“An Arab-American female comedian.” Sarah glanced at me before she added, “With cerebral palsy.”
My eyes widened. Curious about the woman capturing my best friend’s attention, I popped one of Sarah’s earbuds from her ear to plug it into my own. Together we listened to Maysoon Zayid talk about being thirty-three and single.
After a couple seconds, I laughed. She was pretty funny. But that didn’t explain why Sarah was quite this utterly fascinated with her, other than the fact they both had CP.
I tipped her a sideways glance. “You want to be a comedian?”
She blurted out a shocked laugh and then bumped her arm against mine. “God, no.”
“Then why is one your hero?” I was confused.
“Because she’s a freaking inspiration.” She motioned to the screen. “I can’t stand going out into public. I feel so paranoid about what people think, I just want to soak into the shadows so no one will see me, but she actually likes to be in the spotlight. And she’s so good at it. She takes everything anyone could ever discriminate against her and she makes it all a funny non-issue. She’s just...she’s so brave. I wish I could be that brave. I wish I didn’t care what anyone thought of me.”
I stared at her, stunned and a little hurt to hear she felt this way...and I hadn’t known.
“Do you really worry what other people think about you that much?” I’d known she was shy, but I thought that was just because she was...shy. Not worried or insecure.
“Um...yeah. Wouldn’t you worry if you did this all the time?” She lifted her arm, and when it immediately twisted at a funky angle and her wrist curled in, I sighed through a frown, caught her arm and lowered it back to her side.
Honestly, I barely noticed the shaking these days. I actually got a little unnerved by being near people who were too still. But that wasn’t the issue. The issue was—
“You’ve never said anything about it.”
Sarah blinked at me as if I was insane. “That doesn’t mean it doesn’t bother me every single day.”
I shook my head, frowning and upset with myself for not catching on to this before. I’d always assumed she didn’t care what anyone thought. But all this time, my best friend had been suffering inside, and I’d been clueless.
God, I sucked.
“Has someone been messing with you?” I asked, remembering how Zach Bledsoe had bullied her last year and even knocked her wheelchair over. After I’d beaten his ass, he’d never bothered her again. That I knew of. But if he was—
“No,” she said, causing my shoulders to fall in relief. “No one even talks to me. They either keep their distance or try to avoid me completely. And the few people who do approach, talk to me like I’m two years old and can only understand, like, five words, or worse yet, pat me on the head.”
“I don’t treat you that way.”
She blew out a breath and sent me a brief scowl. “Well, you’re the only one. You, and Mason, and Reese. But I can’t be around you three every hour of every day.”
Suddenly feeling shitty that I’d been hogging her all to myself, I made myself a promise that I’d bring her to my house more often so Noel, and Aspen, and Colton could get to know her better and help her widen her circle. I even thought up some fellow football players I could force to befriend her. Not that I’d ever let her in on my intentions. She’d probably kill me if she knew.
“Hey,” I murmured. Since she looked as if she were on the verge of tears, I caught her chin and stared her straight in the eye. “If someone can’t look past a little shaking and see what kind of amazing person you are, then they’re a fucking idiot, and you don’t need to befriend someone that stupid, anyway.”
A single tear tracked down her cheek. I wiped it away. “You just being yourself is what made you my favorite person, so just keep being you, okay?”
Another tear wavered in her lashes, but she smiled and nodded. “Thank you. I love you so much.”
My lips parted as all the air in my lungs suddenly went on vacation. Her words rang through my head, blaring so loud they buzzed in my ears. My heart thudded, reverberating out my arms and legs.
Brain unable to function past the fact that Sarah loved me, I blurted, “I love you, too.”
She grinned, her entire face lighting up until she was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. I swear, her cheeks glowed, her blue eyes sparkled, even her dark hair vibrated with vivacity. Everything in me screamed to lean in and press my mouth to hers.
Seal the moment with a kiss.
But she beat me to it, stamping her lips to my cheek and pulling away before I even realized what was going on.
“You always know how to cheer me up. You’re like the best friend whisperer or something.”
I gulped, too frozen to react. Suddenly glad I hadn’t kissed her, I realized she’d meant a totally different kind of love than I had. Shit, this was humiliating. My face warmed, and I glanced away.