Along for the Ride

by Rachel Meinke

  They started off like dynamite, tearing down the field.

  By the end of the first half, I’d been taken out four times, and I’d slide-tackled three. The entire right side of my body was caked with dirt.

  “They’re running circles around you,” Coach announced, as we grabbed some water. “It’s the kick-and-run game, which is what you do before you learn ball control, ladies.”

  He made a couple of substitutions, one of them to my defense, taking out Gabriella and putting in another right-wing defender by the name of Bianca.

  “All right, ladies, bring this home,” Coach Tom ordered.

  We retook the field, but this time I wasn’t as nervous, knowing what to expect. We had kickoff this time, and we drove the ball right down the field, but as our midfielder went to cross it in, the goalie caught it right out of the air. I could hear Cassandra cussing from half field.

  The ball bounced around midfield, nobody taking clear possession. But I watched as our team finally started finding rhythm. Our midfielder crossed it in and Jenica’s head connected with the ball, sending it flying into the top left corner of the goal. I stood there for a moment, stunned at what happened. Our team met up in the center of the field, celebrating, as Jenica jumped into my arms.

  We retook our positions, some of the pressure taken off with a lead, but not much because it was only one goal.

  Pretty soon their team had the ball again and one of their midfielders was streaking down the left side. She tripped up Nancy, giving her the full line.

  “Cover me!” I called to Nancy, switching positions with her.

  I reached the midfielder as she was going to cross the ball, resulting in the ball slamming into my face with full force. I stumbled backward in surprise, my butt hitting the grass. But I didn’t stay down for long, standing back up before I could be pulled out.

  “Are you all right?” Nancy asked me worriedly.

  My face was burning, and I had tears in my eyes, but I wasn’t in pain necessarily. Just more in shock.

  “Yeah, I’m okay,” I said, wiping my hand under my nose. I was happy to see that there wasn’t any blood.

  “What’s your name?” the ref asked me.

  “Katelyn,” I said, looking over at him. “Katelyn Jackson.”

  The ref looked to Nancy for confirmation, who nodded.

  “Do you need to go off?”

  “No, I’m fine,” I promised, my vision finally completely clearing.

  I blinked a few more times and then smiled at the ref. “Honestly.”

  “All right, we’ll drop-kick it here then,” the ref decided.

  Nancy took the dropkick, and I took my position as sweeper back.

  “You sure you’re with it?” Cassandra asked me.

  “For the most part,” I said, watching as Nancy took control of the ball and booted it out.

  Our offense had two separate rushes, both ending in a scoop by the opposing team’s goalie. But as it turns out, third time’s the charm. Marci had control of the ball and had a breakaway toward the goal. The goalie came out and Marci slid the ball into the bottom right corner of the goal, giving us a 2–0 lead. The team celebrated in the center of the field again. I didn’t pick Marci up in my arms like I had Jenica, but I did give her a smile and a nod.

  “Watch out for their kickoff,” I called out, knowing the chip-and-run game all too well.

  Bianca cut off the midfielder, controlling the ball to send it up to our midfield as the ref called time.

  End of the game.

  “You had one hell of a second half, Katelyn,” Coach Tom said.

  “Thank you,” I said.

  “If you keep up performances like that, we might have something to talk about at the end of this tour.”

  I looked up at him in surprise, unsure of what he was implying.

  He didn’t say anything else before addressing the team as a whole, giving us a postgame speech and then reminding us of team curfew at ten p.m. He promised to see us for a light practice tomorrow morning at ten. I packed up my stuff and joined Jenica on our walk across the field.

  “You kicked ass,” Jenica said.

  “Same to you, Ms. Wambach,” I said.

  “You’re caked in dirt,” she said, checking out my right side. My uniform and leg were all covered.

  “Battle scars,” I said, with a laugh.

  “And your nose is kind of looking a little swollen.”

  “Really?” I felt around it, the pain hardly noticeable over the coursing of my adrenaline.

  “Maybe Zach finds clown noses attractive.”

  “Screw off.”

