Solo (24 page)

"I'll call you after dinner to let you know if I'm coming back."

"Okay." I sneaked a quick kiss before he walked back to his truck. Deep down I had a feeling he wouldn't be back. I didn't expect him to want to hang out with Gramps.

I went inside to eat dinner. Mom seemed surprised that I was staying in—until I told her I wanted to rest before the game of the century.

I was sitting in the living room eating a bowl of popcorn when my cell phone rang. It was Lucas. I went into the hallway so I wouldn't distract Gramps.

"Hello."

"Hey Eliana it's Lucas."

"Yeah, I know, silly, your name pops up on my phone."

"I didn't think about that. I wanted to let you know I'm not going to make it over. Jack called to see if I wanted to go out."

My heart sank just a smidge. "That's okay. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Did you cook popcorn?"

"What?" I spun around. "You're so sneaky."

"I wanted to see your expression. You're cute when you sulk." He opened the screen door. "But seriously, you made popcorn to watch the news?"

My face turned three shades of red. "Come in, Jeopardy's about to start."

We walked into the living room and sat on the couch. Gramps had his eyes locked onto the television. It took Lucas a few minutes to get comfortable. I leaned over and laid my head on his shoulder. Occasionally, he whispered the questions to the answers. I was shocked by his accuracy. When the show went to commercial, Gramps glanced at me and did a quick double take. "Gramps, you remember Lucas, right?"

"Oh, sure." Gramps stood and slowly shuffled over. "How are you doing young man?"

Lucas got up to shake his hand. "I'm doing fine, sir."

"Oh, the show's back on." Gramps returned to his chair.

Lucas sat back down. I could see it took everything he had not to bust out laughing. I narrowed my eyes, giving him a little nudge.

"Sorry," he whispered, guiding my head back to his shoulder.

Around nine-thirty, Lucas said he should be going. I walked him to his truck and thanked him for coming over. Not many guys would actually spend a Friday night watching television with their girlfriend and her Gramps.

He opened his door and leaned down for a hug. The door blocked us from the house, so I took the opportunity to "wow" him with a kiss.

"Wow." Lucas shook his head, and climbed into his truck.

"I'm not going to be that nice tomorrow. I figured I'd say sorry for your loss now."

Lucas hopped out of the truck. "In that case…" He pulled me tight, lacing his fingers through my hair and planted a kiss that sent surges through my body. I literally went weak in the knees. "There's my sorry," he smirked, getting back into his truck.

I watched him drive away, trying to feel my legs. I think I waved, but I wasn't sure because my mind was so foggy. I stumbled back to the house.

The next morning I woke bright and early. I needed time to prepare for the game. Normally, I would just throw on sweats for a flag football game. Instead, I took my time putting on make-up and slipping into my pink tank top and black yoga pants, topping them off with two braids so my hair wouldn't get pulled.

Casey picked me up at eleven looking like my twin, if you can see the irony in that.

"You read my mind," she joked.

"Well, at least we won't have to feel out of place."

When Casey and I arrived at the park, our jaws dropped. The Pixie Stix had taken things a little to the extreme with their pink sports bras, tiny black cheer shorts, and knee-high socks, looking more like a roller derby team. They'd accented their look with schoolgirl ponytails. They definitely didn't look like flag football players.

"You know we're playing football with boys today—right?" Casey asked

"You wanted us to work our best assets," Rachel grinned.

"What if you fall? You have more skin exposed than covered," I blurted.

"Oh, I have a fix for that." Rachel pulled out a box of knee pads.

Casey and I looked at each other, speechless. We were interrupted by hoots and hollers coming from the testosterone across the field.

Lucas said, "You know this could be considered cheating, right? Whose bright idea was this?"

"It was mine." I looked at the ground, kicking my toe in the dirt. "But I didn't think it would go to this extent."

"That's all right. That dinner smells good already."

I jerked my head up and narrowed my eyes. "Game on—let's go, girls!"

Lucas dived in for a quick smooch before I turned. "That's for luck."

"Thanks."

"Not your luck—my luck," he smirked.

"Ugh, you're going down!" I ran to the girls for a huddle and we attached our flag belts. "Okay ladies, if you aren't sure what to do, just get the ball to me. I'll work it from there. Also, you have extra skills those Barbarians don't have. You can dance. Take advantage of leaps, tucks, and turns. Those boys think we can't do this. They think we're all about looks and not skill. Let's show them what we're really made of."

"You're right. Let's give it all we've got," Casey challenged, mostly for my benefit. She was the one worried about breaking a nail.

"Okay—break." I clapped my hands. Casey was the only one to clap along. The girls drifted onto the field getting somewhat into formation. Our only hope of winning was the guys ogling the girls.

Lucas met me in the center of the field. "Okay, you flip the coin."

"Fine. What do you want, heads or tails?"

"We'll take heads. Your team is already full of tails," he grinned.

I threw the coin in the air and caught it. "Tails. We'll take offense," I jogged back into position.

The game started out okay—for the first two minutes. The girls got distracted by one thing or another. I only got the ball twice and scored one touchdown. We got creamed in the first half. Casey and Rachel were the only two actually interested in continuing. At the beginning of the second half we were down by fourteen points.

Casey said enthusiastically, "Okay, if we can get three touchdowns and block all their advances, we can win. It's a long shot, but we can try."

I was shocked that Casey was so into the game. "I'm all for trying. Get me the ball. I need the girls to block the guys so I can run."

"Hold on, let me talk to them." Rachel waved the girls over for a huddle. "Ladies, if we win this game, I'll cancel Friday's cheer practice. It's the day before prom."

