sari keeps talking down the phone.
Does she mean her injury?
"And I told her you know, work isn't everything but as you know, it's like talking to the wall sometimes," Sari continued.
I pause, struggling to think about what to say next, because I'm getting an increasing feeling that I don't like the direction of this conversation.
"Well, health comes first," I finally say. "Juju has to mind her knee."
The silence on the other side of the line tells me a lot.
"I don't know what you're talking-" Sari began but the sound of a door opening and closing seems to distract her.
"Ju! Come say hi," Sari exclaimed excitedly. "Ju just came back from shooting hoops with her brothers."
And now my stomach really drops to my feet.
Everything starts to click, Juju's weird behaviour, her mom's confusion when I mentioned her knee.
It's like I could see the pieces of the puzzle falling into place in front of me.
"Who is it?" I hear Juju's voice in the background of the call. "Who do you think?" Sari quipped back sarcastically.
"Nova! Get your ass down here now!" Kennedy's scream startles me from downstairs. "Coming!" I shout back before thinking, surprised I can even speak in this moment.
There's a beat of silence on the other line.
"Wait, is that Nova?" Juju says warily. "Gimme the phone!" She speaks again more frantically.
"Sari, I have to go! Bye!" I spluttered out, tripping over my words before hanging up and feeling my hands start to tingle.
I fall back onto the bed, needing a stable surface to hold me up as my legs start to go numb.
My phone starts to buzz uncontrollably in my hand and I don't even look to see who it is, because I don't need to.
I already know it's Juju.
But I can't think about that right now, about what she may or may not be saying.
All I can think about is the fact that she lied to me.
Juju faked a knee injury so she wouldn't have to come on vacation with me.
My stomach has fallen so hard, it's all the way down the stairs by now with Kennedy.
Notes: Wow first fic post kinda nervy
Seeing Juju on my screen again has awoken the writer in me 🙂↔️
Part 2?
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