Redeeming Heart

Crush

Brandon’s Point of View

Sasha-Lee Adams

A girl with many achievements, unbeatable records and an untamed heart that nobody understands.

I haven’t seen or heard from her since she disappeared three years ago. Everyone knew her story about her sick mother who passed away years ago and the sports world didn’t just lose one legend but two.

Her, wild-forest green eyes looked at me, suppressing her emotions. Her beauty was no secret. Boys back in school made bets thinking that she was into girls because she never showed interest in any boy. Only to learn that she was in love with her sports and she gave everything to come out on top.

She wasn’t the shy type and I guess that’s the part of her that made me remember her, besides her skills and talent.

I just didn’t take her as a girl who is into skateboarding but then again, she was a mystery. I've always admired her from afar because I never possessed the right amount of courage to walk up to her and strike a conversation.

I couldn’t convince myself to drag my eyes away from her when she walked away with her brother. She was still beautiful as ever and I was still a sucker who couldn’t get over it. Her soft bronze-tanned skin still tempted me and I was still tempted to taste her full lips that were pulled up into a scowl most of the time.

I shook my head at myself to get rid of the ridiculous thoughts coming alive in my head and decided to continue making my way over to Jake's house.

I knocked on the front door and waited for a couple of minutes, but when it opened I didn't expect to come face to face with his ex-girlfriend, Stacey. Sure, she was beautiful and she didn't have a single flaw, just a black heart.

“Brandon.” She greeted with a devilish smile.

“Stacey,” I acknowledge with a disapproving tone.

I couldn't believe Jake was making the same mistake of months ago. Seeing her again even after what she did to him.

“Jake is upstairs.” She said, stepping outside when a cab pulled up.

I didn't bother standing outside another minute to witness his mistakes and headed inside, shutting the door behind me, and went upstairs where I found Jake getting dressed.

“Oh, hey man. Sorry, I missed your call. Was kind of busy.” He said with a smirk playing his lips.

“Do you want to explain to me why you are still seeing that lying and cheating woman of ill repute?” I questioned, crossing my arms in front of my chest, still confused as to why he wastes his time on her.

“We aren’t dating. Just fooling around.” He said as if it wasn’t bad enough for him.

“Until one of you gets hurt?” I questioned

“I don’t remember putting you in charge of my life.” He remarked.

“As your best friend, it is my job to look out for you.” I was pretty sure he would do the same for me.

“Well, as your best friend. I have to inform you that you are not a saint yourself. You are also playing around with Ashley’s feelings.”

Ashley was my best friend of five years and yeah, she confessed her feelings to me a few months ago but I had to turn her down.

“I am not screwing around with her.” Jake rolled his eyes at my comment.

“Are you only here to lecture me?” He asked.

“I am not lecturing you. I just don’t want to see you get hurt all over again.” I reasoned, wishing that he would just let go of Stacey and move forward.

He patted me on the shoulder as he passed me. “I’ll be fine.” He assured me and then gestured for me to follow him downstairs.

“Do you still remember a girl, Sasha-Lee Adams?” Jake and I have been friends since we could walk, there wasn't a single day we were apart and our parents thought it was a bad thing. He was the closest thing I had to a brother and I wouldn't change a thing.

“Are we talking about the girl who punched Clarissa in the face? And the same girl you drooled over in high school?” He still remembered and I wasn't surprised.

I nodded. “Nobody has seen or heard from her since her mom passed away.” He clarified.

“I just bumped into her on my way over here,” I informed him.

My confession made Jake stop with what he was busy with to give me a knowing look. “Have you finally told her about your secret crush that you had for years? And you are finally getting married to her? Or did she finally decide to come out?”

I just shook my head at him for being ridiculous. “She looks really good. She’s into skateboarding now.”

Jake rolled his eyes at me. “She has always been into skateboarding. She practically carried that thing around with her everywhere she went. How can you not remember this? For a guy who was stuck on a girl and supposed to know everything, you quite suck at this.”

“I always thought that Sasha was the reason why things didn’t work out between Clarissa and me,” I noted. If it was only that simple, but Clarissa held a secret only I know of and I haven't told a soul.

Jake pulled up his shoulders. “I just think it was because that girl had an issue with your precious crush and you couldn’t handle it.”

“Are you thinking about growing a spine and finally asking her out on a date?” Jake asked.

I shrugged. “It’s Sasha we are talking about.” We may have matured over the past three years but she was still the same strong-willed girl I met years ago.

“Well, maybe things will work out for you this time as her passion burned out years ago,” Jake suggested but I had a feeling it wasn’t going to be easy to get Sasha to go out with me.

She had that same look in her eyes that she had years ago. Only she became more distant since her mom passed away.

“Why don’t you start off with thanking her? She is the reason why you followed your passion.” He reminded me.

“I have a feeling that she won’t really care.” She was a pro before I even thought about becoming a pro. Her strength and motivation inspired me to push harder for my dreams, but when she disappeared and stopped doing what she loved. She has no idea how many lives she changed.

"You will never know unless you try." Jake encouraged.

We spent a few hours at his house before Jared showed up and we had to get to practice. I was still on a high from this morning when I bumped into Sasha and I didn't expect to see her twice in one day.

She stood out from the crowd and my eyes found her the moment I entered the ice rink with my team following. I couldn’t convince myself to remove my eyes from her.

“Isn’t that?” Jake whispered into my ear, gazing at her.

“Yup,” I replied with a curt nod.

“So, go up there.” He insisted.

I shook my head. “It looks as if she is ready to beat up the coach for letting her brother get smashed out there,” I noted.

“That little guy has to step up or that is going to keep on happening to him,” Jake remarked.

“His teammates are total d***s for doing that to him.” I glanced over my shoulder when I found my whole team standing behind us, looking at how Jonah is getting mishandled by his team.

“I know we were also jerks when we started out but we didn’t treat any of our mates like that,” Jared commented, glaring at their coach.

“It’s all about who has money these days. It’s not about the talent anymore.” Jake muttered and most of the guys agreed.

“Have you seen who is here?” One of the guys asked suddenly asked and I expected it to be someone famous with the way everyone reacted.

“Sasha-Lee Adams.” He continued, expressing his excitement.

She was famous after all and everyone in Louisiana knows who she was-- not only because of her who her mother was.

Jake gave me a knowing look. “Put that girl in a pair of skates and a hockey stick. She will drive that team to their knees.” Jared remarked.

I wasn't surprised to see that I wasn’t the only one who admired her and knew who she was.

“Come on, let’s go.” It was our turn to get in a few hours of practice. The team made their way while I followed behind. Each of them looked at Sasha when they went past her but she barely noticed as she was focused on not getting stumbled over, but she failed at avoiding stumbling into me.