Authors: Stella White
I nodded.
“I wonder what else I’ve been
missing,
” he said.
We stood there, arms wrapped together, for what seemed like hours. I watched the clouds crawl overhead, and soaked in the autumn air.
It wasn’t until the sun began to creep over the horizon that we both planted ourselves back in the truck. Chris looked like he’d
been drained
, emotionally.
Once we were back in the
truck
, he started leaning towards me, begging for a kiss. I met his lips with my fingers.
“Don’t confuse a caring friend with a lover, Chris. Let’s just get back to town,” I said.
He let out another long sigh as he started the car. We pulled away and rumbled down the road in utter silence. Both of us
were trapped
inside our heads.
I wondered if I was handling everything the way I should be. I almost never thought of Brad while Chris and I were together, maybe that was a good thing. He was still a massive
womanizer,
though, and he hadn’t shown any sign of change in the slightest. I
really
didn’t want to get involved.
He dropped me off in front of my apartment again.
“Thanks for the ride,” I said.
“Lucy,” he said.
“What’s up,” I asked.
“Would you come to my next game, tomorrow night?” he requested.
“Or course, I’d be happy to cheer you
on,
” I said with a smile.
He smiled back at me as I shut the door. With that, he sped off down the road.
6.
“Something was left for you, Lucy,” Tiffany said.
At least,
she was wearing
pants,
this
time;
I thought to myself.
She gestured towards a bundle of flowers that were laid out on the table. A card
was tucked
between a couple of them, which I promptly pulled free and examined.
‘To
Lucy, in the hopes that she might be willing to forgive me. Love: Brad.”
They were quite
nice
; I always did have a thing for lilies.
I had spent so much time avoiding Brad, and I was finally starting to come to my senses. He did deserve a chance to explain himself. But, I had no intention to let him back into my life.
I grabbed my phone and dialed my old flame.
“Okay, Brad. Let’s meet up and talk. You deserve that much,” I said to him over the phone.
“You won’t regret this, Lucy. I’ll see you tomorrow night,” he said, hanging up the phone.
I paused after he ended the call. I forgot, during out small conversation, that I had already made plans for Friday night. I immediately called Brad back.
“Brad, I can’t do tomorrow night,” I said.
“Don’t you want to get together and hash this out, though? Wouldn’t sooner be better than later?”
“It would be, but I have plans for tomorrow night,” I said.
He scoffed over the phone.
“Then let’s get together in the early evening, you’ll still have your night free for your date, or whatever it
is,
” He replied.
“Fine,” I said.
I didn’t know what a terrible idea it was until I showed up the next evening. He wore his best clothes, and I had a feeling he thought this had the possibility of becoming a date.
I wore something simple but
warm
since I’d be at the game later. I wanted to be
anywhere,
but here, just the sight of his face was making my stomach churn.
“Hey Lucy,” he said.
I nodded my hello and sat down at the table. We had decided to meet at one of our old date night locations, which was a
really bad
idea. The nights we spent just sitting around drinking coffee, working on homework, and trying to avoid starvation; those memories all started flooding
back,
and I felt trapped.
“Can I start,” he said.
I nodded another yes.
“That girl didn’t mean anything to me,” he said.
“Then why were you sleeping with her,” I asked.
“I was having a moment of weakness. I’m only human, after all,” he said.
“Then as
a human
, you should learn to deal with the consequences,” I replied.
“Are you
really
going to play that ‘holier than thou’ card?” he asked, in a bit of rage.
“What are you trying to say, Brad,” I asked, calmly.
“You slept with that man-whore Chris the same night you ran off,” he said, “don’t say you didn’t. Do you know how that makes me feel?
Watching the person, I love sleep with some guy that isn’t even interested in her at all?”
I laughed; it was almost unbearable to
listen to
.
“You
really
are something else,” I said, “you accuse me of sleeping around after you I catch you in the act. I’m amazed I stayed with you as long as I did. I even have a feeling that she wasn’t the first person you were sleeping with behind my back.”
He leaned over the table and stole a kiss. I went to push him away, but he pulled me in tightly. It
took
a second before I managed to pry his face off mine, and I knew
then,
and there this would be the last time I would see him.
I shot from my seat, narrowly avoiding his searching arms trying to get a hold of me again.
“
Goodbye,
Brad,
” I said.
I started walking towards the
exit
but turned just before I did.
“I don’t regret it when I say that Chris is and always will be a better man than
you
because at least he knows what he is. He doesn’t slink around pretending to be something he isn’t.
“Don’t call me, because I won’t call you.”
