by Matt Tims
“Hey, Ms. V.”
Her head snapped around to find Dave nonchalantly leaning against the kitchen counter. How hadn’t she heard him enter the room? Uh-oh, was she starting to lose it again?
“Oh, hey-hey-hey, Da-Da-Dave.”
Crap, she was already tensing up! How easy was it to be a confident character in your head? There was no one cooler than herself when it came to her own imagination; but here she was, panicking at the sight of a high school jock in her kitchen.
“I haven’t seen you in a while,” he casually spoke dressed in a pair of black basketball shorts and a gray t-shirt with their high school football team’s logo on it. He removed a glass from the cupboard and filled it with water from the tap. “So, what have you been up to?”
What had she been up to? What had she been up to!? Well, let’s see here. There was that whole thing about her being gifted a new vibrator. She’d sexted for the first time too. And oh yeah, she’d been orgasming nonstop all week thanks to him! So why was she acting like nothing had happened between the two of them?
What if she was wrong? Could it actually have been either Mike or Phil? Or maybe it wasn’t any of them. Could someone else have done this? What if a stranger knew about the spare key hanging in the garage that just so happened to have a backdoor with a broken lock? Or what if she’d dreamed this entire scenario to fit her fantasy—her fantasy involving Dave.
“Same old,” she smiled, doing her best to play it cool. A bit of the fangirl in her came out without even realizing it. “You guys played great last night, by the way. Your touchdown pass in the third quarter was amazing!”
“Thanks,” he smiled after opening the freezer and tossing a few ice cubes into his drink. “It was more luck than anything.”
He wasn’t lying. The decision to go for the killshot on the first play of the third quarter despite being up thirty-five points, was everything he loved about Coach Matterson. He faked a handoff to the running back, only to see the entire left side of the defensive line in his face when he squared around to the line of scrimmage. That wasn’t how this played out in practice.
A defender flew over the top of him after he instinctively ducked, a second lineman falling to the grass below as a result of him spinning out of his grasp. He barely managed to maintain his footing with two more defenders zeroing in on him. He gave one of them a juke before escaping toward the near sideline with the last lineman hot on his trail.
Coach had been harping on him for over a year to not force passes. When wasn’t he telling him that it was fine to live to see another day? Dave had gotten better at embracing throwing the ball away when no one was open, but guys like him couldn’t ever fully hop on board with that mentality. It just wasn’t who he was. In his mind, there wasn’t a throw he couldn’t make.
And as that hulking defender closed in with him running out of space near the sideline, he committed the cardinal sin of throwing the ball across his body, back toward the middle of the field. It was a decision that made every single football coach in America sick. It was a throw that was almost always intercepted, and a pass the majority of high school quarterbacks couldn’t even dream of making. But he wasn’t most high school quarterbacks.
The ball whistled between the cornerback and linebacker, right into Mike’s chest. His buddy then took it fifty yards to the end zone for a touchdown after making the safety miss. Coach may have been the only person in the stadium who wasn’t impressed once he made his way to the sidelines after celebrating with his teammates. All the sixty-two-year-old former college standout could do was give his quarterback a slap on the shoulder pads with a grin. Sometimes you just had to let guys like Dave be themselves.
Things were anything but spectacular at the moment though. An uncomfortable silence filled the kitchen—Dave staring down at the ground while Claire checked the clock above the stove again. This was the first moment of awkwardness between the two in their nine years of knowing each other. You could cut the tension with a knife.
She was done lying to herself. What was more realistic? That Dave had organized everything and now didn’t know how to approach it, or that someone had broken into her house and planted all of those cards? It was amazing that she’d actually considered the latter as a possibility, but this stud seemed to have that effect on her. She couldn’t think clearly around him!
“See you around,” he said before quickly turning and heading for the basement stairs.
