Ellie and I chewed silently through most of our Sunday morning breakfast. By the way her eyes darted to her cell phone, which she'd kept turned off since she'd left the bar, I knew her thoughts swirled around the fact her parents left this morning. While I hoped I'd given her enough of a distraction last night, Ellie and her Dad looked like they brought out the worst in each other.

In the silence that filled our apartment, my recall of last night's events resurfaced. The last words I'd caught from Ellie, when she told her dad she wouldn't have cared if he died, sounded nothing like Ellie. By her mom's gasp in my ear from where she and I stood near the bar's door, she sounded just as surprised as Mr. Harrison looked. While Ellie's words probably weren't true and her restraint obviously snapped, Ellie was justified in being upset.

In my mind at least.

I'd never gotten close to Mr. Harrison but he definitely cared about Ellie and wanted her protected, even if he was really shitty at how he expressed that. In his eyes, especially the suspicious glares he sent in my direction, no guy was good enough for his daughter but I wasn't going to be pushed aside this time.

Which is why I had no problem telling him to his face last night.

After I wished Jake good night and dropped some money on the table, Mrs. Harrison and I stopped next to Mr. Harrison outside the bar. After one shared side glance with Mrs. Harrison after Ellie walked away, Ellie's mom and I joined her Dad's side.

"Dale," Mrs. Harrison spoke up first, with one hand palmed on his shoulder. "It'll be okay, she's just upset and didn't mean it."

He muttered quietly, "She just won't listen -"

After a slow, deep breath, with as much restraint as I managed because my place was with Ellie and a pinch of discomfort only grew the more steps she took, I interrupted him, "Mister Harrison, with all respect, you're not listening to her."

At that moment, I felt sorry for Ellie's dad. His face was pale, he stood completely rigid, and silently watched as she left. While I wasn't sure he'd even heard me, his eyes looked up at me, empty with defeat.

"And if you can't see how she works harder than anyone I've ever known, how far she's come, how hard she's trying to stand up for herself, then you're going to lose her," I added gently even though a hard reminder from the last time I'd witnessed Ellie's beyond ridiculously stubborn father built up in my chest.

My chest heaved with another slow, deliberate breath and my fingers twitched at my sides. I shifted my eyes between Mr. Harrison's, which now flooded with mixed and unfamiliar emotions that I hadn't seen in him, and Mrs. Harrison's, dark and glossy with tears. "Maybe not yet but losing Ellie hurts like hell. I lost her for two years and won't do that again. I'm damn lucky to be in her life again and want you two to work this out for her sake but I won't let you put a wedge between us this time."

Before he answered, I pressed my limits here and added, "I'm not going anywhere that isn't by her side, Sir."

Mr. Harrison's only answer was he stood silently with his eyes fixed on me and mouth pressed into a firm line. I knew from one look that my place wasn't to fight Ellie's battles for her but told him as I left, "Unlike me and my dad, she wants a relationship with you, to move forwards. Whatever you're holding onto, I think she's already forgiven you."

"Nice seeing you both again... Thanks for coming to the game." While I stepped quickly after Ellie's retreat, I hadn't waited for their response. Despite a slight curiosity, I never looked behind me because all I cared about was straight ahead of me.

"I know I'm being petty," Ellie's mumbled confession broke me out of my memory. "They came all this way and I can't believe I told Dad I wouldn't care if he dropped dead."

"You're allowed some self-preservation." I clamped my closest hand over hers, which was squeezed into a tight fist. The strain in her wrist and forearm released as her fingers relaxed under mine.

The guilt remained in her eyes but the corners of her mouth briefly curled upwards. "You're sounding like Dr. Sterns."

I exhaled sharply out my nose. "What would she say at this point?"

"That I should call them, see them, and work this out." She groaned quietly, slipped her hand out from under mine, and rubbed it over her forehead. "But every time I think about it, I get angry. Such a mess."

"Do you want to call Dr. Sterns?" If I hadn't known by the way Ellie thrashed around last night, then the dark half-circles under eyes showed how little she'd slept. While she joined the majority of UW's students in a sleep-deprivation state this week, Ellie's wasn't related to how she crammed for midterms.

With her hand still on her forehead, Ellie shook her head a few times. "No, we probably should try to work it out between us. I'm pretty sure that's what she'd say and I'd feel bad calling Dr. Sterns on a Sunday morning."

"Let me call your parents then," I offered, pushed aside my empty breakfast plates, and grabbed her nearby phone. "We'll do it together."

"I..." One dark brown eye peeked at me from behind her fingers. "Fine."

Right when I turned on her phone, it rang in my palm. I flipped the contact 'Jake' over for Ellie's view, she took the phone, and put it on the table. Right before she answered, her nose cringed slightly like she braced herself for this conversation.

"Hello?"

"Ellie!?" Jake's voice boomed through the phone without the speaker option. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Logan and are home," she replied quietly. Even though this was neither the time nor the place, the word 'home' spread warmth through my chest and my closest hand slipped onto her thigh beneath the table. "He's here now, so I'm putting you on speaker. Where are you, Jake?"

"I'm at the airport, waiting to board my flight," he answered, which explained the hummed background noise that erupted behind his voice when Ellie switched to speaker mode. "But I wanted to check on you."

Surprisingly nice for the guy who's attention was more on Rachel at the bar.

In hindsight, Jake distracting Rachel away from a family argument wasn't the worst idea. And who the guy took to his bed at night wasn't my business.

"I'm fine," Ellie replied flatly, which by Jake's answer, he believed her less than I did.