  At the mention of Zach, I immediately started looking around for them. My family and the Skyline boys had watched me play. And I’d done a pretty damn good job today, if I do say so myself.

  My mom was the first one waiting for me. “Are you okay, sweetie?”

  She took my face in her hands.

  “I’m fine, Mom.”

  “That was a hard hit to the face you took,” she said.

  “It wasn’t a nice hit to the face,” I joked.

  Connor’s hoodie was tied tight around his face, as usual. He loosened the hoodie a bit, letting it fall. “It looks like I have a lot to apologize for. I didn’t realize how damn good you are. Which makes me a really bad brother.”

  I was shaking my head before he finished. “We’ve both been a little caught up lately. But thank you for coming today. Seriously.”

  “I’d suggest dinner to celebrate, but I have an idea that someone else may want to have dinner with you,” Mom said with a wink.

  I gave them all hugs, promising my parents to text them later tonight, before heading off to find Skyline. As it turned out, they were in the parking lot, signing autographs.

  Jenica tagged along with me as I insisted that she had to meet Zach. It was time to acquaint him with my best friend.

  Zach excused himself from the group once he saw me, and jogged over. He took my bag, slinging it over his shoulder. “Wow, Katelyn.”

  “What?” I asked, reaching up to feel my nose. “Is it swollen?”

  “No, I’m talking about your soccer skills. I mean, I’ve never seen anything like it.”

  Before I could respond, his fingers entwined with mine. I didn’t know how to react to the fact that I was casually holding hands with Zach Matthews. His hand was rough and callused from playing guitar, but my fingers held tight and somehow it felt perfect.

  “So I’m Jenica.” She thrust her hand out toward him.

  Right. Jenica.

  “This is my best friend,” I said. “The one who scored the goal today.”

  “Zach,” he said, reaching out his hand to shake hers. “Pleasure to meet you.”

  She flashed him a smile. “Oh, cutie, the pleasure is all mine.”

  And I shouldn’t be surprised. “Now Jenica is leaving. Bye.”

  “See you tonight, curfew at ten.” She waved at Zach one last time before skipping away.

  I held up my hand before Zach could speak. “Don’t ask.”

  Jesse waved us over. “The taxi is almost here. We can talk about the plan in the car.”

  I narrowed my eyes at Zach, trying to read his mind as to what he was thinking for tonight. But his expression remained neutral. The boys said good-bye to their fan group before we climbed into the car, Zach and I taking the third-row seat.

  Exhaustion seeped through me as I leaned back in my seat. My limbs felt heavy, my body aching as I dropped my head onto Zach’s shoulder.

  “Tired?” he murmured.

  “Mm-hm.”

  He reached up, smoothing my hair back. “You’re sweaty.”

  “Wow, thanks.”

  “Do you care to tell us why you’ve been holding out?” Ross asked me.

  “What?” I asked, raising my eyebrows at him.

  “What was that?”

  “That was soccer.”

  “No, what those other people were playing was soccer,” Ross
corrected. “What you were playing was Death Soccer.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh, curling up in Zach’s arms as he put them around me. “Death Soccer?”

  “Yeah, sacrificing yourself for the game.”

  “You do what you’ve got to do.”

  “I’m glad we took the time to do this,” Jesse said. “You kicked ass.”

  My eyes slipped shut, Zach’s hand running up and down my arm as I drifted in and out of consciousness.

  “Is she asleep?” I heard Jesse ask, after a few minutes.

  “I think so,” Ross answered.

  “Zach, are you feeling any better?” Jesse asked. “Because we’re not going to go out for dinner if you’re feeling ill.”

  “Drop me off at the hotel,” Zach said, dismissively. “I don’t think Katelyn’s really in a dinner mood either.”

  “All right,” Jesse agreed, after a few seconds.

  The car was silent for a few moments, before Jesse spoke up again. “What kind of sick is it, Zach?”

  “What?” Zach asked.

  “I don’t want to leave you at the hotel if you think you’re going to have a seizure,” Jesse stated, bluntly.