He felt like an awkward teen who’d finally built up the courage to say a few words to his crush, only to completely panic when she acknowledged his existence. The last thing he’d come off as was cool. Could he have appeared any more nerdy? And to be honest, nerdy was how she made him feel. He hadn’t been in this type of a position in a long time.
Chapter 10 – All Alone?
Hours Later. 8:30 PM.
Mike wasn’t happy. “Are you guys serious? Really? What the fuck?”
“I’m tired, dude,” Phil moaned, standing up to stretch. He’d just finished an exhausting eight hours of being fed and watching football on his buddy’s sofa.
“When did my friends turn into a bunch of nerds?” Mike asked. “I’m seriously gonna have to go to another party by myself? That shit last week was lame without you two.” He shifted his attention to Dave. “Hey? Hey? Hey!”
“What’s up?” Dave questioned, finally snapping to attention.
“And what the hell is going on with you?” Mike asked with a puzzled look.
Dave responded with a confused squint of his eyes.
“You’ve been weird all week,” Mike explained. “I was terrified that you were gonna be a mess last night, but I guess football is excluded from whatever the fuck is going on in your mind.”
“You have been a little distant, dude,” Phil chimed in.
“I’ve just been tired,” Dave lied.
“This is ridiculous!” Mike went back to complaining. “It’s like I’m hanging out with my fuckin’ grandparents!”
Phil inquired, “Where’s the party?”
“Kelly’s house again,” Mike answered.
Phil pondered the situation for a moment. Maybe he wasn’t that tired. “You know what, I’m in.”
“There we go!” Mike smiled before looking over at Dave. “And what about you, princess? Did you have a change of heart too?”
“I’m gonna sit this one out,” Dave announced, not changing his mind unlike Phil.
Mike rolled his eyes, turning his focus back to his wingman for the night. “Alright, baby boy, you and me. Ready to roll?”
“After you, honey bunny,” Phil smiled, reaching out his hand to encourage Mike to lead the way. “Take it easy, Dave.”
“Yeah, have fun jerking off, bro,” Mike shouted back as he headed upstairs with his buddy.
Dave had far too much on his mind to care about his friend’s nonsense—particularly that last insult. He sat all alone on the sofa while the college football post game wrap-up show played highlights of the game they’d just watched. At least Mike and Phil watched it. While he was looking at the TV, his mind was anywhere other than the game at hand.
Fifteen minutes passed without him moving a muscle. A foreign sense of exhaustion consumed his body. It wasn’t a physical fatigue either. For the first time in his young life, he was mentally worn out.
“Oh, I didn’t know you were still here.”
He turned his head to see the girl who was responsible for the chaos playing out in his mind.
–
Nothing about today felt right. Claire loved when her son’s friends were over. Sometimes she would even go down into the basement and watch football with them. Today was different though. Just look at her decision to yell downstairs that the soup was ready instead of bringing it down to them like usual. And she hid upstairs in her room until they were done serving themselves. The chores she’d made up throughout the day which put her upstairs or outside, were done with an obvious agenda as well. Everything was about avoid
ing Dave.
She was experiencing an almost comical level of confusion. One second she’d be mad at herself for not making some kind of move on him, and the next she would regret finding herself in this situation at all. Opening the sex toy, texting that number, fantasizing about him: everything she’d done over the past week was a mistake. But then her mind would abruptly switch. She would kick herself for not jumping the sexy jock after seeing him. She’d be mad for not dragging him upstairs and having her way with him. There was no denying she was a wreck. She’d never been so conflicted.
But it was over for now. Actually, it was only over until he showed up again. Would this her life from now on? Being trapped in her own house while these boys were over? All because of some ridiculous sexual fantasy that she felt she’d missed out on?
Last Saturday night with Mr. Pink was more excitement than she’d experienced in the past ten years combined. It was that unmatchable energy of sexual tension with someone you had no right sharing that tabooness with. Her body was begging for that feeling to return, while her mind was doing its best to push it away.