I walked out of the restaurant, somehow feeling a sense of finality. It was the closure that I
was lacking
from our previous encounter. I wanted to go back in there and swear at him for another hour. I wanted to scream until my lungs belted fire. I wanted to do so many things that I knew would be bad for me. So, instead, I went to the game.
7.
Tiffany and I sat behind the team, just a few rows back. I hadn’t
really
gone to any sporting events this season. The games rarely held my interest for long.
Still, I wanted to cheer Chris
on;
he needed more cheerleaders in his corner. I knew what he was trying to
achieve;
he was just like me. He wanted to follow his dreams and become a pro player. I just wanted to find
a dream
to follow.
He turned back a few times during the game and made eye contact. His expression remained mostly jovial with his fellow players.
“He’s acting different,” Tiffany said.
“How so,” I asked.
“I haven’t seen him so talkative with his teammates. He’s usually a guy that keeps his head in the game until it’s over.”
She would know; she was probably one of his biggest fans.
“I wonder
what’s gotten
into him,” she asked.
Our team, led by Chris, crushed the other team. I cheered until I could barely speak.
The field started clearing out, Chris didn’t head to the lockers with the team. He waited on the bench, deep in thought.
I waited in the
stands;
Tiffany decided to head home for the
night,
and I told her I’d manage a way home myself, later. All that remained were a few staff members cleaning, me, and Chris.
I walked down to the field to join him, but he was pulled aside by the coach before I could catch up. I managed
to just barely overhear
their conversation.
“They were impressed tonight,” he said.
“Yeah? I thought I’d rely more on my team than try to win it by myself,” Chris replied.
“They’re still a little slow to decide, but they said that it looks promising. I’ll keep my ear to the ground for you,” the coach said.
“Thanks,” Chris said.
“Get out there and party, tonight. You earned this one,” the coach slapped him hard
in
the arm and walked off toward the locker room.
Chris snatched his helmet from the bench then looked over at me. He almost looked a little disgusted, but I couldn’t tell.
“Hey,” I said.
“Did you enjoy the game,” he asked.
“Yeah,” I said, “you looked
really good
, and it sounds like those scouts liked you a little better this week, too.”
“I’d be lying if I said I
wasn't
a little excited.”
I laughed and walked over to join him.
I wrapped my arms around him, giving him another big hug.
“Are you sure Brad won’t get jealous,” he asked.
“Why would Brad be jealous,” I questioned.
“I saw you guys at the restaurant earlier. I saw you guys making out.” Chris said.
I wanted to
laugh
but stifled it as best I could.
“Brad ambushed me with a kiss,” I said, “I wish I hadn’t even gone to meet up with him.”
“I was hoping that I’d get to talk to you before the game,” Chris said.
“What about,” I asked.
“I have started to see things in a much different light,
since
the other day. I’ve tried to do everything alone, and I had it
handled
until I met you.” He said.
“What are you trying to say,” I asked.
“I’m saying
that
my outlook has changed. I don’t want to sleep around with a bunch of girls; that part of me has died over the last week. I’ve had a lot of offers, believe me.”
I laughed at the idea of him turning down sex. He joined in and pulled me in for a hug.
“I want someone who’ll be there when I’m sad, someone who will cozy up
with
me and watch TV on
a boring
night. I think I just want someone I can go
home to
. And, I was hoping it would be you.”
I could feel tears begin to well up behind my eyes. He was baring his soul to
me,
and it was hard to deny him. I pressed my head
to
his chest and pulled him in tight.
“Would you like to go out on a date with me? It’ll be my first,” he asked.
I pulled myself away.
“Sure,
but, this time,
I get to take you to my favorite spot,” I replied.
He threw his arm around me and we walked off the field, together.
We had each other, and that was more than either of us needed.
*****
THE END
''Hi, coach,'' the girls said as they passed him on their way to cheerleader practice.
''Ladies,'' Sam said touching the peak of his cap.
''Coach, I'm free this evening,'' Cora said. Cora was one of the most beautiful cheerleaders at Westchester College, and she'd been trying to get Coach Warren to take her out for months. He was beginning to get fed up with it. At thirty-nine, he was almost twenty years older than her. For him it was
clear
. She was a student at college and he a sports coach, and it was unethical for him to take her out. Not that he didn't sometimes sit in his apartment and dream about the girls that cheered his football
team on
. But as far as he was concerned that's all it would ever be, a dream.
He'd divorced five years earlier.
He and his wife had
decided it wasn't working and gone their separate ways. It had all been very amicable, but it had left him afraid of commitment. He'd had a couple of flings with female lecturers, but as soon as they'd begun talk of a future together, he'd cut them out of his life. He kept telling himself that he didn't need a wife because he was already married to football.
