**A Romance, Teen Fiction, and YA Featured Novel**
Worlds collide when a formerly overweight teen befriends a blinded football player and is forced to confront her growing feelings for the boy who lost it all.
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Tay Statin had always thought a per...
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"Thanks for last night. I'm sorry for how I acted but thank you for being there for me. Would you maybe want to hang out sometime so I can prove I'm not a complete ass?"
I smile to myself and throw my phone onto the grass beside me, following it as I flop backward. "Your brother is so..." I trail off, not quite finding the correct word as I slap my hand to my head.
"Annoying?" Lottie offers, propping herself up with an elbow.
"Confusing." I roll to my side to look at her. The sun is getting close to the edge of the field, turning the sky a brilliant shade of yellow. Crickets chirp and skitter across the grass like a symphony of odd-sounding instruments. "He wants to hang out to make up for something he said at the party last night."
If I'm being honest with myself, hanging out with him again isn't an idea I hate. Last night proved that the old Tay is still in there somewhere underneath all that pain and anger. Maybe I can help him find himself again.
Lottie purses her lips. "Was it bad?"
I look down at my hands and rub them together. "Not really. He was lashing out, trying to push me away. But I refused to let him do that to me."
She presses her lips together at the corner. "Yeah, he does that a lot. Mainly to my dad, but I think that's just because he knows our dad cares about him, even though they haven't always been super close. Travis and Jackson, too. I'm surprised they put up with it, sometimes."
So, I'm not the only one he's trying to push away. That's kind of comforting to know.
"You said he wants to hang out?" Lottie asks.
"Yeah. Why?"
She shrugs. "No reason. He just won't go out much anymore, let alone ask someone else to go."
My eyebrows knit. "Is that a bad thing?"
"No."
I lean back and look up at the sky, watching the clouds drift. "Besides, it's not like it's a date."
"Unless it is."
I bolt upright and gawk at her. "What?"
She props herself up with an elbow. "I'm saying, what if he likes you? I mean, he doesn't tell me much about those things but it wouldn't be totally unbelievable." She sits up and dusts herself off. "Of course, if you're still worried, you can ask Travis what he thinks. As much as I hate to admit it, he's known Tay longer than me."
Talk to Travis. Oh, yay.
"What's with that face?" When my eyes meet hers, she laughs. "That bad, huh?"
"You don't even know." I roll my eyes. "I get that he wants to be friends, but I can't get the past couple of years out of my head."
"I don't blame you." She waves her hand. "He can press a lot, but he knows when he's wrong and he always tries to fix it. Plus, if he thinks Tay has even a little interest in you as more than a friend, he won't press so much."