"Bullshit," the phone barked out. "No one would be after -"

Ellie's leg muscles tensed under my palm and her eyes stared sharply at her phone screen flat on the table between us. "I said what I probably should've said years ago, Jake. So if you -"

"I'm talking about what Dad said, he's done to you," Jake interrupted her. "Mom sits back and doesn't want to admit anything but it's wrong. I told him last night he's wrong and I'll tell him a hundred times until it sinks into his thick skull."

My mouth parted slightly at his blunt words which, for Ellie's sake, I was glad Jake said them.

About time someone from her family is on her side.

"Yeah well, I... wuh-what?" Ellie stammered and lifted her eyes to me with question marks that asked if I'd heard Jake correctly, so I nodded. In case she needed any further reassurance that I shared his sentiments, my hand on her leg found hers and squeezed it gently.

"Dad's head is so far up his butt, he can't see straight," Jake offered what I felt was a pathetic excuse but Ellie's eyes were glued to her phone screen, so I tucked my upper lip between my teeth and sat quiet. "And... I'm sorry Ellie."

A sound came out of Ellie's lips that sounded like she half-grunted, half-laughed. A frown creased between her eyebrows as she gritted out, "What are you sorry for Jake? The possibility that our little outburst ruined your chance to score with Rachel Sorenson?"

A muffled boarding announcement voice filtered through the background and Jake groaned, then cursed quietly. His voice was thick with sarcasm when he replied, "As much as she wanted to take me up to her hotel room, like all other times, I declined."

"Huh..." Ellie rolled her lower lip under her teeth. "Right, Jake."

"Believe what you want, I haven't fucked that woman. Don't believe me, ask Mom because I walked them back to their room. I gotta go, I'm boarding soon." Jake's voice sounded unusually hesitant when he asked, "Call you later?"

"Yeah," she replied slowly before a true smile crossed her lips. "I'd like that, at least let me know your flight gets back."

While Ellie's Dad seemed stuck in the past, I was relieved Jake had calmed down and seemed like he'd come to his senses. I'd seen Jake once a year, when UCD and USC played each other but I'd played and he'd rode the bench as USC's backup. Our exchanges were quick but not hostile like in high school.

The last time we'd met up post-game was when USC visited late during last year's season and handed UC-Davis a 27-24 defensive chokehold loss. Jake had sat out the game on the bench while I'd tried my best and fell bitterly short. Jake had almost made the starting quarterback position our second year but a transferred in senior beat him out during training camp. After we met during a post-game handshake, both of us left the field frustrated but I saw him again after the game.

"Good game, LT." Jake stopped outside the USC bus, lifted his chin in my direction, and grinned.

"Right," I replied in an equally sarcastic tone but still offered him a hand. "Next time."

"Next time will be different," he agreed and shook my hand. His tone of voice wasn't the usual angry Jake, more hardened with determination.

"Next time will be different," I agreed in a low voice but looked him straight in the eyes. "Because I'm transferring next year."

The overhead lights flickered deep shadows across his creased forehead. "To...?"

I hesitated for one breath, then admitted, "University of Washington."

Jake stared at me, his eyes stretched wider but he slowly gave me an alarmingly calm smile. After a few moments where all I felt was my own heart beats pounded in my chest, he nodded slightly. "Took you long enough."

"You're okay with it," I spoke slowly with a tone that was more of an affirmation statement, not a question.

"Told you not to give up on her," he muttered and was interrupted when a coach called him onto USC's bus.

"I didn't," I assured the back of his head. By the way he hadn't turned back, I wasn't sure if he'd heard me but at that moment, just like now, I wouldn't have cared.

While Ellie wrapped up her call with Jake, I sat back, distracted as my own thoughts shifted. Ellie's situation with her Dad flooded my brain with reminders about the relationship I had with mine. While Ellie's Dad's issues looked like he almost cared too much, mine was the opposite - cold, distant, and self-centered.

The difference between me and Ellie was I couldn't have cared less if I had a relationship with my Dad.

Or... do I?

No, he's made his life's choices and I'm not one of them.

On some level, Ellie's situation with her dad was somewhat petty in how neither wanted to budge or break through their communication barrier. Since midterms started tomorrow, my best guess was that Ellie slipped back into her silent, cut-out mode with her parents and never responded no matter how many messages they sent to her after last night's argument.

It's her parents, so her call but I should try to be better though.

With that thought in mind, I pulled out my phone and sent off a quick message.

me: Looking forward to seeing you and Olivia this weekend. Have a good flight.

I blinked down at the message, which seemed decently nice enough, and expected his lukewarm response. So once my phone chimed with it, I wasn't surprised.

Dad: Same. See you soon.

A sigh quietly left me as I put down my phone and redirected my attention to Ellie. She sat back in her seat, her eyes focused on the empty table between us with a slightly glazed look that told me she was now lost in her own thoughts. The same thought that drove my actions last night in the apartment replayed in my mind.

I can't take away her pain but maybe I can distract her from it a little.

When I reached over and squeezed her hand in mine, Ellie's eyes lifted up curiously at me, probably from whatever expression I now wore from the idea that came over me. "Join me for water aerobics tonight."

"Water aerobics," Ellie echoed in a doubtful voice like she practiced the words on her tongue. "Isn't that like... Floating grannies?"

"Not according to Greg," I offered with a slight lift of my shoulders. "He basically told me to try it and there's a class tonight, so... Wanna go?"

"Are you sure?" Ellie's dark brown eyes stared at me but a flicker of curiosity appeared in them. "We have a lot of midterms to study for."

"Absolutely," I replied with a grin at the idea we tried something different together. That's always been a theme with our dates, at least the ones Ellie planned. "Let's study first, then take a break tonight. I think the class is at eight pm."

With a smirk that left her impassive expression otherwise completely unchanged, she only blinked at me with slightly parted lips. "Why not."