  “Jesus Christ, Jesse,” Zach said, his voice taking a hard edge, “I think I know when I’m feeling ill and when I’m feeling like I’m going to have a seizure.”

  “Chill out,” I heard Aaron say, a little softer than they had been speaking.

  “Hey!” Ross shouted.

  I quickly jerked out of my half-conscious state, my body pulling out of Zach’s arms.

  “What the hell?” Zach demanded.

  “Turn up the radio,” Ross ordered.

  “ . . . opinion on Zach from Skyline?” the radio announcer finished asking.

  “Zach’s a great kid,” I heard my brother’s voice saying.

  It was strange hearing Connor’s voice on the radio so soon after seeing him, but I also knew that he’d been doing press in L.A., so he must’ve prerecorded this earlier today.

  “Are you confirming that he and your sister, Katelyn Jackson, are a couple?” the radio guy asked.

  “I didn’t say that,” Connor said. “I said that Zach’s a great kid.”

  “You’re not going to give us any kind of hint?”

  “They’re both great people,” Connor said.

  “Okay, okay,” the radio announcer conceded. “Let’s talk about the Connor Jackson Live Tour.”

  They started talking about the tour, and Jesse reached over and turned it back down.

  “Oh boy,” Aaron said, with a bit of a forced laugh. “We’ve got drama on our hands.”

  I went from being Connor Jackson’s sister to Zach Matthews’s new rumored girlfriend. How did I get myself into this mess?

  “I’m not much for the rumor mill,” Zach said. “Let it be.”

  “They’ll be onto a new topic in a few days,” I added. “If I’ve learned anything by watching Drama Llama, nothing sticks for long.”

  “Hey, Katelyn,” Jesse said, “now that you’re awake, what were you wanting to do for dinner?”

  They didn’t know that I’d heard their earlier conversation.

  “Whatever you guys are doing,” I said, placing my head back on Zach’s chest.

  “What if we stayed at the hotel and called in for room service?”

  Zach asked.

  “Sounds like heaven,” I mumbled, closing my eyes.

  We pulled up to the boys’ hotel, and Ross had to get out so that Zach and I could climb out of the third-row seat.

  “Thanks, guys,” I said.

  The boys waved before pulling away. I followed Zach inside and up to his suite, which he shared with Jesse.

  “If you want to take a shower, I’m sure I can find something for you to change into,” Zach said, as we stepped inside.

  A hot shower sounded heavenly. “Thank you.”

  He handed me a room service menu. “Pick out what you want and I’ll order it while you’re showering.”

  “Hamburger,” I said, my mouth watering at the thought. “And fries.”

  “But there’s chicken parmesan on the menu.”

  “But there’s a hamburger on the menu.”

  I stepped into the shower, as suggested, my body grimy and sweaty. The jets hit my sore, aching muscles, and I let out a sigh of relief. I’d usually be collapsing into bed right about now, but I couldn’t ignore the buzz of excitement at the thought of having an entire evening alone with Zach now that we were . . . whatever we were. More than friends, at least.

  Once I was finished, I wrapped a fluffy towel around myself and forced my wet hair into a braid.

  “Can you pass me my soccer bag?” I asked through the door. “I have clean clothes in there.”

  He opened the door, handing me my soccer bag with his arm over his eyes. A giggle escaped my lips as I accepted the bag from him before closing the door.

  After I changed and came out, Zach was lying across a bed in the main area of the suite, watching Netflix.

  “Our food should be here any minute,” he said. “You smell a lot better.”

  I threw a pillow at him in response.

  There was a knock on the hotel room door, and Zach went and accepted our food.

  “Fries,” I breathed, immediately stuffing them into my mouth.

  Zach sat with his back resting against the backboard of the bed.

  He placed his chicken parmesan in his lap. I stayed lying across the bed, reaching up onto the cart to eat fries every once in a while as we watched TV. This, to me, was the perfect evening in. No pressure, no expectations. Just some French fries and a night in with Zach.

  Zach was picking at the chicken parmesan he’d been so excited for. I couldn’t help but think back to the conversation I’d been half-awake for in the car. “Are you feeling okay?”