That put a spark in them. "Let's do this!" they chanted and strutted back on the field. Casey and I laughed.

"We have twenty minutes to do this—get me the ball!" Casey and Rachel nodded in agreement.

Lucas and the guys came back on the field and took their stance. Before I knew it, the ball was coming right at me. I grabbed and tucked it under my arm. Tunnel vision took over when the end zone came into view. I slammed the ball down doing my happy dance.

Lucas shook his head in amazement.

"I hope you have your tissues ready," I hollered.

"Hun, we're still winning."

"Not for long."

We gathered an audience from the people walking around the park although I'm sure the girls' uniforms played the larger part in that. I think the crowd motivated the girls.

The guys almost made a touch down, but the ladies rallied a good defense. Every time one of the guys got the ball, the ladies swarmed him like he held the last pair of designer stilettos.

I glanced at Lucas. Sweat beads were forming on his forehead.

I said, "Okay ladies, I know they're gonna come after me. Who else can run?"

"Let me try," Casey volunteer. "I'm the last one they'd ever expect."

"You're right. Let's get the ball to Casey and block the crap out of the guys."

"Wow, are we getting hostile?" Casey joked.

We all laughed and hustled back into formation. The next play went beautifully. Rachel faked a pass to me and got the ball to Casey. I ran over to Casey so I could shadow her down the field. One by one, the girls blocked the guys. It went just as planned. When Casey slammed the ball down, jaws dropped on the guys, including Jack and Lucas. I think the guys were actually getting nervous. We only trailed by two points. Unfortunately we didn't get the two point conversion after the touchdown. With less than two minutes on the clock, victory seemed bleak. Intercepting the ball was our only chance. We tried our best to win, but the only thing we could do the last two minutes was block the guys from making a touchdown.

In the end the boys—yes, the boys—won the battle. Now, I had to face Lucas and his gloating. Exhausted, we watched the guys do their victory dances. I called one last huddle before the girls left the field.

"When you compare our football expertise to theirs, we did a great job! We only lost by two points."

"Yeah, you're right!" Rachel agreed. "Since we did so well, I'm still cancelling cheer practice on Friday."

You would have thought the girls had won the game by their own victory dances. I laughed at the excitement on their faces. Then I saw one face that stood out from the others. Lucas was crossing the field with an ear-to-ear grin.

I rolled my eyes. "Okay, get it over with. Tell me how guys are better than girls. Blah, Blah, Blah."

"Actually, I think it was a draw. We may have won, but you ladies made us work for that victory. And
you
were amazing."

"Gee, thanks."

"No, I'm serious, you can really play." He seemed truly shocked, and then asked, "Hey, where did Casey get her confidence?"

I shook my head and laughed. "I have no idea. So, what's the plan for dinner?"

"It's a surprise. What time do you have to be home tonight?"

"That's scary. Probably by eleven. I can call my mom if it's later."

Lucas looked at his watch. "We need to get going."

"Okay? Give me a minute." I jogged over to Casey and the rest of the girls to say goodbye. Their conversation was all about prom. Casey gave me a hug and told me she'd see me Monday.

 Lucas drove me back to my grandparents' house so I could freshen up before dinner. I hopped out of his truck and he told me to wear something comfortable. He said he'd be back in a couple of hours.

I ran upstairs to shower and contemplated which outfit to wear while toweling my hair dry. After much deliberation, I decided on a tank top, shorts, and flip flops, with my hoodie tied around my waist in case we went for a walk after dinner. I came downstairs and was surprised to see Lucas sitting at the kitchen table with Mom.

"Hey, you're back quick."

"It doesn't take me long to change. Besides I'm having a great conversation with Sophie."

Mom smiled and actually blushed.

"So, what time do you want me back tonight?"

Mom looked at Lucas and then back at me. "Just not past midnight."

"Got it," I said, puzzled. I started thinking maybe we were going bowling after dinner if we were staying out that late. "I'm ready when you are."

"Let's go," said Lucas.

Mom waved. "Have a good night you two."

Lucas opened the truck door and pulled a blindfold off his seat. "Okay, you're going to have to put this on."

"This is crazy," I protested as he tied the blindfold.

"Trust me, it's worth it."

He helped me into the truck and then double checked to make sure I couldn't see anything. He latched my seatbelt before he started the engine. It was weird wearing the blindfold. We stopped once and he got out. "Don't move or peek, I'll be right back."

A few minutes later he returned and then we were off again. I could feel the bumps on the road and he made some abrupt turns.

"Take it easy on the turns, you're making me nauseous."

"Sorry about that." I could hear the grin in his voice.

He finally stopped and helped me out of the truck. "Can I take this off yet?"

"Nope. That was phase one of our trip."

Everything went quiet for a second. Then I heard him fiddling with something. I flinched when he grabbed my hand and led me through some grass or weeds.

"Okay, take off your flip flops."

"What?"

"Trust me."

I took off my flip flops and felt Lucas' hand on my shin as he lifted my leg. He put my leg into something fuzzy. Then, I felt him guide my other shin into the same fuzzy material.

"What are you doing?" I felt a quick tug.

"I'm pulling a pair of my sweatpants on you. They're a little big, but you'll thank me later." He put my flip flops back on and helped me into my hoodie.

"Well, I would have worn sweats if you'd told me."

"You won't need them the entire time." He took my hand, leading me a few more steps. "Okay, now I'm going to touch your waist for a second, don't be nervous."

"Okay."

He grabbed my waist and one of my legs to lift it over what I thought was a bike. I'm sure I wasn't very graceful. I sat down realizing it was wider than a bike, more like a four wheeler, or something like that. He sat in front of me and pulled my arms around his waist.