''Come on guys, what time do you call this?'' Sam said as his team began to idle onto the pitch for Friday evening practice. ''Three times around the pitch,'' he shouted. He hated
tardiness,
and they were going to pay for it.
''Do we have to, coach,'' William Mayes asked. He was the alpha male of the team He was the one that got all the women and all the attention.
''Mayes, if you don't get on with it, I'll bust your ass. Clear?''
''Yes coach,'' he said as he started to jog.
When William got to the far side of the pitch, Sam heard Cora shouting at him. ''Hi William, fancy coming to my place after practice?''
Sam's players respected him. He was hard but fair, and after the serious business
was done
, he enjoyed a joke as much as anyone. But lately something was eating at
him,
and it made him ill-tempered.
Eventually, the team completed three
laps,
and Sam met them in the middle of the pitch. He split defense and offense and asked them to carry out various drills. He stood aside and watched ash they
carried out
what he'd asked them to.
''Lizzie you are useless. Honestly, you couldn't dance your way out of a paper bag,'' Cora said.
Sam looked across at the cheerleaders and wondered why Cora had it in for Lizzie. Okay, Lizzie sometimes found it difficult to co-ordinate with the others but aesthetically Lizzie was by far the best of the bunch. She had the shapeliest legs and the cutest ass and the biggest breasts. All in all,
she
was very pleasing to the eye. Lizzie also wasn't
stupid; she
'd finished high school Cum Laude and was doing very well in her law studies.
After practice, Sam kept his players in the dressing room while he lectured them on the merits of being on time. He went through the team for the forthcoming game on Sunday and gave a rousing motivational speech about the history of the college team and how they shouldn't let that
be tarnished
in any way.
The cheerleaders were getting impatient outside. They'd gathered around the changing room door waiting
for the boys
to come out. Some of them had serious boyfriends in the
team; others
were just waiting around on the off chance they may get laid.
''Lizzie, how come you never have a boyfriend?'' Cora asked. ''You aren't a Lizzie Lezzie are you?''
''Shut up Cora,'' Lizzie said. ''Just because I don't sleep with every man in town, like you.''
''Lizzie Lezzie, yes, that has a ring to it. That's what we're going to call you from now on. Do you like dancing with girls Lizzie Lezzie?'' Cora said.
''Leave me alone,'' Lizzie said. She left the group and headed back to her student lodgings alone.
''What a nerd,'' Cora said. ''She can't
dance,
and she can't get man.''
''Are you talking about Lizzie?'' William asked.
''Yes. From now on she's called Lizzie Lezzie.''
''Why?
''Because she never has a boyfriend,'' Cora said.
William slung his bag over his shoulder and laughed. ''That's a great name for her. She's a real nerd.''
Roger, the tallest man on the
team,
came out of the changing room. ''Who's a nerd?''
''Lizzie, you know, the weird cheerleader,'' William said. ''Cora reckons she's a lesbian. Lizzie Lezzie she's called her.''
''No way is she a lezzie,'' Roger said. ''I bet I can get her into bed.''
William, Cora, and the others looked at Roger as if he was from another planet. ''No way on this earth,'' William said.
''Wanna bet?'' Roger replied.
''Sure, what's the bet?''
''That I can screw her before the end of this semester,'' Roger said.
William shook Roger's
hand,
and the bet
was placed
. ''We'll invite her to BJ's after the game on Sunday. We'll get her
drunk,
and you can have your way with her,'' William added.
The group walked across the football pitch to the campus, leaving Sam shaking his head. He'd heard their ridiculous bet and felt sorry for Lizzie.
*****
''I've never seen such a shower of shit in all my life,'' Sam bellowed at the top of his voice. ''Call yourselves football players. You're all nancy
boys; that
's what you are. I'd have done better sending out a group of eleven-year-olds.''
Sam didn't often lose his temper, but he had never seen a team under his management play so terribly.
''Roger and William.
Youwere
pathetic today. You'd better play better in the next
game,
or you'll be off the team. Now all of you get out of my sight.''
The players drifted out of the dressing room, leaving Sam to contemplate what a rotten day it had been. When he'd tidied up, he locked up and walked across the pitch to his car.
This had
to be the worst team he'd ever managed, he thought. If they didn't start playing better soon, his job would be on the line.
He put his bag in the car and
started
to drive home. But faced with the prospect of an empty apartment after such
a heavy
defeat, he decided to stop by BJ's.
When he pulled up outside, his mind flashed back to all the glorious hours he'd spent at BJ's celebrating season after season
of great footballing success
. Those days seemed a long way off now. That was back in the days when kids were fit, before computers and ridiculous games like Play Station. Kids played out in the street, rode their bikes and were fit. Sometimes he despaired when he saw the freshmen turning up to their first practice. What it all meant for the future of the USA, he didn't know, but he didn't think it was positive.