  His eyes flickered away from the TV, and he raised an eyebrow at me in question. “Me?”

  “Obviously. It’s just, you seemed so hungry a minute ago and now you’re not touching your food.”

  “Sometimes my seizure meds take it out of me. But I’m fine.”

  Zach and I had never openly talked about his epilepsy. I sat up.

  I’d always been a Skyline fan, but this was something more. I wanted Zach to know that his story mattered to me, that it was more than the flashing lights and the fame. I cared about him.

  I was hesitant to ask, but the words slipped out before I could filter them. “Is it because of the dosage?”

  “That’s probably part of it.” He yawned, putting his half-finished plate of chicken off to the side.

  I couldn’t tell if Zach’s yawn was showing disinterest, so I risked another question. “What would happen if you lowered the dosage?”

  “That’s always an option, if I wanted more seizures.”

  “Oh.”

  “It’s not so bad, honestly. Some days are harder than others, but I’ve got a pretty good system down. It’s been two years since my grand mal seizure.”

  “That sounds terrifying.”

  He reached over, taking a discarded tomato off my plate.

  “You’re chastising me about not eating my food, yet you pulled the best part off your burger.”

  “Tomatoes are gross.”

  His head tilted to the side as he studied me. “You’re exhausted.”

  I nodded. “It’s been a long day.”

  He pulled me close to him, and I folded myself into his arms, resting my cheek on his chest. He bent down, his lips pressing against mine.

  There was nothing that compared to kissing Zach Matthews.

  “You know what I want to do?” I asked.

  “No telling.”

  “I want to watch some TV and cuddle with you.”

  My head fell to his chest, and he ran his fingers down my back as Netflix autoplay put on a new movie.

  “Is this how two lazy people spend a date night?” Zach asked, his voice soft and welcoming.

  His chest r
ose and fell beneath me, and I flashed a smile at him.

  He bent over and gave me a quick kiss.

  “I kind of like it,” he confessed.

  “Don’t let me fall asleep,” I said, as I let out a long yawn. “My parents would kill me if they found out I slept here instead of back at the hotel with the team.”

  “I’ll get you back home after this movie.”

  I tried to fight the exhaustion, but gave in as I let my eyes slide shut. I couldn’t imagine a more perfect place to be.

  I was startled awake by the sound of a slamming door. Sleep clouded my eyes as Zach’s voice began speaking.

  “Seriously, nothing happened,” Zach said. “We fell asleep.”

  “So did I . . . in Ross and Aaron’s room, I can’t believe I did that,”

  Jesse said, sounding both confused and apologetic. He’d clearly just rushed into the room; the door was still open and the bodyguard was standing behind him—he sussed out the situation pretty quickly and ducked back out into the hall.

  I reached over and grabbed my phone.

  7:30? A.M. ?

  “Shit!” I was going to throw up. I did not sleep in Zach’s hotel room. “I’m so dead.”

  “We’ll figure it out,” Zach said.

  If my parents catch wind of this . . . “I’ll be grounded until college.

  Probably worse.”

  “Nobody’s getting grounded, okay? Relax,” Jesse said There were multiple missed calls and panicked texts from Jenica.

  “I’m going to get kicked off the team.” I pushed myself up out of Zach’s bed, grabbing my bag. “I didn’t make curfew last night. I’m so screwed.”

  My hands were shaking as I tried to collect my thoughts, my mind whirling.

  My phone buzzed, a new text from Jenica.

  You better be here in the next thirty minutes.

  “I can get you there,” Jesse said. “And I won’t mention anything to your parents.”

  “Thank you, Jesse.”

  He looked at Zach. “But . . . we’re going to have to talk about this.”

  “Chill,” Zach muttered, opening the door for me. “Save the lecture for a more appropriate time.”

  The three of us headed downstairs, Jesse calling for a car as we went down the elevator.

  I called Jenica as we reached the lobby.

  “Girl, you owe me big time,” Jenica said. “I’ll tell you the excruciating tale of how I kept Coach believing you were here last night later. Right now, you need to get your ass here before the team bus arrives.”