Foul Ball
Chapter 37: Jayce

I knew there was something wrong as soon as Macey walked through the door to my apartment later that night after being gone all day long, unavailable. I'd texted her and called her a dozen times, knowing that if she hadn't come back to see me after the appointment, it must have been bad. She wore her normal attire of jeans and a t-shirt, but the jacket she wore was zipped to her chin. She hadn't even bothered braiding her beautiful hair but had merely yanked it back into a low ponytail. Her face was expressionless, but I could see the red tint to her skin and the slightly darkening under her eyes from leaked mascara.

"What's wrong, baby?" I asked, getting at once to my feet to cross the floor to meet her. I was so happy to see her that I could have dropped to my knees in relief, but something more sinister was lurking.

Macey said nothing for a long moment, and as I took her into my arms and held her against me, she didn't return the embrace.

"Mace? What in the hell is happening?"

For a moment I was sure she wasn't going to say anything at all. But then, as I released her, she shoved her hands into the pockets of her jacket and turned her head away, eyes focusing on the wall behind me instead of on me. "I came to tell you I'm sorry," she said finally. When she spoke, her voice cracked, and her vivid blue eyes welled with tears.

"Sorry for what?" I reached for her again, but this time she side-stepped me, shaking her head. She couldn't hold my gaze for long at all, and her eyes flickered back and forth between the wall and the floor.

"I'm breaking up with you," she said after a moment that seemed to go on for far too long. "I-I can't do this, Jayce."

"Do what, Mace?" I asked in a voice that didn't even sound like it belonged to me. "What can't you do? Did I do something wrong?"

"No, you did nothing wrong." She was crying now, hot tears flowing down her cheeks silently, and when I reached my hand up to wipe them away, she dodged me again, backing towards the door. "It's me," she said, shaking her head. "Not you. Please, just believe that."

"How can I-"

"I'm sorry, Jayce. I'm so sorry." "Mace."

She flung the door open and escaped through it like she was running out of a burning building. I almost chased her, almost grabbed onto her and stopped her from leaving, stopped her from running out on me. But I didn't. I didn't because something was happening, something bad, and I had no idea what it was.

I leaned, breathless and terrified, against the open door frame as Macey vanished around the corner and down the stairs. By now she'd be gone, and I felt like my legs might not carry me ever again.

"Hey, Gregory, you okay?" said one of the other athletes on this floor, Nate. Hockey, I think he played. He slowed down as he passed me, looking on in concern. I nodded. At least, I think I nodded.

"I'm fine," I said, and before waiting for Nate's reply, I dashed back into the apartment and slammed the door behind me, collapsing against the wall as I reached for my cell phone sitting on the kitchen counter. With shaking fingers I dialed Macey's number, expecting but still not happy to hear the mindless drone of the phone as she ignored my call. I hung up, then texted her. Please talk to me. I'm here for you.

Then, sliding all the way to the floor in surrender, I dialed the other person's number I knew by heart.

“Jayce?”

"She broke up with me, Mom." My voice broke as the words left my mouth, and on the other end of the line I heard my mother sigh softly. "I'm so sorry, baby," she said. "I am."

"I don't understand what happened." Pacing the living room, I kicked an old shoe box out of my way and against the wall, getting angry suddenly...but even the anger couldn't control the devastation that clung to my soul and poisoned by body. "Everything was going great. I thought she was happy."

"Sometimes these things don't work out for a reason," my mom said gently. "Sometimes people aren't meant to be together, J, and maybe that was the case with you and Macey."

"I don't believe that, not for a second." I slammed my open palm against the wall as confused anger overtook me, pushing me towards the edge, relishing in the sharp sting it left behind. And then I hit it again. "Baby," my mom soothed. "You have to trust that maybe this was going to eventually happen."

"Why would I ever assume that this was going to happen?" I asked, dropping my throbbing hand to my side to lean forward and rest my head against the wall instead. "Did you think we were destined to be doomed?" A short silence followed this, followed up by a quiet, "No. No, I didn't." I knew my mother well, and I could tell she wasn't lying. She didn't believe it, either. She'd liked Macey a lot; I know she had.

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"Then why did it happen?"

"I don't know."

"Then I'm going to find out." Wheeling around, I began to pace again, focusing instead on the pain in my hand rather than the pain in my heart. The physical pain seemed easier. "I don't think this was random, Mom, I think something is wrong with Macey, and I intend to find out."

“Jayce.”

"I have to go, Mom, but I'll call you tomorrow."

“Jayce.”

"Yeah?"

Another heavy silence. And then my mom sighed. "Be careful digging around, J, you might not like what you find."