''Hey Sam, great to see you. You haven't been in here for ages,'' Jodie said.
''There's been no reason to celebrate. That shower of shit over there couldn't play, even if their lives depended on it,'' he said nodding in the direction of William, Roger, Cora and the gang who were sitting
around
a huge pine at the rear of the bar.
''No, I've heard they are pretty hopeless,'' Jodie replied.
''That's an understatement.''
''So who you
lovin
, these days?'' she asked.
''I'm single. I haven't got anyone special.''
''Too bad, a lovely guy like you all alone. If I
weren't
happily married, I'd ask you on a date.'' Jodie was quite
pretty
but not Sam's type. She was a bit plump and had pink hair, the result of a magazine article she read that said
pink
hair was hip.
''Hi coach,'' Cora said as she came up to the bar to order another round of drinks. ''What brings you here?''
''This is the place we used to celebrate our victories, although you wouldn't know much about that. All we seem to do these days is
lose
.''
''Well, it's not all about winning is it?''
Sam looked at
Cora,
and if he hadn't been such a gentleman, he would have slapped her. ''It is, actually, all about the winning. Why else would you bother?''
''To have some fun. To meet people.''
''Jesus Christ. What an attitude. We are talking about college football. It's serious. If you want to meet people and have fun, why don't you go to the beach.''
''Er....okay coach. Whatever you say,'' Cora said keen to stop his rant.
''And don't talk to me in that tone. You are
very good
at winding me up Cora. Your attitude is all
wrong,
and you prance around as if you own the joint. You need a darn good hiding.''
Cora quickly paid for her drinks and went back to the others at the table.
''What an ass-hole,'' she said.
''Who? William asked.
''Coach. He's a misogynist. He just spoke to me in the moist terrible way. Nobody has ever
spoken
to me like that.''
''Come on Cora, have
a bit of
sympathy for him. He's a small time football coach, he's got nothing else in his pathetic life,'' Roger joked.
''His life's pathetic and so is he,'' Cora added.
''I quite like him,'' Lizzie said.
''You would. You don't seem capable of getting any other man,'' Cora said.
''Cora, that's unfair,'' Roger said. ''Have another drink, Lizzie. Ignore
her; she's just being
a bitch.''
Lizzie smiled and took a glass of beer and a shot from the tray Jodie had just placed in front of them.
BJ's was a place students and lecturers went after a hard day or at the weekend to get inebriated. It was full of neon signs and pictures of sports stars. Sam was most proud of his corner of honor. Joshua Clarkson, the owner of BJ's, was a big football fan, and when Sam's team had won the collegiate championship three years running, he'd allocated a corner to Sam's team. He bought a glass cabinet and filled it with photos of the team and the trophies they'd won.
''Good old days,'' Jodie said when she saw Sam was looking to his corner.
''Great days.
Really great.''
''Don't be too hard on this generation Sam. They've got it far too easy, so how can they appreciate anything.''
''I suppose so. There are good kids
in
the
team,
but most of them are lazy. If they
weren't,
they could
really
go places.''
Sam spent
an interesting
evening talking to Jodie and drinking more bourbon than was good for him.
'You'd better leave
your car
here tonight,'' Jodie said when Sam had paid.
''Yes. The walk will do me good,'' he replied.
As he was getting up to leave, Cora and her group were also preparing to leave.
''Oops, steady Lizzie, you stick close to me,'' Roger said as he put his arm around her.
''I think I'm a bit drunk,'' Lizzie said.
''Don't worry. I'll get you home in one piece,' Roger offered.
When they reached the
door,
Sam pulled Roger back and pushed him against the wall. Roger towered over him, but Sam was muscle bound and too
strong
for the twenty-one-year-old
''Leave her alone,'' Sam said.
''Take your hands off me,'' Roger protested.
''Yes, leave him alone,'' Cora and William said in unison.
''Keep out of this,'' Sam said. ''If you don't
leave
now, you're both off the team.''
William and Cora scowled and walked through the door. Lizzie stood still dazed by what was happening.
''Go home Roger and leave her alone. I know what your deal is, and it isn't in Lizzie's interest.''
''What the hell are you talking about?'' Roger asked as Sam squeezed his throat a little harder.
''The bet Roger. The bet you struck with William. Go home now or you'll never play football for me again.''
''You just assaulted me. I'm going to report you,' Roger said.
''Go ahead and I'll make sure Lizzie files sexual
assault
charges. Got it?'' Roger nodded, straightened his collar and left.