Jake’s friends were never messy and always picked up after themselves, but she would still go down into the basement after they left just to tidy things up. She possessed a little OCD when it came to cleanliness. It’s how she’d always been.
Something caught her attention the moment she opened the basement door. The unmistakable flickering light illuminating the white wall next to the stairs belonged to that of a television. That was certainly a first. Leaving the TV on? That wasn’t like these guys.
She headed downstairs with her mind still attempting to process everything that had happened over the past one-hundred and sixty-eight hours, but her priorities immediately changed when she saw the back of a head sitting on the middle of the couch. The mystery of who was occupying the seat swiftly faded as her cautious steps carried her closer to the piece of furniture. Her heart thumped in her chest as she watched Dave sitting in silence with a distant look in his eyes after she’d arrived next to the sofa. The teen was simply staring straight-ahead, unaware that he was no longer alone.
She had one last chance to bail. She could quietly slip out of the room and wait for him to eventually leave. She took a step toward the stairs before something caused her to stop. What was she doing? Why wasn’t she leaving? And why on God’s green earth was she opening her mouth to say something?
“Oh, I didn’t know you were still here.”
She watched him turn his head to the sound of her voice.
Chapter 11 – A Helpful Piece of Advice
A Little Over Three Years Ago.
“Go say something to her, kiddo.”
Dave looked to his right to find his uncle taking a seat next to him. He was only a few weeks away from starting his freshman year of high school, but classes were the last thing on his mind as he sat at the backyard picnic table for his seventeen-year-old cousin’s birthday party. Was it that obvious he’d be staring at her?
“Say something to who?” Dave asked, trying to play off what he was afraid his uncle had already picked up on.
“To that cute little blonde,” Uncle Pete answered with a grin.
That particular cute blonde had caught his eye from the moment she first strolled into his uncle’s backyard. He had no idea what her name was, the type of music she listened to, or what she did for fun, but he wanted to know everything. She was incredible.
A pair of short ripped jean shorts fit perfectly on her long bronzed legs, and her pink tank top showed off her athletic figure to a tee. Her long blonde hair and pretty smile had the ability to make a thirteen-year-old boy reprioritize his life. He would do just about anything to have her in his world.
“She wouldn’t want anything to do with someone like me,” Dave dejectedly admitted.
A baffled look swept across his uncle’s face. “What?”
“I assume she’s going to be a senior,” said Dave. “She has to be if she’s friends with Kyle. I’m going to be a freshman. It doesn’t work like that.”
“According to who?” Uncle Pete asked.
“That’s just how it is,” he answered before taking a sip of his orange soda.
Uncle Pete clearly wasn’t following. “What the hell is going on with your generation? I’m seeing this shit everywhere. All these little hotties are getting no attention because the guys your age are glued to their phones or too scared to approach them. Let’s say you go over there and hit on her? What’s the worst that could happen?”
“Umm…I guess her saying no, right?” Dave said.
“Exactly,” Pete confirmed. “And is no the end of the world?”
Dave answered, “I guess not.”
“She tells you no and you go hit on her friend,” Uncle Pete went on. “Her friend tells you no and you hit on her sister. Listen, it’s a numbers game. You can’t win if you don’t play.”
“What are you two talking about?”
The already uncomfortable environment increased after Aunt Karen arrived, sitting across the table from him and his uncle. Great, now they would both know what a dork he was? What would his aunt think about his inability to even approach a cute girl?
“Nothing,” the teen meekly answered.
“Guy talk,” Pete told his wife. “I’m going to turn this kid into a stud.”
“He’s a real playboy, isn’t he?” Karen sarcastically asked her nephew while pointing at her husband. “It would be in your best interest to ignore everything he says.”
Dave couldn’t help but laugh. Uncle Pete was about sixty pounds overweight, balding, and his big ears and sizable nose weren’t exactly helping him either. He had plenty of good traits, however. He was funny, charismatic, and he possessed a certain something which attracted people to his presence. The fact that he’d ended up with his knockout of an aunt only attested to that. The guy looked like Humpty Dumpty, for God’s sake!
“Pretend that your aunt is some sexy girl you like,” Uncle Pete said. “I know it’s going to be hard, but try to imagine that she isn’t forty-three years old for a second.”
The annoyed blonde picked up an empty plastic cup, and threw it across the table at her husband’s head.
Pete wiped off some soda from the side of his face with a smirk before turning his attention back to his nephew. Apparently the cup wasn’t completely empty. “Where were we? Oh yeah, pretend your aunt is a cute girl. Let’s hear how you would approach her.”
He turned his attention to his aunt. That was going to be so awkward. “Hi, I’m Dave. It’s nice to meet you.”
“No, no, no!” Uncle Pete wasted no time in expressing his opinion with his nephew’s choice of words. “Every guy who talks to her is going to open with that line, and when you get older, that line turns into ‘Can I get you a drink?’ You need to get her attention. You want to make her remember you.”
“Like, compliment her?” the young man asked.
“Um…maybe,” Pete hesitantly answered. “Listen, there’s nothing wrong with complimenting a girl, but try to come up with something more. Every guy follows up his introduction with a compliment. Stand out. Do something that makes her think about you later in the day. You don’t want to just another guy who flirted with her.”
Dave took a deep breath before turning to his aunt once again. “So, my friend and I were having an argument that I was hoping you could chime in on.”
“Oh yeah, about what?” Karen asked.
He pointed his index finger at her. “About those.”
“Huh?” she questioned again.
“My buddy thinks they’re fake, but I think they’re real,” he explained, somewhat baffled by what he’d just said to his favorite aunt. He was really doing this?
A shocked look spread across her face after she realized that her teenage nephew was referring to her chest. “I-I-I…uh…I…”
“Perfect!” Pete shouted, causing a table of older relatives sitting near the house to turn and look. “Thi
s kid’s a natural!”
“A natural?” Karen laughed, looking on in amazement at her husband. “Are you crazy? That kind of question wouldn’t fly with me.”
“Yes, it would,” Pete argued.
“No, it wouldn’t,” she shot back.
He ignored his wife and instead looked over at his nephew. “Look at the response you got out of her. That’s what you want: a reaction. Then you can flip it.”
“Flip it?” Dave asked.
“Yeah, flip it,” Pete said. “Right now you got her attention by getting under her skin. Think of it as a negative. So, flip it. Turn the conversation around and get it to where you want it.”
“They’re real by the way!” she passionately proclaimed. She wasn’t about to allow the legitimacy of her best physical attribute to be questioned.
“Ah!” Pete smiled. “See? She flipped it for you! Look at what just happened. You came up with something other than the generic bullshit your peers use, and you have her talking about her tits thirty seconds into the conversation. And so what if she turns you down, right? She can go fuck herself for all you care.”
“Hey!” Karen snapped.
“I’m not literally talking about you, honey,” Pete laughed. “I’m referring to this hypothetical woman he’s talking to.”
Dave waited for that cute blonde to eventually separate from her friends before moving in with a line he would eventually look back and laugh at years later. He told her that he had no idea they made women’s flip flops in that size. It was a big feet joke which bombed horribly, but he laughed it off. That was also the last time he ever felt nervous around a girl. Uncle Pete was right: if a woman didn’t give him the time of day, then she could go fuck herself. There were single women everywhere he looked. Why would he waste his time and energy dwelling over any of them?
But he was.
Ms. V was different. He’d talked and flirted with hundreds of women over the years after approaching that cute blonde in his uncle’s backyard, but he never felt nervous around any of them. Yet here he was, sitting on the couch with his stomach churning. He was surrounded by darkness with the exception of the light radiating from the television. Somehow, he’d reverted back to his childhood days, where nervousness and anxiety ruled his world. He was a mess.